realchic1999
05-28-2004, 01:35 PM
I was so happy to get it yesterday. It looks like the typical script (3 holes punched with 2 brads to attach it, bound in a paper cover). The pages are slightly beige with age, but it looks good for being 15 years old.
I am going to try to summarize what I read, and whatever I don't finish I'll come back and do so after work.
Mr. Wimple is directing Alan, a chick named Monica, and the rest of the group in a play called "The Shepherd Prince." Alan and Monica are into what they're doing, and the rest of the cast is bored, Dennis moreso. Wimple stops the play, frustrated at the lack of enthusiasm, and Samuels comes in to say that the blue costumes they ordered are yellow. Wimple throws a fit and quits, and Samuels begs Charlie to direct the play. Charlie wants to direct "Little Shop," and you know Samuels isn't having it. Also, there's no budget to get new stuff for a different play, but the cast says how they can pretty much work with what they've got. Samuels caves.
The next day in class, Charlie reveals who's in the cast. Simone, Janice and Jawaharlal are extras, Sarah and Darlene are Ronettes (and much to their dismay, so is Monica), Eric is Orrin, and Maria is Audrey. Someone they've never heard of is cast as Mr. Mushnik, Alan as Seymour, and Arvid is a prompter and Dennis crew, much to their disappointment, remembering they did similar things in "Grease." Maria seems unenthusiastic about being cast, because she has other things on her mind. A singing voice is heard, and Charlie tries to find out who it is, and TJ comes in with papers. He asked if it was her singing, and she denies it and leaves.
Of course, all sorts of craziness occurs with the new play. With a low budget, Dennis uses a green sock as Audrey II in its first stage of growth. Darlene and Sarah can't stand how Monica is trying to upstage them, and she throws a diva fit and quits. Alan is having trouble with his lines, but they're natural to Arvid, the prompter. Everyone is shocked that Alan's understudy is better than Alan.
Billy Isaacs (cast as Mr. Mushnik) never shows up to rehearsals (which Jawaharlal is constantly reminding Charlie), so they also have the issue of recasting him. And with Alan getting laryngitis...
And Maria, it's revealed, is having issues because her mom is marrying husband #3 on opening night, and wants Maria to be involved in the wedding. Ouch!
Charlie, quick thinker that he is, coerces Samuels in taking over as Mr. Mushnik. And he wants TJ to play the third Ronette, but Samuels doesn't want her in the play until she apologizes for something she "didn't" do.
Charlie does auditions for the third Ronette...Simone, Janice, 3 extras, and even Jawaharlal in a wig audition. Charlie has to figure out how to get TJ involved.
More later...back to work I go!
Edited: continuing this, after finally ending my work week.
Charlie talks to TJ about the show, and she says Samuels won't let her do it. Samuels says that she can do it if she apologizes for what she "did" (accusing him of lying about her singing in the halls). TJ refuses, because she said she didn't do it. Somehow, Charlie manages to get them to come to a semi-truce, and TJ is in the play.
Jawaharlal comes out with the Audrey II sock puppet to present to Charlie. Then he shows Charlie a medium-sized plant. Then he shows him the full-sized plant and out pops Dennis, who'd been begging incessantly for Charlie to let him be in the play. Charlie can't resist.
So, it seems like everything is set, except Maria is MIA and they need to go. Charlie gives the usual speech, and Maria is decent enough to go on, but then Mrs. Borges ("hey, baby!!") comes and pretty much says that she can't miss Maria's opening night for a man who doesn't respect her or her daughter.
Everything's set, the show goes on, and of course Alan is backstage, delusionally thinking that Arvid is sucking and that he is well enough to go back on...typical Alan for ya.
The end tag scene is Bernadette reading the positive reviews of the production to the class, and someone is heard singing.
TJ: See, I told ya that wasn't me!
That may not be perfectly sequential, for I was working from memory (no way could I lug that priceless script around! have to keep it safe at home!).
Now, here's my commentary:
---In one scene, Simone had a line that started with "Call me wacky, but..." I dunno, I just don't think she'd say something like that.
---Simone had what seemed to be the most lines of the class.
---Bernadette's lines seemed so sycophantic to me. Dr. Samuels telling her to "shut up!" and crap like that when she opens her mouth. Normally, she has a sarcastic edge to her, even though she's sometimes spacy!
---I was surprised that Jawaharlal had as many lines as I had read. I don't think he had that many lines in a given season!
---Shocked that Maria had very little lines, IMO. It seemed like her story was more of a subplot than a main plot. (I guess this was the start of Leslie Bega being phased out.)
---I think that Dennis should've been the one trying to audition for the third Ronette, not Jawaharlal. It would've added to the point of him doing anything to be on-stage for that play!
Loved the reference to Noh theatre (Japanese theater that only uses the bare essentials). Charlie was trying to convince Samuels that the play would be fine since we have "no props, no costumes, no budget..."
Also loved the continuity. They made references about the "Grease" musical from the prior season, and Maria made references about how Charlie should've fallen for the advances her mom made in that "Parents' Day" episode, so Johnny wouldn't be her future stepfather. The only thing that didn't seem continuous with that is that Maria was embarrassed that her mom was coming on to him and pulled her away. So why is she upset that Charlie didn't fall for her?!
I have a feeling that Charlie doesn't like Arvid and Dennis that much. This is a guy who dates lingerie models, so he may have lookist quality about him. Also, Dennis may clown around, but he gets it together in times of need. So why was Charlie concerned about him acting up in the play?
Question: Did they use the same actress to play Maria's mother? I am all about consistency in that area.
I realize that this was a first draft version, so sitches/lines may have been dropped or changed. To anyone who has seen these eps and remembers it, how true is this script to what hit the air?
