Reefer Madness, aka
Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical premiered on April 16, 2005 on the
ShowtimeShowtime is a subscription television brand used by a number of channels and platforms around the world, but primarily refers to a group of channels in the United States...
cable
networkA television network is a distribution network for television content whereby a central operation provides programming for many television stations. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small number of broadcast networks. Many early...
. It is a
television movieA television movie is a feature film that is produced for and originally distributed by a...
version of the
2004 musicalReefer Madness is a musical satire of the 1936 cult classic Reefer Madness that opened in Los Angeles in 1998. The book and lyrics were written by Kevin Murphy and the music by Dan Studney. Directed by Andy Fickman, it was initially shown at the Hudson Theater on Santa Monica Boulevard in Los...
, and stars
Alan CummingAlan Cumming, OBE is a Scottish stage, television and film actor. His roles have included Boris in Goldeneye, Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler in X2: X-Men United, and Fegan Floop in the Spy Kids trilogy...
as the Lecturer,
Ana GasteyerAna Kristina Gasteyer is an American stage, film and television actress, best known for her comedic roles when she was a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1996 to 2002.-Personal life:...
as Mae, and
Kristen BellKristen Anne Bell is an American actress. Although her first film role was an uncredited appearance in Polish Wedding, Bell previously acted in stage and musical productions. In 2001, she made her Broadway debut as Becky Thatcher in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer...
as Mary. The movie also stars siblings
ChristianChristian Bethune Campbell is a Canadian stage and screen actor.He is most famous for playing the gay character "Gabriel" in the movie Trick...
and
Neve CampbellNeve Adrianne Campbell is a Canadian actress. Beginning her career on stage, she came to fame on the 1990s television series Party of Five, playing the role of the teenager Julia Salinger...
as Jimmy Harper and Miss Poppy. Kristen Bell, Christian Campbell, and
John KassirJohnny Kassir is an American actor, voice actor, and comedian who is perhaps best known for voicing the Crypt Keeper on the hit HBO show Tales from the Crypt.-Career:...
reprise their roles from the stage;
Robert TortiRobert Felix Torti is an American actor.Torti was born in Van Nuys, California. He married DeLee Lively on June 24, 1999. Together, they have three children.-Filmography:*Little House on the Prairie: A New Beginning...
, who played both Jack and Jesus on the stage, portrays only the latter in the movie version (
Steven WeberSteven Robert Weber is an American actor.-Early life:Weber was born in Briarwood, Queens, New York; his mother was a nightclub singer and his father was a nightclub performer and manager of Borscht Belt comedians...
plays Jack in the movie).
The film premiered at the 2005
Sundance Film FestivalThe Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in the state of Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the U.S. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as the Sundance Resort, the festival is the premier...
.
Reefer Madness, aka
Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical premiered on April 16, 2005 on the
ShowtimeShowtime is a subscription television brand used by a number of channels and platforms around the world, but primarily refers to a group of channels in the United States...
cable
networkA television network is a distribution network for television content whereby a central operation provides programming for many television stations. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small number of broadcast networks. Many early...
. It is a
television movieA television movie is a feature film that is produced for and originally distributed by a...
version of the
2004 musicalReefer Madness is a musical satire of the 1936 cult classic Reefer Madness that opened in Los Angeles in 1998. The book and lyrics were written by Kevin Murphy and the music by Dan Studney. Directed by Andy Fickman, it was initially shown at the Hudson Theater on Santa Monica Boulevard in Los...
