Did you really think I forgot about my favorite German musical/mockumentary/black comedy/giant-heap-o’-awesome?

I did not forget. As my housemates can testify, I have been blasting the opening number of Short Cut To Hollywood on an annoyingly regular basis. More clips and trailers (beide auf Englisch und auf Deutsch) keep surfacing on Youtube, and I shudder with pleasure every time I find one. The film has moved from festivals to theaters, which means a DVD release can’t be too far off now, right? Keep your fingers crossed.

I will keep mine double-crossed. Because holy crap do I love musicals. I’ve been thinking about that while working on Geek. How there are geeky hobbies you are quite proud of, and make a point of showing off (for instance, comics), and then others that you remain secretive about, because they’re just not cool geeky. I think musicals are a bit like that for me. I’m obviously not embarrassed to talk about them, because look at me now, but I recognize that there’s something less cool geeky about them. And yet I will continue loving them! And with such earnesty! Musicals are actually the first thing I remember looking up on the internet. I would go to all these geeky musical fan sites, and play midi files of my favorite songs.

So here are some of my favorites:

• Short Cut To Hollywood (Saw as part of the 2009 Berlinale. Got to hear the cast speak about it afterward.)
• Once More With Feeling (That episode of Buffy. I didn’t watch Buffy much in high school (though I do now), but when I happened to catch the opening of this episode, I was RIVETED till the very end.)
• Funny Girl (Oh, Barbra! Watched for the first time in a German public library last spring, with only the musical numbers in English. Everything else was dubbed into German.)
• The Music Man (Oh mannn, I saw a big production of this in Florida one time with the grandparents. Love it.)
• Moulin Rouge (Sarah G and I forced our prom dates to blast this soundtrack in the car throughout our entire day o’ prom.)
• The Phantom of the Opera (Though I’m not a fan of the recent movie version, the original soundtrack to this was the pinnacle of my adolescent of obsession with musicals. Holy. Shit. It was a big deal.)
• Anything Goes (One of our high school musicals. I was in the chorus.)
• Oliver! (Another high school musical. I was Mrs. Sowerberry.)
• Asoka (Bollywood! Watched in a high school history class.)
• Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (A big childhood favorite.)
• Reefer Madness (Watched as a first year, in the queer mod, with my friend Terrell.)

And obviously I love The Sound of Music and Singin in the Rain and West Side Story and Rocky Horror. And the various Trey Parker/Matt Stone creations. And all the Disney stuff. And pretty much anything with Doris Day.  HOWEVER: my musical love is not blind. There are still lots of classic musicals I hate. I can’t stand Gilbert & Sullivan. And Lerner & Loewe are not really for me. And I’m even pretty indifferent to Rodgers & Hammerstein.