Howdy!
These past couple weeks have been... interesting. Broadway is closed, Basketball is cancelled, but my Blog is as alive as ever. (Yeah... if you bother to look, which I'm saving you the time from doing right now, you'll notice that that's not true at all. Despite the fact that I promised to post weekly, it's been three weeks since I've released a post on here.)
I know I don't often even announce my posts, so luckily I got away with this pretty subtly. But since the podium is mine, I might as well explain:
Week 1 (Feb 20): I was too dizzy to look at a screen.
Week 2 (Feb 27): That dizziness had been a predecessor to the flu, I guess. (A very mild flu, considering I didn't even realize I had it until the doctor straight-up said "Oh, looks like you're getting over the flu.") So yeah.
Then I was getting better! The doctor wrote me a prescription to get antibiotics and an inhaler! (Because I have allergy-induced asthma, and guess what? It's spring, so you dang well know there's gonna be allergies!)
This was the first time I've ever had an inhaler. I loved this inhaler. To the point that I was actually very afraid I might get addicted. I named him Al (short for his contents, Albuterol Sulfate). We were gonna be good friends. But then came
Week 3 (Mar 5): I had a seizure! (On Ariana's birthday! Which semi- stole attention from her, so she was definitely mad at me. :] But then we watched John Mulaney and ate donuts so idk maybe it's forgiven.) Anyway, needless to say, I wasn't allowed to look at any mobile screens for a few days after that, so... yeah, no blog.
But hey, that was last week. This is this week. I'm back and I'm fine (I'm actually feeling great, considering it's the worst season of the year. 84 degrees, a pollen count of 340. Honeybees, wasps, mosquito eaters everywhere. And hand sanitizer nowhere. Gorgeous.)
And you know what? I'm in the mood to tear into an unsuspecting Disney show. So let's go.
I recently had the privilege of watching the Disney Plus original High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. And oh, what a grand privilege that was.
The show is described on Wikipedia as, and I quote, a mockumentary musical romantic comedy-drama web television series.
That was a mouthful, not unlike the title of the show. Then again, I guess I'm not allowed to roast the title, because my favorite band is Fall Out Boy, and they have a song called Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying (Do Your Part to Save the Scene and Stop Going to Shows), amongst the many other 10 to 19-word song titles in their discography. Sooo let's just pretend like High School Musical the Musical the Series is a good title and move right along.
Oh, and yes, I said mockumentary. Like The Office. Except, you know,.... bad.
Basically it takes place in our universe, or a very similar one, where High School Musical exists as a movie. The setting is the real-life school (or, well, a fictionalized version of the real-life school) where the movies were filmed. The new theatre director wants to put on a production of High School Musical: The Musical as an homage. And that's pretty much the premise.
Many things bothered me about this show. Many many many. But allow me to tell you my top five least favorite things about it. And yes, there probably will be spoilers, if that matters to anyone.
Grievance #5. The Open Ends. And When I Say Open Ends, I'm Really Just Referring to This Very Specific One:
There is a side character named Big Red.
One problem. We never learn his real name.
I think we deserve to know. Mostly because my family was all theorizing, (gambling, you might even say,) and we really wanted to see if any of us were right. My main guess was Andrew, in case you were wondering. I'd like to know.
Unless...they really put "Big Red" on this human child's birth certificate. And you know? I'm all for that. Maybe his middle name is Diet Pepsi.
Complaint #4. The DRAMA:
There was SO much drama, almost from the very start. The girl playing Gabriella and the boy playing Troy used to be dating, so this is awkward for them. Gabriella's understudy hates Gabriella's guts, and Troy's understudy (who's now dating Gabriella) hates Troy's guts. Both of them really want to play the roles they're understudying. Like, so badly that they'll take extreme measures to try to make their counterpart quit the show.
UM. So I recently understudied Madame Thenardier in Les Mis, and uh. No. It-... It just isn't like that. At all. (Love ya Caitlyn). Maybe I'm wrong, and in every other theatrical production in the world, the understudies and leads have horrible animosities. But I'm willing to bet that isn't the case.
