If I had a nickel for every time a hit musical had a song about ditching New York and running away to Santa Fe, well, I’d have two nickels, but still it’s weird that it happened twice.
“Santa Fe” is a song from the 1996 musical Rent about how these young people are disaffected because it’s the ‘90s and maybe they’ll enjoy being disaffected elsewhere? I kid. The song is a delight, and the original cast is a dream. Yes they were a little too old by the time the movie version came out, but—counterpoint—Jesse L. Martin’s baritone.
“Santa Fe” is also a song from the 2011 musical Newsies about how Jeremy Jordan is the beltiest belter ever to belt a belt. Also it’s about a teenager who has just watched his buddies get beaten up by corporate goons for trying to start a union.
So. I mean, I love Rent and it portrays its own societal tragedies beautifully, but in the battle of the Santas Fe specifically, the downtrodden newspaper lad might have the better claim for wanting to get out of town.1Temporally speaking, the newspaper lad might have the better claim too; although the stage musical came out in 2011, the original movie musical came out in 1992, four years before Rent.
Happy Day Threading!