By Robin Talley.
The Beaconville High School theater department is convinced that their theater is cursed. The original theater burned down, there was a bad production of MacBeth when the new one opened, and now there's a history and a thorough Google Doc of all the injuries/superstitions, what have you, that the cast and crew have dreamed up over the years to try to thwart the curse. You may be sensibly thinking, "theaters do tend to have people randomly get injured and costumes and props go awry and shit/entropy/chaos happens," and you'd be right, but would kinda also have to agree that well, after your theater's been on fire, people might be concerned.
Anyway: everyone thinks the theater is cursed, and the cast and/or crew develop new superstitions to thwart the curse, and that's A Thing here. (The running gag of all these documents cracks me up.)
Melody McIntyre LOVES being a stage manager. While I admire stage managers, I admit I am kind of baffled as to how they enjoy being that level of stressed out all the time. Melody, however, makes it clear that she loves being the one in charge, fixing all the problems, enough that she wants it to be her lifelong career. But after her most recent girlfriend Rachel takes it upon herself to dump Melody IN THE MIDDLE OF A SHOW, THE FUCK, the rest of the crew politely asks that she...not...fall in love with anyone during the next show, for curse purposes. Melody doesn't exactly feel like she can argue the point.
I'm going to do a bit of a rant here: Rachel is such a jerk! I'm still not sure why she was soooooooooo pissed at Melody enough that she thought that the only way Melody would notice a breakup was to do it IN MID-SHOW, but that is so utterly unprofessional even for high school that I wanted to smack her. Like if I were an adult I would have FIRED HER ASS. I don't care if Melody slept with your sister and kicked your dog, YOU DON'T DUMP THE STAGE MANAGER IN MID-SHOW. WHEN SHE IS SUPPOSED TO BE PAYING ATTENTION TO THINGS. And yet, not that much happens to Rachel over this and Melody doesn't even seem that upset about it? Like it's cool and fine to work together? Anyway, that was such egregious behavior I raged on Melody's behalf.
Melody has apparently gotten around, or at least has something like six exes around the school and they don't seem to have had horrible breakups. Even she admits maybe she should take a break from dating after the Rachel debacle. However, when the school's Broadway stare, Odile Rose, decides she wants to be in Les Mis this spring, all bets are off because Odile is VERY INTERESTED in Melody. And I'll say this: these two have SUPER CHEMISTRY in like, every single conversation they have. (Take note, Hallmark, this is how it's done.) You never saw an actor so into stage managing before :P Even though Melody said she'd hold off, she just can't resist...and soon enough, secret relationship is going on. And then, of course, another disaster happens, and people start figuring out what's going on, and is it really all Melody's fault?
Overall, I loved the heck out of this. This is GREAT FUN. It's a really cool concept for a book. And as an actor (the crew in this show kind of scorn actors and seem to assume it's vice versa) who does kind of wonder why anyone would want the stressful job of stage manager--like I look at some of ours at the theater I perform at and hoooo boy do some of them seem quite stressed--this book sells you on why Melody LOVES being in charge and being the person who can solve all the problems. That's really cool. Added bonus is that I was reading the book while in tech week for a show. Odile and Melody fall fast, but it works. The curse plot is great, and there's fun side bits about how one of Melody's friends goes from tech to acting, dealing with a pouty lead actor, etc.
I did like how Melody focuses on Odile being genuinely happy when acting, vs. when she's faking being happy. People at school assume she's a snot because she's been out of school doing Broadway or film or whatever, but she's not as into film work as you'd think, and is secretly uncomfortable about the whole thing. Melody's crush is based on seeing how delighted Odile is to perform, and that's adorable. "For a split second, I almost understood the appeal of acting."
Really, the only thing I don't love about this is Rachel, who's really pretty inexplicably shitty and I'm not sure I ever got why (I think it's because Melody pays more attention to show running than her?), and then nothing really happens there. Rachel continues to work there, there's no issues, she and Melody more or less stay neutral, and then when Rachel suspects about Melody and Odile, you assume something awful is going to happen, but...sorta yes and sorta now? Confusing. I guess I just wanted Rachel to either get a comeuppance or apologize for her shitty timing or something.
I note that the author said in her note at the back that she ended up writing it in an alternate universe where plays went on in 2020, which of course she had no idea about when writing the book in 2018-2019. She also gasp isn't a theater person and hasn't been in a show, but did wed an actor/singer/stage manager
But overall, four and a half stars. Really good, fun book.
Quote Corner:
From the "A Brief History of BHS Theater Superstitions--Spring Musicals Edition" document:
- Little Shop Of Horrors: "DO NOT TOUCH THE PUPPET AFTER DARK WE REALLY THINK IT MIGHT TRY TO EAT YOU THIS IS NOT A JOKE."
- Once Upon A Mattress: "All male principals must chant in unison before each rehearsal: "I recognize the textual and subtextual misogyny in this musical and I promise to always strive to do better in my life than these jackass characters."
From "The Scottish Play: What Went Wrong" document:
- "During tech, a plastic dagger that was branded as "retractable" did not, in fact, retract. Fortunately, that actor only needed a few hours at urgent care, but the actor on the other end of the dagger will probably need therapy for life."
On a related note, Odile on her career: "I got into this because I like to sing, and now all of a sudden I'm in this movie about spies murdering each other. I have to take lessons on how to use a hunting knife. They haven't finished the script yet, but I think I have to stab someone."
From "Les Mis Crises To Date" document:
- Julio: Somehow got hit in the face without ever actually getting hit in the face."