An in-progress Shakespeare musical (yes, really).
Basically, a high school production of Romeo and Juliet goes sour when co-directors Casper Lentel and Monty Tagger get into a spat over the correct interpretation. Casper thinks it’s beautiful tragedy about young love, while the more cynical Monty thinks it’s a cautionary tale of the stupidity of youth and shallow lust. The troupe splits into two groups, one siding with Casper, one with Monty. Reconciliation seems impossible, until Casper’s sister, Julia Lentel, falls in love with Monty’s brother, Rohan Tagger.Meanwhile, Declan Hamilton is mysteriously kicked off his position as class president, and his cousin Harry Mandim has to figure out who sabotaged him (Max Broker seems a prime suspect).
The main story, of course, is a redone version of Romeo and Juliet, and the subplot is a redone mashup of Macbeth and Hamlet, and references to Shakespeare's other plays are helpfully supplied as references and quotes.
This musical provides/will provide examples of:
- The Bard on Board: See Shakespeare in Fiction.
- Composite Character: Max is Macbeth/Claudius (Hamlet), Harry is Hamlet/Macduff, Declan is King Hamlet/Duncan (Macbeth).
- Feuding Families: Duh. Casper Lentel vs Monty Tagger, in this case. Julia and Rohan... Not so much.
- Full-Name Basis: This is used early on to provide the naming parallels to the Shakespeare characters. Casper and Monty especially; the two used to be friends (and just on First-Name Basis), but the spat caused them to become distant, and use of full names reflects that. (Think Voldemort always calling Harry "Harry Potter", although there's less death in this case).
- Interactive Narrator: Will, as an Expy of Shakespeare himself. Some characters do call him out on "talking to himself" when he's explaining things to the audience, however.
- Odd Name Out: Mild example concerning Will vs the rest. The other characters' names all sound approximately like their Shakespearen counterparts (Montague/Monty Tagger, for example). Will's surname, rather than something like "Shackler" (as a version of Shakespeare) has... Bradley. This is mainly to provide an origin of Will/Shakespeare's nickname, the Bard.
- School Play: The setup for many, many drama jokes, and the reason for the Feuding Families.
- Setting Update: It's Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet and Macbeth in highschool, where nobody dies but about six people are kicked from clubs.
- Shakespeare in Fiction: In the form of Will Bradley, the narrator.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: Romeo and Juliet, anyone?
- Young Love Versus Old Hate: Again, this is a retelling of Romeo and Juliet. Julia and Rohan are the younger siblings of Casper Lentel and Monty Tagger, respectively, who get into a fight about two songs in.
