Round 2

Welcome to the Davis Musical March Madness Challenge Round 2!

Please make sure to check out the first post here about the Davis Musical March Madness Challenge if you are participating for the first time today.

Please cast an informed vote by reading the background information on each of the musicals in today's bracket and watching the video clips found in the Davis Musical March Madness Voting Form for Bracket Day 2 which is located at the bottom of this post and on the links to the right of this post!

All votes must be received by 5pm today, Thursday, 3/19. 

Block 1, 2, and 3 students make sure to vote each day this counts as class participation so please make sure to participate daily.

Today's Round 2 theme is Children at the Center: Child Protagonists with heart and integrity; Youth Leads and Numerous Roles for Children.

These are 4 musicals in which children play the protagonist of each story as well as contain a plethora of child characters played by youth actors. Side note: sometimes musicals have characters who are young in age but played by actors who are over 18. That is not the case with the four musicals original production casts competing in head to head competition today.

Each of these musicals features protagonists who challenge "the system" by being true to themselves while overcoming adversity.


Billy Elliott (2015, Elton John and Lee Hall)

An inspiring celebration of the journey of one boy who hangs up his boxing gloves for ballet shoes, Billy Elliot: The Musical is a musical based on the 2000 film of the same name. The music is by Elton John, and the book and lyrics are by Lee Hall, who wrote the film's screenplay. The plot revolves around Billy, a motherless British boy who begins taking ballet lessons. The story of his personal struggle and fulfillment are balanced against a counter-story of family and community strife caused by the 1984–85 UK miners' strike in County Durham, in North East England. Hall's screenplay was inspired in part by A. J. Cronin's 1935 novel about a miners' strike, The Stars Look Down, to which the musical's opening song pays homage.

The musical premiered at the Victoria Palace Theatre in London's West End in 2005 and was nominated for nine Laurence Olivier Awards, winning four, including Best New Musical. The production ran through April 2016. Its success led to productions in Australia, Broadway, and numerous other countries. In New York, it won ten Tony Awards and ten Drama Desk Awards, including, in each case, Best Musical. It has also won numerous awards in Australia including a record-tying seven Helpmann Awards.

What is the story of Billy Elliot?

Billy Elliot tells the story of a young boy from a coal mining village in northeast England who transcends class and circumstance to become a ballet star. The musical is set against the backdrop of the 1984-5 miners strike, which tragically affects the whole village. Billy is looked after by his father, brother, and grandfather, after his mother’s death a few years earlier. They are not well off and have no experience with, or tolerance for, the arts. His dad and brother are totally against the idea of him learning to dance but Billy finds himself drawn towards the ballet world. As a result, Billy is forced to take his boxing lesson money and use it secretly for dance lessons from local dance teacher Mrs. Wilkinson. She quickly notices that Billy is a prodigy and takes him under her wing. Soon, despite his family’s resistance, Mrs. Wilkinson manages to get Billy an audition with The Royal Ballet School in London. The village learns to overcome their ill-founded prejudices and, along with Billy’s father, come around to support Billy's dream to become a dancer as Billy defies the odds and is finally accepted into The Royal Ballet School.

Further reading on Billy Elliott, casting the role, and Tom Holland as one of the original Billy Elliot's read here: Young Tom Holland, Marvel Universe's Spiderman, did you know he was a child star of Billy Elliot in London's West End?
Tom Holland as Billy Elliott (2008)


ANNIE (1976, Meehan, Strause & Charnin)
Leapin' Lizards! The irrepressible comic strip heroine takes center stage in one of the world's most famous and best-loved musicals.

Based on the popular comic strip by Harold Gray, Annie has become a worldwide phenomenon and was the winner of seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical. The beloved book and score by Tony Award winners, Thomas Meehan, Charles Strouse, and Martin Charnin, features some of the greatest musical theatre hits ever written, including "Tomorrow."

The original Broadway production opened in 1977 and ran for nearly six years, setting a record for the Alvin Theatre (now the Neil Simon Theatre). It spawned numerous productions in many countries, as well as national tours, revivals on Broadway, as well as three film versions (1982, 1999, and 2014). Annie won the Tony Award for Best Musical. 

The musical's songs "Tomorrow" and "It's the Hard Knock Life" are among its most popular musical numbers.

Annie, the character, is a metaphorical figure who stands "for innate decency, courage, and optimism in the face of hard times, pessimism and despair.” Annie is the perfect family-friendly musical and an ideal show for a largely female cast.

What is the story of Annie?
With equal measures of pluck and positivity, little orphan Annie charms everyone's hearts despite a next-to-nothing start in 1930s New York City. She is determined to find the parents who abandoned her years ago on the doorstep of a New York City Orphanage that is run by the cruel, embittered Miss Hannigan. With the help of the other girls in the Orphanage, Annie escapes to the wondrous world of NYC. In adventure after fun-filled adventure, Annie foils Miss Hannigan's evil machinations... and even befriends President Franklin Delano Roosevelt! She finds a new home and family in billionaire, Oliver Warbucks, his personal secretary, Grace Farrell, and a lovable mutt named Sandy.