, and stars
Alan CummingAlan Cumming, OBE is a Scottish stage, television and film actor. His roles have included Boris in Goldeneye, Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler in X2: X-Men United, and Fegan Floop in the Spy Kids trilogy...
as the Lecturer,
Ana GasteyerAna Kristina Gasteyer is an American stage, film and television actress, best known for her comedic roles when she was a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1996 to 2002.-Personal life:...
as Mae, and
Kristen BellKristen Anne Bell is an American actress. Although her first film role was an uncredited appearance in Polish Wedding, Bell previously acted in stage and musical productions. In 2001, she made her Broadway debut as Becky Thatcher in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer...
as Mary. The movie also stars siblings
ChristianChristian Bethune Campbell is a Canadian stage and screen actor.He is most famous for playing the gay character "Gabriel" in the movie Trick...
and
Neve CampbellNeve Adrianne Campbell is a Canadian actress. Beginning her career on stage, she came to fame on the 1990s television series Party of Five, playing the role of the teenager Julia Salinger...
as Jimmy Harper and Miss Poppy. Kristen Bell, Christian Campbell, and
John KassirJohnny Kassir is an American actor, voice actor, and comedian who is perhaps best known for voicing the Crypt Keeper on the hit HBO show Tales from the Crypt.-Career:...
reprise their roles from the stage;
Robert TortiRobert Felix Torti is an American actor.Torti was born in Van Nuys, California. He married DeLee Lively on June 24, 1999. Together, they have three children.-Filmography:*Little House on the Prairie: A New Beginning...
, who played both Jack and Jesus on the stage, portrays only the latter in the movie version (
Steven WeberSteven Robert Weber is an American actor.-Early life:Weber was born in Briarwood, Queens, New York; his mother was a nightclub singer and his father was a nightclub performer and manager of Borscht Belt comedians...
plays Jack in the movie).
The film premiered at the 2005
Sundance Film FestivalThe Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in the state of Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the U.S. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as the Sundance Resort, the festival is the premier...
. It also screened in competition at the 2005 Deauville Film Festival and won the Premiere Audience Award. On the night of April 20, 2005, Showtime aired the musical back-to-back with the 1936 exploitation film that inspired it. The film won the 2005 Emmy Award for Music and Lyrics (for the song "Mary Jane/Mary Lane," which was written specially for the movie). It also received Emmy nominations for Choreography and Make-Up Effects. The movie was released on
DVDDVD, also known as Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc,is an optical disc storage media format, and was founded in 1995. Its main uses are video and data storage...
on November 8, 2005.
Plot
In a high school classroom, The Lecturer (
Alan CummingAlan Cumming, OBE is a Scottish stage, television and film actor. His roles have included Boris in Goldeneye, Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler in X2: X-Men United, and Fegan Floop in the Spy Kids trilogy...
) tells the assembly of anxious parents about the evils of marijuana ("
Reefer Madness"). With the help of his assistant, Blumsack (Stephen Sisk), he then launches into the tragic tale of one boy's struggles with the demon weed.
Jimmy Harper (
Christian CampbellChristian Bethune Campbell is a Canadian stage and screen actor.He is most famous for playing the gay character "Gabriel" in the movie Trick...
) is a fine upstanding youth, blessed with the love of the fair Mary Lane (
Kristen BellKristen Anne Bell is an American actress. Although her first film role was an uncredited appearance in Polish Wedding, Bell previously acted in stage and musical productions. In 2001, she made her Broadway debut as Becky Thatcher in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer...
). The two are sure they will live happily ever after and (not knowing how the story actually ends) compare their relationship to that of
William ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's preeminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
's greatest love story ("
Romeo and Juliet"). However, across town, the weed-pusher Jack (
Steven WeberSteven Robert Weber is an American actor.-Early life:Weber was born in Briarwood, Queens, New York; his mother was a nightclub singer and his father was a nightclub performer and manager of Borscht Belt comedians...
) and his cronies, Sally (
Amy SpangerAmy Spanger, born 1971 in Newbury, Massachusetts, is an American actress, singer and dancer.-Biography:A graduate of Triton Regional High School in Byfield, Massachusetts, Spanger made her Broadway debut in 1995 in the musical Sunset Boulevard, following a half-year run in the pre-Broadway...
) and Ralph (
John KassirJohnny Kassir is an American actor, voice actor, and comedian who is perhaps best known for voicing the Crypt Keeper on the hit HBO show Tales from the Crypt.-Career:...
