Ahead of Madonna’s half-time performance, I thought I’d share a few things related to Madge. Funny how I came across the retrospective linked above this morning. I’ve had Madonna on the brain ever since. I’ve long had a love/hate relationship with the queen of pop. I include a previous Madonna-related post below. Right or wrong, her music remains the soundtrack of my childhood. I decided to include the official videos for “Material Girl” and “Cherish,” two of my childhood favorites. You can find the official video for “Cherish” here. I also include the inspiration for “Material Girl” – “Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend” with Marilyn Monroe.
While I never fully had an opportunity to participate in drama throughout high school, which is another story altogether, there is a special place in my heart for theatre and musical theatre in particular. I grew up watching one of my aunts star in several community theatre projects. In particular I loved her as Dolly Levi Gallagher from Hello, Dolly!. As a five year-old, I became transfixed and obsessed. I did not know that my aunt could sing like that! A little later I had the pleasure of watching her in Grease and Nunsense, among others. Those childhood afternoons and evenings spent with family watching incredibly small, local theatre productions truly did inspire me and continue to do so.
One of my favorite musicals of all time is Evita. I love every single thing about it, including the movie version starring Madonna and Antonio Banderas. In fact, as much as I hate to admit this, there was a time during my high school years that I could practically recite the entire movie. I love it that much. It is the only movie I’ve experienced in the movie theater three times. Again, I became transfixed. Imagine my surprise when I learned that Evita will be resurrected on Broadway this spring. My only disappointment is that Patti LuPone will not be starring as Eva. I’d love to have had the opportunity to see a performance of the original Broadway production of Evita.
After reading the post above, I have to admit that I’d love to see any of the productions included on Girl Meets Broadway’s list. If there is anything that could lure me to a large metropolis, it would be theatre. I have yet to be severely disappointed by any theatrical performance large or small.
Vintage everyday does it again. At times I can’t get enough. Today one of my favorite topics took center stage, even if only for a few hours. The Beatles. I will never get enough of them or their music. The pictures included above are just perfect, some of which I’ve seen before. My favorite picture is the very last picture in the post. It doesn’t get better than the Beatles hanging out in the pool.
Well, as a result of the blog post above, I ended up at the Life website. That, of course, led to the discovery of a wonderful photo gallery of Madonna (aka Madge) throughout the years. Yep, Madonna takes over in all her bustier glory. Music and acting be damned, she easily could’ve become famous for her fashion sense, or her lack of it, depending on your opinion. Love her or hate her, she’s always been unique.
Back at vintage everyday I discovered a picture of Madonna, before becoming the queen of pop, with her family. It reminded me of why I continue to love her attitude despite everything. At heart she is just a Michigan girl who became famous for being herself. I’ve always loved the fact that she wasn’t afraid to be controversial and wasn’t afraid to use her sexuality to the fullest.
Despite all of my love of her music, her attitude, and her roots, I can’t pretend to love everything Madonna’s ever done. She can’t act for one. Well, I shouldn’t say that. I loved her in Evita and in A League of Their Own, two of my favorite films of all time. Then again, in those movies, the characters she played weren’t too far off from her public persona. When you play just another version of yourself, is that truly acting? I’m not sure. Everything else she’s been in over the years film wise tends to be forgettable at best, regrettable at worst.
No matter how much she embarrasses herself in public in the coming years, there will always be a special place in my heart for Madonna, especially her music. The soundtrack of my childhood would have to include Material Girl, Like A Virgin, La Isla Bonita, and This Used To Be My Playground, among many others from her back catalog. I can attest that I’ve loved Like A Virgin – and almost every song on The Immaculate Collection – long before I even knew what a virgin was.
Then there are the Beatles. Here again I’d have to include an entire album or more of Beatles tunes on any soundtrack of my life. I won’t even begin to narrow down my options here. There are only a handful of songs that I wouldn’t want to include from the Beatles catalog. I predict the Beatles will still inhabit some place in pop culture 100 years from now.