There's no such thing as being just an understudy. At least not it my mentality. Meanwhile, these characters definitely don't see it that way. They're sabotaging each other left and right, stealing each other's phones and shoes and??? (They do all become friends later, because duh. But at first... bro, that was scary stuff.)
Now, look, I get it, it's a tv show. It has to have some conflict, because it'd be boring if it was too realistic. (I love theatre, but some rehearsals are super uneventful and to-the-point and sometimes even tedious. That wouldn't make a good episode of a Disney show, and I get that.) But the problem is, they relied SO HEAVILY on the drama, but they failed to remember to give us any reason to care about it. I mean, I can't speak for everyone who watched this show, but I didn't care about it.
They'd hardly even established the characters yet, let alone developed them, and already they were tossing them into breakups and love triangles and rivalries and catfights and... why should I care? I hardly even know these characters' names, how am I supposed to know whose side I'm on?
Don't get me wrong. It seemed very clear who the writers thought you should be rooting for. Most of the show felt force-fed like that, like they were telling you what you were supposed to think. This is a nice girl, this is a mean girl, this guy's sweet, this guy's a jerk, this girl's a good friend, this girl's a bad friend, the mean girl is nice now because she has a sad backstory, jerk-boy is forgivable now because he accepted the consequences of his actions, and this lady is SO funny!!!
I think they forgot to leave room for the possibility that the audience might have their own differing opinions. That didn't quite sit well with someone like myself who is clearly very opinionated.
Thing That Made Me Upset #3. The Stereotyping:
The characters were pretty much typecast in the musical. As in, you could look at the group of characters and probably guess who all of them played in the musical, save for maybe Sharpay. (More on that later.)
I personally believed one of the strongest singers was a character named Ashlyn.
As you can see, she's very pretty. But note that she's sort of on the heavier side. Not a problem! Right? You'd hope so.
But something was a little fishy to me. The director took one look at her and went "Hm, I think I see you as.... Miss Darbus!"
Now, I'm not saying she should've been Gabriella. Ethnically speaking, I don't think that would've been quite appropriate. But I'm thinking, why not Kelsi?
I know, I know, I was just complaining about stereotypes. But I'd rather she have been typecast based on her personality than based on her looks.
I'm probably way too heated about this. So sorry. Buuut it's sort of a little bit personal.
I've felt that, as someone on the not-quite-so-thin side, I may not have as good a chance as everyone else. What I'm NOT saying is that I haven't been given a fair shot. Not saying that at all. I think it's more of a personal insecurity thing.
For example, I wouldn't think I have a good shot at playing the love interest, because I've never seen a heavyset girl with a lisp do it before. So I'm gonna go for the crazy aunt instead. Y'know?
And don't get me wrong. I adore those roles. I prefer them. I'd take Madame Thenardier over Cosette any day. My dream roles are the likes of Miss Hannigan and The Witch. Now, is that because I know I could never play someone like Cinderella, and so I've adjusted my dreams to fit within my reality? I don't know, maybe partially. But I'm aware of my strengths, and I'm proud of them.
But maybe there are some people who look like me (and who actually have the acting and dancing chops required lol) who DO want to be the princess. But maybe they've come to believe that those roles aren't for them, and they've come to expect to get the role of the crazy aunt instead. (Why am I using the term "crazy aunt?" That's not a real role, at least not that I can think of. Oh well.) You see where I'm going with this?
I do also feel like there's a bit of an unspoken bias that we as humans have (particularly pertaining to theatre or similar media), where we see one character a certain way, and that sort of blocks our chances of even thinking to see it any other way. We're unaware of this bias, of course. I wouldn't call it a prejudice or anything, it's just an automatic buffer that we don't realize we're putting up.
This could be said in so many more contexts than just weight or body type. I feel like maybe we eliminate certain people for certain roles because we just automatically overlook them, without realizing it. And I get it, some people are better suited to some roles than others are, and looks may have nothing to do with that. And some select roles have very specific "looks" or physical requirements to them. But for those that don't, I think we should maybe try to be more open-minded.
They're doing Beauty and the Beast in season 2, and let me tell you, I just can't wait for Ashlyn to hear: "Hm, I think I see you as... Mrs. Potts!" (A great role, don't misinterpret me! But! Concept! What if, just once, she got a fair shot at Belle, too? Something to ponder, eh, Disney?)