), are living in the depths of depravity. Jack's
mollA gun moll is a female companion of male professional criminal, and in some contexts the term more specifically suggests that the gun moll handles a firearm....
, Mae (
Ana GasteyerAna Kristina Gasteyer is an American stage, film and television actress, best known for her comedic roles when she was a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1996 to 2002.-Personal life:...
), explains how she came to live in such a state and how she would leave Jack if he didn't give her the marijuana she so craves ("
The Stuff").
Meanwhile, Jack goes out to recruit new addicts at Miss Poppy's (
Neve CampbellNeve Adrianne Campbell is a Canadian actress. Beginning her career on stage, she came to fame on the 1990s television series Party of Five, playing the role of the teenager Julia Salinger...
) soda counter ("
Down at the Ol' Five and Dime"). There, he meets Jimmy, whom he lures back to the house and offers a stick of reefer. After one puff, Jimmy becomes an addict ("
Jimmy Takes a Hit/The Orgy"). He forgets about Mary Lane, who sits alone in church, waiting for him ("
Lonely Pew").
One night, Jimmy and Ralph break into the church in order to steal from the collection plate for drug money. Jesus (
Robert TortiRobert Felix Torti is an American actor.Torti was born in Van Nuys, California. He married DeLee Lively on June 24, 1999. Together, they have three children.-Filmography:*Little House on the Prairie: A New Beginning...
) comes down from the cross and, in a musical revue hosted by
Joan of ArcSaint Joan of Arc is a national heroine of France and a Catholic saint. A peasant girl born in eastern France, she led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War, claiming divine guidance, and was indirectly responsible for the coronation of Charles VII...
(
Christine LakinChristine Helen Lakin is an American actress. She is known for her role as Alicia "Al" Lambert on the 1990s ABC/CBS situation comedy Step by Step and as Joan of Arc in Showtime's Reefer Madness.-Early years:...
), exhorts Jimmy to kick the habit ("
Listen to Jesus, Jimmy"). But Jimmy's too deep into his habit to be saved; he has a new God now. He goes back to the Reefer Den, and to Sally.
One dark night, Jimmy and Sally are driving wildly back to the house, stoned, when their car hits and kills an old man. Sally runs away. Jimmy, scared straight, drives in a panic to Mary's house, where he tells her he still loves her ("
Mary Jane/Mary Lane"). However he realizes that by staying with her he is putting her in danger and tells her that he has to leave town without her. Mary then insists on going with him, saying "If Romeo has to run away, then so does Juliet." Jimmy tells her to go inside and pack, then sneaks away, hoping for a new start somewhere else, where Mary won't be harmed.
But Jack knows that if the police catch Jimmy, his 'reefer empire' will be shattered. He waits for Jimmy at Mary's house and offers him an innocent-looking chocolate brownie, which turns out to be a marijuana brownie. Jimmy eats the brownie and immediately forgets all about Mary ("
The Brownie Song").
Jimmy goes back to the Reefer Den. But this time, Mary follows him, planning to rescue him. Instead, Ralph ensnares her with his fraternity jacket and a puff of reefer ("
Little Mary Sunshine"). He soon finds out that he has unleashed more than he can deal with, as Mary transforms into a whip-cracking
dominatrixA dominatrix or mistress is a woman who takes the dominant role in bondage and discipline, dominance and submission or BDSM. A common form of address for a submissive to a dominatrix is "mistress", "ma'am", "domina" or "maîtresse"...
who begins to
rapeRape, also referred to as sexual assault, is an assault by a person involving sexual intercourse with or without sexual penetration of another person without that person's consent....
Ralph.
Jimmy comes downstairs to find Mary taking advantage of Ralph. He angrily attacks Ralph and the two begin fighting. Jack comes in and attempts to break up the fight, while Mae reproaches them for corrupting someone as innocent as Mary. During the scuffle, Jack's gun goes off and Mary is shot through the heart ("
Mary's Death"). Jimmy holds her but it is too late; she dies in his arms.
