I do think the songs build, even if they start very emotional and go to an even higher plane.

Yes, musicals are melodramatic-- almost all of them, by nature. It's funny you mentioned Chicago below, one of the dryest least-emotional musicals of all-time (but therein lies its appeal, in its sexy cool detachment).

But it's really a pretty good show. By no means is it one of my favorite "shows", but it was done surprisingly well as a film. It's not a show I imagine lends itself to conversion to film easily, as you can tell by a few clunky transitions in the movie (there's so much "performance" of songs within the show that when they sing away from performance, it's awkward at first). But I thought it was filmed beautifully, Condon really created a nice world for those characters, and the performances were all pretty damn good. It's hard to sing those melodramatic songs with an earnestness that sucks you in the way that Hudson and Murphy and the others do.

There are parts I don't dig, sure. But overall I really enjoyed it-- one of the better movie musicals I've seen since Chicago, probably the best since Chicago. And the nature of the beast is its melodramatic delivery... but that's what most musicals are.

After all, these characters have to feel SO emotional that words no longer cut it, they need to SING. There's something intrisically corny about that, but if you give yourself over to it, it can make for a pretty terrific experience.