Ok wow that was a lot. I'll step off my soapbox for now. (Don't you worry, though, I have nine other soap boxes sitting in the garage for later. I bought Target out of 'em, can't be too careful. Wow I'm so funny I should be famous.)
Thing That Bugged Me #2. The Blatant Disregard for Ryan:
They pretty much ignored Ryan as a character altogether. They talked about him plenty, the actor who played him in the movies even made a... weird cameo. But when it came to the production, he was pretty much cut.
I liked the idea of Sharpay being played by a dude (oh yeah, that's a thing that happened, by the way.) I do feel like their execution wasn't the greatest, and also it's super unrealistic because MTI (the musical licensing company) would never ever allow that... but I liked the concept.
What I DIDN'T like was him snatching up all of Ryan's solos while the unnamed extra playing Ryan stood there, dressed like a newsie(?!), saying nothing.
Allow me to demonstrate.
Original movie:
SHARPAY: Something is really....
RYAN: Something's not right.
SHARPAY: Really wrong!
BOTH: And we gotta get things back where they belong!
This show:
SHARPAY: Something is really - something's not righ-really wrong! And we gotta get things back where they belong!
Ryan was always my favorite character. I always sang his parts in High School Musical Sing It! on the Wii. And that's probably somewhere in my top ten darkest secrets, but...
Okay, let me put this in a different perspective and metaphorize it in a way everyone can understand. (Metaphorize is now a word.) Imagine Team Rocket.
Except now let's pretend Jessie is a dude, too. So it's Jesse and James and Meowth. Okay, sure. Simple enough.
But here's how it goes down:
JESSE: Your Pikachu will soon be ours, twerp! Prepare for trouble, and make it double! To protect the world from devastation! To unite all people within our nation! To denounce the evils of truth and love! To extend our reach to the stars above! Jesse! And James! Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light! Surrender now, or prepare for a fight! Meowth! That's right!
JAMES: nods
scene
Anyway yeah.
Pet Peeve #1. What the Heck:
If I didn't know for a fact that the writer of this series was on Broadway at one point, I would highly theorize that the person behind this monstrosity of a show has never participated in theatre at all. Because wow was it hard to watch at times.
The characters talked to each other, above a whisper, onstage. During a show. In front of an audience. While they were supposed to be doing a scene.
"EJ? What are you doing here? Where's Ricky?"
"Didn't they tell you? I'm playing Troy now."
"But you're Chad. Who's gonna be Chad now?"
"Actually that's a question the show never answers haha. Just go with it."
"I don't understand.... why is the audience okay with us doing this? Don't they want to be watching a good, professional show? They just saw you as Chad, they're just going to accept you as Troy now? Also, why am I stalling the show to talk to you when I know there's a talent scout in the audience who's here specifically to see me? This is surely making me look so good in front of her!"
Yeah that all happened, more or less.
The audience seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the show, somehow? Pardon??? If I was there, I would've strongly considered leaving at intermission. Or, heck, maybe in the middle of it. Because if the actors are gonna talk during the show, then I think the mutual etiquette is compromised, and I'm allowed to be slightly disruptive by walking out during the show.
They also didn't have a tech week, really? They just put their one singular techie behind the booth on opening night, and he was completely clueless, because apparently they hadn't previously worked out any cues or anything. WHAT?
Why am I fuming over this fictional production? Perhaps because I've put so much more effort into my real-life ones, and I never get scouts waiting around afterwards to tell me I belong at their fancy pretentious performing arts schools.
So anyway, you've now gotten a bitter little taste of the series. So maybe now you know to avoid it. Or maybe I've stricken up an intrigue inside of you, and now you'll watch it and it's all my fault. Or maybe you've already seen it and I've ruined it for you. I don't know. Regardless, my apologies.
This all aside, I sort of enjoyed it. Now now, don't twist my words around, I most definitely watched it to make fun of it. But there were plenty of redeemable aspects. Pretty decent original songs. Pretty talented cast (Although I did think they were mostly mediocre actors, they weren't BAD. Also, they had great voices, and some of them could flippin' DANCE.)
