Monday 16 April 2018

Musical Monday #161

Every time I say to somebody that one of my favourite contemporary shows is Crazy Ex Girlfriend, and get a blank, uninterested stare back, so I say “it’s a musical!”, they react in one of two ways.  A few people say, “Like Glee?”


And I have to calmly say “No.  Because Glee isn’t a musical.  Glee is a show about singers (covering famous songs so that everything sounds the same).  A musical is when characters burst into song during moments of heightened emotion in their daily lives to extend the plot or show their inner thoughts (using original music).  Not the same thing.”

I don’t know what it is about Glee that gets me riled up.  Either it’s that I tried watching a few episodes back in the day and just couldn’t find what was supposed to be remotely appealing about it, or because Community told me to hate Glee, and Community wouldn’t lie.

Anyway, MOST people just react to the news that Crazy Ex Girlfriend is a musical by saying “That’s what puts me off” or “I don’t think I’d like that.”

Even though EVERYONE gets super excited every time one of their favourite shows does a musical episode, which practically everything feels the need to do ever since Buffy The Vampire Slayer normalised the concept.

What the hell is people’s problems?

I gotta admit I felt nervous myself watching the first episode, but a couple of people recommended it and so I gave it a go, and here’s the thing about Crazy Ex Girlfriend: It’s REALLY good.  It’s incredibly witty.  All the time.  All the songs are funny.  There’s nothing to feel embarrassed about, because it’s on your side.

It’s an intelligent and deep show while also being irreverent and witty.  The music pretty much covers every single style there is, some songs are more direct parodies or homages to famous pieces and others are more just using a certain style, but even when it’s a genre that I wouldn’t listen to for fun, the lyrics are so witty and the action is so slick or juxtaposed or clever or y’know, just gonna say this again, WITTY, that I can still love it.

And all the stuff between the songs, which is the majority of the show, is so funny and interesting and involving, that I genuinely care about these characters.

Plus, it makes a deliberate effort to be inclusive of different people, regarding sex, race, sexuality, age, size and mental health, so there’s pretty much nothing to dislike about it.

So for Musical Monday, here are my three favourite songs from Season One.

They were really hard to pick because I don’t think there’s a single dud in the entire first season.

I Gave You A UTI – Crazy Ex Girlfriend, episode ‘Why Is Josh In A Bad Mood?’
Performed by Santino Fontana
Written by Adam Schlesinger, Steven Gold and Rachel Bloom

After Everything I’ve Done For You (That You Didn’t Ask For) – Crazy Ex Girlfriend, episode ‘Paula Needs To Get Over Josh!’
Performed by Donna Lynne Champlin
Written by Adam Schlesinger and Rachel Bloom

West Covina – Crazy Ex Girlfriend, episode ‘Josh Just Happens To Live Here!’
Performed by Rachel Bloom, among others
Written by Rachel Bloom and Jerome Kurtenbach

See you next week for season two.



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