Let's Talk About Anniversary Concerts

It has come to my attention that whenever I start talking about the "Anniversary Concerts" of Broadway shows, nobody has a flipping clue what I'm talking about.

This all came about when I was watching (crying over) my DVD of The Phantom of the Opera 25th Anniversary Concert for the hundredth time. As usual, I texted my friends about the intense emotional experience I was having listening to the timeless music and watching the performance. And, as usual, everyone said they hadn't seen whatever the heck it was I was watching this time and, even worse, that they hadn't even heard of it.

And I thought to myself, "Huh. Why am I the only person in the universe who seems to watch Anniversary Concerts? Do people not know that that theater is occasionally recorded and can be consumed in the comfort of your very own home??" Was it weird to watch recorded theater? And what about Anniversary Concerts? Was I stranger than I thought I was? Was this just a longterm side effect of growing up with PBS? These and other questions insisted that I sit down and take a long, hard look at my life.

Ultimately, I decided that it would be doing the world a disservice if I was to keep quiet about something that seems to only bring continual joy and exposure to show tunes.

You've all seen the made-for-tv musicals and movie musicals. That's not the mystery here. So let's start by talking about what an anniversary concert actually is, and then we'll get to why it is going to change your life.

Short answer: An Anniversary Concert is pretty much just a (VHS (lololol) or DVD) recording of an awesome performance of a Broadway musical.

Long answer: Basically, an anniversary concert is when a big, important Broadway show has been on stage for so long that it's celebrating an important anniversary (usually 10th, 15th, 20th or 25th - you know, the marker years). So the idea is to stage a big concert of the show's music and to get some of the most important names in theater to perform it, usually people who have played the roles being sung - or even new people who have the chops to do it justice.

The big man behind the stage production rounds up these people and gets them together to perform the concert, usually with only one or two performances of this elite cast, and then they sell tickets to it to the public. The show is performed for only those select nights, and it varies how it is performed. Sometimes the concert has the actors go through the performance with the show's staging, but they also can be done in a more traditional concert style, with the actors in costume and singing at stationary microphones. All the big wigs of the show usually go to these things - the writers, creators, lyricists, actors who originated the roles - so everyone is in under one roof. Basically, an anniversary concert is planned to be the "ultimate performance" of a show or its music. And then, this performance is usually recorded and then sold on DVD.

And THAT is where we come in.

result: incomparable sounds (as pictured here by the Les Mis 25th anniversary concert)

Because I've always been incurably enchanted by fairytales, it makes sense that my home-video-theater experiences would have started with our VHS recording of Cathy Rigby as Peter Pan. It's been my favorite show ever since. And then there were the Disney-produced made-for-tv musicals, which all have a place in my heart. This includes the Whitney Houston/Brandy-starring Cinderella (1997), The Music Man (2003) and goes right through all the High School Musical (2006) movies. Theater and TV and movies have always sort of been mixed together for me, and I'm glad this introduced me to what later became a love of live theater.

What I'm saying here isn't that these recordings can replace live theater. Obviously, I would urge anyone who has the chance to experience live theater to do it, especially since stage musicals were made to be experienced live. Support live theater! But, if you're strapped for cash, far from where live theater is accessible, or just want to experience the sounds of musical theater in your home, then I want to take the stigma off of DVD theater and make it a thing.

I love that these DVDs of shows make a performance accessible - to all kinds of people! To people who otherwise couldn't see the show, who are learning about theater, or who are total theater junkies.

So, where to start? Go with the Les Miserables 25th Anniversary concert DVD or The Phantom of the Opera 25th Anniversary. That's what I would say. Take two and call me in the morning!

Got recommendations for me? Other questions about the topic? Let me know! Otherwise, don't wait in the wings... time to get watching!

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