Dead Poets Society: the Musical

Official tumblr for Dead Poets Society: The Musical. @dpsmusical on Instagram, TikTok, Tumblr, and Twitter.

[dpsmusical]

Visit Original Link

Surprise!

Happy holidays! To celebrate the upcoming new year and all the achievements that are sure to occur, here is an excerpt from a song called “The Unmanned Flying Desk Set”, which is sung by both Neil and Todd; however, this particular section is sung by Todd. This snippet was recorded, played and sung by one of our members, Oriana, the lead composer and lyricist of the musical.

We thought it was high time we finally posted some content, and what better time to choose than the end of a year? Although this year has been rough for the world, we’ve been grateful for it, as it gave us the opportunity to begin creating this concept, as well as interacting with all of you. If it hadn’t been for this project, some of us may never have met or become friends: which is a foreign concept now that we’re so close.

We hope you enjoy this. We’ve been so excited to share with you our songs and scenes for the past few months, and although we’ve been dropping hints and such, we’ve never had the chance to properly share with you our content. It’s something we’re really proud of!

Happy holidays and Happy New Year!

With love,

Jade, Phoenix, Sarah and Oriana

(Cover art drawn by Jade)

[tellmewhytheyswoon]

Just wanted to say I loved your Knox post and I’d love to hear what you have to say abt the racism in DPS... it felt really icky but it’s hard to articulate yknow. So thank you!!!

thank you, irt the knox comment! and thank u for the inquiry: i’m absolutely not the authority on this topic and i think it warrants more research/a more qualified voice, to be honest. 

i’ll preface my response by saying that this isn’t the *only* interpretation of these scenes, and also i’m white so i am never going to understand this fully. this is just my opinion/analysis of how the film handles race. also, like i said on the knox post, this isn’t me trying to cancel the movie or cancel the characters, i just like engaging in criticism.  

that being said. i agree, it’s definitely an awful moment. 

i think my huge problem lies with the movie refusing to critically engage with its racism, or make any indication that it’s wrong. it is unfortunately unsurprising that a group of privileged white men in the 50s would be prejudiced and/or racist. i don’t think the movie has to shy away from having flawed moments/characters. however, i do believe that the film simply laughs it away, and refuses to clue viewers in that this isn’t ok. this is where i take issue: it’s one thing to have racist characters/moments that are portrayed as ignorant/hateful, it’s quite another to use ignorance/racism uncritically to help these white characters “seize the day.” 

for example, one can look at the way the congo scene is presented. the boys are in a cave that is viewed as mystic and otherworldly largely because of its connection to native americans (it’s called “the indian cave”), and they’re dancing around the cave while reciting “the congo,” a largely controversial poem by vachel lindsay (the section “attitudes towards race” is really helpful in contextualizing the poem!). in this section, they’re using a caricature of “savagery” to  show the boys “seizing the day” and letting loose. 

they’re privileged white teens who are donning the presumed “savagery” of native americans (i.e. “nuwanda” and the face paint) and africans (recitation of “the congo”), and the film presents this completely unquestioned. i think it would’ve been a merit to the film to remind us that the boys’ privilege makes it possible for them to try on other identities as if they’re costumes, or means to “be free.” 

[dpsmusical]

An Important Announcement

Hello all!

Inspired by this brilliant and insightful post by @disagreeingpoets, we decided to speak up about our intentions of the Dead Poets Society Musical and how we intend to handle the issues raised in the post.

We, at the DPSM team, believe in equal rights for everyone and we wholeheartedly acknowledge the outdated and problematic values and ideas in the film. In our musical, we are doing our best to rewrite and rectify the mistakes of the movie.

In no way would we ever want to offend or upset any marginalised communities or minorities; in fact, we want to do the opposite, by emphatically discussing and bringing awareness to the issues found in the film, such as the racism, cultural appropriation, sexist treatment of women as a commodity and the trivialisation of sexual assault.

If you have any questions or concerns on our revisions of these issues, feel free to comment or message us. We are always open to your constructive criticism and queries; we won't shut your concerns away because this project is for the fans and it always will be.

Thanks so much for reading and supporting us.

Love always,

Jade, Phoenix, Sarah and Oriana

P.S. Happy Pride Month! 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ Remember to give your local member of the LGBTQIA+ community one million dollars this month! Also a big kiss. Most of us need it. (In all seriousness, love you guys! We know there are plenty of you in the DPS[M] family.)

[faheyjespers]

— if we were villains, m.l. rio.

