Loserville
| Loserville | |
|---|---|
 Original West End production | |
| Basis | 2005 album Welcome to Loserville by British pop punk band Son of Dork |
| Productions |
2009 Youth Music Theatre UK South Hill Park Bracknell 2012 West Yorkshire Playhouse 2012 West End The Garrick Theatre 2015 Leo Hayes High School Production In Canada, North American Debut 2015 Mountainview High School in Timaru, New Zealand Debut 2015 London, Union Theatre, 2015 London, Union Theatre (Revival) |
Loserville is a musical with music and lyrics by James Bourne and Elliot Davis, originally created for Youth Music Theatre UK. The story is based on an album, Welcome to Loserville from Bourne's second band, Son of Dork.
Synopsis
The musical is set in the town of Loserville, USA, in 1971. Michael Dork, in his final year of school, has been working at Arch Industries, trying to develop a method to allow computers to communicate with each other. He is aided by his friend Lucas, who is writing a novel called Galaxy Battles. Holly Manson is a new student at his school, and wants to be the first female astronaut - she starts to help Michael with his work. Over time, both Michael and Lucas fall for Holly, and decide, over a game of Rock paper scissors, that Michael should ask her out.
Eddie, the narcissistic son of the owner of Arch Industries, is expecting to be given a plum job in the company, but is unexpectedly told he will be going to military school, causing his girlfriend, Leia, to break up with him. He acquires incriminating photos of Holly, and blackmails her into working for him, in the hopes that he will prove to his father that he deserves a job. He promises Lucas that he will get his book published, in return for Lucas giving him Michael's work, but Eddie double-crosses Lucas and throws his book in the bin.
At Arch Industries, Holly makes a breakthrough, realising that the computers need to be given an address to send messages to. Eddie calls a press conference, but Holly calls Lucas, and asks him to tell Michael that she just needed Eddie to trust her so she could access Michael's work at Arch. She lets Michael send the first message, and exposes Eddie as a fraud. The two are reunited, and, in the celebrations, Leia tells Lucas that she read and loved his book, but thinks it should instead be a film.
Productions
- West End
The show was originally created, produced and performed by Youth Music Theatre UK, in 2009, where it played at South Hill Park Arts Centre in Bracknell.[1] . Bourne is also a patron on Youth Music Theatre UK, along with Ed Sheeran, Peter Duncan and Zoe Wanamaker. The production then went on to play at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Summer 2012, opened at the Garrick Theatre on 17 October 2012, following previews from 1 October. It was directed by Steven Dexter, designed by Francis O'Connor, choreographed by Nick Winston, costumes by O'Connor & Stephen Snell, sound by Simon Baker and lighting by Howard Harrison. The production was originally set to run until 2 March 2013, but closed early on 5 January 2013.[2] The first school production of Loserville was performed by students from Temple Moor High School (Leeds), Sutton High School (London) and Sutton Grammar School for Boys in March 2014. In May 2015, Loserville was performed for the first time in Latin America, by the Musical Theatre Company of the Tecnológico de Monterrey, Campus Sinaloa. Loserville is confirmed to be produced at Belvoir Players Studio Theatre (Belfast Northern Ireland) in mid June 2015.
Musical numbers
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Cast
The principal original casts of all productions of Loserville.
| Character | West Yorkshire Playhouse | Garrick Theatre, London[3] | Leo Hayes Production |
|---|---|---|---|
| Michael Dork | Aaron Sidwell | Lucas Gutiérrez-Robertz | |
| Holly Manson | Eliza Hope Bennett | Geneva Noppers | |
| Lucas Lloyd | Richard Lowe | Devin Rockwell | |
| Eddie Arch | Gareth Gates | Stewart Clarke | Alex Fullerton |
| Leia Dawkins | Charlotte Harwood | Christie Innis | |
| Francis Weir | Chris Hardman
Ashley Luke Lloyd played the role of Francis for the majority of the run at the Garrick Theatre, London due to the indisposition of Lil' Chris. |
Bethany Steves | |
| Marvin Camden | Daniel Buckley | Wade Coburn | |
| Huey Phillips | Robbie Boyle | Brendan Reynolds | |
| Wayne Pagoda | Duncan Leighton | aHanna LeBouthillierh | |
| Samantha Powden | Witney White | Dust Murphy | |
| Elaine Friend | Lauren Hall | AllieJefferys | |
West End Ensemble: Jade Albertsen, Sophie Ayres, Laura Bennett, Matthew Bradley, Andrew Carthy, Segun Fawole, Freya Field, Nathan Graham, Dan Krikler, Ashley Luke Lloyd, Megan Louch, Heather Scott-Martin, Shane Walshe and Sarah Watson
License
Loserville is now available to license through Josef Weinberger Ltd for amateur and professional licenses.[4]
References
- ↑ "Youth Music Theatre UK, Loserville The Musical"
- ↑ "Loserville posts early closing notices for 5 Jan 2013". London Theatre. 2012-11-10. Retrieved 2012-11-11.
- ↑ "Loserville" Loservillemusical.tv, Retrieved on October 6, 2012.
- ↑ "Loserville Josef Weinberger Ltd".