The police appear, summoned by the gunshot, and Jack fingers Jimmy as the killer. He is carted off by the officers (who leave Mary's body where it lies). The radio reveals that Jimmy has been sent to death row.
Upon hearing this news, Ralph goes insane, thinking that Jimmy, Mary (who he sees being molested by the devil in hell), and the rest of the youths whose lives have been ruined by marijuana, are stalking him from beyond the grave ("
Murder"). Spooked, Jack and Mae go out for food while Sally stays behind to look after the raving Ralph.
When they return, they find that Ralph, in the throes of reefer-induced hunger pangs, has murdered Sally and cannibalized her body. Jack shoots him several time, but Ralph continues to get up, his strength increased while he is in the throes of "Reefer Madness" he collapses in the backyard, but disappears when Jack goes to check the body (a parody of
HalloweenHalloween is a 1978 American independent horror film set in the fictional suburban midwestern town of Haddonfield, Illinois, USA on Halloween. The original draft of the screenplay was titled The Babysitter Murders. John Carpenter directed the film, which stars Donald Pleasence as Dr...
). Jack looks up to see Ralph leap down from the trees only to be impaled on the scarecrow. But now Mae is having visions of Jimmy, Mary, Sally, and Ralph, all accusing. To regain her sanity the only way she knows, she hacks Jack to death with a garden hoe and kicks the habit once and for all ("
The Stuff (Reprise)").
When she reads in the daily paper that the president will be coming to town to visit a sick child, she becomes determined to talk to him and gain a Presidential pardon for Jimmy. They burst into the electrocution chamber at the last second and free the doomed boy, who joins them in their crusade to tell the world about the evils of marijuana. They travel back to the reefer den, where Jimmy torches the crop. Mary appears, haloed and freed from hell by his heroic destruction of property. She promises to wait for him in heaven ("
Tell 'Em the Truth").
The Lecturer's presentation ends. The entire audience joins the suddenly-real movie cast to explain how they will join the fight against things they don't understand, such as other ethnicities ("
Reefer Madness (Reprise)"). As the film ends, the galvanized townsfolk hold a huge anti-reefer protest and bonfire, apparently burning books as well and denouncing things anti-Church. The Lecturer drives away smugly saying, "When danger's near exploit their fear."
Cast
- Kristen Bell
Kristen Anne Bell is an American actress. Although her first film role was an uncredited appearance in Polish Wedding, Bell previously acted in stage and musical productions. In 2001, she made her Broadway debut as Becky Thatcher in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer...
as Mary Lane
- Christian Campbell
Christian Bethune Campbell is a Canadian stage and screen actor.He is most famous for playing the gay character "Gabriel" in the movie Trick...
as Jimmy Harper
- Neve Campbell
Neve Adrianne Campbell is a Canadian actress. Beginning her career on stage, she came to fame on the 1990s television series Party of Five, playing the role of the teenager Julia Salinger...
as Miss Poppy
- Alan Cumming
Alan Cumming, OBE is a Scottish stage, television and film actor. His roles have included Boris in Goldeneye, Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler in X2: X-Men United, and Fegan Floop in the Spy Kids trilogy...
as Lecturer / Moloch the Goat-Man / FDR
- Ana Gasteyer
Ana Kristina Gasteyer is an American stage, film and television actress, best known for her comedic roles when she was a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1996 to 2002.-Personal life:...
as Mae Coleman
- John Kassir
Johnny Kassir is an American actor, voice actor, and comedian who is perhaps best known for voicing the Crypt Keeper on the hit HBO show Tales from the Crypt.-Career:...
as Ralph Wiley / Uncle SamUncle Sam is the national personification of the United States and sometimes more specifically of the American government, with the first usage of the term dating from the War of 1812 and the first illustration dating from 1852...
