gooseberryhigh | SPRING MUSICAL: SWEENEY TODD

Entry tags:

SPRING MUSICAL: SWEENEY TODD

SPRING MUSICAL: Sweeney Todd

After several weeks of rehearsals, Drama Club is prepared to present this year's final production, Sondheim's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street! Director Micah St. Clair confidently tells all cast and crew that this will be the show to end all shows, which is maybe kind of ominous but okay. Teachers and government agents, theater fans and reluctant friends alike pile into the auditorium. Every row is full. The curtain rises. The show begins.

Before they take the stage, [Audience Member A] wishes Tally “good luck”, but don't they know that's BAD luck? You're supposed to say “break a leg”!

[Crew Member C] is in charge of making sure the lights stay put, but while they're up there the catwalk wobbles uncomfortably. They hear a girl laughing, but no one else is up there with them.

[Character D]'s familiar shows up on stage and won't stop pestering Yancey until they pick them up.

Wait, who's that in the chorus? [Character F] spots Elizabeth joining the ensemble in the middle of a scene. She sings and dances in sync with the others, but suddenly vanishes when she sees an Auror get up and approach the stage.

Lights go out right before Grace's big song. [Crew Member H] tries to fix them while lighting the stage with a single wandlight. It doesn't do much. Looks like this is a night scene now.

There's a beat of silence as [Cast Member I] finishes their song, followed immediately by an ominous thump on the other end of the stage. Did someone just fall?? Or was it a trick of the light??? Whatever it was, it's gone before anyone can be sure.

Lachlan Galbraith should have been warned that they were sitting in the splash zone, because they get covered in blood during one particularly gruesome death. At least the stage blood still tastes like mint?

Has anyone seen Calvin? It's almost time for them to go on stage! Issy is just about to take the stage when Calvin shows up, having just escaped from their locked dressing room. Too bad, Issy!

Pandora tries to get ahead of a potential problem by quickly reinforcing a wobbly board between scenes. When they go to leave, they realize they somehow nailed their pant leg to the stage. Uh, too late to escape now, so they throw a jacket over their face and pretend to be a coat rack until the scene is over.

[Crew Member N] counts the prop razors and they're all there. What does Cameron have on stage, then? Issy has to try to look natural as they sneak on stage to swap the possibly real razor out for a prop just before Jeffy's fatal shave.

[Cast Member Q]'s costume splits in the back, and [Cast Member R] has to finish the scene with their hand on [Cast Member Q]'s back the whole time to keep it from falling off.

[Cast Member S] might be having an allergic reaction to their makeup. It was fine in dress rehearsal! Why is their face turning into a lopsided tomato now?

During the “Final Sequence”, Cameron falls through a trapdoor on stage, breaking his leg, right as he says, “What is the matter with you, woman?” Jade doesn't miss a beat, running on stage in time to pick up with, “Oh good god... 'Don't I know you?' she said... you knew she lived!” She finishes the song and gets to shove Riley in the oven.

Crude crayon drawings have been stuck to the dressing room mirrors, depicting various gruesome scenes in the musical. Lucas has one picture all to themselves, their face surrounded by red hearts. Seems like someone was a fan!

Afterwards, when everyone's supposed to change out of their bloodied costumes, Riley discovers that her normal clothing has disappeared. Essie Morales-Tran later finds a dummy lying in the lit campfire in front of Azurcrest, dressed in Riley's clothes and covered in fake blood. Uh, ominous?

HOW THIS WORKS

The performance starts at 7 PM after dinner. It's a two and a half hour performance with a fifteen minute intermission.

Students can hoot and cheer, but if anyone's rude or disrespectful, they'll be told to leave.

The cast party is only open to cast & crew and is taking place on stage. It'll only last until a little after 10 PM, when everyone goes back to their campsites for curfew.

Everyone who was in cast & crew is given a small bronze pin to commemorate the performance.

The plot summary is HERE. The cast and crew is HERE. Please give a huge, huge thanks to Alex and Cheryl who put together 99% of this post. ♥

» Before The Performance: Director Micah St. Clair, wearing a beret and scarf that look ridiculous on him, gives an "inspirational" speech about how hard they've all worked despite being under constant threat of ghost death, and gets the entire cast and crew to pose for one big group picture. He promises to give them all copies later.

» Backstage: It's busy backstage with everyone getting their costumes on between scenes. Cassius Holcomb carefully guards his props and Todd Skynner keeps everyone in line. What they say goes! Costumers do on-the-spot costume repairs, and Cole Moss and Ennis Harper are seen with their makeup case and sewing kit running from place to place. Crew have a lot of work to do making sure the transitions behind the scenes move like a well-oiled machine!

