The Bully

What's the character breakdown?

Well, it's a musical so it's a little harder to gauge, but at most, it needs 4 men and 3 women (though you can have fewer with doubling).

How long is it?

It's a children's musical, 48 pages long.  It plays at 1 hour.

A musical?  Did you write it all yourself?

Nope, I just wrote the book.  The very talented John Gregor wrote the music and lyrics.

Has it been produced?  

Yes, it's been produced multiple times by Vital Theatre (both in NYC and on tour) over the past 6 years.

What's it about?  

The biggest bully and the nerdiest kid at a middle school forge an unlikely friendship when they find themselves stuck together at the wrong school and facing the biggest bully of them all, a sweet, smart girl named Meg.

Can I read a sample?  

"The Bully" is represented by the Susan Gurman Agency.  You can request information about the show and the rights here. 

Any critical response?  

Totally.  Laurel Graeber of The New York Times wrote:

You might expect a children's theatrical production called ''The Bully'' to be a little, well, bullying: a heavy moral lesson that hits its young audiences over the head.

Refreshingly, that description does not apply to Vital Children's Theater's new hourlong musical. With a peppy score and lyrics by John Gregor and an insightful book by David L. Williams, ''The Bully'' recognizes that bullies and bullying take many forms. With a sense of humor as well as a sense of mission, it explores its highly topical subject through sixth-grade characters who are human beings rather than black-and-white symbols.

The plot centers on Lenny (Brian Charles Rooney), smart and small, and his hulking nemesis, Steve (Miron Gusso), who delights in pushing Lenny around. But things change when the two accidentally get on the wrong bus and are sent to a school where they are mistaken for new students and told to watch out for Mega, the local big cheese. Imagine their astonishment when Mega turns out to be Megan (Laura Binstock), who clearly takes her cues from repeated viewings of ''Mean Girls.'' Sly, smiling and utterly vicious, she takes bullying to a level where even Steve can't compete.

The presence of a common enemy alters the dynamic between Steve, who has vulnerabilities of his own, and Lenny, who is revealed to have been a tattletale and a know-it-all. I won't give away more, except to say that the conclusion is hilarious, witty and even moving. ''The Bully,'' like the best kind of teacher, nudges children toward the truth and then lets them discover it on their own.

Any pictures of past productions?  

Pictures?  Here are some YouTube videos of the show!