https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPn1bbO80iM
Back in 2006, Jason Katims made high school football a television event with Friday Night Lights. Now 11 years later, he is doing the same for high school theater with Rise on NBC tonight at 10p. Creating the best new show of the season. I can say that because I have seen the whole first season and I give it a 1-hour standing ovation.
The high school is located in Stanton, a small town in Pennsylvania. The type of town, students dream of getting out of when they graduate. However, while they are there, they will make the most of it whether it is football or theater or for one kid both.
Lou Mazzuchelli (Josh Radnor) is an English teacher and he wants to fill the theater director opening. He asks the principal for the job and he says yes. Only problem is fiery Tracey Wolfe (Rosie Perez) thinks the job is hers and is already working on Grease with the kids. When he tells her he got the job and wants to change it up, she quits. Nevertheless, she comes back and helps him with their production of Spring Awakening. And they will butt heads a lot.
Now that Lou has the job, he has to tell his wife (Marley Shelton) and she is not happy about it. A big reason is because their teenage son (Casey W Johnson) has been getting in trouble because he has a problem with alcohol. She feels he should focus more on their kids and not on other people’s children.
Children like Lilette Suarez (Auli’i Cravalho). She has never acted before, but her friend Simon (Ted Sutherland) convinces her to audition. When she does her whole life changes. Everyday up until now, she goes to school, then to work at the restaurant her mom (Shirley Rumierk) is a waitress at and then home. Her mom had her as a teen and never married. It is just the two of them and they are struggling to get by. Her mom is not supportive of her and the two of fight all the time about it.
She is not the only one fighting with her parents, so is Simon. His parents are very devout and he cannot tell them that he is gay. Instead, he lies to everyone about his sexuality. However, when Lou casts him as a gay boy in the show, his parents will not have it. They tell him they are transferring him to a religious school that he does not want to attend. He just wants to be in this play.
Another person who wants to be in this play is Robbie (Damon J. Gillespie), the star football player. Lou sees something special in him during a pep rally and offers him a role. Something no one ever does. Football and theater do not mix, but they will find a way around it. One thing he cannot find a way around is his sick his mom is. She is in the hospital and it does not look like she will ever be coming home. He only wants to make her proud and feels being the lead in the play will do just that.
He also wants to make his coach proud. The coach’s daughter, Gwen (Amy Forsyth), is also in the show. She is used to being the lead, but that role went to Lilette. She is not happy about it, obviously. She is also not happy that her father is having an affair with Lilette’s mom. It is a lot for a girl to handle.
That and her friend, Margret (Ellie Desautels) now goes by Michael. She does not mind that he is transitioning, but still. Thankfully he is because he is perfect for the play.
The play that no one but them wants to be made. Everyone from the principal to the PTA to the district wants to pull it because it is so controversial. Will they get their way? Everything is an obstacle, but they are determined to do it. And what a road it will be until opening night…if they get one.
Along the way, they will deal with first loves, being transgender, coming out, fighting with their parents, fighting with themselves, pregnancy, alcohol, working, and all the things that teens go through. However at the end of the day, they have a family to back them up, their fellow theater buddies. No one can and no one will come between them.
This is what small town life and being in theater group is like, and each week they bring it. The cast makes it feel real and draws you in as soon as the curtain goes up or the first scene as TV people call it and keeps your interest until the curtain goes down. It will be your newest addiction and the perfect show to take over This Is Us’ timeslot. It is the fix you are going to need and love to fill that vacancy. Therefore, you are going to want to add it to your DVR because you do not want to miss any of the 10 episodes.
Now I could be biased because I went schools where arts were a big deal. The most famous alumni from my schools went on to be actors, musicians and even a Dancing with the Stars champion. Even the one scientist who went to my JHS is a TV personality with his own talk show. In fact, the high school I graduated from was one of the 50 schools that got a $10,000 grant from Rise. The same school that Ricki Lake went to and someone we do not mention who was the lead of a popular family drama. I remember going to the school plays, and to me that was better than any sports game. Bu like I said, my schools were not big sports schools. And because of that, I cannot get enough of Rise.
