I've always had a thing for music documentaries and musical theatre. I attribute this to the fact that I've always really wanted to be a musician despite a lack of discernible talent. (My mom will dispute this fact. I did take piano lessons for 6 years when I was younger, and I can somewhat carry a tune, but no one would pay to see me sing unless I was well muffled by a choir). The closest I've come to performing is performing for 12 year olds on a daily basis. I'm also a very good singer in the car.
Without delving into great detail about the origins of my musical inclinations, I thought I'd recommend two musical documentaries I came across recently. I find musical documentaries incredibly absorbing, and these two allowed me to slide into a different world for an hour or two.
The first is a Bob Marley documentary. My husband loves Marley, while I just tagged along for his sake, I ended up finding it really interesting.
The second documentary I watched was about the Swell Season. I fell in love with the band after seeing the move Once several years ago. We went to see them in NYC at Radio City. The movie actually ends with a performance we were at. The musical version of Once recently won eight Tony awards, and while the adaptation is quite a bit different, I still would love to see the show. The documentary follows around Glen and Marketa and just peers into their lives. (As an aside, I would really like to start a tradition where my friends and I sit around a table and just sing a line from a song a capella before dinner.)
