A small-town girl ventures to Los Angeles and finds her place in a neo-burlesque club run by a former dancer.
Writer/Director: Steve Antin
Stars: Cher, Christina Aguilera, Stanley Tucci, Kristen Bell, Peter Gallagher, Alan Cumming.
Denise Faye ... choreographer
Aisha Jamila Francis ... associate choreographer
Tara Nicole Hughes ... associate choreographer
JaQuel Knight ... associate choreographer
Melanie Lewis ... associate choreographer
Joey Pizzi ... choreographer
disc arrived today.
41 songs in the Soundtracks.
Old-fashioned nightclub musical, attempted Fosse derivative, especially quoting choreography from Sweet Charity ('69), Cabaret ('72), and Chicago ('02). In the c.track, the writer/director admits the Fosse influence, as well as B.Berkeley; he should have acknowledged R.Marshall too.
Goof in c.track: SA (b. '58) thinks Wagon Wheel Watusi comes from Sweet Charity ('69). <rude buzzer> No, it seems to be from Baby the Rain Must Fall ('65), although I'm getting that from googling around. Yup, track 8 on the film's soundtrack album, written by Elmer Bernstein. (Sweet Charity's music was by Cy Coleman.) So SA is not the Fosse-familiar as I am. (To be fair, Charity does have the Rich Man's Frug, which might sound similar to some people not well acquainted with the 1960s.) Then again, he included a Mae West song in the film, and referenced Sally Rand. So he does have breadth.
Cher (b. '46) only has 2 numbers, but they're good. CA has 10.
Great that the dvd includes full versions of 6 musical numbers that are intercut with story/reactions in the film. AC actually had a 2nd number that was omitted, and an unabridged number among the 6. The dance scenes all had too much cutting for my taste, even when unabridged.
Rated 6.4 (69,739)
distr. Screen Gems, dir. Antin; 6
