betty's question has led me to wonder about something that somehow never occurred to me before . . . the american musical theater --and film musicals that are a first cousin --almost always [so far as i can recall] include dancing . . . and yet in opera, from which musical theater presumably derives, dancing, while not uncommon, is at best an optional feature . . . can this be right? . . . are there in fact very few american musicals that lack dancing? . . . i don't remember any dancing in meet me in st. louis, but that's the only one i can think of and i don't even remember that one well enough to be certain . . . what i am missing??? mike -----Original Message----- From: Film and TV Studies Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Betty Bettacchi Sent: Tuesday, August 28, 2007 1:41 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [SCREEN-L] Irish Musical Films Does anyone have information about Irish musicals on film? I'm thinking of the moving Once. It seems to me that the Irish musical movie (including music but not dancing) may be a very different genre from American musicals--which are music and dancing. Betty Bettacchi Professor of English Collin College Plano, Texas ---- To sign off Screen-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF Screen-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask] ---- Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite http://www.ScreenSite.org