Disclaimer: Ever since I watched the Muppet version of the old fable 'Bremen Town Musicians' and the 1997 loose adaptation known as The Fearless Four back in 2017, along with the first Sing, I took interest in the idea of a jukebox musical version of the story that's set in a semi-modern yet nostalgic era. You know, a version of an old fable that covers songs you hear on the radio though the lyrics are changed to fit the film's plot, like Happy Feet, Moulin Rouge and Sing.
I had the difficulty of choosing the hypothetical idea of it existing in its own franchise or being a spin-off of the Sing franchise. Since this website doesn't allow me to put it under its own franchise's category, I went with the Sing franchise. The deal here is that the story starts out in the human world and later on the four outcast animals somehow end up in the human-free world of Sing. Of course, this will be a mini-series featuring episodes of their adventures in the human world, becoming a band to perform for humans, and eventually deciding that the human world's too impure for them to live in and in some strange phenomenon, they end up in the anthro world, but that won't happen until a later episode when its closer to the end of the mini-series.
Also, the main four animals start out as non-anthropomorphic but grow to be anthropomorphic over time, and they each have the ability to talk and sing to humans in English, which is yet to be explained as the story is developed. They would be like Mr. Peabody or the polar bear from that bad movie I'm not going to mention, but hopefully this version of the fable will be better than the original.
Unfortunately, this website also prohibits me from using actual song lyrics as well, sucking the fun out of doing a jukebox musical. The least I'll be able to do is mention the song titles in the story of what they perform.
I'll be honest. I was rather concerned when the plot of Sing 2 was revealed and even more concerned when they briefly showed Suki, an anthro CGI Saluki, who was very well-designed. I wanted there to be an animal musical featuring a Saluki similar to Rita from Oliver & Company, and because of Hollywood's rule where "we can't have more than one of the same thing", it worried me of there not being another CGI Saluki character who resembles her, Rita and Sasha from All Dogs Go to Heaven, and I thought of this character before Suki even existed. Yeah, I really wanted there to be an animated movie with a male cat having some bond with a female Saluki, especially to break the tiresome cliche of a male dog and a female cat.
So this serves as an anti-Sing 2, because it ignores the events of the sequel and takes place after the first film, it has a group of animals traveling to a city to become famous musicians, and has a Saluki as one of the main characters, but there's no focus on Buster Moon or his friends, except maybe having our favorite theater koala as the narrator. In fact, you could say this is the Planes equivalent of Sing, being not as impressive as Sing 1 or 2, but I wanted to give this a try, and on a personal yet unrelated note: I'm someone who tolerates Planes.
I own most of the characters in this story, except some of the Sing characters you already know. I also do not own the songs mentioned in the story. Please read, review and suggest. I am open to suggestions for what should happen in this long version of this short story.
"The Bremen Four"
"Starring the voices of Joseph Gordon-Levitt"
"Anne Hathaway"
"Elijah Kelley"
"Jess Harnell"
"Special Guest Voice:
Matthew McConnaughey as Buster Moon"
One Saturday night in Caletonia, the Moon Theater was packed with animals all seated for the theater's charity fundraising program. The charity was not for the theater itself, but for another charity that Buster Moon and his newly-formed troupe were willing to sponsor out of the goodness of their hearts. The troupe members perform hits that are inspirational and/or uplifting for the cause, and so do other volunteering animal performers. One particular group of performers were performing a show-stopping tune to get animals of all ages dancing, and that was "Can You Feel It?" (originally by the Jacksons). This group of animals was a band consisting of a cat (who wasn't short and fat like all the other cats), a female dog who was a mixture of four different breeds, a rooster, and a donkey.
They were really giving a killing performance with the audience singing along to the main chorus, and even clapping rhythmically along.
Backstage, Buster, Eddie, and Miss Crawly were enjoying the performance as they swung their arms back and forth to the song. The koala then spotted some off-screen figure where they were, "Oh, I didn't realize we had more company. Welcome to the Moon Theater where we're sponsoring a local charity with a benefit concert and various animals are volunteering to perform to raise money for the fundraiser that rented our theater out to do so."
