LLC
Pumpkin Spiced Musical
Live Stage Show 2017
Photos by Napier Lopez
PUMPKIN SPICED MUSICAL
by Ben Stiefel
All Songs Filmed Live 11/18/17
starring (in order of appearance)
JAMES PARKS (Sam) SOFIE W. SMITH (Ella) NATALIE PERRY (Allie) PETER ANTHONY MOORE (Johnny O.)
THE SCOOP
The Sam 'n' Ella Advertising Agency has fallen on hard times and needs to find a way to make money fast. Recognizing that pumpkin spiced products sell big during the fall and winter seasons, Sam comes up with a new product: the pumpkin spiced 'bra-tte' (rhymes with latte) - a pumpkin spiced scented bra. (song 1: It's Time For Sam 'n' Ella's Ad Agency To Be Reborn) Sam rallies his team, consisting of Ella, his graphic artist wife, and Allie, his unpaid intern, and convinces them that they can indeed, sell the scented bras and save their agency. (song 2: We Can Do This)
Sam explains and executes his master plan of manufacturing pumpkin spiced bras, while Ella and Allie assist. (song 3: String Em Up, Grab A Cup, Dip Em In Latte) When both the heat and electricity are turned off at the agency office, due to non-payment of the utility bills, the team goes to a shopping mall to strategize a plan to sell the pumpkin spiced 'bra-ttes.'
At the mall, they run into middle aged, former sitcom star, Johnny O, who hasn't acted in decades and is now hawking photos at the mall to make ends meet. When Johnny O. was a teenager, he was known for his improvisational skills as the star of the hit sitcom, "Johnny O - Boy Genius." (song 4: King Of The Improv)outube as is.
Overlooking Johnny's dubious improvisational past, which includes pulling down his pants and exposing millions of television viewers to the words 'kiss my ass' written across his rear, Sam decides to shoot a commercial for the 'bra-ttes' with Johnny O. as the star. Sam believes that meeting Johnny O. at the mall was not random, but was in fact, destined. (song 5: Fate)
Sam's master plan is to shoot the pumpkin spiced bra-tte commercial, watch it become a viral hit on Youtube, and consequently, sell millions of pumpkin spiced 'bra-ttes.' When Ella expresses skepticism, Sam explains that this last ditch, 'hail Mary' plan to financially save his ad agency has to work. (song 6: Say A Prayer My Dream Survives)
After Johnny O. agrees to meet everyone the next day to shoot the commercial, Sam, Ella, and Allie then leave the mall to write the commercial where they've always come up with the most creative ideas: The All Americana Bowling Alley. At the bowling alley, they come up with a short, three sentence story outline for their pumpkin spiced 'bra-tte' commercial, with the idea that Johnny O. can simply improvise and adlib the dialogue. The next day, when Johnny arrives at the ad agency to film, Sam, Ella, and Allie are hung over from drinking the night before. (song 7: It's Nine AM On The Dot) After demonstrating an opening and closing jingle for the commercial, the team is ready to shoot it. (song 8: Commercial Jingle)
While filming the commercial, Sam and company discover that Johnny O. is in reality, a horrible improviser, ruining each and every take with his poorly improvised lines and gestures. After multiple attempts to film the commercial, the team decides to resume the next day and try again. Having discovered that Johnny O. can't improvise, Sam, Ella, and Allie decide to come up with a 'voice-over' narration to tell the story. (song 9: We'll Write Every Line)
The next day, in a last ditch effort to get a workable take of the commercial, Sam, Ella, and Allie explain to Johnny O. that they cut all his dialogue. They tell him not to speak - no improvising at all - a voice-over will tell the story. This infuriates Johnny O, who considers himself a brilliant improviser. To make matters worse, Johnny O. overhears Sam and Ella discussing how awful they think Johnny O's improvising and acting skills are. Finally filming a good take of the commercial, everyone except Johnny O. leaves for the night. When left alone in the agency, Johnny O re-enacts his infamous teenage tantrum and video records a special ending to the pumpkin spiced 'bra-tte' commercial by pulling down his pants and showing his underwear with the words 'kiss my ass' printed across his rear. Sam, without knowing about Johnny O's 'special filmed ending,' uploads the commercial straight to Youtube as is.
The next time we meet Sam, Ella, Allie, and Johnny O. is three months later. The Sam 'n' Ella Ad Agency has gone out of business. Sam is despondant because no one watched the commercial - not one hit or view - not one pumpkin spiced 'bra-tte' sold. He can't understand why the commercial was such a failure. Johnny O. apologizes to Sam, Ella, and Allie for his 'special filmed ending,' but they don't understand why he's apologizing because they never watched the commercial after filming it. On Johnny's insistence, Sam, Ella, and Allie watch the commercial. When Sam views Johnny O's 'kiss my ass' ending, he explodes in rage. Meanwhile, Allie discovers that the reason no one watched the commercial is because the Youtube 'privacy' setting was on, and all she had to do was switch it to 'public' view for the world to see it. While Sam physically attacks Johnny O. in a rage, Allie easily switches the Youtube commercial to 'public view,' special ending and all. Everyone freezes when Allie announces the commercial is officially 'live.' Almost instantly, people start watching the commercial - from one view, to hundreds of views, to thousands - then sales of the pumpkin spiced 'bra-tte' start multiplying with great speed. The commercial is a viral hit, sales of the pumpkin spiced 'bra-tte' are through the roof, and as the show ends, the Sam 'n' Ella Ad Agency is reborn! (song 10: Finale/Reprise - It's Time For Sam 'n' Ella's Ad Agency To Be Reborn)