After reading this script, I'm dying to get my hands on these episodes!
I am going to try to summarize what I read, and whatever I don't finish I'll come back and do so after work.
Mr. Wimple is directing Alan, a chick named Monica, and the rest of the group in a play called "The Shepherd Prince." Alan and Monica are into what they're doing, and the rest of the cast is bored, Dennis moreso. Wimple stops the play, frustrated at the lack of enthusiasm, and Samuels comes in to say that the blue costumes they ordered are yellow. Wimple throws a fit and quits, and Samuels begs Charlie to direct the play. Charlie wants to direct "Little Shop," and you know Samuels isn't having it. Also, there's no budget to get new stuff for a different play, but the cast says how they can pretty much work with what they've got. Samuels caves.
The next day in class, Charlie reveals who's in the cast. Simone, Janice and Jawaharlal are extras, Sarah and Darlene are Ronettes (and much to their dismay, so is Monica), Eric is Orrin, and Maria is Audrey. Someone they've never heard of is cast as Mr. Mushnik, Alan as Seymour, and Arvid is a prompter and Dennis crew, much to their disappointment, remembering they did similar things in "Grease." Maria seems unenthusiastic about being cast, because she has other things on her mind. A singing voice is heard, and Charlie tries to find out who it is, and TJ comes in with papers. He asked if it was her singing, and she denies it and leaves.
Of course, all sorts of craziness occurs with the new play. With a low budget, Dennis uses a green sock as Audrey II in its first stage of growth. Darlene and Sarah can't stand how Monica is trying to upstage them, and she throws a diva fit and quits. Alan is having trouble with his lines, but they're natural to Arvid, the prompter. Everyone is shocked that Alan's understudy is better than Alan.
Billy Isaacs (cast as Mr. Mushnik) never shows up to rehearsals (which Jawaharlal is constantly reminding Charlie), so they also have the issue of recasting him. And with Alan getting laryngitis...
And Maria, it's revealed, is having issues because her mom is marrying husband #3 on opening night, and wants Maria to be involved in the wedding. Ouch!
Charlie, quick thinker that he is, coerces Samuels in taking over as Mr. Mushnik. And he wants TJ to play the third Ronette, but Samuels doesn't want her in the play until she apologizes for something she "didn't" do.
Charlie does auditions for the third Ronette...Simone, Janice, 3 extras, and even Jawaharlal in a wig audition. Charlie has to figure out how to get TJ involved.
More later...back to work I go!
Edited: continuing this, after finally ending my work week.
Charlie talks to TJ about the show, and she says Samuels won't let her do it. Samuels says that she can do it if she apologizes for what she "did" (accusing him of lying about her singing in the halls). TJ refuses, because she said she didn't do it. Somehow, Charlie manages to get them to come to a semi-truce, and TJ is in the play.
Jawaharlal comes out with the Audrey II sock puppet to present to Charlie. Then he shows Charlie a medium-sized plant. Then he shows him the full-sized plant and out pops Dennis, who'd been begging incessantly for Charlie to let him be in the play. Charlie can't resist.
So, it seems like everything is set, except Maria is MIA and they need to go. Charlie gives the usual speech, and Maria is decent enough to go on, but then Mrs. Borges ("hey, baby!!") comes and pretty much says that she can't miss Maria's opening night for a man who doesn't respect her or her daughter.
Everything's set, the show goes on, and of course Alan is backstage, delusionally thinking that Arvid is sucking and that he is well enough to go back on...typical Alan for ya.
The end tag scene is Bernadette reading the positive reviews of the production to the class, and someone is heard singing.
TJ: See, I told ya that wasn't me!
That may not be perfectly sequential, for I was working from memory (no way could I lug that priceless script around! have to keep it safe at home!).
Now, here's my commentary:
---In one scene, Simone had a line that started with "Call me wacky, but..." I dunno, I just don't think she'd say something like that.
---Simone had what seemed to be the most lines of the class.
---Bernadette's lines seemed so sycophantic to me. Dr. Samuels telling her to "shut up!" and crap like that when she opens her mouth. Normally, she has a sarcastic edge to her, even though she's sometimes spacy!
---I was surprised that Jawaharlal had as many lines as I had read. I don't think he had that many lines in a given season!
---Shocked that Maria had very little lines, IMO. It seemed like her story was more of a subplot than a main plot. (I guess this was the start of Leslie Bega being phased out.)
---I think that Dennis should've been the one trying to audition for the third Ronette, not Jawaharlal. It would've added to the point of him doing anything to be on-stage for that play!
Loved the reference to Noh theatre (Japanese theater that only uses the bare essentials). Charlie was trying to convince Samuels that the play would be fine since we have "no props, no costumes, no budget..."
Also loved the continuity. They made references about the "Grease" musical from the prior season, and Maria made references about how Charlie should've fallen for the advances her mom made in that "Parents' Day" episode, so Johnny wouldn't be her future stepfather. The only thing that didn't seem continuous with that is that Maria was embarrassed that her mom was coming on to him and pulled her away. So why is she upset that Charlie didn't fall for her?!
I have a feeling that Charlie doesn't like Arvid and Dennis that much. This is a guy who dates lingerie models, so he may have lookist quality about him. Also, Dennis may clown around, but he gets it together in times of need. So why was Charlie concerned about him acting up in the play?
Question: Did they use the same actress to play Maria's mother? I am all about consistency in that area.
I realize that this was a first draft version, so sitches/lines may have been dropped or changed. To anyone who has seen these eps and remembers it, how true is this script to what hit the air?
After reading this script, I'm dying to get my hands on these episodes!