- Amy Spanger
Amy Spanger, born 1971 in Newbury, Massachusetts, is an American actress, singer and dancer.-Biography:A graduate of Triton Regional High School in Byfield, Massachusetts, Spanger made her Broadway debut in 1995 in the musical Sunset Boulevard, following a half-year run in the pre-Broadway...
as Sally DeBanis / Statue of LibertyThe Statue of Liberty , officially titled Liberty Enlightening the World , dedicated on October 28, 1886, is a monument commemorating the centennial of the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence, given to the United States by the people of France to represent the friendship...
- Robert Torti
Robert Felix Torti is an American actor.Torti was born in Van Nuys, California. He married DeLee Lively on June 24, 1999. Together, they have three children.-Filmography:*Little House on the Prairie: A New Beginning...
as JesusJesus of Nazareth —also known as Jesus Christ or occasionally Jesus the Christ—is the central figure of Christianity. Within most Christian denominations...
- Steven Weber
Steven Weber may refer to:* Steven Weber , American actor* Steven Weber , professor at the University of California, Berkeley, studying open source...
as Jack Stone / George WashingtonGeorge Washington was the commander of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War and served as the first President of the United States of America...
- Tom Arntzen as Officer Sordelet
- Abraham Jedidiah as Dead Old Man
- Christine Lakin
Christine Helen Lakin is an American actress. She is known for her role as Alicia "Al" Lambert on the 1990s ABC/CBS situation comedy Step by Step and as Joan of Arc in Showtime's Reefer Madness.-Early years:...
as Joan of ArcSaint Joan of Arc is a national heroine of France and a Catholic saint. A peasant girl born in eastern France, she led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War, claiming divine guidance, and was indirectly responsible for the coronation of Charles VII...
- John Mann
John Mann was an English radio actor.He played Snowey White who assisted the hero in Dick Barton for the BBC Light Programme between 1946 and 1951....
as SatanSatan is an embodiment of antagonism that originates from the Abrahamic religions, being traditionally considered an angel in Judeo-Christian belief, and a Jinn in Islamic belief...
- Harry S. Murphy as Warden Harrah
- Chang Tseng as Asian Man
- Kevin McNulty
Kevin Clifford McNulty is a Canadian actor.McNulty was born in Penticton, British Columbia, Canada. He has acted on 3 aviation movies: Falling from the Sky: Flight 174 with William Devane, Final Descent with Robert Urich and Snakes on a Plane with Samuel L. Jackson.-External...
as Mayor Harris Macdonald
- Stephen Sisk as Blumsack
- Robert Clarke as Principal Poindexter Short
- Lynda Boyd
Lynda Boyd is a Canadian actress. She is perhaps best known for her roles in the Hollywood films Final Destination 2 and She's The Man along with her on-screen son, James Kirk. She had minor roles in About A Girl , The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift , and Intern Academy ....
as Mrs. Deidre Greevey
- Michael Goorjian
Michael Antranig Goorjian is an American actor and filmmaker.-Early life:Goorjian was born and raised in Oakland, California. He has been singing, acting, directing, and choreographing since he was in junior high school...
as Mickey Druther
- Britt Irvin
Brittney Elizabeth "Britt" Irvin is a Leo Award-nominated Canadian actress and singer, as well as a regular voice actor for The Ocean Group...
and Alexz JohnsonAlexz Johnson is a Canadian musician and singer-songwriter who made her start through acting, and is best known for her Gemini Award-winning portrayal of Jude Harrison in the teen drama series Instant Star, and for her vocal performances on four soundtrack albums from the show...
as The Arc-ettes
Musical numbers
- "Reefer Madness" - Lecturer and Parents
- "Romeo and Juliet" - Jimmy, Mary, and Ensemble
- "The Stuff" - Mae
- "Down at the Ol' Five and Dime" - Mary, Miss Poppy, Lecturer, and Company
- "Jimmy Takes a Hit" - Sally, Jimmy, Jack, Mae, Ralph, and Company
- "The Orgy" - Sally, Jimmy, Jack, Ralph, Mae, Goat-Man, and Company
- "Lonely Pew" - Mary
- "Listen to Jesus, Jimmy" - Jesus Christ, Joan of Arc
Saint Joan of Arc is a national heroine of France and a Catholic saint. A peasant girl born in eastern France, she led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War, claiming divine guidance, and was indirectly responsible for the coronation of Charles VII...
