Just another 'idea I came up with all of a sudden lemme type it out' dealio, like with the wolf story. This time the idea came up in Creative Writing class, as we talked for a bit about bullying. It's a experience I'm all too familiar with. But instead of writing a book about it, I'd actually like to make a musical about it.
So I imagined it. The stage with classrooms/rooms on top of each other, the music playing the Overture. But before it ends, there's a high pitched scream from a girl, and a gun shot. Three characters run on stage - a handsome jock, a beautiful young girl, and an old man who is a teacher. The girl sobs, having seen her friends just been shot. The teacher tells the two to follow them, he'll keep them safe in his room. He runs offstage, the girl begins to follow, but notices the jock isn't following. The jock says he thinks he can take the shooter on, it's just one guy, and it's only "Weston". The girl pleads with him, and then there's another shot, and the jock falls down, dead.
The shooter then comes on stage - a boy their age, thin, measly, weak-looking. The girl sobs over the boy's body, and then looks up at the shooter, asking "How did it come to this?" Where the shooter suddenly starts laughing, almost to insanity, as he repeats her question, over and over. There we open on the first number ("How Did It Come To This"), where the two sing about how just yesterday everything was nice and normal, and now today there's blood and carnage.
After the song ends, we travel back in time. It's the 90's, the first year of high school. The students and faculty sing about their school ("The Glory Years") and we are introduced to many aspects of this school. We meet the jocks, the smart Asians, the white guys trying to be black, the gay theater kid, the stoners, the clique girls, and so and so forth. We also meet some of the teachers - we recognize the elderly man from before as a Chemistry Teacher, but we also meet the slowly-being-let-go Music Teacher, the why-did-I-get-an-english-major English teacher, a Math teacher who has a girl that is coming to this school, and some of the others.
We are then introduced to the characters we saw in the shooting before. Weston and Jenny are best friends, have been since kindergarden. But while Weston had to go to a catholic school from K-8, Jenny left that catholic school after sixth grade and went to Junior High. They had still kept in touch, but they are still happy to be in school together. Their friend James is also with them, and he shows them 'how to get by' in the school(what teachers are laziest, where to smoke, etc). ("Making The Grade")
It becomes obvious that Weston has a crush on Jenny, but she easily falls for a football player named Ryan, and he feels the same way for her. ("Teenage Love Is Eternal Love", a parody song about how many teenagers feel their romance is for the ages) Weston has a tough time fitting in school, unused to changing rooms and lockers, but he shows to be very smart. When lunch comes, he tries to sit with Jenny and James, but finds they are already in groups of their own. He eats alone, lamenting the changes that have already occurred. ("First Day")
The kids go home, and we see their school life. Weston lives with his mother, his father has been dead for years. She's a bit of a flake, and believes that love and good intentions will always overcome, and so tries to tell her son to be more friendly in order to make friends. Jenny's parents are overachievers who didn't achieve what they wanted in life, and so put their pressures on her, trying to live their lives through her(They suggest for he to leave her old friends behind, encouraging her relationship with Ryan. Her mother is the Math Teacher). James' parents continue to compare him to his older brother, who was once a basketball superstar, and now just lives in their basement and smoke weed. They blindly favor and love the brother, thinking he'll get out of that 'stupor' eventually. All of the parents get a number, suggesting to their children how to face their upcoming school years. ("The Rules To Happiness")
Weston tries to follow his mother's advice, opening himself out to more people, offering tutoring services. This actually works for a while, and he gets the respect and friendship of the Chemistry Teacher. ("Go See Brainiac") Jenny asks him tutor Ryan for an upcoming Math test, and out of love for her, he accepts. Unfortunately, Weston accidentally teases Ryan for getting a problem wrong, and then also accidentally admits his feelings for Jenny. The next day, Weston finds his locker vandalized, and his books torn to shreds. Confused and hurt, Weston goes throughout the day, hearing wild rumors about himself. ("Gossip") When he finds Ryan to ask him if he wants to continue tutoring, Ryan begins to humiliate him in front of masses of students. A week passes by, and James informs us, the audience, that it only got worse. Online harassment, beatings, entire groups of kids shunning him.
