The Baby-Sitters Club Super Special #9: Starring the Baby-Sitters Club!

I have no idea how I never did this book for my blog given how many times I read it over the years!

SMS announces plans to put on a musical extravaganza, and if they use that term one more time, I may hit someone. They'll hold open auditions for both the elementary and high schools as well as the middle school. Jessi just recently became the sixth grade correspondent for the paper and thinks that she'll be the star in the musical version of Peter Pan. Now, let's get on with it.

Jessi: Despite assuming that she'll be Peter Pan, Jessi isn't as good at singing and acting as she is with dancing. When she gets cast as a pirate, she throws a hissy fit and drops out. The director then asks her to choreograph dance numbers for the little kids. She then crosses her name off the program listing because she thinks she should get credit for so much more. In the end, Pete, who was cast as Nana and the crocodile, breaks his nose. Jessi takes his place as both characters.

Mary Anne: Mary Anne hates the idea of being on stage so much that she almost wets herself walking into the auditorium. While sitting for Matt and Haley though, the director notices and asks her to be the backstage babysitter. She winds up taking care of everyone but fights with Mallory when the other girl acts like a sitter too.

Kristy: Kristy wants to be Nana and the crocodile but does such a good job at the auditions that she wins the part of Peter Pan. She keeps forgetting all of her lines and lets Cokie psych her out a few times. Since this is Kristy though, she gets over all that and does a great job. She wishes that her dad was there after the show and has her mom send him a copy of the program. Bart shows up and gives her flowers as does Charlie, but Bart gives her a kiss too.

Dawn: Dawn tries out for the part of Tiger Lily and gets the Wendy role. Since she's such a free thinker (picture me rolling my eyes here), she tries to change the words and make Wendy teach Peter things rather than do them for him. The director keeps yelling at her until she finally does the play the right way. She feels bad for not telling her dad about the musical. Richard brings her flowers and a copy of the musical that he filmed for her dad. Jack is super proud of her and asks that she not keep secrets from him again.

Stacey and Sam: These two birdbrains are kind of dating, but Sam is worried because his friends keep making fun of him for dating a kid in junior high. Charlie suggests that he show his friends how much fun they have together, but he goes overboard and calls Stacey darling and dear all the time after they're cast as Mr. and Mrs. Darling. After Charlie tells him that he's an idiot, he apologizes to Stacey who forgives him and asks him to be normal from now on.

Claudia: Claudia really doesn't get a story. She wants to work on sets and gets the role of set designer.

Mallory: Mallory wants to work on costumes and gets to work with an older girl. She gets all nervous about measuring guys, so the other girl does it for her. Mallory also tries to take over backstage and keeps getting in the way, which causes Mary Anne to yell at her. Since this is a BSC book, they quickly make up.

We also get random chapters from people like Logan who almost gets thrown out of the play because he won't stop goofing off and Cokie who doesn't want Mallory to make her look bad. Jackie gets a few chapters too because he doesn't want to wear a nightshirt in front of everyone as his costume. He is also scared of the animal costumes but gets over it after he sees Jessi in the costumes.

*Karen auditions for the role of Tinker Bell and throws a hissy fit after she learns that it isn't a role. She keeps acting out until the director finally lets her be Tinker Bell, proving that she'll grow up to become a “can I talk to your manager?” chicks who throws fits as an adult.

*I bought a new copy because I lost mine, and the new copy came with the BSC Christmas card in the middle with the replica Ann M. Martin signature on the back!

*These books try way too hard to make Stacey seem super mature. When Sam tells her why he's been acting weird, she literally closes her eyes and takes a deep breath as if he's a kid and not her boyfriend.

*Dawn brings bean salad, sugar free juice, raisins, and other “healthy” foods for lunch. As if fruit juice is oh so healthy! She also flips out later because she didn't eat all day and Mary Anne makes her eat peanut butter crackers from the vending machine. Dawn can literally taste the chemicals.

*Cokie wants a dressing room. Kristy says she knows of the perfect place and takes her to the mop closet. Cokie wins in the end though because they actually let her use it as a dressing room.

*Mallory and one other person are the only ones mentioned as working on costumes. You're telling me that those two girls made every single costume for everyone in the musical?

*My bad, they don't make the animal costumes. Despite measuring Pete, she later says that they sent them back to the costume shop. I'd also like to point out that since Jessi fits in them, she's the same size as Pete.

*Squirt becomes obsessed with the Mary Martin Peter Pan video after Jessi watches it and makes them play it for him all the time. That seems...like not something a two year old would like?

*When Jessi broaches Emily with the idea of doing a set of articles from the inside of the musical, she seems confused at first and then says something along the lines of, “oh that's right, you're the dancer, so of course you'll be involved.” All of her friends though think that she's getting her hopes up. That don't actually say anything to her though.

*Mary Anne comes with the Braddock kids originally because their mom hired her to sit. She then becomes the backstage babysitter. First of all, why did they need a sitter when there were other kids there on their own? Second of all, did she get paid for any of this?

*Speaking of which, Kristy lets them shut down the club for the entirety of the musical. There's a scene where someone calls and Claudia says that they'll be back the next week. Having done school musicals before, that's a hell of a long time to shut down shop!