Don't Stop Me
(DISCLAIMER! This is a Dave Malloy fansite. His real website is here)
Livecast telematically!
Intermedially!
Straight to you on the other end of the virtual wire window!
Track 1 - Introdemo
Don't Stop Me is a dance-a-thon to the death.
A group of high-schoolers (and one college student) show up to a dance-a-thon put on by a desperate student council and a mysterious DJ, prepared to dance until they drop to win the prize. What is the prize? Why it's anything and everything you could ever want in life; money, success, love, respect, fixing the world for the better. All the outside pressures are very present in these kids' minds, driving them forward through multiple rounds of time-traveling dancing heats until they (literally) collapse. Bonus: the whole thing is being live-streamed to the whole world!
This is a sepcial high-school-age musical because it was workshopped with college and high school students!
Knight remembers asking about bullying during a brainstorming session. “Bullying?” one teenager answered. “It’s school that bullies us.”
- Berkeleyside
This shines through amazingly in the characters and themes. While they at first feel a little like High School Musical stereotypes, they soon flesh out and move beyond those boxes through interacting with each other and uniting on common ground. However much they argue and pick at each other, it's clear it's just a symptom of their larger stressors and disorders brought upon by society itself.
"I will please you all, please don't stop me 'till I"m there"
Track 1 - Introdemo
The music slaps (though still being workshopped a little), the actors are great, the themes hit right where it hurts as a young adult in this day and age. In the end, it's the refusal to follow the system, to want what they are told to want, which is the DJ's ultimate undoing. Leaving the surviving couple alone to face the ghosts of their dead classmates, who tell them what actually matters in life; the little moments, and accepting change and uncertainty.
"One day, I will finally stop running, there will be sunlight in the trees, please don't stop me 'till I'm there."
Track 13 - Seconds
How do I get into this show?
There is not a proper album released for this musical yet, however, the soundtrack for the 2015 production has been made public as part of the perusal materials for the script.
Learn more about each production:
A work in progress! I'll be adding more as I collect more info and resources from the community.