←Recommendations of A Musical

Concerned much more with the optics of tragedy, The Drummer Boy teeters between the senseless and heartbreaking like a vicious doom-scroll. It's a show swathed in satirical rage: one where halls are trenches, teachers are drill sergeants, and gunshots are timed to cheery dance breaks. Drug trips turn to hymns, and as soon as you turn a corner you're trapped bleeding in a broom closet with a phone to your face. Layered and stirring, Corona's musical stays with you long after the curtain drops.

The fact that there are so many plays about school shootings is a heartbreaking fact for our society but Jarred has taken this emotionally charged topic and explored it brilliantly. As an audience member you are privileged to a play that offers a multitude of perspectives surrounding this horrific tragedy, something which I feel is always important. You wouldn't normally think school shootings and musicals belong together but Jarred has taken a hard hitting issue and interlaced it with characters you feel for who proceed through this rollar coaster, taking the audience with them. Beautifully constructed! Thank you!

Highly original score. Entirely and horrifyingly still topical. For me, the line: "There were screams and gunshots. I swear they started harmonizing" captures the raw, lyrical, smart and fresh, layered play that it is. Bravo Jarred Corona.

Perennially topical, this musical about a school shooting should be performed everywhere. Jumping around in time, we relive the shooting and aftermath multiple times, through the eyes of students, teachers, parents, and shooters (who aren't given names, which I love). The whole thing is heartbreaking. I especially liked the play on 'false flag.' I was trying to decide which song was the biggest gut punch, but the line that hit me hardest ended up not being in a song at all: "Is someone going to save us?" Flood the theaters with this play, and maybe one day someone will.

Wow Jarred! There is so much to unpack. This is absolutely amazing and so heartbreaking. This playwright is so incredibly talented and I am now a huge fan! The characters, Javier, Marla, Vincent, Janelle, and Ian are so believable as are the supporting characters. "But to the people who feel like insulting me and everyone else: we walk our school hallways and breathe in the scent of blood and death of our friends. You? You don’t scare us." This line, it says so much and is devastatingly accurate, full of emotion and reality. Thank you for writing this.

Timely. Impactful. The relevance of this script is probably the most tragic aspect of it. It is compelling and richly theatrical. I would love to see it onstage.