AGE RECOMMENDATION & CONTENT ADVISORY

Ages Recommended: Most enjoyed by children 7 & up

Run Time: 90 minutes (includes 10-minute intermission)

​

Language:

• Rodrick says that he “wants to get this over with” while taking a family picture. He then says to Greg, “you suck.”

• Rodrick calls Greg a “loser.”

• When a couple of 8th graders find Greg’s journal they bully him. They mock him by saying “Dear Diary, Today I put on my big boy pants all by myself.” They then call him a loser.

• Greg calls his old seatmates, Chris Hosey and Lionel James, morons.

• Charlie Davis says that Bryce Anderson has “clothes, money, and a cute butt. That’s all women care about these days.”

• An 8th grader calls Greg a “doofus.”

• Darren Walsh gets called a “fool.”

• Greg says that he sits by “dorks.”

• Rodrick is in a heavy metal band called “Loded Diper”

• The lyrics to Rodrick’s song are: “Somebody farted…farted…farted..”

• Bill Walters tells the mom that he has to “drop the kids off at the pool.”

• Rodrick says that he is “totally P.O.’d” at his mom.

• The pop star Joshie says to “wash your hands after you tinkle.”

• Greg says that the famous kids at school are known for “one stupid thing.”

• Patty Farrell sings a song about how she is better than everyone.

• Greg sings lies that Patty has lice, picks her nose, would take away pizza, her locker smells like cheese, and that she has a fart disease.

• Greg says he wants “a crystal bowl to fart in.”

• The 8th graders call Greg and Rowley the “double dorks.”

• When Greg is drawing the cartoons to become the yearbook’s cartoonist, they come to life. One of them says “Step on a crack, break your mother’s back.” A cartoon doctor says “Hey, Timmy, your mother slipped on a banana peel, and P.S. she is dead.”

• Another cartoon, Creighton the Cretin, asks the doctor for a new butt because his has a crack in it.

• Patty Farrell calls Rowley “garbage.”

• The eighth graders interrupt Greg and Rowley’s fight and chase them. They sing that they will “chase them around with a wiffle bat.” And “hang them from flagpoles and drop them down and watch them splat.”

Themes and Situations:

• The themes of are growing up, social status, friendship, bullying, and masculinity.

• It is important to note that the main character, Greg, is not a role model. In this musical, we see him explore Middle School ethics and social status in a way that is often an example of what to do. He learns his lessons the hard way.

• There are situations where Greg looks down on the word “diary” and the idea of sharing feelings. He even gets bullied by the 8th graders for keeping a journal.

• There are situations where Greg wishes he were famous and everyone envied him. He becomes super obsessed with climbing the “popularity ladder.”

• There are situations where Greg says that he cheats off Chirag Gupta in class.

• There are a lot of pranks in this show.

• There are situations where Greg gets embarrassed by Rowley.

• Bill Walter is supposed to be perceived as a “35 year old” (still played by a youth who is 16) in Rodrick’s band.

• There are situations where Greg struggles with envy. Greg envies Rowley because he is an only child.

• There are situations where Greg lies to try to become popular. He lies and says Patty has lice, picks her nose, would take away pizza, her locker smells like cheese, and that she has a fart disease. Greg takes Chirag Gupta’s “mom bucks” to fool his mom. Rowley gets accused of pushing the kindergartens in a ditch while he was on safety patrol, but it was actually Greg wearing Powley’s poncho, and Greg lies about it

• There are situations where Greg gets very annoyed with Rowley because he thinks he isn’t cool. At one point, Greg tells Rowley that they aren’t actually besties and that they shouldn’t do the same stuff.

• There are situations where Greg’s friends turn against him because of his lying. That pushes Greg to hang out with Fregley, who makes Greg uncomfortable with his weird behavior.

• Greg and Rowley get in a screaming match that turns into a fight because Greg thinks Rowley stole his cartoon and put it in the school paper. The fight is mostly verbal, with mild pushing. There will not be any punching or kicking or aggressive physical fighting.

Potential Scary Moments

• The legend of the cheese touch is a little spooky.

• The eighth graders are very intimidating and threaten the 6th graders throughout the show.

• Theatrical haze/fog and flashing lights/strobes will be used in this production.

• Theatrical fog geysers will be used that shoot concentrated amounts of fog and make loud noises.