New 9/11 Musical: "Rent," with AIDS swapped for terrorism?

While half the nation is squabbling over some guys trying to build a mosque at Ground Zero; another guy trying to get a Muslim gay bar opened next to the proposed mosque; and still another (crazy) guy trying to burn Korans on camera, one 9/11-related enterprise that's not quite as controversial may have gone overlooked. Clear Blue Tuesday, a movie musical that follows eleven young adults in Manhattan over a period of seven Tuesdays (starting with that fateful Tuesday,) opened to limited engagements in New York on September 3.

From the looks of the above trailer, it's hard to tell just what director Elizabeth Lucas (whose directorial credits include a horror flick called Red Hook, currently in post-production) was going for. It comes off as a low-budget version of Rent, with less talented singers and less catchy songs. And instead of AIDS and poverty, the musical score covers the aftermath of one of the most shocking acts of international terrorism of our time. Sounds like light-hearted fare, no? Some people might be a bit put off by a tale of a tragedy of this magnitude set to song but according to Lucas, the film is not some sort of musical capitalization on 9/11, nor any sort of joke. In fact, in a recent interview with ABC, Lucas asserted that she chose to make a musical primarily because of the sunny touch it would add to such a dark subject. "Part of it is lighthearted, part of it is comedy, but that's because that's what life is. Over a period of seven years, you can't grieve the entire time," she said. A nice sentiment, sure. But can the final product, which looks equal parts camp and sap plus shades of the aforementioned movie musical, live up to those ambitions? If Clear Blue Tuesday ever makes it to theaters in Boston, we might find out.