School Daze 10th Anniversary Edition

Content details

(Scroll down for song samples, characters and plot summary)

School Daze was our first ever musical, released in January 2001. Over the years it has proved to be our most popular and best-selling end-of-year/leaver’s production, but it’s now showing its age! To mark its 10th anniversary it’s had a complete makeover and, whilst still maintaining the charm and fun of the original, it now has extra brand new songs, a fresh and updated script and score, and re-recorded backing tracks. So, celebrate your children’s time at school as we look back and laugh at those unique things that make it so special!

Songs include

Old School Days

Teachers Have It Easy

A.T.T.I.T.U.D.E

Parental Consultation Evening

The Nits Blues

It's Nearly Time To Take Your SATs

A Touch Of Lipstick

One Day At A Time

Samples

Sample piano score (JPG)

Sample script (PDF)

Characters

Speaking parts in order of appearance

• The Grandparents - An old but still ‘cool’ couple.
• Billy and Becky - Squabbling siblings.
• Mr Riley - Aptly-named teacher, living the life of…..
• 6 Children - The exploited, down-trodden masses.
• 2 Doting Mothers - Can’t let go of their precious ones at the beginning of the school day.
• 3 Infant & 3 Junior Children - Two opposite ends of the ‘attitude spectrum’.
• Infant Teacher - To her, children are angels sent from heaven to make life sweeter.
• Year 6 Teacher - Counting the days to early retirement.
• Mrs Versace - Trying to improve the ‘look’ of her class. 6 ‘Drab’ Children - In need of a makeover, or so they believe.
• Headteacher - Image is everything.
• 2 Prospective Parents - Hoping to find a school that scrubs up well.
• 4 Sergeant Majors - Presenters of the SATs revision programme ‘Work Harder Slacker’.
• Mr & Mrs Hetherington-Smyth - Double-barrelled parents in more than just name.
• Geraldine - Their daughter, away with the fairies.
• Mr & Mrs Scrapper - Parents who’ll rip yer ’ead off as soon as look at yer.
• Gripper - Their son. A disgrace down the ‘Dog and Bucket’ for being good at schoolwork.
• His teacher - Parents’ evenings? Mmm. I’d rather wrestle a grizzly bear.

Ensemble characters (if numbers allow) for featured songs and scenes

• Infant Children
• Junior Children
• Parents
• Teachers

Plot summary

The year is 2075. Billy and Becky, two typical eleven-year-olds, are staying over at their grandparents’ ‘pod’, in the sheltered sector. Like all doting grandparents the old folks are keen to keep abreast of their grandchildren’s progress, and to gain an insight into their experiences of primary school – or ‘System A’ as it is now known! Billy and Becky are also eager to learn of Grandma and Grandpa’s antics as they approached their teenage years, back in 2011. (song – Old School Days)

As the evening’s conversation wears on it becomes apparent that these children from the latter half of the 21st century are really no different to those who were leaving primary school back in the ‘good old days’. Equally apparent is that some experiences of primary school span generations, and the truly noteworthy ones always involve larger-than-life characters and funny situations. Through a series of flashbacks, in the form of sketches and songs, we get an entertaining (if tongue-in-cheek) glimpse of the universal trials and tribulations involved in simply being young and going to school.

For example, is it fair that teachers get to eat chocolate biscuits at break-time, while children make do with bits of fruit? (song – Teachers Have It Easy) How can mums be made to understand that, now their children are getting older, they must not, under any circumstances, try to hold their hand on the way to school? (song – A.T.T.I.T.U.D.E.) Does experimenting with makeup and hair-gel really improve ones appearance, especially when the skills of applying them haven’t quite been mastered yet? (song – A Touch Of Lipstick) Will anyone ever develop a truly effective cure for a dose of nits? (song – The Nits Blues) What’s the best way to get good SATs results without piling the pressure on? (song – It’s Nearly Time To Take Your SATs) Who suffers most at parental consultations, and why do teachers choose to be ‘economical’ with the truth? (song – Parental Consultation Evening) And who can forget desperately wanting to be grown-up, but having the feeling that maybe this is the best time of ones life, and every moment should be cherished? (song – One Day At A Time).