“If musicals amused people in the 1930s, hypnotised them in the 40s and 50s and more or less died out in the 1970s, they have, despite their recycled storylines and arch dialogue, never really wanted for fond audiences. After a long, slow decline, the film musical appears to be coming back. There are at least five in production at the moment, among them Rent and The Producers, and one soon to be released, De-Lovely, a biopic of Cole Porter in which Kevin Kline plays the lead and the songs are performed by pop stars.”