Student Blog: My Top 5 Favorite Summer Musicals

If I'm being honest, I'm listening to musicals every single month of the year but of course, there are some of them that are perfect for the christmas season or in this case, summer days. So here I am, ranking my favorite summer musicals, because it's that time of the year, where I just drive to the store, go to the gym or clean my room, wishing I was in Greece, New York or Italy for the best days of the year.

1.- In the Heights: What can I say about this one, that is also one of my favorite musicals ever, since the first time I listened to it I wanted to spend one summer in the city. Walking around Washington Heights, taking the train to explore the neighborhoods, eating in a local restaurant, going to the bridge and more, feeling the summer vibes more than ever. My favorite songs from this musical are "In the Heights", "96,000", "When you're home" and "Carnaval del Barrio", because I love the way the music transports you to a colorful, sunny and fun summer.

2.- Mamma Mia!: It's weird that the title is in italian, the story happens in Greece and the songs are from a Swedish pop group but when I tell you I love this musical, I'm not kidding. One thing I enjoy most about the summer is that people choose this season to visit new places and rediscover themselves, maybe it's because it's vacation time or I don't know, but thanks to Mamma Mia! I'll run away one summer to have a magical time with my friends and I'll try to crash a wedding just to make it more perfect, mark my words.

3.- Sunday in the Park with George: The way this musical mixes up art and music in a story it's so beautiful. Listening to the songs made me wish I was in a museum or at the park, because I'm that kind of person that loves to write and imagine stories, so of course I love going sightseeing and if I need some inspiration Stephen Sondheim's work is the best option. It makes you enter this fictional world and when you come back to the real one, you've learned something by just paying attention to some lyrics or analyzing one of the songs.

4.- The Last 5 Years: Summer love is great, but for those rainy days we need a little bit of tragedy and this musical is that. I'm not a big fan of stories that end with a broken heart but exploring the relationship between Cathy and Jamie really puts you in a place where you can understand the stages of the relationship in general and the feelings of them both through the seasons with the different genres of music. Also I guess summer itself has a special part in this story, maybe it's just me but I associate it with Cathy and the big changes she had in her life.

5.- Grease: This one's a classic and it's not exactly set in the summer, but I remember having to watch the movie when I was like seven years old, all because it was going to be the winter musical and every group would be performing a number. I was probably in first grade and the song my teachers chose was "Summer Nights", so of course I spent that summer obsessed with the songs and the characters.

Maybe the musicals in this list aren't exactly summer musicals, but what I love about them is that if I'm listening to them, I could feel like the main character during these hot days and I think that's all we need sometimes.