IOW: DVD leads pack Sept. 13
In our wildest dreams, the Champaign-Urbana filmed feature LEADING LADIES would twirl around the competition upon its domestic DVD release on Tuesday, September 13, but we’ll simply thank our lucky stars that a viewable edition will be available to show off this infectiously giddy coming-of-age-and-sexual-preference entertainment. Wolfe Video will unleash the fictional Campari family on the masses through all the expected rental and streaming outlets; this product page features an updated trailer as well as disc specs including an anamorphic widescreen presentation, 2.0 or 5.1 surround sound, a making-of featurette, closed captioning, and the aforementioned trailer. Blu-ray is not being offered at the moment.
Here is Wolfe’s product blurb, which will probably make its way across Internet commerce sites very shortly: “Filled with warm (and wacky) family drama, this fabulous family about two sisters (newcomers Shannon Lea Smith and Laurel Vail), their gay best friend (SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE winner Benji Schwimmer), and their overzealous stage mother (legendary ballroom diva Melanie LaPatin) serves up a tale of uplifting gay affirmation – and exceptional choreography! With one sister pregnant and the other coming out of the closet, the whole family is hustling to stay on top in the wild world of competitive ballroom dance.” We love them all, but no mention of the wondrous Nicole Dionne as “Mona”? Tsk tsk.
The cover art is brand new, featuring (from left) Smith, Vail, Dionne, LaPatin, and Schwimmer. While the smaller character poses are borrowed from a group photo taken in the C-U during rehearsals, the central coupling of the leads comes from a recent photo shoot staged specifically for the above artwork as recalled by Vail in this posting.
~ Jason Pankoke