Oh me oh my, a lovely day is dawning
Oh what a joy, I didn't wake up dead
So I can go to school and then resume my yawning
And get my sleep in class instead of in my bed

I know how you feel, dear. {sigh}

For three weeks, while enduring problems with both aging and brand-new computers, I've had not just "Daria," but "Daria!" (a.k.a. The Musical) running through my head.

Not, by the way, just "Gah! Gah! Dammit!" -- entirely appropriate, and a great sing-along release, when waiting for Windows XP to re-install for the umpteenth time. And not just being reminded of their getting overwrought about "the town blowing away," apropos of, sadly, Ms. Katrina making some towns actually do so.

It's a perfectly timed parody and a loving send-up of nearly every convention and trope of the Anglo-American musical theater. I'm amazed at how much Glenn Eichler and Peter Elwell, and the composers, were able to pack into it so deftly and so entertainingly. (See a fan's well-designed Web display, with many screenshots, of the full script.)

More to the point, it becomes ear candy, if you at all love musicals. And it's all original, to boot, more involving and challenging than Woody Allen's evoking of Tin Pan Alley standards in "Everyone Says I Love You," its obvious direct inspiration.

Pining dual soliloquies of Cosette and Eponine in "A Heart Full of Love" ("Les Misérables") ... Helen and Quinn in "I Can't Leave Yet." The "real" musical is one of my great loves, but I can't help laughing at the jab at such a song's over-baked sentimentality.

It should be obvious that I vehemently disagree with Ms. Geek, who at the time of her 1999 essay either didn't then appreciate the American musical, as such, or was being all too serious for her own good.

Being "real" is exactly what's suspended in the classic musical, where we hear the characters' inner thoughts. Doing this in animation means ranging over far more settings than even a live-action stage or movie production. That makes this not only hugely funny and evocative, but genuinely innovative.

Take that Computer Installation Theme Song, for example. ("Gah! Gah! Dammit!" was banned in Britain, by the way, one of the few major cuts they made -- unlike The N, but we won't get into that. As to who to thank Over Here about no "blasphemy" strictures, to quote Daria, "I think it was ... Jefferson.")

Not only does Jake get into his own world of frenzy on the freeway, but you SEE what's rattling around in his head, down (or up) to fearing his daughters have joined "that hev'n'ly choir." Wings on Daria and Quinn. How can you do that on stage? Okay, in the movies, with CGI effects, but there it's almost too artificial for its own good.

Kudos to whoever directed the voices. A perfect twist-bounce on that last phrase. Julian Rebolledo did Jake -- who has a huge role in this episode -- with verve and polish. Not a refined singing voice ... but if Woody Allen's actors could do it, why not? (It's more "real," anyway, Michelle.)

And any story with Jake saying "C'mon, Trent! Your daughter and my sister are out there" has to be within the top ten episodes as to unexpected dialogue. I'm howling with laughter just thinking about it.

I think I'm going to put on a DVD {ahem} ... gotta try out that new CD/DVD drive, anyway. What better way to break it in and to be "Manly"?

So for those who were fortunate enough to see it on MTV or who can {ahem again} put in a disk, what's your take on "The Musical"?