Unfinished

Despite its 2+ hours runtime, this movie feels unfinished and incomplete in many ways. It tries to summarize four years in the life of a wide ensemble cast, and ends up more a collection of disjointed vignettes and under-developed characters.
It also focuses on the wrong ones, in my opinion.

Still, it does a banging job of capturing the vibrancy and exuberance of young hopefuls, and to an extent the harshness awaiting them.

Strangely, the titular song is barely present in the movie (it was completed after the shooting I seem to remember), and its expression of youthful, devouring ambition is equally absent from the narrative.
Cara and her character Coco deserved better than they got here. Especially the scene with the pseudo-French 'cinematographer'; I get Parker's point, but it's awkwardly put.
On the other hand (end?), the closing piece, I Sing The Body Electric, weirdly never met with the success I think it deserves, with its brilliant stylistic syncretism.
I'm a sucker for a good literary reference, and it manages to evoke both Whitman and Bradbury, so, kudos.

Also, the young actors are no frauds. They obviously can sing, Cara chief among them, but they also play well enough to look totally legit on screen, at least for the instruments I've played myself enough to judge their performances.

The very diverse cast does not feel forced - it's New York after all - and to be honest, most black characters would now be decried by your garden-variety leftist (but not in my backyard) as 'acting white', 'bounties' or 'coconuts'. Or whatever they say this week.
Acting white, like being punctual and working hard toward a better future.
Diverse does not exclusively mean black here, but also Jewish, Italian or Puerto-Rican; background conversations come in a variety of languages, such as the bickering Russian pair, or one of the dance teachers' thick French accent.

All in all a good watch, that never feels lengthy but seems rushed in retrospect.