Monday, January 8, 2007

You better shape up

Did you watch You're the One That I Want last night? The prospect of seeing Kathleen Marshall on TV, raised to Paula Abdul status, was almost enough to make me tune in, but then I remembered that Billy Bush was the host, and the 90 seconds I saw of him on the Oscars preshow a few years back was enough Billy to last me a lifetime. Plus, try as I might, I just can't get excited about another Broadway outing for Grease. Especially since this show seems to be more about the movie than the stage propertythe title song, for example, was added for the movie (although I suppose it probably showed up in the last Broadway revival of Grease), and the publicity stills for the program have the auditioners dressed in the weird costumes Travolta and ON-J wore for that last scene. Which aren't really what I picture when I think of Grease, but whatever. The whole "we'll be recreating the movie onstage!" premise doesn't bother me all that much, since the line between movies and Broadway is already pretty blurry, and the artistic integrity of Grease is not that sacred. But I do wonder if that was also the case with the British prototype, the even-more-awkwardly-titled How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?. Because the film and stage versions of The Sound of Music are vastly different worlds, and it would be awkward to show up to the stage show expecting the movie.

Great, now I have "You're the One..." stuck in my head. I submit that it is the best song in the movie. Who will say nay?

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