Very clever script by Larry Gelbart, which dances around private eye cliches and Nathanael West-esque writerly angst without ever edging too far into predictability. Pretty much every character in it is a shit-heel, heroes and villains alike. Even Buddy Fidler, ostensibly the villain of the piece, knows his chosen medium and probably has better instincts about what works in a film than the hero, novelist turned screenwriter Stine.

Nice meta-plot where the story within the story is as interesting as the framing story, and vice versa. The ending, as with most musicals, is a bit facile, but I'm not complaining.

The score is great, and I'm excited about getting to work on it, playing Buddy. ( )