Where do you live, phantom? I'm glad that your friends had positive reactions to movie musical trailers.
Where I live in NC, people had laughed at the trailers to Rent, Sweeney Todd, Hairspray, Mamma Mia, and even Dreamgirls.
Little-by-little, however, each of these films (the HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL franchise, and GLEE) are helping the genre to be more accepted in society. I really hope that we continue to move toward the time when movie musicals were the most anticipated films, were made regularly, and were nominated for Academy Awards (although a lot of recent movie musicals were!!).
"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle