Here are descriptions of the great songs featured in GIRLHOOD!
ACT 1
1) JUST THE START – full cast – story of first day of middle school, we see various girls getting ready for the first day and during the day. It ends with Ms. McGery welcoming the students.
2) FRACTIONS – Duet – Song about Melissa and Amber meeting on first day of middle school, and they discover they are both math nerds and they proclaim nothing can separate us now. Both are nerdy, plain and un-liked. Friends forever.
3) IT ONLY GETS WORSE – Ensemble comedy song. The setting is Health Class. Reacting to the typical issues presented in middle school, the students complain about their stresses and challenges. Ms. McGery arrives, having been assigned as substitute teacher for the day. As she hears the students grumble and moan, she can’t resist! She tells them life is full of challenges and…. it only gets worse!
4) BATHROOM BOSSA NOVA – Small group number about how uncomfortable girls are with eating lunch by themselves in the lunchroom. If there is no one to eat with, they eat in the bathroom alone. Judy, Morgan’s former best friend from elementary school, approaches Morgan, but is brushed off. Morgan and her mean girlfriends take over the bathroom and the fireworks begin.
5) SHINE THAT LIGHT – Ms. McGery is the drama teacher and she is recruiting for the drama club. What is required? Will I get to be the lead? What musical is she considering and what will be her “special” twist on it? McGery welcomes students to the first club meeting composed of actors, designers and techies.
6) MY MOTHER AND ME – group song about girls relationship with their mothers. “My Mother is so overbearing. She just doesn’t understand!” “My Mother is my best friend.” Ahhh, the most complex relationship around is musicalized.
7) IN THE MIDDLE – Harper is a middle child, the peacekeeper. She feels she has to hold the family together and maneuver the obstacles. High achiever, a “pleaser.” She extends this peacemaking to her school friends. Peace outweighs conflict. Is she happy being the negotiator? Does she resent being taken for granted by her parents? This folk/country song can be done with just a solo guitar.
8) FINE & FIERCE – group song – in hip-hop style – about girls feeling great about themselves, shopping, wearing great clothes and accessories. Girls tell each other – “Oooo, you are so fine…so beautiful….so ravishing….”
9) I’VE GOT THIS – Solo – Intro to Judy. She is different. Everyone knows it. She dreads going to school, really has no friends. Only teachers befriend her. But somehow….she finds the strength to get through each day. One day at a time.
10) THE BOYFRIEND SONG – Group song about girls’ feelings about dating boys. Some girls date boys in middle school, some girls don’t want a boyfriend at all. If you have a boyfriend will you lose your best girlfriend? Who will I go to the prom with?
11) FAKE FRIENDS – Group number – Graduation from middle school. Melissa and Amber have drifted apart. Amber has dramatically changed her looks and drops Melissa as a friend. Amber is being courted by Morgan and the mean girls. Melissa just wants everything to be the same. She misses her best and only friend. Bullying Instagram messages fly and a confrontation happens. Melissa is left alone. Ends in a group number – and Morgan comes in. Melissa finds kindred spirits in other girls as they sing about fake friends.
ACT 2
(the show is designed to be done with or without an intermission.)
12) WILL I FIT IN HERE? Group number. First day of high school. Same girls as we follow them into the first day of high school. All are worried about fitting in, new friends, etc. Does my hair look good enough? Am I wearing the right clothes? Maybe no one will like me. All this…but I have to play it cool….
13) MY HAIR MY VOICE – Group song – in hip-hop style – about why hair is so important to girls. What am I going to do with this kinky hair? I flatten my hair every morning. I sleep in curlers each night, so I have a permanent neck ache. So many different kinds of girls, so many different problems with their hair. Pink hair….extensions… Suddenly….a hair show. WOW.
14) SPORTS – Duet – Morgan/Judy. She sings about her love of sports – how she hates losers and that she is a winner. But she realizes that she has a lot of fear as well. Judy sees Morgan and reminds her that all girls have fear. Morgan at first is resistant, but they end the song in duet.
15) BALLS – All boys ever talk about is sports! It drives the girls crazy. They are all superficial and not at all caring. But the boys know different. Sports make them feel alive, a member of a team. But what sport is best? Basketball – YES….no…..Soccer – YES….no…..the competition is on!
16) PICTURES – Ensemble comedy song, in acapella jazz style. It’s prom season and everyone’s consumed by “Proma” (prom drama!). They talk/sing about promposals, preparations (dress, mani-pedi, etc), convincing the boys to “scrub-up,” campaigning for prom queen. Meanwhile the boys reassure everyone that they are ready to go. And, of course, they talk about those pictures!
17) LIKE YOU – Duet – Amber confronts Melissa, the captain of the math team. Amber needs to join the math team to add extra curricular activities before college. Melissa reminds her about how close they were and how Amber mistreated Melissa and has virtually ignored her since they have come to high school. It is a moment of forgiveness. They reconnect and Melissa invites Amber for a sleepover. Amber asks if Morgan can come along.
18) THAT’S WHAT FRIENDS DO – Quartet – Amber/Melissa/Morgan/Judy. Morgan, brings Judy to the sleepover. The four girls come together to sing about anger, bad behavior and forgiveness. The girls bare their souls about why they are so mean to other girls sometimes, and they make a new commitment to one another.
19) FINALE – THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING! – Group number -Starts with Ms. McGery telling girls the best is yet to come. It is high school graduation. This is our “I have seen the Mountaintop” song. The girls sing about finally leaving high school and what their hopes, dreams and plans are for their future.