When I was very little I discovered my mother’s collection of soundtracks. They were mainly Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals: Oklahoma, Carousel, The Sound of Music but she had Meredith Wilson’s The Music Man too, which is one of my all time favorites.
I would play them on the stereo in the living room. Dance around. Sing. Act out the parts – once I was old enough to understand that they were telling stories. I can’t remember when I reached an age where I was too self-conscious to perform “publicly”, but eventually the stereo was dismissed to the basement where my “productions” continued well into my early teens.*
Since then I have had a life long love of musicals, but not so much as something to watch. My affair is music and lyric based, and of course, all about the story-telling.**
Cinderella was one of my favorites growing up. I remember watching it on television yearly for a long time. I don’t remember the girl who played Cinderella but the Prince was portrayed by a soap actor on one of my favorite soaps, General Hospital.
The following clip is from the 1997 Whitney Houston/Brandy version. I used to show it to my students when we were studying folk/fairy tales. The multi-ethnic casting never seemed to bother them, a testament to the power of the story, I think.
The song is Ten Minutes Ago and it reminds me of both my husbands.
*I always wanted to get up on stage and sing, dance and act, but I was too shy and too aware of my size. The only time I tried out for a play in high school I was rejected because of my weight.
**The only musical I have ever seen live was Les Miserables, and yes, I know it is overwrought, but the songs are wonderful and story is compelling.
anniegirl1138 
I LOVE musicals. Wicked and Rent are my favorites right now. Also love some of the off the beaten track musicals like “Merrily We Roll Along.”
I think we all should just forget what color we are, or other people are. I’d never seen this version of Cinderella, but I like it.
I never was much of one for music, although my mother was a pianist, and played classical music all the time. The only musical I can remember we had was “South Pacific.” That, and the aria from Carmen are the soundtracks of my childhood.
*melt* Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (sigh)…
one of my few concessions to “girl-ness”… i used to do all the songs from this one, too… Bippity Boppity Boo! Thanks for the blast from the past!
And you might consider finding a regional community theater… there’s such magic in creating a performance from nothing, and watching it go “poof” when it closes… a different kind of creativity, but you might surprise yourself!
(yes to Avenue Q as well – pretty brilliant… the song “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist” fits your theme, too!)
If you need a few good belly-laughs, go out and get yourself the soundtrack to Avenue Q . Ever hear of it? Not in the same league as the stuff you’re talking about here, but lots of fun.
I produced our production of ‘Cinderella’ a few years back. Our King was white, but our Queen was black. Several weeks after the show, an older man stopping me at the Safeway. He told me he enjoyed the show, but he wasn’t too wild about our politically correct casting. He thought it looked silly because the King was white and the Prince was white, but the mother was black. I was taken aback at first. Because, I sometimes forget that there are still people like that out there. I guess he didn’t have any problems with a Fairy Godmother or a pumpkin coach, that didn’t stretch the bounds of reality any.
I’ve never been a big fan of musicals myself. Or opera, for that matter. I can’t tell why; maybe I just want my stories given in spoken lines rather than having to decipher the music. It might be why I’m not fond of Shakespeare either. *shrug*