Before you begin to read, I just want to explain how this works. PLEASE READ THIS, there's lots of good information to help guide your experience. Think of this like the playbill you'd read prior to the show's performance.
This is a jukebox musical using the songs that 5 Seconds of Summer put on their third album, Youngblood. A jukebox musical is when a story is crafted around pre-existing songs, like what Mamma Mia! is with ABBA's music.
As this is a script and not a novel, many details are left up to the individual productions imagination. I only put in stage directions for what I feel is integral action to the story, so otherwise feel free to imagine what the movements on stage would be/all other design elements like light and set. This show is like a hybrid dance/music recital, so I imagine it could be interpreted several ways. I'd love to hear your production ideas!
This musical deals with several allegories and themes. Following the script, I have put a more in depth analysis of my take on these elements, but prior to reading the script all you need to know is that this represents a young, toxic kind of love. A love that's passionate but immature. Time and time again, these relationships happen, and it's easy to get lost in the cycle of it.
If you are looking for a resolvable problem, this is not it.
On my TikTok I will be hosting a virtual workshop where I will answer questions and respond to your thoughts and ideas. More information on that will be in the post-show discussion chapter.
When reading along with the playlist, the run time is the same length as the playlist. There are no pauses between songs, so let them flow into one another naturally. If you need to, you can stop to read stage directions (there's a couple bulky one's), but I tried to generally keep them short enough that you shouldn't have to. Also, and I cannot stress this enough, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE PLAYLIST SET TO REPEAT! Otherwise you're going to have to manually replay it, and that would be a lot of extra effort lol
You can find the playlist of the soundtrack on my Spotify (@ab_costi) or on my YouTube account (Abigail Costi). Both are under the same title as this book, just without the word script. It is important that you can listen to the songs in the proper order. Feel free to translate the order of the songs onto any streaming service you use, just be sure to cite me as the original creator!
When you're reading, if you see words within [] or (), those are stage directions or actors notes. They would not be read aloud. Except a few instances where () denote lyric options. In those cases, you will be warned prior to their occurance.
Some lyrics are mildly changed. Mostly a verb tense or noun change to help the story make more sense, but occasionally I have changed a word or two. If I change words, it is after much debate and I have many reasons behind the change, which I can discuss if anyone is curious lol
Keeping that in mind, I found most of the lyrics on the internet. While I tried to double check that they were accurate, there might be some points where I missed something. If you are confused as to whether a lyric change is on purpose or not, feel free to leave a comment!
I don't own the rights to these songs, and as much as I want to be in a production of this, I'm not sure that it would be possible without the consent of those who do own the rights to the songs.
If you want to know more, I've been promoting this project on my TikTok (@ab_costi). Feel free to head over there and watch my other videos about the concept either before or after you listen!
If you want to talk to me about the musical, please do! I love chatting with everyone! The best ways to reach me are Insta (@abigail_costi) and Twitter (@abigail_costi).
Finally, thank you so much for reading/listening! I've been working on this for the few months, and I'm really proud and happy with how it shaped up. If you like it, it would help me out tons if you shared it with your friends. Also I love seeing your comments and reaction as you read this script, it's the best part of my day.
Thank you and enjoy the show!
YOU ARE READING
Youngblood: a 5SOS Jukebox Musical Script
Romance"Babylon has fallen, has fallen." This is a musical created from the lyrics of 5SOS's album Youngblood. It tells the story of a cyclical toxic relationship. Where both people keep getting hurt, but for those brief moments when things are good, every...
