I was raised on showtunes.Â
My mom always had the Broadway classic station on Pandora shuffled, and the speakers around our house would, and still do, pour out a constant stream of showtunes.
My childhood best friend eventually learned most words to these melodies, specifically the score of Wicked, just from being exposed to them constantly.Â
My first concert was Kristen Chenoweth, and one of my first clear memories is watching the 2010 Les Misérables concert on PBS featuring Nick Jonas with my mom in the living room of my childhood home.
This week, I bought tickets to see my favorite musical — The Last Five Years — on Broadway starring Nick Jonas.
The theater kid instilled in me was greatly nurtured by my parents and community during my youth. In third grade, my twin sister and I did our first musical, Annie Jr., with our friend Maddie. The next year, we joined a professional children’s choir and became classically trained singers, which was such an awesome experience.
Theater and music were a huge part of my tween years. I was always involved in some sort of musical program, typically at least three different activities at once, and I loved it. I felt so cool.
I quit theater and choir after my freshman year of high school, partly because I felt like I didn’t fit into and didn’t want to be grouped with the classic “theater kid.” I very stupidly put myself into a “High School Musical” dilemma, choosing between sports and theater, a choice that no one was asking me to make.
Around the same time, musicals became less accessible because of the pandemic. So, I very quickly ripped out a piece of my life that brought me a lot of joy.
I see my love of musicals reflected in my everyday life, no matter how much I neglected this interest. As a communications student and lifelong over-analyzer, I feverously decode and construct stories, just as musical scores guide listeners through their own tales.
I have recently revisited my inner theater kid and begun nurturing her again after killing her so suddenly. In doing so, I have learned to remove the optics of liking music and theater. I no longer indulge in musicals or the art of classical music because I am good at it or it looks good on paper, but because it brings me joy!
So, if you hear dramatic soprano ballads blasting out of Dev, that’s me!
This resurrection is partly due to my recent reconnection with one of my childhood best friends, who is also a huge musical lover. I love the fact that we can gab about the nuances of “Next to Normal” or send niche TikToks back and forth.Â
As maniac “gleeks,” we also bought tickets to see Lea Michele in Niagara Falls this summer, which I am incredibly excited for because she is simply an incredible singer. I am also excited for the road trip that will undoubtedly be filled with dramatic sing-alongs, which is one of my favorite activities in the world.
My inner theater kid has brought me so much, and I am incredibly happy to have rekindled this passion. I am thrilled to make the day trip to New York City to see “The Last Five Years” with my mom. We used to go into Philly monthly to see national tour productions together, so I am especially excited to bring back that tradition with the woman who created and fueled this fixation.