If only all the world were a musical...

A recent conversation with Michelle reminded me of my longing to live, even for one day, in a world that operates like a musical. I kind of do this at home, though my musical selections haven't much to do with the moment. I go from singing Heart to Hymns in nanoseconds. One of my most annoying traits (to me) is the fact that I sometimes can only sing about two lines of any given song before I (A) start making up my own lyrics or (B) sing nonsense until I get to words I know again.
In musicals, life can be navigated with a mere song. The poor scarecrow laments his pure stupidity and inability to make any decisions with "If I Only Had a Brain." Sadly, I hum this under my breath when I meet certain people. (shameful, yes) Maria makes it all better when the Von Trapp children pile on her bed during a storm by singing, "My Favorite Things" {extraneous side-bar: this song is NOT a Christmas song, please stop playing it in the Christmas rotation}. Even a rainstorm is made lovely with Gene Kelly's "Singing in the Rain" and accompanying tap dance.
A song about a flat, brown state becomes exciting with "Oooooooook-lahoma, where the wind comes sweeping down the plain..." Life would be easier to live if we could just whip out the perfect song, sing it with gusto and back-up dancers, arms wide open to possibilities.
But we got all post-modern and realized that life was more layered and complicated and cliches are no longer cool or relevant. BUMMER!
Singing out loud is good for the soul. It makes your heart hum along...even if you can't sing, we've learned from American Idol that that is not such a hardship...as long as YOU believe you can sing (and do so in the privacy of your shower or car).
Most people REALLY LOVE or REALLY HATE a good musical. This hate sentiment...I do not understand. What a wonderful world it would be if anytime we felt like it, all time would stand still for a moment, the orchestra would swell, and we could belt out "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" or "I Could Have Danced All Night" or "Can't Help Lovin' dat Man." As long as we all took turns and backed each other up with good backing vocals, what's the harm? Musicals for President, 2008!