Posted 5:31 PM by Gene

The SUPERMANNING of AMERICA continues apace, its new field of battle the HIGH-SCHOOL MUSICAL. We should not be surprised: that prime motive of EHDYUKAYTORS that you can spend your way into excellence finds abundance here; it is slightly revolting to think that two big licensing outfits (one R&H, the other descended from the music-publishing operations of Frank Loesser) now are glorified wards of the state. Mickey and Judy surely didn't need the EHDYUKAYSHUN DEEPARTMEANT. We're not surprised at the favorites either, despite THE PAPER OF RE-CORD's injunction, a largely insipid list with one real exception: Bye Bye Birdie, Cinderella, Guys and Dolls (the exception), Grease (yeeeeeech!), You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown (an otherwise suitably small-scale affair and a favorite among professional nerds) -- and Into the Woods. That last isn't so odd when one considers DER KULT of HERR DOKTOR SONDHEIM, which has too many adherents in the amateur ranks (and let us not forget its GAYness), and that it's his only MASTERWORK that might be marginally acceptable for a "family" audience, and that may not be TOO dull. Our author holds the paucity of night-life in small-town America in part to blame for this cultural bicep-building, and we can't help thinking that once even the smallest hamlets had their own vaudeville houses, and thus played a huge role in the greatness that was once show-biz. One hopes as these shows become as bloated as everything else American the EHDYUKAYTORS can never quite excise that certain giddiness that goes with being young and doing theater. I remember my own wasted musical days too well; my never-to-be-published college satire reeks with them. Indeed what a tragedy it is that people think musicals a GAY thing (Mark Steyn notwithstanding), for their cast albums once sold in the millions, and they made huge movie hits. There are worse things than pretending you're John Raitt at Anytown High, even if you're not.