Reefer Madness (musical)
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Reefer Madness (2004) is a musical satire of the 1936 cult classic Reefer Madness. The book and lyrics were written by Kevin Murphy and the music by Dan Studney. Directed by Andy Fickman, it was initially shown in a theatre in Los Angeles and then moved to the New York "Off-Broadway" scene. A film version was made in 2005.
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[edit] Off-Broadway Synopsis
The year is 1936. As the play opens, THE LECTURER, a severe authority figure, informs the audience of the new drug menace "Marihuana," which threatens the American way of life! His warnings are reinforced by THE PLACARD GIRL who throughout the play holds up large signs that clearly state the moral of what we've just seen. From his podium, The Lecturer warns us that action must be taken immediately, before the Good Ol' U.S.A. succumbs to the Demon Weed! (REEFER MADNESS!) The Lecturer illustrates his point, introducing us to JIMMY HARPER and MARY LANE, a lovable pair of wholesome teens who hold hands, sip hot cocoa and think pure thoughts while studying Shakespeare for English class. (ROMEO AND JULIET)
The Lecturer next introduces us the seamier side of life at The Reefer Den, populated by drug-addled Denizens of the Night. We meet MAE, the Reefer Den hostess, who is abused by her slick, pusher boyfriend JACK. She'd leave him, but Jack keeps her supplied with the marijuana she craves. (THE STUFF)
The Lecturer brings us now to the local Five and Dime store, a local teen hangout where wholesome kids indulge in the risqué rhythms of "swing-jazz" music, as performed by Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie and other "ginger-colored Agents of Evil." (DOWN AT THE OL' FIVE AND DIME) The Lecturer assumes the guise of kindly MR. POPPY, the singing/dancing proprietor. Jack arrives, trolling for youthful victims and meets Jimmy.
Jack charms Jimmy, luring him back to the Reefer Den to experience "a real party." There, Jimmy encounters RALPH, a psychotic ex-college student who communicates primarily with cackling, maniacal laughter. He also meets SALLY, a reefer slut who both supports her love-child and pays for her habit with the only currency she possesses -- her generously-proportioned body! Jimmy is pressured into taking his first hit of Marihuana (JIMMY TAKES A HIT) and tastes the forbidden fruits of sensual abandon in a wild hallucinatory dance sequence featuring weird sex, belly dancers, fire eaters and GOAT-MAN, a bare-chested satyr played by the Lecturer. (THE ORGY)
Over the next few weeks, we watch Jimmy make a terrifying transition from "good egg" to "bad apple" -- he mouths off to his parents, steals from the poor box, brutalizes a puppy and even attempts to tongue kiss a shocked Mary, sending her running off in tears! Alone in church, Mary prays that her sweetheart will regain his senses and return to her. (LONELY PEW)
In another reefer-induced hallucination, Jimmy receives a sacred vision JESUS CHRIST (played by Jack) appears! Flanked by a chorus of singing cherubim, Jesus warns Jimmy (in a Tom Jones-style production number) to kick his reefer habit or suffer the consequences of Eternal Damnation! (LISTEN TO JESUS, JIMMY) Jimmy scoffs at the Son of God's message. Angels weep.
Back at the Reefer Den, Jimmy is completely out of control. A desperate Mae warns Jimmy to avoid the same mistakes she made -- he must escape The Reefer Den while he is still able. The drug-addled Jimmy, however, won't listen. Even the revelation that Sally has sold her BABY for drug money fails to snap him out of it. SALLY'S BABY (played by Ralph) appears and sings a plaintive solo. (LULLABYE)
Jimmy's bad behavior culminates with him stealing Mary's Packard and taking it for a reckless, Reefer-induced joy ride! His joy, however, proves short-lived -- he runs over a helpless old man crossing the street, killing him. (DEAD OLD MAN)
Finally shocked out of his Reefer Haze, Jimmy returns the stolen Packard to Mary's house and apologizes to her. They kiss. Before he can give her his school ring as a token of his undying love, a siren sounds in the distance. The fugitive Jimmy realizes that he must get far away from Mary lest he bring her down with him. He runs off into the night with no explanation. Mary doesn't know the exact nature of Jimmy's demons, but she vows he will not face them alone. She drives her Packard into the night in search of "her poor lost Romeo."
Meanwhile, back at the Reefer Den, Jack and Mae hear a radio broadcast announcing the hit-and-run accident. Police are looking for a young man in a late-model Packard. Jack, fearing Jimmy will get arrested and lead the cops back to him, grabs a pistol and ominously vows to bring Jimmy back to the Reefer Den -- "one way or another." (ACT ONE FINALE)
As Act Two begin, hallucinatory visions of Ralph, Sally and Mae appear as Jazz Trio Backup Girls. (JIMMY ON THE LAM) The Lecturer brings us up to date -- Jimmy's on the lam and Mary's is "combing the rain-spattered streets in search of her wayward young man." Jimmy arrives at the local train station and attempts to purchase a one-way ticket for "Parts Unknown."
