Although this musical drama boasted one of the major exponentsof the genre, Liza Minnelli, it became one of the "lost" filmsof the year. The audiences who saw it responded with warm appreciation,but the critics responded with uneasy diffidence, as if embarrassed toadmit that they enjoyed themselves. However, Stepping Out, adapted froma British stage play and a Broadway import directed by Tommy Tune,provides an exuberant, tentative move toward the possible revival offilm musicals. It is just unpretentious enough to grasp the attention,and, when the lyric impulse seizes the characters, it touches levels ofexcitement and the vigor of big-screen entertainment. The story is asort of A Chorus Line for Everyman: a has-been dancer (Minnelli) runs aBuffalo N.Y. dancing school with a very odd assortment of pupils. Onegets to know their quirks and psychological hang-ups and each characteris brilliantly etched by a wonderful bunch of actors, among whom JulieWalters, Bill Irwin and Sheila McCarthy manage to touch states ofwonder. Director Lewis Gilbert evokes all the wit and sympathy that thecharacters deserve. The score by Kanden and Ebb is sufficiently lyricaland none of the cast (including Liza) knew how to do the rigorous taproutines demanded by the plot. But what happens at the end ispredictable: the spectators watching the film are smiling and tappingalong with the screen. --Albert Johnson