One of the more tiresome trends in musical theater these days is the reinvention of '80s movies as stage musicals. (The other tiresome trends are jukebox musicals — which seem to be waning — and musicals that mock musical theater.) I've seen a few of the '80s movie musicals. Xanadu was fun, but a little too self-aware for my taste. Urban Cowboy was, um, kind of watchable, I guess — and I did see Rosie O'Donnell in the audience. Footloose managed to lose whatever depth and heart the movie possessed. Ergo, I'm ready for this trend to play out soon.

I am, however, cautiously optimistic about the upcoming 9 to 5 musical — especially as long as Dolly Parton and Allison Janney stay attached to the project. And I just read about another one that maybe, possibly could be good. A musical version of Mask, the 1985 Cher and Eric Stolz movie about Rocky Dennis, a teenager with craniodiaphyseal dysplasia, will open at the Pasadena Playhouse on March 21.

Although Cher won an Oscar for Moonstruck, I believe that Rusty Dennis, in Mask, was her best role. She was this incredibly flawed, drug-abusing, loving, devoted mom. Who was incredibly hot.

You can get a pretty good sense of her in this extended music video filled with scenes from the movie.

Her character was based on real life biker mom Rusty Dennis, who died just under a year and a half ago. Anna Hamilton Phelan, the screenwriter and playwright for the movie and the musical, described her death.

"The last time I spoke to Rusty was a few weeks before she died in October 2006 at the age of 70. She was driving her chopped, three-wheeled motorcycle to a Narcotics Anonymous meeting. One of the back tires fell off, she was thrown and hit a curb. I'm sure she was saying to herself, "What a bitchin' way to go!"

That certainly seems like the character Cher created. And hopefully, it will be something like the character that Michelle Duffy creates on stage next month.

She's the one on the right.

Now, I cannot even begin to imagine what the songs are going to be like for this movie (but I suspect it's difficult to rhyme craniodiaphysial dysplasia). The movie had a great Bob Seger soundtrack, but I'm hoping they don't incorporate those songs into the show. The lyricist, Cynthia Weil does have some Broadway credits, but they're for revues, not narrative shows, so I don't know how well she'll use songs to move the plot forward. But we'll see, I guess.

The thing about the show that's making me nervous, however, is the casting of Gar — the grizzled, biker-with-a-heart-of-gold father figure, played by Sam Elliott in the movie. For reasons I cannot really explain, I love Sam Elliott. There's something about the twinkle he always seems to have in his eye and the sweetness beneath the gruff exterior that get to me. I don't, however, feel the same warm fuzzies for the stage Gar — Greg Evigan. I liked him as B.J. McKay.

And I had a certain fondness for him on My Two Dads. But I never thought he was much of an actor or singer. He may have a whole body of work since then but, to me, he's always going to be that trucker who drove around with his pet chimp evading Sheriff Lobo.

Regardless, I guess I'll wait for the reviews on this one and then wait to see whether it's good enough to make its way east.