life lessons from musicals

[StageStar2468]

Posted: 3/23/16 at 8:18pm

Hey guys!

I'm an RA for my college and part of our job is to make bulletin boards for the residents of my floor. This month I thought it would be fun to do Life Lessons from Musicals as my theme. I'm aiming for lessons somewhat relavent to their lives or some that are just humorous and funny. They can be from popular shows or ones not as many people will recognize, and they can either be direct quotes from songs or paraphrasing a line or song into some kind of lesson.

Some examples I have so far are "Don't throw away your shot", "No one is alone", "Everything in life is only for now", and "It's ok to change your major" (I'll let them interpret the last one however they wish lol)

Anyway, I'd love to hear any suggestions from you guys :) thanks so much!
Updated On: 3/23/16 at 08:18 PM

[Tag]

Posted: 3/23/16 at 9:09pm

Carefully Taught from South Pacific.

[ChildofEarth]

Posted: 3/23/16 at 10:26pm

Measure your life in love,

Listen to the midnight radio.

Ask for nothing and you shall receive it in abundance.

Some girls fight hard, some face the trial, some girls were just meant to smile.

It's no crime to be poor.

Put on a happy face.

Never eat meat pies.

You can't just walk out of a drive in.

Stay away from jazz and liquor and men who play for fun.

Never talk about marriage with a musician.

People who are different, their time is coming.

The sun will come out tomorrow.

 

 

 

Updated On: 3/23/16 at 10:26 PM

[ggersten]

Posted: 3/23/16 at 10:33pm

I'm getting too old for the oldest profession.

I wish I could go back to college.

Life is a cabaret.

Life's a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death

 

[TFMH18]

Posted: 3/23/16 at 10:39pm

Basically every song (and line of dialogue) in If/Then:

Always starting over

My new life starts right now 

Take breath and then fly off the cliff 

Love while you can 

 

...to name just a few!

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/23/16 at 10:53pm

 

Every song from Into the Woods.

 

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/23/16 at 11:06pm

 

"Life-lesson" soliloquies were common in Shakespeare's day. ("To Be or Not to Be," "The Seven Ages of Man," etc.) 

The very first "life-lesson" song in a musical was probably this one, in 1904, from George M. Cohan's Little Johnny Jones.

It's a very Irish attitude: wry, ironic and slightly existential. Parts of it have always seemed to me to even presage the Irish nihilism of Samuel Beckett. 

The song was recently included in an episode of Boardwalk Empire, but here is Cohan's original Edison recording and the lyrics, which still resonate.

 

 

Did you ever sit and ponder,
Sit and wonder, sit and think,
Why we're here and what this life is all about?

It's a problem that has driven
Many brainy men to drink.
It's the weirdest thing they've tried to figger out.

About a thousand diff'rent the-o-ries
The scientists can show,
But never yet have proved a reason why
With all we've thought,
And all we're taught,
Why all we seem to know is:
We're born. We live a while. And then we die.

Life's a very funny proposition after all--
Imagination, jealousy, hypocrisy, gall.
Three meals a day, a whole lot to say--
When you haven't got the coin, you're always in the way.

Ev'rybody's fighting as we wend our way along.
Ev'ry fellow claims the other fellow's in the wrong.
Hurried and worried until we're buried--
And there's no curtain call.
Life's a very funny proposition after all.

When things are coming easy, 
And when luck is with a man,
Then life to him is sunshine ev'rywhere.

Then the fates blow rather breezy--
And they quite upset a plan.
And he'll cry that life's a burden hard to bear.

Though today may be a day of smiles, 
Tomorrow's still in doubt.
And what brings me joy may bring you care and woe.

We're born to die, but don't know why--or what it's all about,
And the more we try to learn the less we know.

Life's a very funny proposition, you can bet,
And no one's ever solved the problem properly as yet.
Young for a day, then old and gray;
Like the rose that buds and blooms and fades and falls away,

Losing health to gain our wealth as through this dream we tour.
Ev'rything's a guess and nothing's absolutely sure;
Battles exciting and fates we're fighting until the curtain falls.
Life's a very funny proposition after all.

