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Not just one but two films featuring controversial original school musicals premiered at the Sundance Film Festival this year, and BroadwayWorld was on hand to discuss with the cast members of THE MUSICAL and RUN AMOK on their respective carpets.
In THE MUSICAL, a comedy with drama, a middle school theatre teacher (Will Brill) seeks revenge on the principal (Rob Lowe) for dating his ex (Gillian Jacobs) by secretly writing and rehearsing a shocking musical with his students. In RUN AMOK, a drama with comedy, a high school music teacher (Patrick Wilson) and the principal (Margaret Cho) butt heads about a student (Alyssa Marvin) secretly writing and rehearsing a musical about a shooting that took place there.
Although regrettably neither movie includes any musical numbers in final performance, and while they approach the material in very different ways, they are both incredibly compelling films that focus heavily on creating theatre and the important impact it has on those who make and experience it. Cast members from each spoke with BroadwayWorld exclusively about the power of musical theatre.
First up, the stars of THE MUSICAL. “As you know, musical theatre is the most important art form that exists,” said Tony winner Will Brill (STEREOPHONIC, OKLAHOMA!). “Of course, when it’s bad, it’s the worst, and when it’s good, it’s the best. And I think this movie does something really special in that it creates a piece of art that is, like, objectively bad for the world and so is incredibly effective at what it’s doing. This movie, while it is about dark and ugly things, is also, really for us, about the creation of theatre. It’s about living and dying for it, and it is funny and heartbreaking and insulting and gratifying along the way.”
“The joy of putting on a show, at the end of the day, is why we do it,” said two-time Emmy nominee Rob Lowe (THE OUTSIDERS, BEHIND THE CANDELABRA). “And, you know, at its most basic, usually it’s at school, and I think the movie does a really good job of capturing that kind of magic, particularly when you’re at the age of the kids in it, where it feels like you’re opening on Broadway and to an audience of The New York Times, and it’s your parents and The Tolucan Times. That kind of magic that we forget about as we get older, we get more sophisticated, get more experience—it really took me right back. And of course, to do it in a show that this movie is about, which is so audacious, is kind of breathtaking.”
“It is the centerpiece of our film, but I’m not going to tell you anything more about that,” said his costar Gillian Jacobs (COMMUNITY, GIRLS), keeping tight-lipped about the show so it remains the comical surprise it’s intended to be. “I think Broadway fans will see these middle school kids who are diehard theatre kids in the film, and hopefully they will relate to them, and they will remember when they were diehard musical theatre kids in middle school themselves.”
And she was one of them. “I loved musical theatre as a kid, and I auditioned for everything that I could do,” Jacobs said, revealing that she listened to SWEENEY TODD and other cast albums “obsessively.” “I ran into Christian Borle recently, and when I was a kid and he was in college, we were in summer stock theatre together. I loved it. I just can’t sing. So when I hit the age where you had to have a solo, they stopped casting me. But prior to that, I was in ANNIE, I was in OLIVER!, I was in EVITA, I was in a musical A CHRISTMAS CAROL. But I had to sing in the pit for ANNIE because my voice was so bad they wouldn’t let me on stage.”
“I grew up in musical theatre,” added Lowe. “I mean, I was one of these kids. I’d run to the chalkboard to see what role I’m getting, and it’s…the chorus. I don’t think I ever got out of the chorus. THE MUSIC MAN? I didn’t get Winthrop. I got the chorus. OLIVER!? I didn’t get Oliver. I got the chorus. So I’m here to represent everybody from the chorus around the world. There’s hope!”
The young performers in RUN AMOK also have a lot of experience in the ensembles of school musicals to draw on, both as chorus members and principals. Sophia Torres was in ANNIE, THE LITTLE MERMAID, and MATILDA. Nuha Jes Izman was also in ANNIE, as well as THE WEDDING SINGER and LEGALLY BLONDE. Allan Lopez was in THE DROWSY CHAPERONE and RENT, and Kal Wilson was in HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL and, you guessed it—ANNIE.
“Growing up, since like first grade, I did musical theatre; when I got to high school, I kind of stopped, but I am at USC now, and I’m a theatre major, so hopefully I can get back into that this year,” said Wilson, adding that working with his dad, two-time Tony nominee Patrick Wilson (THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, THE FULL MONTY), was “an incredible experience” and that “the film is literally the kids putting on a musical for the school, so there’s a lot of scenes of us auditioning, a lot of monologues, a lot of dancing.”
In this case, rather than shock value, the goal of the show they are putting together is catharsis and understanding for themselves and the community.
“Musical theatre plays a tremendous role in the film,” said star Alyssa Marvin (APPROPRIATE, TREVOR THE MUSICAL), whose first part was the bird that finds the key in THE SECRET GARDEN when she was five years old before touring internationally with ANNIE. “I feel that theatre is a unique art form in that it is so immediate in creating conversation surrounding important issues. And I think that so much of Meg’s journey is using theatre and using song and using dance to communicate something that you can’t communicate without that medium.”
“Growing up in musical theatre trained me—I started working professionally when I was 11 years old, and I wouldn’t be the actor I am today without musical theatre,” said Pilot Bunch, who has performed in professional productions of RAGTIME, SHENANDOAH, and A CHRISTMAS STORY. “In terms of the film, musical theatre is really the only outlet you can do something like this in, especially as a young adult, in high school or in a school setting. It’s how these kids are able to work through their grief. I think musical theatre just shows you how powerful you can be without having four million followers. There’s nothing more powerful than human voice and human interaction. I mean, we’ve been telling stories that way since the beginning.”
“Musical theatre is one of the greatest art forms,” said Patrick Wilson, who is producing THE LOST BOYS this season and lamented missing its first rehearsal on the day of the film premiere. “It’s so conceivable to me to watch someone move through grief using musical theatre. And this is an incredibly funny, touching story dealing with some very tough subjects, but the fact that it’s done through a musical is just pretty remarkable and certainly true. It’s the most reflective moments in my life, and some of the most important moments, that are really defined by musical theatre. It’s the reason I majored in it and am producing a show now, so to be part of this film is really powerful.”
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Sundance Institute.
