birthday! the musical

So it was my birthday party on Saturday night. The invitation looked like this:


After Byron staged a kids' party (complete with fairy-bread and pass-the-parcel) earlier in the year, and Lili's short-story-writing activity party, I was informed by my friends that I was simply not allowed to have a "normal" party. My plans for a straightforward "let's go out for dinner and get drunk" went up in smoke.

Well I showed them! My musical birthday party began with all the guests (who were necessarily limited to quite specific numbers) submitting a song choice. It could be any song, as long as it had words and was reasonably well known. This was done a few days in advance, so Byron and I could make sure we had all the tracks available on CD. I also organised ahead of time to have a couple of people bring along some dress-up items, as well as a video camera. My friends were intrigued! And frightened!

Once they arrived, the activity began: we were making a musical! The process was a bit complicated, but worked something like this...

First we decided on a title. After each submitting a suggestion we picked "Compromise! The Musical" Next everyone randomly selected (by picking from a hat) a Character Role, a Character Description, and a Character Trait. So, for example, I ended up being "Romantic Lead #2" who was a "Busty Lusty Showgirl" who was also a "Fingernail Biter".

Then we arranged all our chosen songs according to showtune archetypes such as "Song of Unrequited Love" or "Song Of Villainous Intent". Once that was done, all we needed was a flimsy plot to string the musical numbers and characters together... and we had our musical!

Compromise! The Musical told the story of Verity (the busty lusty showgirl) and her love for Hetty (formerly Hudson, a transexual ingenue), amidst the treacherous plots of Helga Brunhilda (the absurdly-camp villain). Secondary characters included Jan the Janitor, a mustachioed lesbian best friend, and a mysterious bag-lady who is secretly a millionaire caviar farmer. Meanwhile the musical numbers included Cher's "If I Could Turn Back Time" (the unrequited love song), Belinda Carlisle's "Heaven Is A Place On Earth" (the love duet) and Bon Jovi's "Livin' On A Prayer" (the wise-old-person's advice). We performed and filmed our improvised musical scene-by-scene, while drinking copious barrels of grog (or was that just me?) and a generally rollicking time was had.

Of course, the whole idea wouldn't have worked at all if not for the fact that I have the awesomest friends in the galaxy, who were willing to go along with this madness. It's not everybody who can say to their friends, "Tonight we are going to put on stupid wigs and sing along to Madonna and The Cure on camera" and have them all agree. I realise I am extremely lucky to have such wonderful people around me. Thanks guys!

Now, I have edited the musical together, but I was made to swear a solemn oath that no footage of the production would make its way onto the intermanets. However I'm sure no-one will mind if I put up a quick still-frame, just to show how ridiculous and hilarious it was:


This is the final pose (incl. JazzHands) of "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend", the opening number. To protect the innocent, I shan't identify the players... but Yours Truly might be the very unattractive woman in the candy pink ball-gown.

I must say, if you're looking for a theme for your next party, Abject Humiliation Of Yourself And Those You Love is always a winner.