What I like about this image is that it has that one way sign in the background, which is very prophetic. I think others like me will agree: Once you fall in love with Broadway, there's no turning back.

I've made it pretty clear that I love musicals. I LOVE musicals. As in I am OBSESSED with them. I have been for about a decade, if not longer. I remember when I was 15 and my dad and I went to New York City just the two of us and he took me to The Phantom of the Opera. I can pinpoint that incredible experience as the moment I was hooked. From there on out it was just love love love love love.

I get asked a lot which ones I like, and that is such a hard question because there are so many and that is a lot to bombard someone with when I know they just want a short answer. So I decided to give you an idea of how much musicals consume my life. I'm going to provide you with a couple of lists to peruse at your leisure.

First off cast albums. To put this in perspective, iTunes says I have 116 albums that I've classified as musicals. Some of these are only one song, but you get the idea. I've collected these albums through various means throughout the years. And as with any collection, there are "pieces" I prefer above others, albums I don't listen to so much anymore. I decided to group them by the people who wrote the music and lyrics because it made sense as I was doing this and I think it is just as important to know who wrote the song as it is to know who sings it.

OBC/OOBC: Original Broadway/Off-Broadway Cast, BR: Broadway Revival, L: London

Full Albums:
Adam Guettel: The Light in the Piazza (2005 OBC)
Alan Menken, Howard Ashman & Glenn Slater: The Little Mermaid (2008 OBC)
Alan Menken, Howard Ashman & Tim Rice: Beauty and the Beast (1994 OBC)
Andrew Lippa: The Wild Party (2000 OOBC)
Andrew Lloyd Webber & Charles Hart: The Phantom of the Opera (1986 OLC)
Andrew Lloyd Webber & Tim Rice: Evita (1979 OBC & 1996 Film)
Arthur Sullivan & W. S. Gilbert: The Pirates of Penzance (1981 BC)
Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus: Mamma Mia! (1999 OLC & 2008 Film)
Charles Strouse & Martin Charnin: Annie (1977 OBC)
Clark Gesner: You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown (1999 BR)
Claude-Michel Schönberg & Alain Boublil: Les Misérables (1985 OLC & 1988 Complete Symphonic), Miss Saigon (1989 OLC), The Pirate Queen (2007 OBC)
Cole Porter: Anything Goes (1987 BR), Kiss Me, Kate (1953 Film & 1999 BR)
David Yazbek: Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (2005 OBC), The Full Monty (2001 OBC)
Duncan Sheik & Steven Sater: Spring Awakening (2006 OBC)
Elton John & Bernie Taupin: Lestat (2006 OBC)
Elton John & Tim Rice: Aida (2000 OBC), The Lion King (1997 OBC)
Frank Loesser: Guys and Dolls (1992 BR)
Frank Wildhorn, Don Black & Christopher Hampton: Dracula (2005 Concept)
Frank Wildhorn & Jack Murphy: The Civil War (1998 Studio)
Frank Wildhorn & Leslie Bricusse: Jekyll & Hyde (1994 Concept & 1997 OBC)
Frank Wildhorn & Nan Knighton: The Scarlet Pimpernel (1998 OBC)
George Forrest & Robert Wright: Kismet (1955 Film)
Harvey Schmidt & Tom Jones: 110 in the Shade (2007 BR)
Henry Krieger & Bill Russell: Side Show (1997 OBC)
Henry Krieger & Tom Eyen: Dreamgirls (2006 Film)
Irving Berlin: Annie Get Your Gun (1946 OBC & 1999 BR), Easter Parade (1948 Film)
Jason Robert Brown: The Last 5 Years (2002 OOBC), Parade (1998 OBC), Songs for a New World (1996 ONYC), 13 (2008 OBC)
Jeanine Tesori & Dick Scanlan: Thoroughly Modern Millie (2002 OBC)
Jerome Kern & Oscar Hammerstein II: Show Boat (1951 Film)
John Du Prez & Eric Idle: Monty Python’s Spamalot (2005 OBC)
John Kander & Fred Ebb: Chicago (2002 Film), Curtains (2007 OBC), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1993 OBC & 1993 Other Cast)
Jonathan Larson: Rent (2005 Film), tick, tick…BOOM! (2001 OOBC)
Jule Styne & Stephen Sondheim: Gypsy (1959 OBC & 2008 BR)
Laurence O'Keefe & Nell Benjamin: Legally Blonde (2007 OBC)
Leonard Bernstein: Candide (1989 Cast)
Leonard Bernstein, Adolph Green & Betty Comden: Wonderful Town (1999 L Studio)
Leonard Bernstein & Stephen Sondheim: West Side Story (1961 Film)
Lin-Manuel Miranda: In the Heights (2008 OBC)
Lisa Lambert & Greg Morrison: The Drowsy Chaperone (2006 OBC)
Marc Shaiman & Scott Wittman: Hairspray (2007 Film)
Mark Hollmann & Greg Kotis: Urinetown (2001 OOBC)
Mary Rodgers & Marshall Barer: Once Upon a Mattress (1996 BR)
Matthew Sklar & Chad Beguelin: The Wedding Singer (2006 OBC)
Meredith Wilson: The Music Man (1962 Film)
Michael John LaChiusa: Marie Christine (1999 OBC), The Wild Party (2000 OBC)
Paul Gordon: Jane Eyre (2000 OBC)
Richard Adler & Jerry Ross: The Pajama Game (2006 Br Rev)
Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II: Oklahoma! (1955 Film), The Sound of Music (1965 Film), South Pacific (2008 BR)
Sherman Edwards: 1776 (1969 OBC)
Stephen Bray, Brenda Russell & Allee Willis: The Color Purple (2005 OBC)
Stephen Flaherty & Lynn Ahrens: Lucky Stiff (1993 Studio), Once on This Island (1990 OBC), Ragtime (1998 OBC), Seussical: The Musical (2000 OBC)
Stephen Schwartz: Wicked (2003 OBC)
Stephen Sondheim: Assassins (1991 OOBC & 2004 BR), Company (2006 BR), Into the Woods (1987 OBC), Merrily We Roll Along (1993 Cast), Passion (1994 OBC), Sunday in the Park With George (1984 OBC), Sweeney Todd (1979 OBC)
William Finn: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (2005 OBC)

