This weekend, I had the chance to see a musical called “Tootsie” and to say my experience was amazing is an understatement. Imagine the feeling of walking into a movie theater, anxiously waiting to sit down to watch the hot new movie. Now, take that feeling and multiply it by one thousand. That is the experience of going to a theater to watch a live musical.

When you first arrive at the theater you see a crowd of people excitedly waiting for the doors to open. The feeling in your stomach is not the way you feel at a movie theater. It’s different. It’s the feeling of anxiousness and exhilaration. The doors finally open and you are suddenly in that crowd of people trying to make your way through the doors. Everyone in the theater has the same feeling as you, the feeling of butterflies and anticipation. When you finally find your seats, the butterflies in your stomach die down. All you do is wait, and wait, and wait until the curtains come up and the musical you had patiently been waiting for has finally begun.

One of the many reasons why live musicals are better than movies is because of the connections you make with the actors and actresses. You can truly feel their emotions because it’s in real-time. During this exhilarating experience, you get a first-hand look at the actors’ real singing voices and real emotions. Musicals, in general, have a more entertaining way of acting and singing unlike in movies. It feels and looks like they really enjoy what they are doing, which keeps the audience engaged. It’s an experience that you can’t find anywhere else.

Musicals are also more entertaining than movies because the audiences are more lively rather than at a movie theater. During the funny jokes, the audience would all laugh in unison and the actors would pause their scene to wait for the laughter to die down. It almost feels like you’re a part of the musical. By the audience’s reactions, you can really feel the emotions of each scene. If the scene is sad, the audience is silent. If the scene is funny, the audience laughs. It makes the theater experience more enjoyable and amusing to watch.

As I was watching “Tootsie,” I never once got bored or distracted. Your eyes are just glued to the stage, waiting for the next funny line or intense moment. You can also feel all the hard work that went into the musical which makes you want to keep watching. During a movie, you know that it has been filmed once and played over thousands of times, but with musicals, you know that the actors and crew are putting everything they have to create the best experience possible for the audience every performance. You can feel a sense of accomplishment when the last bow is taken and the actors receive a standing ovation.

When the musical is coming to an end, you feel as if you had just been on a long exciting journey. The actors will make one final bow and just like that, the show is over. When walking out of the theater, you feel like you just walked out of another world. The theater is a magical place, a place where the best experiences happen right in front of your eyes.