The Musical!
Version 1.3
[Mission] [Overview] [Beginnings]
Mission
PreCalc, The Musical!
is a class project
to be submitted to Disney
in order
to bring national notoriety to
our school
as well as raise much needed funds
Overview
It takes place in a mythical high school
Dardly HS Early College
located somewhere
on the lower east side of Manhattan
The main plot
revolves around a nerdy tenth grade girl
whose nickname is
PreCalc
and an Indian immigrant eleventh grade boy
Jamal
An important subplot
revolves around
a new English teacher
Miley Stylus
Beginnings
At the beginning of the story
PreCalc
is obsessed with
Calculus
which she expects to take next year
and
has heard all sort of scary things about
from the upper classmen
PreCalc
has never received anything less than an A
in any of her classes
and
becomes convinced
that
no matter how hard she tries
she will only be able to get a C in Calculus
(and her life will be ruined)
Jamal
who is President of the Model UN Club
is determined
to get into a prestigious college
so
that he can become An American Success Story
(like Barack Obama)
Jamal begins dating PreCalc
not so much because he finds her attractive
but
as a means to ingratiate himself
with PreCalc's dad
who is an Assistant Dean at Princeton University
EVIL!
Meanwhile
Miley Stylus
arrives at Dardly as her first teaching job
having just completed
her degree at
Miley
is brash, outspoken, very confident
and
has all sorts of new ideas on how to teach English
Unfortunately
the English department at Dardly
although
they have very impressive credentials
are in many respects
out of touch
with their students
Character Development
By the end of the story
our characters
have arrived at the following conclusion
to their journey:
Jamal
has fallen madly in love with PreCalc
to the point
where he has neglected his studies
and
must return to Dardly
for a fifth year
in order to compete his degree
PreCalc
finds Jamal increasingly annoying
and
by the end of the story
doesn't even bother returning Jamal's insistent text messaging
However
her experience with Jamal
has opened her up
to the world
of
which she decides
is
her life's calling
She realizes
that Calculus would be a waste of her time
and
pre-registers for Statistics instead
Meanwhile
our intrepid English teacher
Miley Stylus
after making a complete fool of herself
numerous times
(hey, [Nobody's Perfect!])
turns
the English department at Dardly around
more by her irrepressible spirit
than
by any of her
noval teaching techniques
By the end of the story
she has won over
the hearts and minds of the English department
and is voted in
to be
next year's Department Chair
Final Act
Due to DOE cutbacks
it is announced
that
Miley's contract will not to be renewed
in the coming year
(As a new teacher, she has the least seniority)
The students of Dardly
decide
to
take matters into their own hands
and
put on a musical
in order to raise funds
to
preserve Miley's position
Miley directs the musical
(and is seen walking the actors thru their song and dance routines)
but
does not perform herself
Much to everyone's surprise
PreCalc
turns out to be an AMAZING singer
and
is the star of the show
The show ends with
PreCalc
alone on a darkened stage
singing the finale
a song about
being true to yourself
(no matter what others may think)
and
following your innermost dreams
The End
Note to Music People
Writing original, catchy Disney tunes
is
a lot harder than it looks
(sounds)
DON'T EVEN TRY!
No matter how good the material
in performance
it would be too fresh to the ears of your audience
to have much impact
Instead
stay with pre-existing, instantly recognizable
Disney tunes
(maybe, even some of the classics from The Good Old Days)
but
rework the lyrics
to support the story
and
give the production
much of its energy and fun
Note to Set People
At first glance
the set should be
TYPICAL AMERICAN HIGH SCHOOL
but
should contain
numerous weird little anomalies
the sort of nuggets
that most of the audience will not even notice at first
but
upon recognition
would say:
What is THAT doing there?
During the course of the play
the characters will
(in a incidental, haphazard sort of way)
stumble upon these anomalies
one by one
each time subconsciously referencing
(either by word or gesture)
their appearance
At no time
during the play
should these anomalies be
explicitly
mentioned or referenced!