He started to walk away and head upstairs as the off-screen figure followed him. He continued explaining, "All the performers are phenomenal tonight, even my new troupe, but the ones you see on stage are the Bremen Four, one of the most progressive bands who I've happen to come across...probably the only most progressive band who I've come across. But the funny thing is they didn't start out in this anthropomorphic animal world you and I know. Oh no. These guys are from another world. Okay, I realize that sounds far-fetched or insane, but it's true." He and the figure arrived in his office, with the koala pushing the door open to let the guest in and they approached some pictures of the band, some with Buster with them, and one picture of some countryside location. "They originally came from a world where animals had no clothing and were on all fours, and it was dominated by primates that lack body hair except in certain places, known as homo-sapiens, or humans for short. They tried living with them and it was far from easy. How does all of this make sense, you ask? Well, let me tell you their story."
The camera moved to the picture of the countryside somewhere in the human world where the story TRULY takes place. Then the scene faded to that exact location, with the camera moving to one quaint yet dingy little home. We hear Buster's voice narrate the story.
"It began somewhere in the south of the North American continent, somewhere in the 20th century; the late 90's, I believe. The first animal of the group is a cat named Stanley, who spent a majority of his young life with a woman named Old Lady Loofah, who was a bitter, abusive, repulsive, impatient, and inconsiderate old hag, and that was putting it mildly."
As we move closer to the house, we can hear sounds of an old woman shouting, ranting and raving angrily like no one's business from inside.
"She was as in no way a good caretaker to Stanley. She may have provided him a roof over his head but she beat him whenever he quote-unquote talked back to her, called him names, kicked him around, underfed him, and didn't let him have any pleasures. She treated him like office equipment rather than a companion."
Inside the house, we see the elderly human woman in question pacing and storming around as she ranted and raved. She had a stout and frail body, skinny arms, white-gray hair tied in a bun, pointy nose like a bird's beak and an equally pointy chin with a grotesque wart on the end of it. She wore a pair of spectacles, a gold necklace with an emerald broach, a poofy red velvet blouse with matching skirt and dark brown boots.
"Honestly now, why can't you putrid animals have a beeper for whenever you get lost?" she ranted rhetorically. Nearby, an animal was hiding from her under a recliner, quietly shaking with fear, hoping he wouldn't find her. He was a little gray tabby cat with a hole in his one of his ears, a round head, big blue eyes with black pupils, white muzzle with dark blue nose, white paws and stomach area, dark gray stripes over his back along with some lashes, white tail tip and a crooked, banged-up tail. He was Stanley the cat.
The cat remained in his hiding spot, planning to stay there until she left. Then as she went past the recliner, she made a double take and saw the tip of his tail sticking out. "A-ha!" she shouted before furiously pushing the recliner over. "There you are, you little good-for-nothing layabout!"
Stanley protested, "I'm not a layabout, alright? I was hiding from you!"
"No excuses, you fleabag! You have to keep up with your job, remember?!" Yes, they were able to communicate like people because unlike other cats, he had the ability to speak to both humans and animals. How is that possible? Well, let's save that for later because we have to see how this plays out. "It's time you stopped failing at this and got rid of every mice like I assigned you to! That's the reason I own you in the first place!"
Stanley interjected, "Why not ask for pest control?"
She then kicked him as she retorted, "I am not paying an expensive sum of money to have some nimrods in suits gas my home when you're cheaper and lower in maintenance! Don't forget, you owe me your very life! No one else would tolerate you, a talking cat! You were fortunate enough that I took you out of the gutter where I found you lying and rotting, and provided you shelter and food out of the goodness of my heart."
"You hardly feed me at all unless it's that dry tasteless cat food made from pencil shavings and cigarette butts at those factories. How about being a more supportive owner by feeding me actual food even when I fail to catch the rodents?"
"And be a soft, gutless owner and turn you into an overweight comic strip cat?! I think not! I'd be the laughing stock of this state," said Old Lady Loofah. "You get the food you want when you do your job right, no now more talking back to your superiors, you twerp!"
She then smacks him and walks away, with Stanley fuming. He has had just about enough of this! He reprimanded the woman, "You know, between the kicking and the beating and the underfeeding, you are dispensing a serious amount of psychological harm on me, woman!"
Of course, the old woman just mocked him with a hand puppet, "Blah, blah, blah, blah! What psychological harm? You're a stupid animal! You can't have psychological harm!" Yeah, real nice woman, isn't she, folks?
She then put on a sunhat and headed for the door as she continued, "Now, I'm going out to fetch some supplies, and those rodents had better be gone when I get back, otherwise a certain kitty will be getting the Bob Barker treatment. Comprende?"
