Why Marc Shaiman isn't cranking out a movie musical a year is beyond me. He wrote this very funny argument against California's Proposition 8, which seeks to make gay marriage illegal in that state, and wrangled a shiny gaggle of actors to perform it (John C. Reilly, Allison Janney, Margaret Cho, Maya Rudolph, Neil Patrick Harris, Kathy Najimy, Craig Robinson, Andy Richter, and Jack Black as Jesus). It presents a school play, with a bunch of youthful beach-movie types squaring off against a gang of people who appear to have fled a Nathaniel Hawthorne novel ("Obamination?" asks the great Jenifer Lewis.)
Like Shaiman's music for "South Park: Bigger, Longer, & Uncut," which, believe it or not, turns 10 next year, "Prop 8 - the Musical" grazes different song styles (pop, do-wop, basic show tune, and, for a hilarious couple of bars, church gospel), while transposing earnestness and cynicism until one becomes indistinguishable from the other (the show is pro-gay marriage: it'll save the economy!). The "South Park" movie had 80-odd minutes to make the same manipulation, often through Shaiman and Trey Parker's songs . Here Shaiman entertainingly manages that feat in under five minutes.
Shaiman also did the music for the "Hairspray" musical, which at its best exercised a surprising social and political irreverence. I wonder whether he and the right collaborator (Dave Chappelle? Paul Rudnick? David Sedaris? Tina Fey? Chris Rock? Heaven help us: All of the above?) could concoct a real, large-scale movie musical with characters that spring from the political moment of right now.
Bypassing the entire theatrical distribution complex and the inane eternity that is movie production might be wise: In two days, "Prop 8" had been viewed more than 1,660,000 times. It'd be exciting nonetheless to see it on a giant screen, however little is spent to get it there. They could call it "Change Done Come" or "Obamalama Ding Dong!" Entertainment Weekly recently wondered how or whether popular culture will change in the next four years. A clip like this -- relevantly witty, fast, cheap, and moderately out-of-control -- suggests things already have.
(For what it's worth, I wrote this whole entry with the restraint not to mention the ads randomly all over the Funny Or Die "Prop 8" page. They're for Tom Cruise's "official site." It's a tired insinuation that actually never gets that tired.)