 

[PalJoey]

Posted: 3/23/16 at 11:13pm

This Vincent Youmans song from 1922 was the title song to a musical called Through the Years. Judy Garland later turned it into a life lesson:

 

 

 

She also took the title song of Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson's Lost in the Stars and turned that into a life-lesson too:

 

 

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 3/23/16 at 11:29pm

I'll Begin Again - Scrooge

In My Own Lifetime (I'd Like To See The Fighting Cease) -The Rothschilds

[Steve C.]

Posted: 3/23/16 at 11:48pm

Well maybe I'm the f@ggot America,

I'm not part of a redneck agenda,

Now everybody do the propaganda,

And sing along to the age of paranoia.

 

Don't want to be an American idiot,

One nation controlled by the media,

Information nation of hysteria,

It's calling out to idiot America...

 

(and in a completely different vein, thanks for a little bit of Judy again PJ)

[John Adams]

Posted: 3/24/16 at 12:20am

- Talk Less, Smile More
- If You Stand for Nothing, What’ll You Fall For?
- Never Do Anything Twice
- I’d Rather Be Nine People’s Favorite Thing Than a Hundred People’s Ninth Favorite Thing
- It’s Not Where You Start, It’s Where You Finish
- Cherish Your Romantic Notions
- Love Who You Love
- Open A New Window, Open a New Door

Miss Mona’s Special “No-No” Rules are surprisingly applicable in a dorm scenario (and life, too):

1. Beds are not to be wallered in. That’s the kind of thing that big, fat lazy hogs do… and it don’t make money.
2. I don’t tolerate no tiein’ up my telephone with other people’s business.
3. Please, don’t show me no tattoos, no hearts and flowers on your thigh. It’s downright tacky. Brands belong on cattle, and that ain’t what we’re selling’ at Miss Mona’s.
4. [Your parents] pay the food and the rent and the utilities. You keep your mind on your work responsibilities. Don’t let your mouth overload your capabilities and we can get along.
5. Any questions you might have about the way this place is run? Don’t gripe and whine behind my back. Just tell me face to face - I’m open minded. Say it all, then go upstairs and pack.
6. Any bad habits you come in with get rid of right now.
7. I don’t like no chewin’ gum. It looks just like a cow.
8. Anyone takin’ sick leave ought’ta be real sure they’re sick.
9. No whips or rough stuff - this ain’t the marine corps
10. No three or more in a bed - this ain’t the circus
11. No kissin’ on the mouth - this ain’t the marine corps (ooops…. I mean the Junior prom. [No, I don't... I mean the marine corps.])

Updated On: 3/24/16 at 12:20 AM

[rangersrule132]

Posted: 3/24/16 at 2:15am

As a person in college, I find myself needing to be constantly brought back to reality in regards to life as we can very easily take advantage of it. All that comes to mind is Life Support or Finale B from RENT all I have to do is listen to those with the line "No day but today" and it humbles me.

[chewy5000]

Posted: 3/24/16 at 2:55am

You don't thank a person for hot orange juice, you slug 'em.

[rodrigo_ca]

Posted: 3/24/16 at 7:41am

The one line that has been stuck to my mind is "It' better to have lived than left" from The Drowsy Chaperone, but I can also point out as favorites No day but today, from Rent, "The sun will come out tomorrow", from Annie, "careful the tale you tell, that is the spell, children will listen", from Into the Woods, along with "no one is alone".

And last, but no less important, Man of la Mancha, as a whole, but specifically The Impossible Dream. I couldn't point out a single line without feeling unfair.

[Broadway kid 2]

Posted: 3/24/16 at 10:44am

rodrigo_ca said: "The one line that has been stuck to my mind is "It' better to have lived than left" from The Drowsy Chaperone, but I can also point out as favorites No day but today, from Rent, "The sun will come out tomorrow", from Annie, "careful the tale you tell, that is the spell, children will listen", from Into the Woods, along with "no one is alone".

And last, but no less important, Man of la Mancha, as a whole, but specifically The Impossible Dream. I couldn't point out a single line without feeling unfair.

 

"

 

[mpkie]

Posted: 3/24/16 at 10:53am

What a fun idea!

"It is time for us all to decide who we are."

"You can move a mountain stone by stone."

"What good is sitting alone in your room?"

"If you were gay, that'd be okay. I mean 'cause, hey, I'd like you anyway."

This one is also kind of funny out of context... "Too late to go back to sleep."

Or on a more serious note: "It's time to trust your instincts."

And take your pick from any line from "The Secret of Happiness" from Daddy Long Legs. I listen to it when I'm feeling especially down and stressed. Some suggestions bolded:

I've discovered,
the secret of happiness is,
Learning how to glide
I've discovered,
the secret of happiness is,
Just enjoy the ride...
Don't let your journey be tainted by pride and...
I've discovered,
the secret of happiness is,
not to mourn the past
I've discovered,
the secret of happiness is,
not to run too fast!
You can still beat them by coming in last,
cause,
the secret, the secret of happiness is,
I've discovered,
the secret of happiness is,
not to be afraid,
I've discovered,
the secret of happiness is,
all illusions fade!
Don't fear the future, you'll just be delayed, cause,
The secret, the secret of happiness is,
living in the now,
Living in the time it takes to blink, I think, is how,
we're meant to be living...
I've discovered,
the secret of happiness is,
following my will...
I've discovered, the secret of happiness is,
though we can run that hill,
happiness comes when we learn to be still, and,
the secret, the secret of happiness is...
the secret of happiness is clear,
the secret of happiness is near,
the secret of happiness is here...

[WhizzerMarvin]

Posted: 3/24/16 at 10:54am

You can't get a man with a gun 

 

A superior mental IQ makes inferior minds dislike you

 

 

[gypsy101]

Posted: 3/24/16 at 11:09am

nice is different than good!

 

Happiness is 5 different crayons.

 

life is just a bowl of cherries.

[Mike Costa]

Posted: 3/24/16 at 12:17pm

If I kept my hair natural like yours I'd be bald.

Jerry Herman

 

I'll Be Your Mother

Sondheim

 

Life is a banquet and most poor bastards are starving to death!

Patrick Dennis

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 3/24/16 at 12:38pm

The Best Of Times is Now

[KathyNYC2]

Posted: 3/24/16 at 5:32pm

Even if you're little you can do a lot                                   

Happiness is anything that's loved by you. 

Just be who you want to be, never let em tell you who you ought to be. 

The reason birds can fly is they have perfect faith. 

[Eliza2]

Posted: 3/24/16 at 5:49pm

The History of Wrong Guys from Kinky Boots:

Chapter one - he's a bum
Two - he's not into you
Three - he's a sleaze
Four- loves the girl next door
Five- loves the boy next door
Six - don't love you no more
Makes you insecure
Makes you so unsure
Is so immature
Loves his mother more

 

"Just a little faith and both  your feet leave the ground" - Finding Neverland

 

Hold on from The Secret Garden

What you do then is you tell yourself to wait it out
And say it's this day, not me, that's bound to go away.

Child hold on.
It's this day, not you, that's bound to go away!

Updated On: 3/24/16 at 05:49 PM

[South Florida]

Posted: 3/24/16 at 6:28pm

Child of Earth mentioned measure your life in love, yes.  The other one I love is "to love another person is to see the face of God."  God, love, is whatever we want it to be.  Hopefully it's another person.

 

 

[Wick3]

Posted: 3/25/16 at 12:49pm

"My Favorite Things" - from Sound of Music. I used to listen to this whenever there was a thunderstorm back as a kid

"History of Wrong Guys" - from Kinky Boots.... hilarious but so true.