Now that we've covered that the boyfriend's fave musical is Camelot, last week I showed him my favorite ...

The Pirates of Penzance! (the movie version)

I have seen this movie many, many times. And I have put "With Cat-Like Tread" on mix tapes. And my family has tried (in vain, obviously) to mimic Kevin Kline's crazy leaping dance in this clip:

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Showing it to someone, though, was weird. I was suddenly really self-conscious and aware of just how long some of the songs were (especially Mabel's) and Dennis wasn't too keen on there being so much singing. He kept asking, "What is this, an opera?"

The movie makes some sense but not really. A band of sweet-natured, gullible pirates have to give up their youngest member, Frederic, on his 21st birthday (when he's old enough to opt out of his pirate servitude). He promptly starts looking for chicks. Unfortunately, his nursemaid Ruth, who's also lived with the pirates this whole time, has been deemed WAY TOO OLD for hotsie totsie Frederic. Instead, he'd rather climb up a hill and lust after the first group of maidens he happens upon. (Don't worry about Ruth - she gets upgraded to a pirate, too)

Then there's a lot of confusion, a lot of tricking of the pirates with big hearts, and then my favorite part - when Frederic hears he's been born on Leap Day.

So get this - instead of being 21, he's just 5! Love it. The best part is, Frederic TOTALLY BUYS this as valid, and re-joins the pirates. Then some other stuff happens, but ultimately there's a lot of fight/singing. Which is the best kind of singing.

This musical (besides being my fave) is perfect to watch this leap year. G'wan, put on some spandex pants, make your hair really curly, and hunker down to see Kevin Kline and his amazing legs. Oh, and a bunch of people singing REALLY FAST.

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Recently my boyfriend and I decided to share our favorite musicals with one another. I'm not exactly sure how this came about, but it's an awesome idea. I haven't seen too many musicals in my life, and fewer still that I've been mad about, but I was willing to try out his pick:

I'm pretty familiar with the general love triangle between the three, but I haven't seen too many good examples (my past run-ins with King Arthur merely include First Knight, King Arthur, and random episodes of Gargoyles). I'm pleased to report this one was fantastic. Funny, beautiful, romantic, and tragic all rolled into one. Unfortunately, I wasn't quite sure why Guinevere would choose Lancelot over Arthur but ... oh well.

One thing I was totally smitten with was the look of the film: