Main Menu · Search ·Current Issue ·Contact ·Archives ·Centennial ·Letters to the Editor ·FAQs
| Jacqlynn K. Duquette | Walid Gardezi |
| Rachel Glover | Michael Jacobsohn |
| Pamela Ng | Jennifer Pusey |
I am first in my class, an all-state football player, weigh 220 pounds,
and can lift up small cars, yet I have a secret which I have kept hidden
for years. It rages within me, yearning to break free and reveal itself
in both shame and splendor. I can contain it no longer. I must shed my inhibitions
and proclaim aloud, "So help me God, I love musicals!"
Until now, only my family and those who have had the experience of calling
my house in the midst of one of my renditions of the confrontation scene
between Javert and Valjean from Les Misérables knew about my passion
for musical theater. For years I have endured ridicule from my sisters and
their friends who have overheard me belting out the lyrics to "Sunrise,
Sunset" from Fiddler on the Roof while in the shower. Ever since my
first musical, Jesus Christ Superstar, seven years ago, I have been obsessed
with the telling of stories through melody and verse. My heart leaps when
I see that Phantom of the Opera is coming to the local theater, or when
Guys and Dolls is appearing on television at one in the morning.
Music is the most beautiful and powerful way to relate emotion. Thus, the
entire structure of a story is enhanced by presenting action and dialogue
through song. The topic of a story can deal with anything from religion,
such as in Godspell, to a ravenous man-eating plant (Audrey II in Little
Shop of Horrors), but no matter which, music brings to life a storyline
and places a production forever in one's head by providing a harmony to
be continually associated with it.
Musicals also provide me with an emotional outlet. When enthralled by a
member of the opposite sex, I am wont to burst into a performance of "Maria"
from West Side Story. After an exhaustive football practice, my lips chant
"I'm Free" from the rock opera Tommy; and at my desk, feeling
haughty after getting the highest grade on a calculus test, I sing quietly,
"I am the very model of a modern Major-General," from The Pirates
of Penzance. I can delve into the recesses of my mind and produce a piece
fitting for any occasion, and I take pride in this ability.
While preparing this confession, a less musically inclined friend of mine
happened upon a rough draft of the revelation. As he heartily laughed at
me, he asked "Can this be? Can the fact that Michael Jacobsohn is both
an academic and football colossus and a lover of musicals be reconciled?"
I replied, "The bald, fat Marlon Brando of Apocalypse Now is the same
Marlon Brando in Guys and Dolls. Just as Kurtz and Sky Masterson are one
and the same, so does my love for musicals reconcile itself with the other
facets of my personality. It is unwise to stereotype, just as it is unwise
to typecast." Inside, I shall sing forever.
~ Michael Jacobsohn