Weston goes home, almost in tears, telling his mother what is happening. But she continues to preach about love, forgiveness, and turning the other cheek. ("Sore Cheeks") Ryan, meanwhile, sings to the audience of why he does this - it's all just a big joke, so no one should get upset. He then goes on to tell incredibly racist, sexist, younameist jokes to the audience, always responding with "Lighten up, it's just a joke." Which leads into his own number of how anything can be funny, and yet he's the only one who can't take it himself. ("Just A Joke") The bullying continues, now trying to make Weston "admit" he's a "faggot". It gets so bad, that Weston wonders if he
is homosexual. James and Jenny try to be there for him when they can, and Jenny pleads with Ryan to be nicer to Weston. Weston, trying to figure out his sexuality, talks to James, Gay Theater Kid and Chemistry Teacher. The Teacher tells them about a sordid affair back in the days of
his high school, trying to advise them that High School isn't forever. ("Life After High School")
Ryan's birthday comes up, and he invites plenty of people to his party, including, amazingly, Weston. Unfortunately, it turns out to be a set-up, as he and his friends lock Weston in a room with a male hooker. Meanwhile, James is telling Jenny about the 'sordid affair', and Jenny, to her shock, recognizes people in the story as her parents. Ryan overhears, but misunderstands the story - that Jenny's father raped Weston's mother. He and his friends shout into the locked room that Weston was an unwanted rape child,("Better Off Dead") as the male hooker tries to comfort him. Weston, at his limit, scrambles in the room, begining to sing along with the boys. He finds a gun belonging to Ryan's father, and accidentally shoots the male hooker dead. The song goes on, with the boys oblivious. Horrified, Weston begins escaping through a window... but, after a bit of hesitation, takes the gun with him.
Intermission. Act Two.
Rumors fly about the dead male hooker and the missing gun.("Gossip - Revise") Ryan and his friends had been forced to hide the body, as he wasn't supposed to have that party in the first place, and has gotten a black eye from his father for 'losing' the gun. No one suspects that Weston could have done it. Nevertheless, the harassment continues, harsher every day.
Weston tries to confront his mother about the rape, but she refuses to talk about it, still believing in the best of people("Good Catholics Don't Ask") - it incorrectly makes Weston think that Ryan is right. Desperate, he goes to Jenny, trying to tell her what happened but unable to, and also wanting to keep their friendship. Jenny wants to keep it as well, but the pressure from her parents and her new clique is heavy. ("Silver And Gold") During Math Class, the class easily pushes the teacher around, and as such easily bullies Weston. He keeps looking for James and Jenny to defend him, but they keep quiet. It's in fact Gay Theater Kid that finally speaks up, and tells them that Weston isn't gay, but maybe the bullies are if they're so obsessed with the damn subject.("The Right Penis") Inspired, Weston suddenly kisses Jenny, and her mother, the Math Teacher, runs out of the room.
After class, the four students are elated. Weston, to have friends and to have kissed Jenny. James, to see that people can actually stand up and make a difference. Gay Theater Kid, for standing up for himself and his sexuality. Jenny, begining to realize she's in love with Weston. The four share an uplifting number about hope and individuality ("What My Yearbook Will Say") However, before they finish the last bar, each student is met with devastation. Jenny is yelled at her by her mother for 'playing along with' Weston, and accidentally reveals it was she who was raped by Jenny's father, forcing the two of them together. The Music teacher is finally fired, as the budget can no longer cover such actives, so Gay Theater Kid loses the stage and his only opportunity to prepare himself for the Broadway acting life he dreamed of. James' Brother has finally gotten a job -a really successful one - so now his parents love his brother more than ever. Finally, Weston is cornered by the jocks, and beaten near to death.
Weston sits in his room, unable to take the torment anymore. Suddenly, the spirit of the gun, taking the form of a seductive older woman, approaches him, telling him there's only one out. ("Use Me") Horrified, he rejects her. The next day, Weston tries to tell Jenny and James what Ryan did to him, and a crowd gathers. James, wanting to stay in good grace in the popular crowd, suddenly begins beating him up, getting a rousing cheer. A parade follows him out, even Jenny after some hesitation. After a moment of silence, Weston quietly questions the audience "Three more years?"
We finally approach the day of the shooting. It's been a year since Weston's first day, and once again the students and faculty sing about the glory of their school ("The Glory Years - Revise"). But there's a shot in the middle of the number, instantly killing the lead singer - James. People scatter and scream as more shots ring out to frantic, violent music, as the background has flashing images of newspaper articles and tv reports about 'famous' school shootings (such as Colombine, Virgnia Tech, etc) We are then presented the first scene that we saw when the musical opened, as the two sing ("How Did It Come To This - Revise") again. Jenny pleads with him to spare her, and he seems to consider it - then suddenly grabs her wrist, dragging her off screaming. We see the Chemistry Teacher, his room hoarded with the faculty and students. He wants to go out and save Jenny, but everyone is telling him its madness. As they argue, another gun shot goes out. Chemistry Teacher suddenly runs out... only to find Jenny alive, and that Weston had committed suicide.
The entire ensemble comes together for a final song about how long High School really is, and how the future is ultimately up in the hands of our children, made poignant by Weston seeming to fire into the audience. ("Finale - This Is Our World")
... wow, where the hell did all of that come from?
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