so I saw ftr brat pack in San Francisco (11/6) and it was The Best Night Of My Life. gonna talk about my thoughts here for the three-ish people who’ll want to read them; enjoy!!
• I saw Bryan Munar as the Geek (keys), May Ramos as the Princess (bass), Zahan Mehta as the Rebel (guitar-it was his last performance), Danielle Mendoza as the Basketcase (drums), Roeen Nooran as the Jock (percussion), Scott Taylor-Cole as Mr., Matt Grandy on keys, and Jesse Levit on sax
• first of all, even the space is super immersive; the show was delayed for almost a half hour but it didn’t even feel like you were waiting (I had “detention hall seating” meaning we got little notebooks to write in; my mom and I were on the outside of a higher level close-ish to the stage; there was an aisle to my left and one behind me on the level with some stairs). it was incredible bc it’s a show I practically know by heart, but there were enough changes and enough exciting new things in the venue to keep some surprises; it was really the perfect way to see it live
• they had cute little snack boxes available and a bunch of themed cocktails, it was Commitment
• the only bummer was that a large portion of the audience was very drunk and very loud to the point of scene-stealing and disregarding the story being told, but it was still an incredible experience overall-I’ll try to go chronologically through the show
• this version opens with Matt and Jesse coming down the aisles to the bueller theme and doing the whole “oh yeah” bit before taking their places
• the opening was just euphoric; I couldn’t believe I was actually There
• everyone was SO into it
• Bryan: “Dear Mr. Vernon-“ audience: “WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO”
• they encouraged singalongs during the group numbers (which I gladly did) but people sang along during everything, for better or for worse
• everyone’s introductions were so damn endearing, I am DESPERATELY in love with this cast
• May is such a vocal powerhouse, I was absolutely stunned-it felt like such an honor to just be there and hear that in person
• changes was just. agh. AGH. so good
• Roeen’s Jock is so incredibly charming in such a genuine way-like, he’s not just playing the stereotype, he’s a Person™️ and it’s beautiful
• Scott was singing to me a bit during the first verse of young american while everyone was following him around; he also looked directly at me while singing “she wants the young american” as if I was the “she” and it was iconic
• the “job requirement” line now says “teenagers” instead of “young girls”
• “shower with them” is directed toward both the Princess and the Jock
• Zahan’s facial expressions during the beginning of true were freakin hilarious
• this is the SOOOOOOOOOUND of my soul
• the vocals in that song were just ~effortless~
• the “they say it’s your birthday” scene happened RIGHT NEXT TO MEEEEEEE
• the “I like your shirt” was played as if it was reparations for her embarrassment of the previous line and it was so funny
• the whole “I love this woman” section was just priceless. fantastic. 11/10
• okay so. we know Bryan can riff. we know this. but DAAAAAAAAAAAMN HE CAN *R I F F* he was absolutely LIVING up there and we were all just in disbelief that we were actually WITNESSING it
• he came up singing in the aisle behind me while the Princess and Jock were having their scene during tenderness and GOD it was SO iconic
• that number is always iconic but god IT’S SO MUCH MORE ICONIC LIVE. the energy was OFF THE CHARTS. OFF THE CHARTS I TELL YOU
• the!!! Geek!!!! is!!!! canonically!!! bi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• for reasons I didn’t realize until later in the number, it’s the Rebel instead of the Jock that takes on the partner-in-crime role during weird science, and, again, Zahan’s reactions were priceless and Bryan was just going absolutely beserk
• his portrayal of the Geek is so fun-he is really smart and genuinely does have an air of just Getting It and thereby being Done with what’s going on around him while still having those shades of overt, shameless weirdness and charming awkwardness that have made the characters so beloved over the decades
• he kept instinctively saying “a boy! making! a boy! or a girl-“
• the lighting for that number was so fun
• the Basketcase also gets a bra on her head while drumming
• BOTH the Princess and the Jock are the dolls and they come striding up the aisles and if I haven’t said iconic enough times yet…iconic
• the whole cast is much more instrumentally involved, meaning the Rebel and Basketcase aren’t dancing as much-the whole layered canon of “oh yeah”s is taken out because of this
• the extra costume change is cut out as well, probably also because of this bc it’s the layered canon that gives him time to change
• the bueller scene between Scott and Zahan was, again, freakin hilarious
• MAY GAVE ME A SAVE FERRIS POSTER they were all going around handing them out to the audience, it’s currently on the minifridge in my dorm
• the lyrics to the Basketcase’s song in this part are changed to “turning round and round, I think I’m turning upside down, I really think so” etc and thankfully the audience seemed to be as into it as ever!!!
• and oh my god Danielle pulls off the Angst™️ so well, the whole thing was VISCERAL
• “can we get a round of applause for my sister” actually did get a big round of applause!!!
