Will Brill plays teacher staging 9/11 musical in The Musical
A middle-school theatre teacher decides his students should perform a musical about the 9/11 terror attacks. That is the premise of The Musical.
The Musical is a dark comedy, which means a comedy built around serious or difficult subjects, Yahoo Entertainment reported on 18 September. It was listed for a nationwide theatrical release in the United States on 18 September, according to Playbill. A nationwide release means opening across cinemas around the country at the same time, rather than in one city first. The film is now playing in theatres nationwide, Yahoo Entertainment reported.
Will Brill plays Doug, Variety reported on 24 September. Doug is a middle-school theatre teacher, a teacher of children roughly aged 11 to 14. The student musical he stages recounts the 9/11 terror attacks, the coordinated attacks on the United States in 2001.
The film is directed by Giselle Bonilla, Variety reported. Direction, in this sense, means guiding the performances and shaping the finished film. Rob Lowe plays a school principal, the senior staff member in charge of a school, Variety reported. Gillian Jacobs also stars, Yahoo Entertainment reported.
Brill is a Tony Award winner, Variety noted. The Tony Awards recognise work on Broadway, the commercial theatre centre in New York. He won Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play, a supporting part rather than a lead, for his performance as Reg in Stereophonic, according to Theatrely. That win was reported on 16 June 2024.
Brill spoke about The Musical with Variety in an interview at Canter’s Deli in West Hollywood, Variety reported. West Hollywood sits within the wider Los Angeles area, where many film interviews take place. The talk centred on his move from stage success to carrying a cinema release.
What makes this stand out is the collision of settings. A school show is usually chosen to please parents and keep things safe. Here the chosen subject is recent history that still carries weight for many families.
For audiences, this means the story needs little introduction. You do not need to know Broadway to follow a classroom. You only need to have sat through a school play and felt what happens when ambition runs ahead of the room.
