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

Which ones? I didn't catch it.

>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).

Chicago was stunning visually, but gave me a headache. The plot was so convoluated and ridiculous, it was impossible to follow. And no, Richard Gere CAN"T act OR sing. But damn if Latifa was the shizzle! She MADE that movie, what there was to be made.

>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.

No. I've seen more moving performances on Knight Rider.

>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.

Well, I did dig my own hole by saying I hate musicals, but is it a lesser evil? Stacked up against classic musicals? No. I'll take Busby Berkeley any day over this.

>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.

Sort of like "Trapped in the Closet"? That's not entirely fair though. It was better than that.