Dramarama

  Demi: I see you! I see you!

  Sadye: I see you, too.

  Appendixes

  1. Wondering what to watch? Here are Sadye’s favorite movie musicals:

  West Side Story unrated

  Cabaret PG

  Chicago PG-13

  Singin’ in the Rain G

  Hair PG

  Fame R

  Grease PG

  Little Shop of Horrors PG-13

  Sweet Charity G

  Kiss Me Kate unrated

  Damn Yankees unrated

  2. To hear some of the songs Sadye talks about in this book, go to www.theboyfriendlist.com

  Look at the right column and find Sadye’s iMix. You can download the playlist into iTunes or another MP3 player.

  3. Wildewood Academy does not exist. I made it up, along with all its faults. However, I did go to three years of summer drama camp, five hundred years ago. The schools to which I went shall remain nameless, and one of them has closed down. If you’re interested in attending a summer theater camp, the following are the best known:

  • Stagedoor Manor, www.stagedoormanor.com

  • The National High School Institute at Northwestern University, www.northwestern.edu/nhsi/

  • Interlochen Arts Academy, www.interlochen.org

  Acknowledgments

  THANK YOU a zillion times to Benjamin Ellis Fine, for letting me steal his drama school anecdotes for this book, and for taking the time to tell them to me. I have transfigured many a Ben Fine story in these pages. There are also several other people who shared their stories and feelings about acting at my request: in particular, Lisa Burdige, Jenna Jolley, Rebecca Soler, Trevor Williams, and Ayun Halliday.

  Many thanks to my agent, Elizabeth Kaplan, because she is awesome. And to my editor, Donna Bray, who took me out to lunch, listened to several ridiculous stories about unitards—and signed me up to write this book, pushing me to make it better and better through more drafts than it should have taken. Also to Brenda Bowen, Arianne Lewin, Emily Schultz, and everyone at Hyperion, especially designer Beth Clark, who worked so hard on the jacket.

  Novelist Maryrose Wood endured several e-mails in which I probed her exquisitely theatrical brain for tidbits, trivia, and ideas. She also read a first draft with great insight. Zoe Jenkin answered questions about Wicked and Rent and other shows about which she is far more expert than I. She also took me to see Kristin at Carnegie Hall, and Wicked on Broadway (though Big Len paid for the tickets—thank you!), and she kept me company for a number of other, less thrilling, productions.

  Some years ago, the members and leaders of the BMI Musical Theater Workshop gave me a four-year education in musical theater history and writing that can’t be beat. I hope they will not hold the meatball, knee-high, and Tyrannosaurus rex songs against me too much. The members of my YA novelists newsgroup contributed real and thoughtful comments on the question of talent and the appeal of the theater world, helping me sort out what I wanted to say.

  My parents paid for me to go to summer drama camp for three years, and always encouraged my theatrical endeavors despite a relatively obvious lack of talent. My father took me to see West Side Story, Peter Pan, Cats, and Annie on Broadway and introduced me to cast albums for Hair and Guys and Dolls (among others)— little dreaming what a monster he was creating.

  My husband endured the David Hasselhoff Jekyll & Hyde without complaint. I don’t think I can convey his support any more succinctly than that.