Fun fact: She does her own stunts.
Sally Stageplay is holding auditions for the Inkwell Isles' most ambitious show to date: Cup Rogers vs. The Meteor: A New Space Opera. Mugman is eager to try for the role, with a way to deal with his crippling stage fright, while Cuphead wants in for the excitement of the character. But what happens when the Devil gets involved, who is also interested in the leading heroic role?Tropes:
- Acting for Two: In-Universe. Sally directs the play, but she also plays every role, deeming no one as good at acting as her.
- Bait-and-Switch Character Intro: When Sally Stageplay first appears, she is foaming at the mouth and acting like a crazed animal. When one of the auditionees says she has rabies, Sally drops the act, revealing that she was just acting rabid, establishing her as a major Drama Queen.
- Breather Episode: Compared to the other episodes that feature the Devil, this one is more lighthearted.
- Brick Joke: The Devil calls Cuphead "Curtain Boy", believing he and Mugman won't succeed in the audition. By the end, none of them do, and Cuphead runs the curtain after all, albeit after Mugsy is frozen despite not being on stage at all.
- The Cameo: Bowlboy appears in the audience in the beginning of the episode but has no lines.
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Sally easily kicks the Devil out of her theater. What's more, he doesn't even retaliate.
- Downer Ending: Perhaps the most frustrating in the whole show: none of the three main characters get the role of Cup Rogers. Instead, Sally Stageplay assigns that role to herself, while delegating Cuphead, Mugman, and the Devil to stagehands.
- Enemy Mine: When Mugman is seen trying out better than expected, Cuphead and the Devil decide to team up and sabotage him.
- Failed Audition Plot: All three main characters compete to get a chance to play Cup Rogers.
- Get Out!: Sally eventually gets so fed up with the main trio sabotaging each other's auditions that she tosses them out of the theater and plays all the roles herself.
- Go-Karting with Bowser: The Devil and Cuphead are not as antagonistic as they usually are with each other, with them only sabotaging each other's auditions. They also team up later against Mugman, and even banter about Mugman's "backstage fright" at the end.
- Gone Horribly Right: Cuphead and the Devil decide that if they can't get the part of Cup Rogers, then no one will. They sabotage Mugman's tryout and, as a result, they’re all disqualified, leaving Sally to perform the show herself.
- I Just Want to Be Loved: The Devil's motivation to audition. He may be feared, but he wants to be appreciated in the theatrical arts by random strangers. He believes he does get adoration near the end of the episode when the audience likes the "special effects" he provides.
- Mundane Utility: Devil uses his fire powers to make special effects.
- Prima Donna Director: Sally Stageplay, natch. Not only is she a Drama Queen, but she absolutely refuses to tolerate Cuphead, Mugman, and the Devil sabotaging one another's auditions. It gets to the point where, once she's kicked them out, she ends up playing the role of Cup Rogers AND Catman herself.
- Public Domain Soundtrack: At the beginning of the episode, the Devil recites "La Donna e Mobile" from Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto.
- Referenced by...: William Shakespeare: While auditioning for Cup Rogers, Mugman recites the "Friends, Romans, countrymen..." part of Julius Caesar... while blindfolded.
- Sweet Polly Oliver: Sally Stageplay when she plays Cup Rogers and Catman.
- Two Scenes, One Dialogue:The Devil: Cup Rogers is the part... [cut to...]
Mugman: ...I was born to play! - Villains Out Shopping: For once, The Devil isn't trying to antagonize anyone or steal Cuphead's soul, he just wants a role in a play.