And you bet your bottom I'll be watching season 2. (Definitely also to make fun of it.) So stay tuned.
K bye.
These past couple weeks have been... interesting. Broadway is closed, Basketball is cancelled, but my Blog is as alive as ever. (Yeah... if you bother to look, which I'm saving you the time from doing right now, you'll notice that that's not true at all. Despite the fact that I promised to post weekly, it's been three weeks since I've released a post on here.)
I know I don't often even announce my posts, so luckily I got away with this pretty subtly. But since the podium is mine, I might as well explain:
Week 1 (Feb 20): I was too dizzy to look at a screen.
Week 2 (Feb 27): That dizziness had been a predecessor to the flu, I guess. (A very mild flu, considering I didn't even realize I had it until the doctor straight-up said "Oh, looks like you're getting over the flu.") So yeah.
Then I was getting better! The doctor wrote me a prescription to get antibiotics and an inhaler! (Because I have allergy-induced asthma, and guess what? It's spring, so you dang well know there's gonna be allergies!)
This was the first time I've ever had an inhaler. I loved this inhaler. To the point that I was actually very afraid I might get addicted. I named him Al (short for his contents, Albuterol Sulfate). We were gonna be good friends. But then came
Week 3 (Mar 5): I had a seizure! (On Ariana's birthday! Which semi- stole attention from her, so she was definitely mad at me. :] But then we watched John Mulaney and ate donuts so idk maybe it's forgiven.) Anyway, needless to say, I wasn't allowed to look at any mobile screens for a few days after that, so... yeah, no blog.
But hey, that was last week. This is this week. I'm back and I'm fine (I'm actually feeling great, considering it's the worst season of the year. 84 degrees, a pollen count of 340. Honeybees, wasps, mosquito eaters everywhere. And hand sanitizer nowhere. Gorgeous.)
And you know what? I'm in the mood to tear into an unsuspecting Disney show. So let's go.
I recently had the privilege of watching the Disney Plus original High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. And oh, what a grand privilege that was.
That was a mouthful, not unlike the title of the show. Then again, I guess I'm not allowed to roast the title, because my favorite band is Fall Out Boy, and they have a song called Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying (Do Your Part to Save the Scene and Stop Going to Shows), amongst the many other 10 to 19-word song titles in their discography. Sooo let's just pretend like High School Musical the Musical the Series is a good title and move right along.
Oh, and yes, I said mockumentary. Like The Office. Except, you know,.... bad.
Many things bothered me about this show. Many many many. But allow me to tell you my top five least favorite things about it. And yes, there probably will be spoilers, if that matters to anyone.
Grievance #5. The Open Ends. And When I Say Open Ends, I'm Really Just Referring to This Very Specific One:
There is a side character named Big Red.
 |
| get it? 'cause he has red hair |
One problem. We never learn his real name.
I think we deserve to know. Mostly because my family was all theorizing, (gambling, you might even say,) and we really wanted to see if any of us were right. My main guess was Andrew, in case you were wondering. I'd like to know.
Unless...they really put "Big Red" on this human child's birth certificate. And you know? I'm all for that. Maybe his middle name is Diet Pepsi.
Complaint #4. The DRAMA:
There was SO much drama, almost from the very start. The girl playing Gabriella and the boy playing Troy used to be dating, so this is awkward for them. Gabriella's understudy hates Gabriella's guts, and Troy's understudy (who's now dating Gabriella) hates Troy's guts. Both of them really want to play the roles they're understudying. Like, so badly that they'll take extreme measures to try to make their counterpart quit the show.
UM. So I recently understudied Madame Thenardier in Les Mis, and uh. No. It-... It just isn't like that. At all. (Love ya Caitlyn). Maybe I'm wrong, and in every other theatrical production in the world, the understudies and leads have horrible animosities. But I'm willing to bet that isn't the case.
There's no such thing as being just an understudy. At least not it my mentality. Meanwhile, these characters definitely don't see it that way. They're sabotaging each other left and right, stealing each other's phones and shoes and??? (They do all become friends later, because duh. But at first... bro, that was scary stuff.)