» The Performance: The lights go down, and the curtains part, revealing the actors on stage for the opening number!

» The Audience: The audience is filled with classmates and friends here to support their peers and see a bit of entertainment.

» After the Performance: The actors take their final bow, the crowd cheers! Go give your friends hugs and compliments, or shower them in flowers.

» Cast Party: After everyone's cleared out, there's another party just for the cast. The director has smuggled in a few bottles of champagne, and only cast & crew are invited.

» OOC - Questions/Discussion

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Upon Jade's admission to Gooseberry, her parents had given her just two instructions. They'd told her to study, and please, for the love of God and Merlin, to NOT break anyone else's leg. (There had been a similar situation in the eighth grade musical she was supposed to have starred in. That time was entirely intentional.)

It was probably a good thing Jade's parents didn't write much anymore.This might look...bad.

She rushes on stage with only the briefest glance to the rafters. She can't really bring herself to feel much pity for poor Cameron, even though in the past few weeks she'd come much more to terms with him being the lead. He knew the risks. She pretends to be the tallest man she can, and slams Riley's oven door shut. She doesn't feel particularly apologetic, why should she? Only the strong survive Gooseberry musicals.

She makes sure to say a cryptic, probably frightening, "You didn't die this time. Good job." to Cameron later on, anyway. It's a compliment.

Edited (backstory) 2018-05-10 03:29 (UTC)

Georgie doesn't know this play. She doesn't know how many people are supposed to die, she doesn't know what terrible things going on are intentional and what's accidental. Every time there's a thump, a spurt of blood, or someone is shoved in an oven, she leans over to the person next to her and whispers, very loudly, "Are they okay??"

Which actually makes it hard to follow the plot, too, so she's got some questions about that.

Georgie isn't a great audience member.

By now, Lucas is used to the sight of rough, colorful doodles where he looks a bit like a cryptid. Grace takes particular joy in rendering him tall and impossibly thin, face mostly hair, a storm cloud atop his neck. So, he doesn't think much of it at first when he recognizes himself in one of the drawings stuck to mirrors. It takes a beat before his brain registers that this can't be the work of Sarah or Grace.

He takes the picture between the only two fingers that aren't caked in fake blood and examines it, expression pulling, perplexed, as he stares at the hearts. "Who?"

Riley was pissed. For about fifteen seconds, she was livid. Where the fuck were her regular clothes??? Is she supposed to go to the cast party in her BLOOD CLOTHES??? Or in her underwear???

Oh, wait, that's actually not a bad idea.

In an attempt to seem mildly more appropriate, Riley finds a little red cape that looks like it was part of a Little Red Riding Hood costume and tosses it over her shoulders before heading back out to the stage. It's basically just a shrug. Yes. This feels right.

Broken bones are old hat for Healer Mufferaw, who has had to put many kids back together throughout Gooseberry's sports seasons. A leg gets about as much sympathy as the sniffles, though his expression does soften when Cameron starts looking a little green around the gills at the sound and sight of his leg magically mending. He gives him a crutch and tells him not to put too much weight on it for the next day.

So, when Cameron shows up to the cast party, he's looking a little less Sweeney Todd and a little more Tiny Tim. Aaaand Riley is naked, which doesn't seem to phase him at all. "You were amazing, baby girl," he tells her.

Riley is just in her underwear and Cameron's on a crutch & (Open)

riledup - 2018-05-10 16:13 (UTC) - Expand

BIG APPLAUSE!!!!!!!

Please reply to this comment if you'd like to take a volunteer spot!

Edited (bold in the vain hope everyone will see it) 2018-05-10 02:06 (UTC)

...Audience Member J for Lachlan?

Because my fastidious boy needs to suffer.

BEFORE THE PERFORMANCE

BACKSTAGE

THE PERFORMANCE

Jade didn't do it

THE AUDIENCE

Georgie + Open

AFTER THE PERFORMANCE

Lucas Gets Fan Art

CAST PARTY

Riley is just in her underwear (Open)

Riley is just in her underwear and Cameron's on a crutch & (Open)

OOC 🔪 DISCUSSION

OOC 🔪 VOLUNTEERS

Re: OOC 🔪 VOLUNTEERS

Re: OOC 🔪 VOLUNTEERS

Re: OOC 🔪 DISCUSSION

Re: OOC 🔪 DISCUSSION

Re: OOC 🔪 DISCUSSION

Re: OOC 🔪 DISCUSSION

Re: OOC 🔪 DISCUSSION

Re: OOC 🔪 DISCUSSION

Re: OOC 🔪 DISCUSSION

Re: OOC 🔪 DISCUSSION

Re: OOC 🔪 DISCUSSION

Re: OOC 🔪 DISCUSSION