, SatanSatan is an embodiment of antagonism that originates from the Abrahamic religions, being traditionally considered an angel in Judeo-Christian belief, and a Jinn in Islamic belief...
, and Company
- "Mary Jane/Mary Lane" - Jimmy, Mary, Mae, Jack, Singing Clams, Miss Poppy, Dead Old Man, Policeman, Jesus, Joan, Satan, Ralph, Sally, Chinese Man, and Company
- "The Brownie Song" - Jimmy, Mae, Sally, Jack, and Ralph
- "Little Mary Sunshine" - Ralph and Mary
- "Mary's Death" - Jimmy and Mary
- "Murder!" - Jimmy, Ralph, Mary, Satan, Sally, Jack, Mae, and Company
- "The Stuff (Reprise)" - Mae
- "Tell 'Em the Truth" - Mae, Lecturer, Jimmy, Mary, Jack, Sally, Ralph and Company
- "Reefer Madness (Reprise)" - Company
- "Mary Jane/Mary Lane (End Credit Edit)" - Mary, Jimmy, and Company
Inspiration
In 1998, writing partners
Kevin MurphyKevin Murphy is an American screenwriter, television producer and composer. He's written and produced the Showtime Network original movie Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical, as well as the stage version of it, and the upcoming ABC Family original movie Nobody, for which he also composed the...
and Dan Studney, who had met while studying at
Drew UniversityDrew University is a private university located in Madison, New Jersey.Originally established as the Drew Theological Seminary in 1867, the university later expanded to include an undergraduate liberal arts college in 1928 and commenced a program of graduate studies in 1955...
in
Madison, New JerseyMadison is a borough in Morris County, New Jersey, in the United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the population was 16,530. It also is known as "The Rose City."-Geography:Madison is located at ....
, were driving from
OaklandOakland is the eighth-largest city in the U.S. state of California and a major West Coast port city, located on San Francisco Bay about eight miles east of the City of San Francisco. Oakland is a major hub city for the Bay Area subregion collectively called the East Bay, and it is the county seat...
to
Los AngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the municipality of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123.445 inhabitants...
and listening to
Frank ZappaFrank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, electronic, orchestral, and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed album...
's
Joe's GarageJoe's Garage: Acts I, II & III is a 1979 rock opera by Frank Zappa, which tells the story of what could possibly happen if music was made illegal. The album features Ike Willis as the voice of "Joe", a stereotypical garage band youth who unwittingly journeys through the miasma of the music business...
, when they began discussing how one might stage the piece. "So I started picturing it in my head," Studney recalls. "Frank Zappa's concept of a musical and then it just hit me. I turned to Kevin and said 'What about doing
Reefer Madness as a musical?'" By the time duo reached Los Angeles, they had already written the first song. The high school is named after
Harry J. AnslingerHarry Jacob Anslinger held office as the Assistant Prohibition Commissioner in the Bureau of Prohibition, before being appointed as the first Commissioner of the Treasury Department's Federal Bureau of Narcotics on August 12, 1930.He held office an unprecedented 32 years in his role Harry Jacob...
, the first Commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Narcotics, known as the Father of the Drug War.
CD and Release Party
On October 28, 2008, Ghostlight Records released a double CD of the soundtrack from the film and original Los Angeles cast recording. The night before, The Public Theatre's
Joe's PubJoe's Pub is a nightclub in Lower Manhattan that hosts live performances regularly. The venue is located at 425 Lafayette Street in Manhattan, New York. It is a for-profit division of the Public Theater...
hosted a release party concert featuring a four-person ensemble and leads Alan Cumming, Ana Gasteyer, Christian Campbell, John Kassir, Robert Torti, Amy Spanger, and Jenna Leigh Green doing an abbreviated concert version with introductions to each song by Kevin Murphy.