Dr. Horrible-- more like Dr. Awesome! (Good one, I know.)

Alright, Santosh said that if I didn't blog about this, he would; and since I'm the musical theater nerd of the relationship, here goes...

Everyone-- and that includes you musical theater haters out there-- should watch the internet-release, 45-minute musical, Dr. Horrible (full title: Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along-Blog). This was created during the television slump of last year's writer's strike when an Office creator got bored and decided to make this (relatively) low-budget musical. It was originally released in three acts, each of which was posted online for a limited time and then taken down; but now you can view the work in its entirety at hulu.com (click here).

Doogie-- I mean, Neil Patrick Harris-- stars in this story about a young man's path to becoming a super villain and the girl he'd like to impress along the way. That's pretty much it. Once you understand that, you can sit back and enjoy: 1) the music (which was REALLY impressive considering that it's a random internet-release musical; one review I read described it as Sondheim-esque, and I totally agree; and the song that starts Act II totally rocks my world), 2) the performances (remember, this is the guy who, according to Santosh, played an awesomely creepy Emcee in Cabaret on Broadway), 3) the jokes (which are peppered throughout-- I've rewatched parts of it and caughts tons of 'throw-aways' that I didn't appreciate the first time around), and *slight spoiler alert* 4) the surprisingly compelling story arc.

What makes this worth blogging about-- other than the fact that it was released in such a unique forum-- is that it doesn't fit into any particular genre. Yes, it's part musical, party comedy. But it's also the first pop musical parody I've ever seen. And what's neat, for lack of a better word, is that it's not over the top, so there were times I felt slightly uncomfortable with the cheesiness of the dialogue until I remembered that this was written as a tongue-in-cheek work. It strikes a delicate balance between mockery and legitimacy that keeps the whole thing feeling very fresh.

Anywho, those are my feelings. It's great. And even if you're skeptical, I recommend you give it a try because, hey, it's only 45 minutes, and you and I both know damn well that you've rewatched that 30 Rock episode seven times already.