Family Guide for The Tutor

Updated: May 11, 2005

The Tutor features mature language and themes.

Because audiences have different opinions of what may be suitable for our younger patrons, the following information is provided to assist you when deciding what is appropriate for your family.

Please note: this guide contains plot spoilers.
The Tutor is a new musical; therefore, the information provided below is subject to change.

Versions available to preview: As this is an original work, there is no version available to preview. The script is available at the Box Office for you to read.

Click the title to hear the song.

"Blank"
"Me Artist, You Rich"
"Feels Like Home"
"Don't Eat Your Friends"

Production length: TBD. There is one fifteen minute intermission.

Synopsis: Our second workshop this season comes straight from the Fourth Annual Festival of New Musicals where it received a standing ovation! The Tutor was inspired by stories about Ivy League graduates who strike it rich tutoring the high school kids of Manhattan 's elite. With a winning mix of clever wit and surprising warmth, The Tutor tells a fresh, funny contemporary tale of romance, art, and what it really takes to get into Princeton . When a struggling young novelist takes a job tutoring a disgruntled Manhattan girl, he thinks he's just out for quick cash. But when the characters in his novel start to come to life, and his teenage pupil begins to open up, his life takes a few surprising turns. With inventive, memorable music, vibrant characters, and unstinting energy, The Tutor will hook you just like it did our Festival audience!

Edmund is a young novelist, working on an epic romantic novel that can never seem to settle on a time period. Hildegard and Sean, the characters in the novel get fed up with Edmund's inability to finish a chapter.

To finance his writing, Edmund tutors the college bound children of Ivy League Alums. His latest student (also known as "Cash Cow Number Three") will turn out to be more teacher than student for Edmund. Sweetie is a punk-Goth teen who is not interested in school. But she is interested in Edmund's novel. While Sweetie becomes Edmund's inspiration, his "muse," she manages to pick up some good SAT vocabulary words along the way. She also develops a crush on the tutor. When she discovers how Edmund first thought of her, she runs away from home.

Meanwhile, Sweetie's parents, Richard and Ester, explore their relationship. Ester blames Richard for Sweetie's behavior ("Defective Sperm"), and Richard longs to stay asleep, where he dreams of a better life ("In My Dreams, We Have Sex").

Sweetie runs away to join an animal rights rally, where she learns that humans are meat too ("Don't Eat Your Friends"), and decides maybe she has a bit more growing up to do.

Edmund, meanwhile, has a revelation of his own about his novel.

Production Notes: This show has not yet been staged. Updates on any staged content will be added at a later date.

Sexual content: The characters from Edmund's novel are a romantic pair, and Edmund writes them love scenes. These are very stylized, like the cover of a Romance Novel. Sweetie searches Edmund's computer for "the sex parts" by doing a find for "Breast, desire, spear of love, nipple." Richard sings "In my dreams, we have great sex" and suggests he and his wife "get drunk and sleep with the neighbors." Ester suggests that Richard needs a little pill to help, and says she has had a Brazilian and will be in the shower naked if he is interested. Richard sings about the Choo-Choo that could no longer get up the hill. "Computer sex talk" is mentioned. "Defective sperm" is mentioned. One female character complains about her absent girlfriend, and there is one brief moment of misunderstanding involving leather. There is some romantic tension between Sweetie and Edmund, but it is a crush on her part and on his, he sees her as his muse. It is not sexual tension, but romantic. And sweet.

Language:
Forms of oh my God, my God, God, or Lord: multiple times
Damn, shit, suck, ass: multiple times
Holy shit: twice
Hell: once
Fuck: several times in a row by one character once
Frickin' and Freakin': repeatedly
Fuckin', bitch, screw, pussies: once each
Other: "steaming, fragrant lump of turd," "yanking our chain," "stupid ho"

Substances: The parents each have drinks on stage, one gets rather emotional while drinking. Drinking, getting drunk referred to, suggested. Teenagers smoke pot, one suggests another should "Relax. Get stoned or something." Character makes reference to an organic hemp farm.

Violence: Edmund "shoots" a character in his novel.