Now, look, I get it, it's a tv show. It has to have some conflict, because it'd be boring if it was too realistic. (I love theatre, but some rehearsals are super uneventful and to-the-point and sometimes even tedious. That wouldn't make a good episode of a Disney show, and I get that.) But the problem is, they relied SO HEAVILY on the drama, but they failed to remember to give us any reason to care about it. I mean, I can't speak for everyone who watched this show, but I didn't care about it.
They'd hardly even established the characters yet, let alone developed them, and already they were tossing them into breakups and love triangles and rivalries and catfights and... why should I care? I hardly even know these characters' names, how am I supposed to know whose side I'm on?
Don't get me wrong. It seemed very clear who the writers thought you should be rooting for. Most of the show felt force-fed like that, like they were telling you what you were supposed to think. This is a nice girl, this is a mean girl, this guy's sweet, this guy's a jerk, this girl's a good friend, this girl's a bad friend, the mean girl is nice now because she has a sad backstory, jerk-boy is forgivable now because he accepted the consequences of his actions, and this lady is SO funny!!!
I think they forgot to leave room for the possibility that the audience might have their own differing opinions. That didn't quite sit well with someone like myself who is clearly very opinionated.
Thing That Made Me Upset #3. The Stereotyping:
The characters were pretty much typecast in the musical. As in, you could look at the group of characters and probably guess who all of them played in the musical, save for maybe Sharpay. (More on that later.)
I personally believed one of the strongest singers was a character named Ashlyn.
But something was a little fishy to me. The director took one look at her and went "Hm, I think I see you as.... Miss Darbus!"
 |
| (You know, the eccentric teacher/director from the movies? Who pronounced musical like "musicale"? Man I always hated her.) |
Now, I'm not saying she should've been Gabriella. Ethnically speaking, I don't think that would've been quite appropriate. But I'm thinking, why not Kelsi?
 |
| Kelsi was the composer/songwriter character from the movies. Ashlyn, too, was a sweet, humble, songwriter. It's literally the same exact archetype. |
I know, I know, I was just complaining about stereotypes. But I'd rather she have been typecast based on her personality than based on her looks.
I'm probably way too heated about this. So sorry. Buuut it's sort of a little bit personal.
I've felt that, as someone on the not-quite-so-thin side, I may not have as good a chance as everyone else. What I'm NOT saying is that I haven't been given a fair shot. Not saying that at all. I think it's more of a personal insecurity thing.
For example, I wouldn't think I have a good shot at playing the love interest, because I've never seen a heavyset girl with a lisp do it before. So I'm gonna go for the crazy aunt instead. Y'know?
And don't get me wrong. I adore those roles. I prefer them. I'd take Madame Thenardier over Cosette any day. My dream roles are the likes of Miss Hannigan and The Witch. Now, is that because I know I could never play someone like Cinderella, and so I've adjusted my dreams to fit within my reality? I don't know, maybe partially. But I'm aware of my strengths, and I'm proud of them.
But maybe there are some people who look like me (and who actually have the acting and dancing chops required lol) who DO want to be the princess. But maybe they've come to believe that those roles aren't for them, and they've come to expect to get the role of the crazy aunt instead. (Why am I using the term "crazy aunt?" That's not a real role, at least not that I can think of. Oh well.) You see where I'm going with this?
I do also feel like there's a bit of an unspoken bias that we as humans have (particularly pertaining to theatre or similar media), where we see one character a certain way, and that sort of blocks our chances of even thinking to see it any other way. We're unaware of this bias, of course. I wouldn't call it a prejudice or anything, it's just an automatic buffer that we don't realize we're putting up.
This could be said in so many more contexts than just weight or body type. I feel like maybe we eliminate certain people for certain roles because we just automatically overlook them, without realizing it. And I get it, some people are better suited to some roles than others are, and looks may have nothing to do with that. And some select roles have very specific "looks" or physical requirements to them. But for those that don't, I think we should maybe try to be more open-minded.