• now that I’m looking back on it I think danke schoen was cut?? either it went straight into twist and shout or I was too deep in 80s bliss to remember
• speaking of twist and shout, ALSO SO ICONIC SO FUN SO SO FUN
• rebel yell was UNMATCHED
• IN THE MIDNIGHT HOUR!!! SHE WANTS MORE MORE MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• once again, it’s me, I’m she (except it was around 9:30 so not quite midnight but god that SONG)
• Zahan held straight eye contact with whoever the “virgin” was while saying “sweets, you couldn’t ignore me if you tried” and it was INDESCRIBABLE-the E N E R G Y
• everyone was just GOING FOR IT and once again T H E E N E R G Y
• whole bullet point to talk about how obsessed I am with the Rebel/Basketcase dynamic
• “I wanna get hurt!!”
• Zahan’s portrayal is just so unapologetically Teenage Boy™️ and I love it so much-he’s got a touch of himbo energy but also just seems so annoyed with everything yet so chill-it still feels like there’s no soul on earth that could outdo Shawn Smith’s phone monologues but I am so incredibly grateful I saw Zahan’s last show
• in your eyes was practically a religious experience
• there were points when Danielle was right next to me while singing and time stopped, she is such a captivating performer and managed to stay in it while half the audience was singing very loudly-gah I just admire her so much
• that song, especially her rendition, is so easy to melt into and the look on her face was indescribable
• the whole time she was singing, Zahan was onstage doing his Rebel thing and she was just. looking at him. and I cannot DESCRIBE
• everyone vibing to somebody’s baby was such a great experience, and Zahan approached it with that beautiful simplicity and vulnerability and Lovable Simp Energy that I love so much about the character
• I was so drawn in that I didn’t even notice there was someone next to me in the aisle until I heard Roeen’s voice at the end
• while they harmonized under Zahan’s riffs (smooth as some sort of metaphor for smoothness, perfection, etc), Roeen and Bryan were walking up the aisles fully in character before joining him onstage as if they were each singing about the Princess
• somebody’s baby was given an actual button; he gave one last strum and “yeah” with such a warm, hopeful smile and the audience went wild, then the Basketcase went into her line
• I wish I could have paid better attention to that exchange bc it’s one of my favorites, but I was just so taken up by emotion (bc it doesn’t at all slightly somewhat relate to my own life at the moment whatever do you mean)
• her “…and you” Killed MeeeeEEEEEEEEEEE AGH I WANNA PLAY THAT ROLE SO BAD
• in your eyes reprise. also a religious experience (except for the audience singing over the pauses etc but Still) also I think it may have been in a lower key?
• oh to have drums to angstily drum on while singing about your unrequited love
• the scene between Zahan and Scott was infuriating simply because the audience kept laughing. like. I couldn’t focus on how good they probably were bc I was just appalled at how people could lack empathy enough to laugh while a teen character is severely bullied by an authority figure. the snippets I managed to remember were phenomenally acted
• the audience laughed straight through the detention scene. all of it. which is objectively the best of the show and one of my favorites of all time, one of the best-written-best-acted etc-and I tried really hard not to let it ruin everything, and the cast managed to stay in it, I admire them so much for it-they really are incredible
• the parts I remember from that scene were just as beautifully vulnerable and heartbreaking as anything
• and, because of the weirdness, the catharsis that’s supposed to be felt going into we are not alone wasn’t there as much, which was a bummer, but it was still just fantastic
• the breakfast club dancing was just 🥰
• although it was just the Geek, Princess, and Jock; the other two were on their instruments and putting their all into The Energy™️
• that song was also in a lower key
• PROM!!!!!!!!!!
• again, it was kinda hard to focus on how freaking *good* of a Duckie Bryan was bc of everyone’s drunken overreactions, but *god* his take is right up there with MTG’s for me-I wish I could study it further, there was so much in the way he said those lines
• ribbons were brought from the back up the aisles and the whole space was decorated!!
• if you leave is one of my favorite songs of all time and I really wish I could have appreciated that part more fully, but, again, by now the drunk people were Really drunk and-during one of my favorite scenes, the one between the Princess and Basketcase-there was this woman making really dramatic gestures (and a ton of those people, including her, weren’t masked) with the light fully on her and. I really don’t want to sound like a pretentious theatergoer who thinks stories are more important than people, but it was honestly kinda infuriating (and bc the song keeps going in and out between dialogue the people that were Really Loudly And Off-Key Singing Along kept trailing off over the dialogue and Agh) (for me it’s not even fully about the lowkey elitist “theatre etiquette” stuff, I just really love the stories and how they were being told, was genuinely pulled into it, and disappointed that not everyone else was-those performances did what needed to be done and it’s weird they didn’t get the respect they deserved-yeah idk how to even word this at this point)
• AAAAAANYWAY everyone looked So good in the prom costumes!!
