Fourteen-year-old queer boy Chrysanthemum is the endearing know-it-all serving as president of the Drama Club Council and is based on no playwright in particular. His best friend is Vice President Phylicia, a coloratura soprano in every way. (If you’ve ever done musical theatre, you know what I'm talking about!!) They are best best friends, okay? They comment on each other’s posts out of desire, not obligation. But when FJHS announces the spring musical will be Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!, our protagonists rift. Shoot! Now one of them is the antagonist. But which one?!
Phylicia wants to star in Oklahoma! as Laurey Williams. Having a Black girl take on this iconic lead role in a classic American musical will make a statement—and she’s the only one qualified for the job. But Chrys wants to scrap the musical altogether: it’s too problematic, providing a revisionist history that not only degrades womxn, but completely erases and forgives the atrocities done to the Native American folx from whom the territory was stolen. “We know we belong to the land/ and the land we belong to is grand”? Bullshit! That land was not theirs!
The six members of the Drama Club Council must come to a vote by the end of the week, and right now it’s 50-50. How far will Phylicia and Chrys go to get their ways? Will Chrys resort to blackmailing Zac & Jack, Cutest Couple™ for three years running? Will Phylicia betray their ten-year friendship for the chance at a role? And where the eff is their teacher?!