They're doing Beauty and the Beast in season 2, and let me tell you, I just can't wait for Ashlyn to hear: "Hm, I think I see you as... Mrs. Potts!" (A great role, don't misinterpret me! But! Concept! What if, just once, she got a fair shot at Belle, too? Something to ponder, eh, Disney?)
Ok wow that was a lot. I'll step off my soapbox for now. (Don't you worry, though, I have nine other soap boxes sitting in the garage for later. I bought Target out of 'em, can't be too careful. Wow I'm so funny I should be famous.)
Thing That Bugged Me #2. The Blatant Disregard for Ryan:
I liked the idea of Sharpay being played by a dude (oh yeah, that's a thing that happened, by the way.) I do feel like their execution wasn't the greatest, and also it's super unrealistic because MTI (the musical licensing company) would never ever allow that... but I liked the concept.
What I DIDN'T like was him snatching up all of Ryan's solos while the unnamed extra playing Ryan stood there, dressed like a newsie(?!), saying nothing.
Allow me to demonstrate.
Original movie:
SHARPAY: Something is really....
RYAN: Something's not right.
SHARPAY: Really wrong!
BOTH: And we gotta get things back where they belong!
This show:
SHARPAY: Something is really - something's not righ-really wrong! And we gotta get things back where they belong!
 |
| see? Newsie |
Okay, let me put this in a different perspective and metaphorize it in a way everyone can understand. (Metaphorize is now a word.) Imagine Team Rocket.
But here's how it goes down:
JESSE: Your Pikachu will soon be ours, twerp! Prepare for trouble, and make it double! To protect the world from devastation! To unite all people within our nation! To denounce the evils of truth and love! To extend our reach to the stars above! Jesse! And James! Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light! Surrender now, or prepare for a fight! Meowth! That's right!
JAMES: nods
scene
Anyway yeah.
Pet Peeve #1. What the Heck:
If I didn't know for a fact that the writer of this series was on Broadway at one point, I would highly theorize that the person behind this monstrosity of a show has never participated in theatre at all. Because wow was it hard to watch at times.
The characters talked to each other, above a whisper, onstage. During a show. In front of an audience. While they were supposed to be doing a scene.
"EJ? What are you doing here? Where's Ricky?"
"Didn't they tell you? I'm playing Troy now."
"But you're Chad. Who's gonna be Chad now?"
"Actually that's a question the show never answers haha. Just go with it."
"I don't understand.... why is the audience okay with us doing this? Don't they want to be watching a good, professional show? They just saw you as Chad, they're just going to accept you as Troy now? Also, why am I stalling the show to talk to you when I know there's a talent scout in the audience who's here specifically to see me? This is surely making me look so good in front of her!"
Yeah that all happened, more or less.
 |
| Uhh so this is a real promotional poster for the show. And uh, yeah, I guess it sort of says everything. |
The audience seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the show, somehow? Pardon??? If I was there, I would've strongly considered leaving at intermission. Or, heck, maybe in the middle of it. Because if the actors are gonna talk during the show, then I think the mutual etiquette is compromised, and I'm allowed to be slightly disruptive by walking out during the show.
They also didn't have a tech week, really? They just put their one singular techie behind the booth on opening night, and he was completely clueless, because apparently they hadn't previously worked out any cues or anything. WHAT?
Why am I fuming over this fictional production? Perhaps because I've put so much more effort into my real-life ones, and I never get scouts waiting around afterwards to tell me I belong at their fancy pretentious performing arts schools.
 |
| yeah um too late. |
So anyway, you've now gotten a bitter little taste of the series. So maybe now you know to avoid it. Or maybe I've stricken up an intrigue inside of you, and now you'll watch it and it's all my fault. Or maybe you've already seen it and I've ruined it for you. I don't know. Regardless, my apologies.
This all aside, I sort of enjoyed it. Now now, don't twist my words around, I most definitely watched it to make fun of it. But there were plenty of redeemable aspects. Pretty decent original songs. Pretty talented cast (Although I did think they were mostly mediocre actors, they weren't BAD. Also, they had great voices, and some of them could flippin' DANCE.)
And you bet your bottom I'll be watching season 2. (Definitely also to make fun of it.) So stay tuned.
K bye.
 |
| Time to get off the internet |
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