Imaginary

Book & Lyrics by Timothy Knapman

Music & Lyrics by Stuart Matthew Price

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Rehearsal Dates: Jun 13- July 27

Conflict Cutoff: July 18th

Tech Start Date: July 28th

Performance Dates: Aug 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26

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By special arrangement with Theatrical Rights Worldwide (theatricalrights.com)

An exciting, funny and inspiring musical in the spirit of MATILDA and PETER PAN about the wonder of  childhood, the power of the imagination and what it means to grow up. Milo is Sam’s only friend and they spend all their time together, using only their imaginations to transform their world into a place of adventure and excitement. But as Sam’s first day at a new school approaches, his mother worries that Milo is holding her son back, stopping him from growing up. School turns out to be a full of surprises – and secrets. With a cast of adults and kids, IMAGINARY center on an enduring friendship with other- worldly twists and turns that change lives forever.

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Cast

The Children

Sam 11/12 years old. Any Gender. Clever, brave and loyal, They have an active imagination. Sam is close to their mom but is reaching the

age where they are embarrassed by her. A bit timid when we first meet Sam, they becomes more daring and truly heroic as our story progresses.

 

Milo Sam’s best friend. Any Gender. Milo is Sam’s imaginary friend, Milo could be the same age as Sam or any age. Milo is a little less mature than Sam, more mischievous and irresponsible. They feed Sam’s imaginative life and often leads Sam astray. Milo, too, matures as the story develops.

 

Alice Same age as Sam and Milo, a girl in Sam’s year at his new school. Strong, brave and serious. The Headmaster’s “upgrading” technique has turned her beloved sister Jess into an unfeeling robot of a girl, so Alice is shut off emotionally from the other children, bitter anduntrusting.

 

Dexter Friendly, happy is very much at ease with knowing that they’re not very smart. Simple tasks – such as tying shoelaces – defeat them, but they have a lot of charm.

 

Grace A good person, clever, hardworking and serious. Finds breaking school rules very difficult, even when they know they haves to –but can be very brave. 

 

Harvey The cool kid. Confident, charming, charismatic – but not very academic

 

Helen Shy, nervous about going to the new school. Goodhearted but quiet.

 

The New Kids

Classmates of the above.

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The Big Kids (teens/young adults)

All have been transformed by the Headmaster’s “upgrading” technique into robot-like drones, who move and think in a rigidly controlled manner.

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Jess One of the Big Kids. Alice’s older sister. We first see them as the poster girl for “upgrading”: severe, serious, unfeeling, hostile. But Alice’s memory of them offers us a glimpse of the person they used to be, creative, guitar-playing and loving.

 

The Parents

Beth Sam’s mother. A single mother, she’s done everything she can to make Sam’s life interesting and colorful – despite there not being much money about. At the beginning of the story, she and Sam have just moved out of their small flat and into a little house, so things are looking up economically, but she worries that Sam is stuck emotionally – he still has an imaginary friend, even though he’s old enough for secondary school – and she blames herself for indulging his taste for fantasy and daydreaming.

 

Flick Dexter’s mum. Loving but despairing about her son’s inability to perform basic tasks, she’s sending him to this school because she’s heard how they get amazing exam results out of even the most unpromising students.

 

Liam and Marco Grace’s dads. Very proud indeed of their academically gifted daughter but also rather emotional about her first day at secondary school. She’s very relaxed about it, they’re the ones feeling the separation anxiety.

 

Tony Harvey’s dad. An important corporate boss. Very strait-laced and disciplined. Cares a lot about results.

 

Tash Helen’s mum. Caring but perhaps a little exasperated by her daughter’s shyness.

 

The Staff

The Headmaster 45 years old. Brilliant, charismatic and megalomaniac, the Headmaster is an evil genius who has developed an “upgrading” technique that removes the imagination from his students, and so enables them to pass exams with machine-like efficiency. This, he hopes, will eventually result in world domination. He had an unhappy childhood, as we see when we flashback to the Boy Headmaster – a miniature version of his older self. His parents encouraged his inventing but then broke his heart when

they told him that his best friend was imaginary. In love with – or at least, strangely drawn to - Miss Stoker.

 

Miss Stoker The I.T. teacher. Cold-hearted and ruthless, and admiringly in love with the Headmaster.

 

Dr Goole The Mathematics teacher. Evil, like his colleagues, the only thing he regrets about the Headmaster’s “upgrading” is that the pupils are never naughty, and so cannot be punished.

 

Frau Rammstein

The Business Studies teacher. A scary, Wagnerian person, she speaks with a heavy German accent.

 

Mr Gruntt The P.E. Teacher. As his name suggests, Gruntt cannot speak –he communicates in grunts that we, the audience don’t understand, but that the other teachers somehow seem to understand perfectly. As the story develops, we realize that what he’s trying to say every time is “Oogie”, which is the name of his long-lost imaginary friend. During “upgrading” sessions, Gruntt assists the Headmaster, playing Igor to his Frankenstein. Reunited with Oogie, he repents and reveals his good side. The Minister of Education

Charming, devious and utterly unreliable. A future Prime Minister.

 

The “IFs” or Imaginary Friends (Teens-Adults)

 

Brenda The weirdest, craziest-looking creature you’ve ever seen, there is no doubt that Brenda was the product

of a child’s very fertile imagination. Initially charming and motherly – and presiding over an Imaginary

Land that is one long party -we later discover that she rules Imaginary Land with a rod of iron – locking

the gates that separate it from the real world, and making all newly-arrived IFs forget their human

friends. We learn this is because she was once the Boy Headmaster’s IF, but they fell out and he

punished her by transforming her from Brenda Jr - a human-looking child - into the monstrously

improbable creature she is today. Female, but could be played by a male actor, in the English

“Pantomime Dame” tradition.

 

The Brendettes Big Brenda’s henchpersons and backing singers. Cool, superior and fabulous.

 

Oogie The one rebel in Imaginary Land. Oogie is an IF who has refused to forget his human friend. He lives in

hope of his friend communicating with him, and so has stayed by the large telephone that the humans

can use to call their IFs back into their lives. Alas, the phone has not rung in all the many, many years

since Oogie arrived and his faith is beginning to run out. But he’s an irrepressible character – quick to

embrace hope and eager to do anything to help Milo, his new best friend.

 

Chutney, Mutley and Frank Three IF friends