Tamagotchi... The Musical

Tamagotchi... The MusicAL?! was created in 2011, by three Hunter TAFE graduating students. The story follows the adventures of four girls, three of whom purchase a Tamagotchi. However, it is told mainly from the Tamagotchi's perspective as the outrageous "Dan-Linda" (an obvious reference to Wicked (musical)) narrates the show. It was first conceived by Anna Lambert, Renee Thomas and Seth drury. With Lambert writing the book, Thomas writing lyrics and Drury composing the music. The musical premiered in September 2011 and an original cast recording was created.

The show has a very quirky, presentational style, similar to productions created by Starkid, as well as containing a meta aspect of self-referencing throughout the piece. A great deal of the show's humour comes from its pop culture references, which include; Glee, Harry Potter, Wicked (musical), Sound of music, Anastasia (1997 film), West Side Story, A Very Potter Musical and many, many more.

Synopsis

The story is AbOUT four girls that live together; Lauren (the popular one), DJ (the sporty one), Billie (the plain one) and Victoria (the smart one). Three of these girls buy Tamagotchis, whilst one is thoroughly opposed to the idea. However, none of these girls know how much the electronic toys will affect their lives. Lauren dreams of finding the perfect man, however, her rich friends don’t think this is possible. They dislike her obsession with Disney, Tamagotchis and her friendship with her housemates, so they force her to choose which path she wants to take. The second girl, DJ, spends much of her time at the gym, trying to find the perfect body. Her morals and beliefs are soon put into question as her Tamagotchi gets fat. Victoria is getting frustrated by these Tamagotchis as she fears that they will change everything and she is, of course, right. Meanwhile, Billie’s relationship with Peter is jeopardised by her flamboyant Tamagotchi, Dan. Soon Peter gets fed up with Dan’s constant interruptions and breaks up with her. Billie then throws Dan away. The girls are now growing frustrated with each other, so they decide to throw a party. Lauren’s friends turn up and are rude to her housemates. This angers Lauren, so she tells them to get out of her life. Heidi then kills Lauren’s Tamagotchi, however the Tamagotchi is reset and Lauren reveals that they are in love. DJ accepts her Tamagotchi and Peter returns, bringing Dan with him. The musical ends with Victoria caving in and getting a Tamagotchi of her own.

Background

The idea for the musical came in early 2010, when four girls (Including Anna Lambert and Renee Thomas) performed at the Short and Sweet festival in Sydney. Whilst sharing a hotel room, the girls spent a lot of time talking about childhood toys. "We would stay up quite late after performing talking about various things" says Lambert, "Somewhere along the lines we got talking about Tamagotchi's. I had never had one as a child and had always wanted one. So we decided early on that we would get them". The girls soon did just that, with three of them purchasing the Tamagotchis. These tamagotchis were called Mimi, Poetry and Dan, however, with this model you only got three characters so they were condensed to Mim, Poe and Dan. The Tamagotchis seemed to take on a character of their own and it was soon suggested that a play could be made out of this. "We kept joking around about it and about writing a musical..." Lambert says, "And then Amy [one of the four girls] started jotting ideas down and the musical idea kind of just grew."

After returning home, the girls were determined that this would happen. So, Anna started jotting down script ideas and writing a few melodies, whilst Renee started writing the lyrics. However, neither of them were very comfortable with melody, so they approached fellow student Seth Drury to help them out. The first draft was completed in January and the songs were completed in May. The musical premiered in September 2011. However, the show itself is still growing and developing.

First Production

The first production of the show was presented by Hunter Tafe as part of Mr Clegg's Creative Industries festival, which is a festival put on for the graduating students. It ran for six shows, filling the late night musical slot. The show itself went for 70 minutes and consisted of a cast of about 20 students. The show was done using minimal set, with much of the colour coming from the costumes and the characters themselves. The production was directed by Seth Drury, who also took on the role of musical director.

Original Cast

The production also had a large ensemble, which consisted of; Kia Pugh, Phil Olson, Cherie Mackinnon, Michelle Lawrence, Casey Poolman and Kate Banks.

Original Songs

• "Oh Tamagotchi" – Dj, Lauren, Billie, Victoria And Ensemble
• "The Welcome Song" – Introductory chorus
• "The Latest Craze" – Dan and Ensemble
• "Children, Children" – Dan and ensemble
• "Facebook me" – Dan and Ensemble
• "Oh, Tamagotchi (Motown reprise)" – Tamagotchis
• "The Electronic Love Melody" – Lauren
• "My Tamagotchi is Fat" – DJ
• "Victoria's Lament" – Victoria
• "Thinking" – Billie and Peter
• "Why" – Victoria, Billie, Lauren and DJ.
• "Finale" (reprise) – All Cast

Recordings

As of September 2011, there was one official cast recording that could be purchased by contacting the production team. The recording was done using the Tafe facilities and all proceeds went back into the development of the production.

Future Developments

After the original production, the creative team endeavour to grow the musical using the feedback received from the first production and the other actors involved.

External links

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