[deadpoetdalton-deactivated20210]

Let's talk about the fact that Keating probably spent the rest of his life with copious amounts of guilt, grief and trauma that go along with being accused of Neil's death. Imagine Keating trying to teach again but seeing a potential Neil in every person, fighting against his own instincts to teach teenagers how to be themselves and instead telling them to conform. Keating struggling with the idea of having children due to the fear of failing them, knowing he was like a father figure to Neil. Keating not being able to read poetry without tears in his eyes and an ache in his chest knowing that something he once loved was now tainted with pain and regret. Replaying the conversation he had with Neil over and over in his head wondering if he could have done more. Being crushed by the realisation that not everyone has the opportunity to write their own verse. Feeling the burden and shame of neil perry's ghost for the rest of his life.

[gomgeomeogmeogmy]

Since it’s pride month I’m just gonna pop on here and say this

Pride month is hard for some people. Those who aren’t accepted and those who aren’t out.

To those who are out: I am so proud of you, I know it’s hard to come out to people; even if they don’t accept you I do and always will.

To those who aren’t out: it will be okay. There will come a time where you can express yourself as freely and openly as you want. I’m proud of you for making it to this point. I love you; you’re a valid

Make sure to give your closeted/unaccepted friends a little extra love this month, they may need it more than you know.

I know not everyone is lucky enough to have accepting friends and family, and to those people I am so sorry, you are so valid, but maybe we can take comfort here together, supporting each other and using these fake people from the 1950’s as ways to comfort ourselves. I support each and every one of you to the ends of the earth , you’re valid, and just as a reminder:

Todd would support your gender/sexual identity

Neil would support your gender/sexual identity

Charlie would support your gender/sexual identity

Knox would support your gender/sexual identity

Meeks would support your gender/sexual identity

Pitts would support your gender/sexual identity

Cameron would support your gender/sexual identity

Chris would support your gender/sexual identity

Mr. Keating would support your gender/sexual identity

Sending as much love as possible to everyone this month.

[daltons-phone]

I cant wait for the new movie Nolan where we learn how a pack of poets drove his mother off a cliff and that's why he hates poetry so much.

[homosandhomies]

dps as @animatedtext

neil

todd

charlie

knox

meeks

pitts

cameron

[dpsmusical]

Heyyyy y'all, we miss you! Should we drop more content soon? :D

[daltonacademia]

just found out my parents hung out rsl, ethan hawke, and gale hansen at a jazz bar circa 1997... im crying

[dpsmusical]

WHAT!!!!!!!

[gerardpitts]

this is important

[dpsmusical]

new dps content? in 2021?? more likely than you think

[lovingonsaturn-deactivated20220]

his reaction to seeing the theater <3

[sunflowersrain]

Neil Perry <3

Dead Poets Society

[thed3adpoet]

Dead Poets Society as John Mulaney Quotes

Todd:

Mr. Keating:

Pitts:

Neil:

Knox:

Meeks:

Charlie:

All the poets:

Charlie @ Cameron

[hurtyknees]

Please laugh i spent way too much time on this

[sweatytoothedpoetry-deactivated]

pittsie babe are you okay? you’ve barely touched your half a roll??

[thecharliedalton-deactivated202]

I want to know if the cast stole things from the set and if so, who kept what? A few examples of the things that I’m curious about are:

The Five Centuries of Verse copy

The original A Midsummer Night’s Dream leaflet

The forged permission slip

Neil’s Puck crown

The god of the cave

Charlie’s saxophone 

His bongos

The bagpipes

The illegal radio

The… uhh… interesting poster

The pipes

Meeks’ and Neil’s glasses

The remaining contents of the deskset

Keating’s little bell

The iconic clothes

TW: the gun

[jwasontodd]

I was actually doing some research on the DPS props the other night!! I couldn’t find any of the really iconic ones but I did find a bunch of the smaller ones with really interesting information from people who worked on the film.

Here’s the issue of the Welton newspaper where Charlie published his article (Welton’s Need For Women! special request from the Dead Poets Society) ft. Mr. Keating’s arrival as the new teacher. I wish this was in better quality so you could read the full thing. :(

Tickets & the program for the Midsummer Night’s Dream play at Henley Hall.

The Welton graduation program. The seller said there’s 16 pages of names & looked very authentic although all of them were out of order excluding the first one seen below. I think it’s really interesting how they detailed out the entire opening sequence even if the viewers never see inside it. :’)

Here’s the final one. I’ve never seen this anywhere else but it’s Neil’s funeral eulogy that was cut from the film. The seller who also worked on the movie’s winter scenes said it was filled with 2 filler pages of “philosophical writing from an unknown source.” We also get to learn Neil’s middle name starts with a ‘W’. I’m saying it stands for “Walt.” 🥺