The Mystery of Custodia
A New Online, Virtual Zoomsical!
The Mystery of Custodia is a completely virtual musical, able to be rehearsed and performed by students from the safety of their own homes.
Comprising 24 scenes, this musical is designed for all students to have a monologue, and occasionally songs.
Students film their individual section(s) and submit them to the Drama Teacher or Director, who will put all scenes in order and place it online for audiences to enjoy!
The Mystery of Custodia
Music & Lyrics by Dylan MarcAurele
Book by Mike Ross
Story and Additional Content by Larry Little
Royalty Packages
The Mystery of Custodia includes actor’s script, lead sheets for learning music, rehearsal tracks with professional vocalists previewing the songs, a teacher reference guide, a logo package, and performance tracks for your filming purposes.
Synopsis
Hi-Mount School is in crisis! Mr. Humphrey, the school janitor mysteriously stopped showing up, leaving Drama Teacher Ms. McGery to take up his place. Beloved Lunch Lady Linda has mysteriously disappeared without a trace, and there’s a mysterious wallet with some disturbing notes found in Custodia!
When Drama Club member (and amateur sleuth) Foster has to bring the dead classroom goldfish down to Custodia–a mysterious area of school where janitors roam and rumors abound–she gets more than she bargained for when she takes up the case! Enlisting the help of her fellow drama club members, and trying to hold the meddlesome school reporter at bay, Foster tries to solve the greatest mystery of them all: The Mystery of Custodia.
Casting & Roles
The Mystery of Custodia is written for 17 students: 6 males; 11 females. The script is easily adaptable for larger or smaller casts, and both Skip Sinwell and all roles within The Drama Club can be played by either gender with little-to-no change.
School Staff
- Ms. McGery, School Drama Teacher turned Janitor
The Drama Club
- Foster, a precocious girl in Drama Club with a penchant for sleuthing
- Angela, the resident conspiracy theorist
- Tech Guy, an app-creating whiz-kid
- Melissa, an overly-imaginative key-holder
- Maddox, the self-proclaimed “foodie”
- Carter, a video-game playing, Tolkien-fiend
- Gloria, another year older today!
- Tech Girl, another app-creating whiz-kid
- Clara, a very loud talker, but a very bad listener
- Danny, a member of the school band, plays any instrument
- Sophie, a shy girl who sees the best in people
- Carol, a prima Ballerina
- Linda, a religious, though morbid soul
Other Students
- Skip Sinwell, Chief Reporter for Campus Chronicles, believes they’re above everyone else
An Online Musical
Here is what you get:
Everything you’ll need to perform The Mystery of Custodia will be at your fingertips. Performance packages include:
- Performance rights to rehearse, perform, and stream The Mystery of Custodia
- Video rights to The Mystery of Custodia
- Director/Educators Package, including Script, Lead Sheets, and Education Guide
- Actors Package, including Full Script and Lead Sheets
- Rehearsal Tracks (with demo vocals)
- Performance Tracks (instrumental only)
- Logo Package
All materials are sent directly to you via download in a secure email.
We take Purchase Orders (POs)!
The Mystery of Custodia is also Available as a Play
Performance packages are available. Need more details? You can request a free perusal copy of the play version.
Performance Rights are handled exclusively by Stage Rights, licensing@stagerights.com, (323) 739-0413, www.stagerights.com.
Putting Your Musical Online
It’s almost curtain time! Your students have done the work, you’ve rehearsed, refined, and recorded all of your individual videos. Now it’s time to show off your work, but how do you do it?
Now it’s time to show off your work, but how do you take your show from footlights, regardless of what level of technical capacity you may have!
For the educator with little-to-no technical “know how.” This is the easiest way to put your show online for viewing!
- Students upload videos to YouTube as “unlisted,” and checking the box “not targeted toward children.”
- Students send YouTube links to teacher.
- Teacher creates an “unlisted” YouTube playlist with all videos in order, and can share playlist as necessary.
This method takes a little editing effort, but our resource guide gives you step by step instructions about how you can create one video to place on your school website, on youtube or anywhere else.
Tips for Good Video Production
- Rehearse and review the video to ensure the audience can always see you!
- Make sure light is in front of you and not behind…we want to see your faces!
- Make sure others in your home know that you are doing this so they remain quiet.
- No pets in the room unless they are part of your presentation. This is your student’s time to shine, not Sparky’s!
- Be creative! Part of the fun of virtual musicals is seeing your student’s imagination run wild. Don’t let the limitations of quarantine detract you from the fun of production!
Reviews
“Mystery of Custodia provided Viking Drama with a challenging and enjoyable alternative to the traditional stage musical. It’s a quirky, humorous and tongue in cheek story about teenage imaginations that have run amok. The virtual experience is driven by scenes crafted by individual actors, which allows for ease of recording, directing, editing and rehearsing. The students had a great time creating this unique show and it kept them engaged in theater during this unparalleled time. We used it for a summer drama extra-curricular, but I can definitely see this as a great choice to use within any theater curriculum. If you are looking for something to bring joy and purpose to your students, this is a fantastic option!”
~ Karen Pionke, Viking Middle School (Waukegan, Illinois)
“My 12-14 year-old students loved exploring the variety of characters in The Mystery of Custodia. All the performers – especially those who are typically ensemble members – were grateful to have a monologue and/or song of their own. Dylan’s lyrics are fresh and clever, and I definitely don’t mind having his tunes stuck in my head. They are fabulous!“
~ Jaclyn Loewenstein, Artistic Director of Class Act (Champaign, Illinois)
Part of the Family of Musicals from CPA Theatricals
