JUMP THE MADONNA MUSICAL

[Enrico 16,047]

Recently @@mr00mister talked about his girlfriend performing M songs at her school and her teacher not being happy about it. I said that I wrote and directed a jukebox musical for my school called JUMP and he asked me more info about it... so here I am to tell my story, so seat back and relax if you want to hear it

 

I teach Italian, Latin and History in a high school in Assisi (the town of St Francis), but I am also responsible of the theatre group. We often do musicals, because I became passionate about musical theatre when talks started about Madonna doing Evita in the early nineties... I even played Magaldi in a local production! 

 

I conceived JUMP as a school project, that is why it is short (a little more than one hour) and some parts are written thinking of the 15-year-old students who were supposed to portray them.

 

JUMP is the story of two friends, Carrie and Nicole (some names are the same as The English Roses, but it’s strangely unintentional). They want to leave their hometown to try to be successful in show business as singers. The first number, "Jump", shows them saying goodbye to family and friends and making an eternal pact of friendship. They arrive in Hollywood (“Hollywoodâ€; at first they were supposed to arrive in New York but I didn’t have the instrumental version of “I love New Yorkâ€). They meet their new neighbour, Maddie, who thinks she is already a star ("Material girl") and takes them to a party where the special guest is Alex Andrews, a very famous celebrity, who has a tv programme called Lucky Star ("The beat goes on/Give it 2 me"). The girls at the party sing a song in front of him just to be noticed (“Like a virginâ€). Alex chooses Carrie and invites her at his house. This is a disappointment both for Billy, a friend who has taken the two girls at the party and who is love with Carrie (“Crazy for youâ€, even if my first idea was “Forbidden loveâ€) and of course for Nicole, who feels betrayed (“Sorryâ€, which substituted “Thief of heartsâ€).

In act two, Nicole wants to leave (“This used to be my playgroundâ€), but Maddie convince her to stay, saying that it takes time and strenght to become a star (“Vogueâ€, the three verses being sung by three icons such as Rita Hayworth's Gilda, Cabaret's Liza Minnelli and Marylin Monroe). At the same time, Carrie finds out that Alex is married: she is chased out by his rich old wife (“Hello and goodbyeâ€) and finds herself alone on the street (“Frozenâ€). She is rescued by Billy who takes her back home and declares his love (“Secret†as a love duet). Maddie finds out she is pregnant and has to revise her priorities ("Papa don't preach", "Jump reprise"). Nicole and Carrie are friends again, and one year later, they have a no. one hit on the charts (“Don’t tell meâ€). I also used the GHV2 megamix video for the bows

 

The show premiered in Assisi on May 30, 2009 and the public of students, teachers and family were very pleased! I always thought the story was quite dull until I saw the Spice Girls musical, "Viva Forever", in the West End which was based on the same subject and was a lot worse than mine!

Maybe I should rewrite it in a longer version and submit it. I still think about rewriting the story using only every single song of the Confessions cd, as a concept album. Who knows, maybe someday...

[Headless.Headphones 728]

That's awesome for the inspiration but I can't with those juxebox musicals. Mamma Mia I have never seen in full the play or the movie but i've seen large potions of the movie and it so beyond campy it's scary. And the songs just pop up and that's fine but with no connection the story. Maybe Viva tackled this problem but heard it was poorly received and closed soon after - huge fan of the SG but I wouldn't see it. If you go and have like a sing along than work it but Mamma Mia ruined it for the class lol.

[Enrico 16,047]

@ believe me, Mamma mia is the best jukebox musical, it works really well in theatre and many songs have a good connection with the story. The Spice musical was badly written and badly directed and choreographed, it was horrible to see.

Of course another bad one was Desperately seeking Susan, it lacked the spirit of the original movie and the Blondie catalogue didn't fit at all.

[Enrico 16,047]

I know of another M jukebox musical, it is called Who's that girl and it is based on Sofia Coppola's movie about Marie Anoinette. I saw it a few years ago and some scenes were brilliant, such as the princess' arrival in Versailles (Who's that girl), her love for dresses (Vogue) and the revolution (the people singing Please don't say you're Sorry).

 

More info here:

http://qaos.it/mariaantonietta%20scheda.htm

 

Do you know of other Madonna inspired musicals in the world??

[Headless.Headphones 728]

Of course another bad one was Desperately seeking Susan, it lacked the spirit of the original movie and the Blondie catalogue didn't fit at all.

 

What is this? 

[mr00mister 902]

thank you so much for sharing this with us! I love how the story is simple, but still, there's a new meaning to every song that makes it so interesting. I was literally seeing everything on my head as I read it!

 

also, I know how hard is to choose the right songs, and make them fit on a certain context. congratulations, this is really the hard work of a true Rebel Heart!