Well, that's Strange: Repo, the Genetic Opera.

With the wife and kids being gone, it seemed like a good opportunity to watch something negotiation free on the TV.  I settled on something I had been wanting to watch for a while, something that would let me indulge both my sensitive side and my sci-fi steampunk side, I hoped.    'Repo, the Genetic Opera.'

Well, I was looking for something different, and I certainly found it.  Repo was very...unique.  I like most musicals: The big bloated ones that many Broadway 'purists' hated back in the mid-to-late 80s....Les Miseables, Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon etc.  More traditional stuff like My Fair Lady and Mame, and Rock Opera's like Tommy and Jesus Christ, Superstar.  And, shows that don't seem to fit category's, like Xanadu, and Moulin Rouge!.

I' m not sure I liked it, but I know I didn't dislike it.

Focusing on the positives first, the cast was unusual, but good, and worked.  Going into it, I knew Sarah Brightman and Anthony Head were in it.  Sarah Brightman has long been high on my list, not just for being a beautiful lady, but having an amazing voice.  No one else can play the role she played in this show, even though I'm not sure how much of it was acting and how much of it was just being Sarah Brightman. Anthony Head I had seen before from my wife's recent addition to Buffy.  He even sings on Buffy a few times, so I expected him to pull his weight, and he did so admirably, coming off much creepier than he did as Giles on Buffy. 

Alexa Vega, as the female lead was impressive...prior to this movie, all I knew her from was the Spy Kids Trilogy.  Her voice, while not big and bombastic(Broadway style), was good when she got the chance to sing, and she emotes properly, and since she is 20, not the 17 she is playing, I guess I can say she is quite fetching. Paul Sorvino brought a feeling of grounding and seriousness to the show.  The gentleman playing Graverobber(Terrance Zdunich) was really good...he had some of the best material to work with as far as songs, and made the most of it.

Paris Hilton really surprised me.  Yes, her voice is a little breathy, but, for the life of me, having watched it, I can't think of anyone else who could be cast in the role she played.  Sue me, but she was interesting, and perfectly cast.

The music was the weak point...I just didn't like some of it.  The songs didn't seem to have any flow to them.  Taken as a piece of art, it was good...taken as a musical...well, nothing is still rattling around in my head...it might just be that I need to watch it again...give some of the songs a chance to work their way in instead of having to listen to them to follow the story.

Overall, I probably give it a 7.5....really good casting, neat idea, neat setting...there were just a few times when I felt I had fallen into an 80 minute Nine-Inch-Nails video.