• the “I believed in you, I just didn’t believe in myself” scene ALSO happened right next to me and I think I’ll remember that image forever-the light reflected in Roeen’s eyes so beautifully and you could see every emotion, every thought, it was unbelievable
• “DUCKIEEEEEEEEEEEE” -the whole audience during their last hug (which. I mean. I can relate. but)
• and of course everyone Lost It when it transitioned back into sixteen candles and they kissed over the cake
• there wasn’t the small ensemble of other productions so the Geek had no one else to dance with-I didn’t see where he ended up but
• ZAHAN COMING FROM THE BACK WITH THE BOOMBOX. I DIED. THE AUDIENCE DIED. WE ALL DIED
• I kept looking between him and Danielle because both of their faces-I-I CANNOT
• she’s standing center stage and he’s standing just in front of it, she’s looking down at him during that whole exchange and when he takes hold of her whole face to kiss her she has to take a minute to process before wrapping her arms around his neck and DAMNIT I WANNA BE LOVED
• I didn’t expect to be so obsessed with that relationship upon first finding the show but. I. Love. Them. So. Much.
• hmgggggffffffff I’m yearning again. anyway back to the show
• THE TRANSITION INTO MELT WITH YOU!! THE SEROTONIN!!!!!
• I really need to learn how to properly play the drums huh
• and of course the transition into the graduation bit was iconic
• the Basketcase’s speech at that point is one of my favorite monologues ever and I tried to soak it in even with the drunken noise among it (a lot of people were just talking about totally unrelated things it was Annoying but ANYWAY GO GIRL MAKE YOUR PB+J SANDWICH)
• and the end of melt with you was something in which everyone was encouraged to sing along; it was a moment I’d dreamed of being part of since I first saw it, pink and blue lights flaring, music pounding, voices ringing, and all-it was heaven.
• and then the transition from there into don’t you forget about me-I had rarely felt more free in my life
• SINCERELY YOURS!!! THE BREAKFAST CLUB!!!!!!!!!
• (my mom did get a video of there to the end so message me if you want to see it!!)
• and for those last couple of choruses before the curtain call, they were just hammering away on their instruments and belting with their entire souls as Scott walked up an aisle belting his heart out, and then THE CURTAIN CALL
• these people are. so lovely. so cool. the best.
• and don’t even get me started on the very end
• LA LA LA LA!!! LA LA LA LA!!!! LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA!!!!!!!!!!
• you could just tell how much fun they were all genuinely having with each other and GAHHHH
• and I was part of it. I was actually there. I was actually PART OF IT. SINGING ALONG. LIKE I’D ALWAYS DREAMED OF. PRACTICALLY IN COSTUME. ETCETERA. THE DREAM.
• and of course the last “don’t you…forget aboooooout! MEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!” is what I currently count as the best moment of my life (until, of course, I’m the one on the stage singing it :))
• and the stagedoor. the S T A G E D O O R
• “stagedoor” more like “stand in the lobby and chill out”
• my mom and I stayed a bit longer than the drunk neon-clad middle-aged adults and got to have Actual Conversations and it’s possibly the best thing that ever happened to me
• I gotta start with Zahan and say-I could not believe how kind he was. we talked for a genuinely substantial amount of time and he actually seemed really interested in what I was saying?? asking questions and such?? it sounds so weird the way I’m describing it but my brain was just going !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the entire time (also apparently he was using an american accent for the show and his natural accent is so stunningly gorgeous) he waved to me as I left, emphasizing how nice it was to meet me and saying he looks forward to seeing me onstage, and I’ll never forget the sight
• Bryan is the one who got my mom and I a discount, thereby making it possible that we got there in the first place, and the first thing he did when I told him was hugging me-he’s really just the coolest person on this planet and such a sweetheart, he leaned his head on my shoulder while we were all taking pictures
• my mom and I talked with Danielle for quite a while too; I had just sung that arrangement of in your eyes for an audition so we talked about that, and when I said it was for my college’s production of Carrie she said she’d never seen it and we talked about that-she is SO SO SO COOL oh my GOD can’t believe this happened
• Roeen’s smile could light up a thousand suns. thank you for coming to my ted talk
• we all took a bunch of pictures and those were Also right up there as the best moments of my life. they really did treat me like a peer, a friend, and it felt so familial and so right and everything I’ve ever wanted to be accepted and touched and talking with these incredibly genuine, beautiful, talented, stunningly radiant humans and it was real and it happened and AH
• as we were heading back to our room we saw Scott and got to talk with him for like half a second; he said he’s glad I had a great time and he loves when people are in the seat I got
• May didn’t talk to anyone outside but they did comment on my insta post and said the sweetest things!! my @ is wonderstruck4, you can go see what they all said, those comments truly made my life
• “Until we meet again” stopped my heart upon reading it and it’s what I’ll be holding onto whenever things seem hopeless. it’s confirmed now, I really can and do fit in with these wonderful people, I can be accepted and appreciated and remembered, there is so much hope and it’s so incredibly genuine now. I am so unbelievably, unfathomably grateful for the night of November 6th, 2021. may that night be like many others in life to come. ♥️🎶
