The dystopian plot of Ranked, one of Masters’ 2024 Upper School Musicals, creates a public “ranking” system that groups students in a way different from typical entertainment: by publicly favoring high academic achievers. Those who are “above the average” are safe, but fall “below the average,” and face the social, occupational and humiliating ramifications.
High school productions are often done and re-done. However, Ranked, which debuted in 2019, is fresh material for the cast to experiment with and provides the opportunity for an experience similar to “professional developmental theater,” according to show’s director, professional actor, and performing arts teacher, Emilie Goodrich.
“When you’re working with adolescents, you do the same shows over and over again. So like, there’s not so much reinventing the wheel,” Goodrich said. She continued, “If everyone’s doing Matilda, they’re all going to do some scenes very similarly. But with a new show and new writing, we have the freedom as a director and as actors to come up with what we want to use the work to become,” she said.
Junior Natalie Beit plays Sydney Summers, the musical’s “mean girl,” who consistently holds the number one spot on the ranking billboard. She is a member of the principal cast alongside Alex Cooperstock ‘25 (John Carter), Chloe McKay ‘26 (Alexis Larsen), Matthias Jaylen ‘24 (Ryan Summers) and Willow Maniscalco ‘24 (Lily Larsen).
Beit spoke to the show’s unique opportunity for creative liberty. She said, “It’s interesting as an actor, being able to work with material that hasn’t really been touched yet and being able to add your own spin on it without having to pay homage to other people who have done the role before.”
Written by teachers Kyle Holmes and David Taylor Gomes, who created the show to reflect the anxious conditions of their own students, the musical discusses the increasing academic pressures applied to many high schoolers across the country, largely in accordance with the college admissions process.
Kaela Riley ‘26 plays Maddy, an “above the average” student. “Even though we [Masters] don’t have a public display of ranks at our school, there’s still a lot of pressure about grades and who you are,” she said.
Furthermore, weeks before “Ranked” opened in 2019 at Granite Bay High School in Granite Bay, California, the college admissions scandal involving payments and feigned application elements, Operation Varsity Blues, shook students, parents, and highlighted the disproportionate effects of wealth on higher education. (For instance, one family may be able to afford private tutoring while another cannot). The plot of Ranked covers a similarly jarring event.
“I also think being able to tackle issues like wealth disparity, being able to tackle issues like feeling like you’re not enough as a student – these are all real issues that students face – and being able to almost do it in a light-hearted manner, while also raising awareness is something that’s done so nicely, and I think it’s a story that hasn’t really been shared throughout like theater,” Beit said.
By covering common social issues, Goodrich explained that Ranked is a relatable work. She said, “I think something you could take away from the show is that, as corny as it sounds, wherever you’re at in your life, you’ll be able to relate to [Ranked] but everything always feels more daunting and more intense, so urgent in the moment, but it was just a blip on your radar.”
