[Monsieur D'Arque]

"Only A Lad," a musical that played the Fringe Festival last year, is based upon the songs of Danny Elfman's hyper-intelligent rock band Oingo Boingo, making it the first stage musical with an Elfman score. Synopsis from the official web sits, www.onlyaladthemusical.com

"Only a Lad is a rock musical set in 1984 America. Johnny is a punk teenager spending his time on the streets with his wild gang of misfits: Ray, Frank and D Minus, the Lynx gang. Adults don't understand them and the Jocks hate them. They are the anti-hip, and deep down, they know it makes them cool.

Ray, Johnny's best friend, is the instigator and the catalyst for much of the Lynx gang's hell-raising. Frank is the girl with only guy friends. She is the lioness of the Lynx gang: sister, mother, and scrappy fighter too. D Minus is the runt of the group, but secretly he knows he is the coolest.

Johnny revels in his renegade persona, acting out his role of urban anarchist and warrior. That is until he is reunited with Mary, former friend and unrequited love. But she has recently made it into the popular crowd and is trying to hold onto her tenuous position. In the split second Mary and Johnny reconnect, Johnny fears she sees only the rebel, the outcast, not the person he once was and somehow lost.

At the insistence of his friends, Johnny and his gang head to the local Dance and Bowl to find Mary and help Johnny make a move. At the teen hangout, neck deep in perms and polo shirts, Johnny discovers that Mary is dating the Trans Am-driving Brett Hartley, high school quarterback, leader of the Jocks and the personification of everything Johnny and his friends despise.

A fight breaks out over Mary, and Johnny and his friends are kicked out of the club. In a moment of drunken boasting, Johnny and Ray talk about stealing Brett's car as payback. The next morning Ray tells Johnny that not only did Johnny steal the car, but he ran over and killed the principal. In the haze of a hangover, Johnny can't remember a thing.

Soon they are arrested and Ray rats out Johnny. Enter public defender Sam Riley, who conjures up a defense of innocent by reason of mental defect. Basically, Johnny's not guilty because society made him do it. The defense is a hit in the courtroom as reporters, the jury and even the judge proclaim that no matter what he might have done, Johnny's "only a lad." But Mary is not having any of it, and she calls Johnny on his hypocrisy. Johnny wants to take the easy route out of jail. But to win Mary, he must face the murder charge head on, take responsibility for his past mistakes and prove that they don't make him a killer."

Did any of you see this show?