Okay, so some of you may be wondering where the name Cages and Wings? came from. It is a line from one of my all-time favorite songs, "Louder than Words", from the incredible musical Tick, Tick...Boom!. Jonathan Larson (the Pulitzer Prize winning creator and composer of Rent) wrote this musical originally as an autobiographical rock monologue that he performed in New York in the early 1990s. After the success of Rent (and his tragic death the day before Rent's opening night), a playwright named David Auburn revised and altered Tick, Tick...Boom! and turned it into a three actor show. It opened off-Broadway in 2001 with the incredible Raul Esparza as Jon, Jerry Dixon as Michael, and the inspiring Amy Spanger as Susan. The show still followed Jonathan Larson's life, passions, and ideals through the perspective of the main character, Jon. The script is moving, the songs are fantastic and insightful, and the subtle (and unsubtle) homage paid to Larson's idol, Stephen Sonheim, is quite endearing.
Cages or Wings? stems from the chorus of "Louder than Words" that goes:
"Cages or wings?
Which do you prefer?
Ask the birds.
Fear or love, baby?
Don't say the answer.
Actions speak louder than words."
I think that this chorus is so incredibly powerful. It talks about the courage it takes sometimes to do what you love and what is important to you, though it may be easy to just do nothing and suffer through life unfulfilled.
I also think that the last titular line is important; saying who you want to be and what you want to do and what you wish is so much different than actually going through with it. My dad reminds me of this all of the time actually. When I was a little girl and decided that I wanted to be an actress/singer/dancer (just like Shirley Temple), my parents let me take voice lessons. I loved to sing but I hated all of the boring exercises and vocalises and practicing that went into it. My parents eventually made me stop taking voice lessons for a few years because I wasn't practicing, and thus progressing at a snail's pace. That was the (albeit harsh) wake-up call I needed to realize that if I wanted to do even high school theatre successfully, let alone as my career, I have to work...and work I did. I am now a Bachelor of Music major with a concentration in Musical Theatre and I have to keep working daily to continue to improve and be my best :)
So, in a novel, this beautiful song (which you can listen to here) is the inspiration for my blog's title. If you love beautiful music, Rent, and inspiration, I would definitely recommend listening to the entire show. My favorite songs include the touching "Why", the very famous "Come to Your Senses", the super catchy "30/90", and the celebratory "No More". Enjoy!
Love, Leaza
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