The Big Gay Musical

Call me cliché, call me gay, call me what you like, but I quite enjoyed this movie. Contrary to other reviews I read before deciding to give this film a chance, I was pleasantly surprised by 'The Big Gay Musical.' Having seen many movies with a gay theme - many of which I will never miss seeing again - I was happy to spend several hours of my precious free time on this one.

I though the casting choices were very good, and the quality of the acting was commendable. The reality is that for someone looking in from outside the gay culture there is a tendency to focus on key plot points of the story line - call them cliché - and review them negatively. Unfortunately this only underlines a lack of understanding, and misses the important messages of the sub-plots to the people for whom this movie has ultimately been made.

The Broadway style vocals and musical styling were a true reflection of what I would expect from a modern off-Broadway musical. Although there were variations in the appeal of the featured music, there were several songs and performers which were inspiring. The love song delivered by Michael Schiffman's character Charles was uplifting, as was Liz McCartney's performance of "As I Am."

All in all it's an entertaining story about that old gay cliché about musicals. The use of numerous gay clichés throughout the storyline was amusing, and sometimes thought provoking.

I don't believe this is the type of film intended to communicate deep philosophical messages about the gay world. It's a film that's supposed to challenge your beliefs about gay stereotypes and profiling whilst also making you feel good about yourself. And it did.

It was very average I felt. Nothing was that good. I got bored watching this at one point. The singing was well done. I like the idea of were the story was trying to go but didn't think it did it very well. The acting was good for what the people were given. I don't recommend you watch this unless you are super bored and nothing else is on.

The short "small straight play" intro with Michael Musto was so fresh and funny that I was really excited to see the Big Gay Musical that followed. Unfortunately, the Big Gay Musical was even worse than the small straight play: a lot stupider, a lot more irritating, and a whole lot longer. Within about five minutes I felt just like Musto, except what I wanted to scream was, "Bring back Michael Musto and the small straight play!"

While the small straight play was cleverly dumb, the Big Gay Musical was just dumb, grossly overblown, and so strident, shrill and heavy-handed in its anti-God anti-Bible theme that it almost made me want to turn on Pat Robertson just to clear my palate. Hatred is hatred, and I'm sorry, but gays hating Christians is no better than Christians hating gays. I am happily gay and I love musicals and I love gay movies in principle, but this one promised a lot and delivered just a sour taste in my mouth. If it was supposed to be lighthearted satire, it failed miserably.

The off-stage story was better than the on-stage musical, which is why I gave the movie three stars instead of one. If the Big Musical had not been so heavily, excessively obnoxious, I might have liked the Gay Movie that went along with it.

Although ultimately well intentioned, the film depicts a rather depressing image of what it means to be gay. If the film is to be believed, being gay means a life filled with religious-based bigotry, disease, a de-humanizing dating scene, low self-esteem, rejection from family and obsession with the body.

As a gay man living in a big city and working in the theatre, I can tell you that there's more to gay life than that. There are gay people in happy long-term monogamous relationships. Most gay people I know are involved with community activism and have rich, rewarding lives.

I belong to a gay Christian church, and I know that God loves everyone and that anti-gay bigotry is not consistent with Christ's ministry.

As a film, "The Big Gay Musical" is passable entertainment. The acting, writing, directing and music are average.

I enjoyed this, and lord knows I didn't expect to. It's exactly what it says it is, a musical about being gay, stereotypes and all.

The premise is a show within a movie. The off-b'way musical in the movie maintains that god created adam and steve because he found adam and eve boring. Adam and steve are transported to modern times and have to deal with Christian guilt and self-hate. There's a lot of that. Maybe a tad too much.

The characters who play the leads in the musical have problems of their own, mirroring, to a degree, those of the characters they play. Well, one of them does, anyway. And, yes, the leads are gay stereotypes, as are most of the other characters in the movie.

But you know what? Stereotypes are based on truth. What that means is that the actors playing the stereotypical roles have to work a little harder to make the sell. I think they accomplish that in this movie.

The singing and dancing is all perfectly competent. The choreography blends a lot of trademark routines from hit shows of the last 40 years. It's kind of funny, actually. You just wish they had a slightly larger stage to work on.

Unlike the other reviewer here who hated the music and lyrics, I thought they were just fine. I found the songs pleasant, if not particularly memorable. So if you approach this not expecting Sondheim, you might find that aspect tolerable and maybe even entertaining. I did.

Plus the boys are all adorable.