Partial Albums:
Frederick Loewe & Alan Jay Lerner: Brigadoon (1954 Movie), Gigi (1958 Film)
Jason Howland & Mindi Dickstein: Little Women (2005 OBC)
Jerry Bock & Sheldon Harnick: Fiddler on the Roof (1971 Film)
John Kander & Fred Ebb: Cabaret (1972 Movie)
Jonathan Larson: Rent (1996 OBC)
Lucy Simon & Marsha Norman: The Secret Garden (1991 OBC)
Maury Yeston: Nine (2003 BR)
Mitch Leigh & Joe Darion: Man of La Mancha (2002 BR)
Peter Allen: The Boy From Oz (2003 OBC)
Richard Lopez & Jeff Marx: Avenue Q (2003 OBC)
William Finn: A New Brain (1998 OOBC)

Also, I wanted to list just a few of the voices of Broadway that I have come to love so much. Many of these albums I got because of who was in them, and grew to love the rest of the music later.

Leading Men: Adam Pascal, Anthony Crivello, Brent Carver, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Douglas Sills, Hadley Fraser, James Barbour, Mandy Patinkin, Matthew Morrison, Norbert Leo Butz, Norm Lewis, Raúl Esparza and Robert Westenberg

Leading Ladies: Audra McDonald, Bernadette Peters, Donna Murphy, Joanna Gleason, Julia Murney, Kelli O’Hara, Kristin Chenoweth, Laura Benanti, Lea Salonga, Linda Eder, Marin Mazzie, Patti LuPone, Sherie Rene Scott, Stephanie J. Block and Sutton Foster

There, that should give you an idea of what a big part of my life this is. I hope you are duly impressed/afraid/jealous! And I didn't even list which shows I've seen and where and when: I keep a list of that too.