Lyrics: “Isabel” – Frank Turner, 2009
A friend and I went to an open air “musical gala” last night and we had fun. On the way back we started chatting about how musicals seem to have changed over the years. I think there might be different definitions of the term “musical” for different generations. Once I said it I felt very old for a moment. To me a musical is a piece of art, where the book / plot and the music have originally been created for this piece of art. I know by now there are many different versions of musicals out there, centered around well known music of a band or artist. “We Will Rock You” comes to mind first of all, I guess. I learned the term jukebox musical for these shows last night. Then of course there are the musicals based on well known films: “The Bodyguard”, “Back to the Future”, “Pretty Woman” and so on which may or may not include song from those films. I don’t quite get the appeal of those to be honest. The idea of rewatching a movie from my youth put on a stage with added music? Is it nostalgia? I think there is a whole media psychology field around our desire to go back in time to things we know and love, because the world we live in right now is uncertain and scary and all that. But I still don’t get it in regards to musical theatre and I say that as someone who returns to watch the same old TV shows over and over again as sort of a comfort watch. Also last night I learned that there is a tendency – maybe only in Germany – to create musicals around well known novels (“Rebecca”) or well known artists, like “Mozart”.
Anyway, this morning when I started gathering ideas for this post in my mind, I thought I’d cite “My Fair Lady” from 1956 (proper vintage) or “Cats” from 1981 (not so vintage in my eyes, but still decades old!) as examples for proper original musicals, with an original plot and songs and all. Luckily – before I could make a fool of myself – I remembered that the first one is based on a play – “Pygmalion” by George Bernard Shaw, 1913 – and the latter on the poetry collection “Old Possums Books of Practical Cats” by T.S. Eliot, 1939. So both not quite as original as I had thought for a moment. I know there are still many musicals which might support my argument.
And it’s not even an argument as such, just an observation as to how definitions and views of stuff change over time. Is “The Jungle Book” an animated film? A musical film? A musical as such? For me it’s always been a film first, a musical film second. Semantics, probably, I know. But for that reason I wouldn’t have necessarily expected to hear Disney songs featured in a “musical gala”. To bring my non-sequential rambling back full circle, isn’t it interesting to think that most of the Disney musical films are based on fictional works from others and thus aren’t an original either?
The years rolled by as well, when I started to work out how many times I have been to Scotland before this upcoming trip. When I tell people about where I’m going on vacation I also often mentioned that I’ve been there “loads of times” before, but how many in fact? This right now is the point where I regret to never have been willing enough to go through the hassle of doing a printed photo book of these trips. I do have the photos stored on my computer (time for some backup, maybe?) and I have been documenting some parts of it in blog posts, which are still available to me, even if I have taken lots of stuff down by now.
Even with the digital photos I have kept, I haven’t always kept the travel documentation (places, routes and such) and I regret that a bit by now. Or right this moment anyway. Maybe putting together a proper Scotland travel photo book from the last 16 years is a project for end of the year.
I am not going to share all that here now or ever, but I thought a quick run through the years might be fun. For me anyway.
June 2009
The first trip. I had bought the novel “Outlander” a few years before and decided going to Scotland might be a good time to finally start reading it. I started reading on the first leg of my train journey and hadn’t even left mainland Europe when I was already hooked. I stayed in London for a bit, took a train up and stayed in Glasgow for a few days, before I took a 5 days tour (group, mini bus) around the Highlands (2 nights in Inverness, 2 nights on Skye) and I then ended with a few days in Edinburgh and back home via London again.
The group tour took me to Ardvreck Castle for the first time. Instant love and I can’t even say why. It’s just a small crumbled remain of a castle.
August 2012
Friends and I went over with our own (their) car. Ferry to Newcastle, avoiding the big cities with a European car. Up through the highlands, Perth, Inverness, Skye, Fort William…. those kind of places.
August 2015
Another few days in Edinburgh and Glasgow and then I took the small plane to Stornoway on Lewis (Outer Hebrides), where I stayed for about a week. I picked this remote place, because I wanted to practice driving a rental car in the UK (‘wrong’ side of the road) and thought there this would be a good small place to do so. I was right.
August 2016
That was my Outlander / North Coast 500 trip. The show had been on for two seasons and there already was quite a lot of information about filming locations and such. Ten years later there is a whole Outlander based tourist industry, which is cool and all, but I’m kind of glad I was there before the big hype.
December 2016
Edinburgh for a weekend in December, because Frank Turner was playing and it was my 20th show. What can I say? Fangirl!
September 2017
The first My Peak Challenge Event (I have left that movement by now, because it was getting kind of expensive, and I didn’t made the friendships / connections through it as others seem to have). Glasgow first, then another trip through the Highlands. I bagged my first Munro: Loch Lomond.
2019
The 2nd My Peak Challenge Event in Edinburgh followed by another road trip through part of the Highlands. Another Munro.
June 2023
Finally back after the travel-less pandemic years. I took the Caledonian Sleeper up to Inverness and back (won’t do that again). I stayed in Inverness for about a week and then Glamping in the Western Highlands, by the coast. Blissful solitude.
All those photos from up on mountains and such make me look much more outdoors-y than I am. I like to be out in nature and up hills / mountains on my vacation obviously, but don’t do that all that much the rest of the year around. Maybe I should start changing that…