Before Jimmy can board the train, Jack appears and tries to convince Jimmy to return to the Reefer Den with him. Jimmy refuses -- he promised himself he'd never smoke marihuana again! Jack tricks Jimmy by offering him a seemingly innocent brownie. Jimmy thinks this is the best brownie he's ever eaten in his life. The train station patrons join him in a song extolling the many virtues of said brownie. (THE BROWNIE SONG) Jimmy is hooked once again.
Meanwhile, Mary makes inquiries at the Five-And-Dime. Kindly Mr. Poppy provides Mary with address of the Reefer Den. The naive Mary leaves, grateful for Mr. Poppy's assistance. As soon as Mary is out of earshot, Mr. Poppy telephones the Reefer Den and tells Ralph to inform Jack that an unsuspecting new "client" is on her way over. We learn that Mr. Poppy is secretly on Jack's payroll. He helps Jack "trundle little children off to pay the wages of sin." (FIVE-AND-DIME reprise)
Back at the Reefer Den, Sally drags Jimmy upstairs for a weed-whacked sexual liaison. When Mary arrives looking for Jimmy, the lecherous Ralph is lying in wait. He tries to seduce Mary by tricking her into smoking Marihuana herself. (LITTLE MARY SUNSHINE) The plan backfires -- the power of the weed is so great, it immediately transforms the virginal Mary into a whip-cracking reefer slut who promptly enslaves the frightened Ralph. Upon discovering Mary and Ralph in a compromising position, a smoke-addled Jimmy attacks Ralph. A scuffle ensues. Jimmy is knocked unconscious and Jack accidentally shoots Mary through the heart. The villainous Jack places the gun in the unconscious Jimmy's hand. Jimmy, who remembers nothing, is convinced that he has murdered his beloved "Juliet." Mary regains consciousness long enough for Jimmy to finally give her his school ring. She dies in his arms. (MARY'S DEATH)
As the we hear the police pull up in front of the house, Mae tells Jimmy that he's innocent of the crime and that Jack is planning to frame him. A POLICE INSPECTOR (played by the Lecturer) bursts in. Jack accuses Jimmy of murdering Mary while "hopped-up." Jimmy begs Mae to tell the truth and exonerate him. Mae, however, is too weak and too dependent on "The Stuff" Jack gives her. She remains silent and Jimmy is dragged away to stand trial.
A few weeks later. Ralph, Mae and Sally are wracked with guilt as they listen to Winchell announce Jimmy Harper's conviction and death sentence. Ralph, who has been smoking non-stop, is becoming seriously unhinged. He sees hallucinatory visions: The ghost of Doomed Jimmy, dead Mary in Hell being sodomized by The Devil, and the zombie remnants of all the kids destroyed by Reefer. Imaginary Reefer Vines drop from the ceiling, ensnaring him. All the while, Ralph, stricken with a severe case of "The Munchies," moans about starving to death. Fearing that Ralph's insane caterwauling will prompt a neighbor to call the cops, Jack and Mae leave to get Ralph something to eat. Sally is instructed to remain behind and keep Ralph quiet. When Jack and Mae return with Chinese food, they discover that Ralph gnawing on Sally's disembodied arm -- he has eaten Sally alive! Ralph, now a cackling Reefer-fueled cannibal zombie, turns on Mae and Jack. Jack shoots Ralph repeatedly. He dies laughing. The shock of all this causes Mae's mind to snap -- she's surrounded by the angry visions of Ralph, Sally, Mary, Goat-Man, Jimmy and the Zombies. Jack warns the unhinged Mae that the world is kill or be killed – "the winner is the last one left alive." (MURDER!)
Mae decides the only way to find inner peace is to turn herself in and save Jimmy from the electric chair. Jack tries to bring Mae back to her senses in his usual fashion -- by giving her a smoke. Mae stubs it out. An angry Jack slaps her for wasting "half a jay of good mooter." Mae reacts with cold fury and picks up a hoe from the victory garden. That was the last time Jack will ever hit her. Frightened by Mae's intensity Jack tries to shoot her. Alas, he expended all his bullets on Ralph. Mae sings as she beats Jack with the garden hoe, avenging the deaths of Sally, Ralph, Mary and every other poor kid Jack has ever hooked on marihuana. (THE STUFF reprise) After an unbelievable amount of blood sprays all over the stage, Mae runs off to save Jimmy!