FYI: Did you know the Davis Theatre Alum and Ms. K's privately coached student Abby Goldberg appeared in two National Theatre of the Stars productions of Annie at the Fox Theatre as Molly and as Kate? 

For further reading about Annie the musical read here: Yesterday, Today and ‘Tomorrow’: All About Broadway's Favorite Little Orphan

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2013, Grieg, Shaiman & Wittman)

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a stage musical based on the 1964 children's novel and its 1971 film adaptation of the same name, the musical features both songs from the movie musical (written by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley) and new original songs of the same name by Roald Dahl, with the book by David Greig, music by Marc Shaiman and lyrics by Shaiman and Scott Wittman.

The musical premiered in London's West End at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in June 2013 and ran for 3 years and 7 months before closing on 7 January 2017. The show was reworked for a Broadway production opening in April 2017 at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre and ran almost nine months before closing in January 2018. A U.S. tour opened 21 September 2018 at Shea's Performing Arts Center in Buffalo, New York and an Australian tour at Capitol Theatre on 11 January 2019. A second national tour launched on January 1, 2020, in Miami, Florida.

"It’s a story about a poor boy, in hard times, who stays true to his values of kindness and imagination, and who ends up winning the best prize of all."
Rather than use children in the roles of the Golden Ticket winners as in the West End (London), the Broadway production used adults in the role, with the exception of Charlie Bucket.


What is the story of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?

"When young Charlie wins a golden ticket to the mysterious Wonka Chocolate Factory, it's the chance of a lifetime to feast on the sweets and chocolates that have always been right under his nose but unaffordable for the Bucket family. Could it also be his family’s route out of poverty? Along with the other winners--Veruca Salt, Violet Beauregarde, Mike Teavee, and Augustus Gloop--Charlie is swept inside of the mysterious factory with his Grandpa Joe. Inside, the winners encounter a magical world full of amazement, innovation, sugary treats, and, of course, Oompa-Loompas. But as the winners begin to let their greed and selfish nature get the better of them, it seems that everything is not as sweet as it seems. Finally, Charlie is the last child standing--the only child not to have succumbed to the sweet temptations of Willy Wonka’s magical world. His humble, loyal nature has not gone unnoticed by Mr. Wonka, and Charlie’s reward is more than he could ever have dreamed."

Matilda (2011, Kelly, Minchin & Warchus)

Matilda the Musical is a stage musical based on the1988
children's novel of the same name by Roald Dahl. It was adapted by Dennis Kelly, with music and lyrics by Tim Minchin and directed for the stage by Matthew Warchus. The musical's narrative centers on Matilda, a precocious 5-year-old girl with the gift of telekinesis, who loves reading, overcomes obstacles caused by her family and school and helps her teacher to reclaim her life. After a twelve-week trial run staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) at Stratford-upon-Avon from November 2010 to January 2011, it received its West End premiere on 24 November 2011 at the Cambridge Theatre and its Broadway premiere on 11 April 2013 at the Shubert Theatre.

Matilda has received widespread critical acclaim and box-office popularity, winning seven 2012 Olivier Awards, including Best New Musical—at the time, the most such awards ever won by a single show. Matilda still holds the record for most Olivier awards won by a musical, tying with Hamilton in 2018. At the 2013 Tony Awards, the show won five awards, including the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical. Matilda has won 47 international awards and continues to thrill sold-out audiences of all ages around the world.


What is the story of Matilda?

Matilda is the story of an extraordinary girl who dares to take a stand and change her own destiny.

Matilda is a little girl with astonishing wit, intelligence, and psychokinetic powers. She's unloved by her cruel parents but impresses her schoolteacher, the highly loveable Miss Honey. Over the course of her first term at school, Matilda and Miss Honey have a profound effect on each other's lives, as Miss Honey begins not only to recognize but also appreciate Matilda's extraordinary personality. Matilda's school life isn't completely smooth sailing, however – the school's mean headmistress, Miss Trunchbull, hates children and just loves thinking up new punishments for those who don't abide by her rules. But Matilda has courage and cleverness in equal amounts, and could be the school pupils' saving grace!

Packed with high-energy dance numbers, catchy songs and an unforgettable star turn for a young actress, Matilda is a joyous girl power romp. Children and adults alike will be thrilled and delighted by the story of the special little girl with an extraordinary imagination.

For more reading on Matilda:
Four girls have shared the role of Matilda in London's West End musical hit. Now they have been nominated for an Olivier award. The young stars and their mothers talk about what it's like to find themselves in the limelight

VOTING FORM FOR Thursday 3/19 Round 2: Children at the Center: Child Protagonists with heart and integrity; Youth Leads and Numerous Roles for Children.