how not to sell a musical

a movie version of a musical generally gives more confidence in the singing performances if you actually include singing in the commercial for it.  I know you can find actors who look good.  i know you can find actors who know how to talk.

but nobody goes to a musical for the spoken script.

case in point, the current TV teaser for Mamma Mia.  plenty of scenes of Streep and Brosnan, ALL TALKING, while flashing through scenes of the chorus doing random stuffs to the title song (which was Abba's least successful song in America, btw).  i'm not saying that nobody can sing on it - i'm saying that i don't know, and for a musical, that's a really bad way to make sure i remain apprehensive enough to not bother, particularly with so many other good movies i still need to see (like wall e, dammit).

this "weekend" you speak of

I know not what you mean...

I have no idea how anybody is able to

• park myself in front of the tv for 10 hours on a sunday with beer, pretzels, and attitude watching NFL football
• casually walk a shopping mall 'til I see the matinee performance of a film
• (i did that once, but the weekend wasn't "normal" - we saw Meet the Robinsons in *Annapolis*, after hitting faire site and before babysitting for tchwtr 's kid, so it wasn't a normal weekend).
• catch a baseball game...without having bought the tickets 2 months in advance
  
• mow the lawn and do yardwork because i want to, not 'cause the grass is now 2 feet tall and the holly tree has decided to grow long enough to interfere with my satellite tv
• pick up and go to an amusement park to ride roller coasters...without having made the plans 2 months in advance

seriously, I have no idea.  how do people do it?  Even *trying* to keep weekends free for spontaneity, they get filled up.  right now, i can see weekends free between now and faire and i'm terrified, sickeningly terrified, that something is going to fill them before they get here (and faireraven  with her home improvement projects, necessary though they might be, isn't helping).  party invites that are in other states (as opposed to nicely being a mere couple miles away) are flocking in to grab what little of August is left, nevermind not having made any commitments to TUX yet.

*sigh*