Meanwhile, in an execution chamber, Jimmy walks the last mile and is strapped into the electric chair. Just as THE SWITCH-PULLER (played by Ralph) prepares to fry Jimmy, he is interrupted by a second visit from Jesus and his backup angels! They sing and dance. (LISTEN TO JESUS, JIMMY reprise) Jimmy's immense relief is short-lived. It turns out Jesus has only came to gloat and watch the execution. Jimmy prepares to meet his fate, when a second interruption occurs.
This time it is Mae! And she as obtained a Presidential Pardon from none other than PRESIDENT FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT (played by The Lecturer). After an unbelievably cheap "Annie" joke, President Roosevelt charges Jimmy with a sacred trust -- going forth into the land and warning other children to beware the dangers of The Green Misery. The President promises Jimmy plenty of "help" getting the message out. The government will use the power of radio, the fine papers of William Randolph Hearst and powerful iconography such as Uncle Sam, George Washington and Lady Liberty (played by Ralph, Jack and Sally). This Patriotic Trio joins the group in a rousing production number, chock full of American iconography. (TELL EM THE TRUTH) The Statue of Liberty uses her torch as a microphone and sings like Aretha Franklin. Jimmy leads the townspeople back to the Reefer Den and builds a gigantic bonfire to immolate bales of marihuana. Eventually the crowd begins to burn other "dangerous items" as well, such as books, films and political tracts. The crowd sings: "And once the reefer has been destroyed/We'll start on Darwin and Sigmund Freud/And sex depicted on celluloid/And communists and queens!" The triumphant Lecturer comments: "When danger's near, exploit their fear/The end will justify the means!" Big patriotic happy ending.
[edit] History
In 1997, writing partners Kevin Murphy and Dan Studney, who had met while studying at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey, were driving from Oakland to Los Angeles and listening to Frank Zappa's Joe's Garage, when they heard a line about Catholic school girls smoking reefer behind the rectory.
"So I started picturing it in my head," Studney recalls. "Frank Zappa's concept of a musical and then it just hit me. I turned to Kevin and said 'What about doing Reefer Madness as a musical?'" By the time the creative duo reached Los Angeles, they had already written the first song.
Upon completion of the script, they approached award-winning director Andy Fickman who accepted the project with great enthusiasm. "I was a big fan of the original movie, it always made me laugh," Fickman explains. "Then I listened to Dan and Kevin warbling away on the demo track, which didn't made me laugh, it made me cry. But the music was great and I thought, 'God, if real singers were singing that.' And then when I read the script, I fell in love with it."
The play opened in a small equity waiver theatre in Los Angeles for what the producers thought might be a two-week run. Instead it played to packed houses for over a year and a half, captivating audiences and critics alike, winning 20 theater awards and breaking records. Many devoted fans came back time and again, dressed in costumes and shouting out the lines.
The popular production was optioned for off-Broadway by the New York-based Nederlander organization, but its long-awaited New York run turned out to be a brief one because it opened just four days after 9/11. However, the play had caught the attention of Robert Greenblatt, Showtime Networks' President of Entertainment, who later offered Studney and Murphy the opportunity to turn the musical into an original Showtime feature film.
[edit] Musical Changes
Near the end of the Los Angeles run, a number of major changes to the show were made:
The Mary ballad 'Lonely Pew' was added to the first act. The Lecturer was given a bump-and-grind pole dance reprise of 'Five and Dime.' 'The Trial' was deleted. Mary's dying moments triggered a sad reprise of 'Romeo and Juliet' for the lovers. The long Act Two book scene in which Sally and Ralph are killed was musicalized into an up-tempo ensemble number 'Murder!' A scene in which all the dead characters recite ridiculous-but-true quotes was cut and replaced with a number about the excesses of propaganda called 'Tell 'Em the Truth.' This song brought George Washington, Uncle Sam, The Statue of Liberty into the show. It also introduced President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who would have a larger role in the Showtime movie of the musical. The 'Orgy' was revamped with new choreography by Paula Abdul.
Soon afterwards, the Los Angeles production shuttered in preparation for the move to Off-Broadway. At this point, Kevin and Dan made some additional changes to the text. Here are the major ones:
'The Monkey Song' was replaced with 'The Brownie Song.' A solo Jack counterpoint was added to the 'Act One Finale' to heighten tension at the first act break. The Act Two opening 'Jimmy On the Lam' was given a conceptual overhaul which added Ralph, Mae and Sally as a jazz backup trio and set up 'The Brownie Song.' The Lecturer's pole dance number was cut in NY previews, due to the tragic absence of a pole.
