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There are four movies coming out this holiday season that I must. See.

Most predictably, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, starring (not really, but he SHOULD be the star) my aging British boyfriend Alan Rickman. This is a given.

Also, I'll need to see Narnia. I could never get past Voyage of the Dawn Treader because after that the original kids were gone and I had no interest in getting to know anyone else, but I feel like this movie might be my springboard back into that series, and that I might be able to get interested in the rest of them. So, although I find it creepy how Disney's been holding Christian-music festivals in the Magic Kingdom to promote this movie, it looks gorgeous and I can't wait to see it.

Next, also fairly predictable, The Producers. Sure, I was upset at first that they made a movie of the musical. But then, I was also upset, way back when, that they made a musical of the movie. But when I saw the musical, I found it lots of fun-- the (new) music utterly forgettable but not ear-searing, and Nathan Lane's performance well worth it. So I'll just dust off my trusty Ability to Separate Different Works of Art and enjoy it. Although why Will Ferrell is in it, I'm not entirely sure... (HABEN SIE GEHÖRT DAS DEUTSCHE BAND?)

And. And... like it's any secret-- like I'm so much more refined in my musical tastes than I was at 17-- like I'm so much different from the cheese-loving teenager I was... I cannot fucking wait to see Rent. Hooooooohhh my god. Every time I see that commercial I am slammed back to my near-Rent-head days (yes I even waited overnight on the rush line once, just once) of my teenhood, and it's all someone's fault, she knows who she is...

Hey kids, I may love Sondheim, I may hate Andrew Lloyd Weber, I may think Jason Robert Brown can kick Adam Guettel's ass and that Michael LaChiusa and Marc Shaiman need to kiss and make up, I may, as Buddy says, talk champage, but I am strictly beer. I know it's cheesy, overplayed, overhyped, and no, I don't think it was the Musical Revolution That Changed the Shape of Broadway forever. (Tragically, I think it may have been Mamma Mia, or even further back, maybe even Grease that did that.) But Rent is not all badly-written songs and melodramatic shlock. Honest. It's got some good music. It's got some good characters. It had some great performances.

Some of the music is ridiculously overplayed (Seasons of Love WAS a good song the first three or four times I heard it). Some of it is boring (Without You, Your Eyes-- the biggest joke of that show is that that's the shit that Roger considers his masterpiece.) Yeah, yeah. Some of it is great. (Santa Fe and La Vie Boheme never get tired for me. Christmas Bells is some of the best counterpoint ever. And my favourite number in the show, You'll See, Boys-- why is that one so underappreciated?)

So... yeah. Gotta see me that movie.

As long as I'm ranting and raving like a lunatic and exposing myself for the shlock-loving cheesemeister that I am, Joss Whedon was REALLY influenced by Stephen Sondheim, did you know? Um-- his three favourite songs from the three shows he talks about (Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park, Pacific Overtures) are also MY favourite songs from those musicals. Spot-on.

He's god. That's just how it is. Holy smokes. Anyway, it's a great article.

Why are you in Tavie's head? 9:58 PM | shower me with attention