40cakes | On the Musical

It just happens to me whenever I go into Target. There's an assortment of DVDs that are $5, and I inevitably come home with one. I did this about six months ago with Grease 2. I didn't actually WATCH my Grease 2 until about a month ago, when Stacy and I decided to stay in and watch.

Now, I've seen Grease 2 before, many times. I probably watched it every day when I was about 12. So watching it as an adult, I didn't completely forget how bad the movie was, but it was definitely a refresher. ("Oh god, that's right - they sing a song about bowling.")

BUT.

While I remembered the "Girl for All Seasons" talent show song, I had forgotten that at the end of their performance, Michelle Pfeiffer's character goes off into her own song of sadness and self-pity that her supercool rider boyfriend is dead. (OR IS HE???) And I REALLY forgot that when she sings this song, we see into the Steve Nicks music video that is her brain.

I like musicals. If somebody takes a script and sets it to rhyming verse that's got a beat, I'm all for it. And it's a good selling point, honestly, because selections from Dr. Horrible get stuck in my head far more often than verses from, say, Merry Wives of Windsor. And as a person who likes musicals, every now and then I run into the naysayer who's all, "What, everybody in town just knows to sing and dance on cue?" and I'm all, "Yes. STUPID." Music is a beautiful and wonderful way of communicating, and when you think about it, the idea that everyone around you knows the same dance moves and sings the same songs is just as absurd as the idea that everyone in any movie or TV show is really attractive and thin and speaks very good English and doesn't fuck up grammar except when comically appropriate.

IF YOU READ NOTHING ELSE IN THIS ENTRY, RIDDLE ME THIS:
In the above clip (about 6:30 onward), Stephanie just isn't singing because she's in a musical; she's singing in front of a large crowd of people as part of a talent show. The people around her know she's singing. And during her performance, she imagines her sorta kinda dead boyfriend singing back to her.

WHO'S SINGING HIS PARTS TO THE PEOPLE IN THE AUDIENCE? Does she just start singing in a deep voice? Is she silent for his verses, just humming and crying to herself in front of everyone in high school?

When you think about it this way, you're probably glad I haven't updated my livejournal as much, aren't you?