Monkey Island: the high school play [update 1]

by Ross Miller { Jun 23rd 2006 at 6:25PM }

Just to prove that the Japanese are not the only ones to spawn videos of the upmost craziness, one Joystiq reader sent us this nine-part showing of Monkey Island, a play by Hammond High School in Columbia, Maryland. The play is -- you guessed it -- based on the Monkey Island series.

All we can say is, "holy monkey-bladders!" We'll let you decide the rest.

View: Part One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine.

[Thanks, Vilhelm]

[update 1: When I initially saw this video, I was a bit bothered by the main actor's portrayal of Guybrush Threepwood. Halfway through writing this post I realized I was being over-analytical: this is a high school play for chrissake's, not a broadway production. However, that reversal in judgement did not reflect in the title or the first paragraph, so I have updated to be more unbiased.

On top of that, it brought the attention of Ron Gilbert to explain the backstory and give his approval ... and I would be betraying my entire childhood if I went against Ron. I admit my wrongs, so sorry!]

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Justafan @ Jun 23rd 2006 6:47PM

Jesus this thing is LONG! Ten minutes for the first part, and there's NINE parts?! It's interesting but, y'know, about as good as a school play!

Ron Gilbert @ Jun 23rd 2006 6:58PM

Chris Heady (this student) contacted me asking for permission to write and produce a Monkey Island play. Since I don't own the rights to MI, I directed him to LucasArts and gave him some tips on how to approach them for permission.

He spent several months successfully negotiating with them for the rights, then wrote the play, directed it, cast it and produced it for his school.

I think he deserves a lot of credit!

Ron Gilbert
Creator of Monkey Island

Nelson @ Jun 23rd 2006 7:06PM

Ron!!! Wow, I love your games!!!! :O

downset13 @ Jun 23rd 2006 7:10PM

I saw this a loooong while ago when it was released on world of monkey island. As a long time fan of the games, this was quite a pleasant surprise. It's nice to see a revival of the games in any shape or form. :-) Great Job!

Vinnk @ Jun 23rd 2006 7:22PM

I think this is adorable. And actually Monkey Island seems to lend itself quite well to a play.

Cameron Clayton @ Jun 23rd 2006 7:29PM

Aw man I wish I went to Hammond and not Oakland Mills (another Columbia high school, I think there's like 8 of us, I'm never quite sure I moved here from New Jersey in late 04.)

Neil @ Jun 23rd 2006 7:30PM

I'd like to see a movie version of Monkey Island-what with all the monkey fascination these days...Pirate, I meant Pirate fascination.

sev4 pri1 @ Jun 23rd 2006 7:53PM

Huzzah, please make more games. My brother and I spent many a sweaty summer afternoon huddled around the monitor playing through your games. Thanks for all the good times.

Tor

Ryuukuro @ Jun 23rd 2006 8:08PM

Good or bad, the fact that not only did a high schooler do this but that he did it successfully and with the permission of LucasArts is really incredible. This kid will go far.

Dave Silva @ Jun 23rd 2006 8:34PM

Heh, wish the audio and video were better though. Still, this isn't that bad, and certainly doesn't deserve the 'horrifying' moniker.

Paxtez @ Jun 23rd 2006 8:37PM

@6: Have you seen the trailer for Pirates of the Caribbean 2? Goofy hero, monster captain pirate, hoard of undead pirates, hidden island, a voodoo lady who lives in a swamp who guides hero, cannibles, hero seeking out a magical treasure (which will turn out to be nothing important). What more could you want?

Ahms @ Jun 23rd 2006 9:21PM

I really applaud this kid. Both having an affect to create a game someone would love so much, in addition to that someone putting in time and effort to do something like this, is incredible. I believe that speaks for the great quality of LA games and designers back in the day

I hope that high school kid goes far. Thanks for making my day and bringing back tons of memories

Sid @ Jun 23rd 2006 9:22PM

The AV quality is a bit on the bad side, but the play itself looks like it was fantastic. I'm a huge fan of the old LucasArts games, now that I think about it, they DO seem like perfect play material. If only my highschool was cool enough to make something like this...

And hey, this gives me a perfect excuse to plop down and replay the series tomorrow.

Ian Gibson @ Jun 23rd 2006 9:37PM

HOLY CRAP I WENT TO HAMMOND HIGH!

rocko @ Jun 23rd 2006 9:54PM

what do you mean "just a high school play"?

Our high school (cherry hill east) did Titanic: A New Musical for our spring show, and holy crap, if you didnt come on the first night, you would've probably thunk you were at a broadway show!! We had a motherf---ing 3 story (not 3 actual stories, but 3 seperate vertical sections) Titanic, 24 feetx15 feet, and we actually raised one end of this huge ass 2 ton ship 6'6" into the air when the designer of titanic gets friggen knocked out by a grand piano (ok, not a real grand piano, but when the ship started tilting and everything was coming at him, everything was just soo amazing. when the piano would knock him out, people were literally gasping thinking "holy crap, was that supposed to happen?!!?") it was just soo friggen amazing. You would've never thought it was a high school play. Oh yeah, did I mention, everything was made in-house. Even the life jackets (which had to be made over 120 times, and we're talking about 10 pieces of 2x10" pieces of styrafoam inside the white cloth. It looks exactly like the life jackets from that era)

since the rights for putting on the show didnt allow it to be taped or anything, i cant really offer good vids or anything, but heres a photo of the ship raised (not 6'6" yet), but trust me, it didnt look this crappy during the show. This is just the photo shoot. During the show, lights were much more dimmed, more dramatic lighting, and the in-house orchestra also helped to set the mood too as well ;)

http://tinyurl.com/rrsuy

and that whole thing is one ship. Everything is built on top of everything else, no fake nothings. and no, during the actual show everything wasnt all crappy as it appears in this pic. usually the shoulders would be down so the audience wouldnt see the backstage, and all the props, acting and everything else wasnt at 100% for just the photoshoot.

tell me when i start rambling.

Haggis @ Jun 24th 2006 6:52AM

You can find more information on the play here: http://www.worldofmi.com/features/miplay/

Amit @ Jun 24th 2006 2:02PM

I went to Hammond High School when this show was produced, and I was in fact on the production team. For a show that was done on a fundraised budget and with only students in all the roles (acting, directing, lights, sound, etc...), it is very well produced. The script is clever and funny.

Vilhelm @ Jun 25th 2006 11:19AM

I have to admit that when I actually checked bits of the play from here and there, I saw that the script was actually quite good and the whole dialogue was pretty funny. And after reading Gilbert's comment, I kind of appriciate the director's work on the play, because going such a long way just to get the show on stage shows his devotion to both production as well as the Monkey Island series.

Good job, Hammond High School. :)