A believable musical

Some people truly love musicals, while others just cannot get past the fact that rarely in real life do large groups of strangers break out in perfectly coordinated song-and-dance routines in the middle of the street (think A Music Man and Hello, Dolly). In order to get around this mental block, a director would need to come up with a plausible story line where singing in public doesn't look stupid. Apparently, director John Carney has done this with Once, a sweet romance between an Irish street musician and a Czech flower seller. Street musicians are supposed to sing in the street, and since the flower seller is a musician also, it makes perfect sense for them to make music together. And since the lead actor and actress are honest-to-God musicians who wrote and performed almost all the music on the soundtrack, the resulting album has a very true feel. The songs all have a light, folk-pop feel to them that makes the CD a worthwhile album in its own right. You may have heard the duo on World Cafe talking to David Dye about their music and the movie (August 22, 2007). It's a lovely album, and we have the movie as well. The song "Falling Slowly" has just been nominated for an Oscar for Best Song.