Scream: The Musical Trailer Parodies the Broadway Theater Process

A new trailer for a documentary about the making of Scream: The Musical offers a meta look into the process of creating a theater production. Scream is the latest entry in the long-running horror franchise by the late Wes Craven and opened Thursday night to an impressive $3.5 million, just behind Halloween Kills. Featuring the returning Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, and David Arquette, the film takes place 25 years after the events of Craven’s 1996 film and has the heroes, alongside a cast of fresh faces, trying to unmask a new Ghostface killer.

Production company Sam & Miles and their content series Made Out East will be paying homage to the original Scream with a musical rendition, putting the chaos of organizing a theater production on full display. Producer/director Sam Pezzullo comments that he could “do something totally bold, and unexpected, and audacious and try and make a musical version of my favorite movie.” The trailer plays like a documentary covering the behind-the-scenes action as Pezzullo auditions local actors, engages in a promotional interview, navigates the COVID pandemic, and more in an attempt to honor the legacy of Scream.

Most interestingly, the trailer appears to be an incredibly meta look at the production of a Scream musical that does not actually exist. It begins with an earnest look at Pezzullo’s passion for Craven’s iconic slasher and the desire to follow in the footsteps of something like the very real Evil Dead: The Musical, but quickly goes off the rails and seems more like a mockumentary due to the ridiculous events encircling this troubled venture. More to this point, the Bay Street Theater, where the musical supposedly took place on January 8, 2022, has no record of any such musical occurring. Regardless, seeing Pezzullo call one actress playing Casey Becker “Debbie from Addam’s Family Values” is genuinely funny.

At this point, it’s difficult to determine whether or not a true-to-life Scream: The Musical exists. However, the mockumentary is a clever way of utilizing the narrative examination that Scream popularized to examine the whirlwind effort of putting on a small-time theater performance. Pezzullo’s project is not only timely in the face of 2022’s Scream but also takes advantage of the rising interest in musicals. Coupled with satirical humor that could rival the meta-comedy of previous Scream films, Scream: The Musical could be a sleeper hit whenever (or if ever) it releases.

Source: Sam & Miles

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