Stanley looked very scared. If he didn't catch the mice, the old lady currently keeping him would neuter him! He shook in fright and gulped before responding in Spanish, "Mucho comprende, senora esponja."
She then slammed the door shut and headed for her car before getting in and driving away. When she was gone, it was safe for this poor cat to fume again and say this out loud, "I'd like to give her the Bob Barker treatment!"
In the kitchen, three mice (a father, mother, and son) were attempting to steal the remaining piece of cheese there was. It was divided into three for each to carry. The mother said with worry, "Hurry, boys, we have to make off with the cheese before that cat, or worse, that old hag sees us!"
The son mouse said to his parents, "I can't help but feel the cat deserves the food more than we do with the way she's been treating him."
Then they stop as they hear creeping in the kitchen, making them freeze in fear. They only know one creature around. They hear the sound of slow creeping and see some cat ears appear, making them worry quietly. Once Stanley's face fully came into view, he gave a glare and gnashed his teeth, holding out his paws, getting ready to pounce at the poor mouse family...until he sighed. He just didn't have the heart to do this, even with how he's underfed and with the neutering threat.
He said plainly to the trio, "Look, you three better just get out of here and find other places to pilfer food from for all of our sakes."
The mice were confused. After all the times he's chased them, he's just telling them to leave?
The father mouse gave a suspicious look and asked the cat, "What are you playing at here, cat?"
"I'm not playing at anything here," Stanley explained. "I'm warning you to just head for the hills and never look back, so that way we can all be spared from Loofah's wrath."
The mother mouse asked the cat, "Are you feeling alright, son?"
"Not really. I've been rejected and abused all my life, and what's worse is that now I've been threatened to have my unmentionables cut off. But you know, I really don't feel like chasing you guys as I don't have a lot of energy."
"But what about that nasty old woman who owns you? I would call her a shrew but that wouldn't be fair to the actual shrews."
"As much as I hate her and would very much like to see her dead and buried, I can't bring myself to exterminate a mouse family like you. You're just trying to survive in life. So I say we compromise: the three of you leave and I lie saying that I got rid of you, leaving me to remain whole."
The mice felt uneasy for some reason.
The father mouse confessed, "Err, we don't know how to tell you this but there are more than just three. We have a whole colony within this house." He gave a whistle. The next thing you know, the cat looked and saw more mice appearing from every single nook and cranny of the kitchen. He was utterly flabbergasted at this. It WAS a whole colony!
Stanley's reaction? He groaned and plopped to the floor.
The mother mouse then said to Stanley on the floor, "Look, if it means that much to you, we will leave. To be honest, we actually have witnessed how she treats you. You deserve better than this."
Hearing that left Stanley rather touched. That's truly meaningful to hear a mouse feel sorry for a cat's abuse. That doesn't happen very often.
The mouse son suggested, "Say before we she comes back, how about we share some of the food with you? And how about we have some fun?"
"Oh thanks, I've been dying for some food!"
So the cat and mice helped themselves to all the food in the well-stocked kitchen. After all, they deserve it more than she does.
The mouse son asked Stanley, "So, Stanley, do you have any special interests Loofah doesn't allow?"
Stanley swallowed what he was eating as he answered, "Well, I never told anyone this before, but I've always wanted to sing, dance and play music."
Taking advantage of Loofah's absence, half the mice and Stanley went into Loofah's musical instruments room, which is usually off-limits, and decided to continue their fun by expressing his passion for music. Several mice needed helping paws in playing the instruments perfectly, as they were each too big for one mouse alone. Soon all mice and Stanley were having fun, dancing to and singing a mash-up cover medley of "Bang the Drum All Day", "It's Your Thing", and "I Love Music" (originally by Todd Rundgren, The Isley Brothers, and The O'Jays, respectively).
During this cover mash-up, the animals happened to spread fun around the house and even trash the place. Examples of trashing included breaking stuff made of glass, sending paper flying everywhere, splatting paint in certain places, and other means of making messes. Of course, they were too busy having fun to even care.
Then, outside the house, a certain car came driving back into the driveway with the returning old lady hearing the sounds of music, vandalizing, squeaking from rodents (as the voices of the mice are inaudible to human ears), and Stanley's singing, all coming from inside. She frowned angrily as she got out of the car, preparing to investigate what's going on in her home. She bets that cat has something to do with this!
Then the mice heard the car door being closed with footsteps approaching, making most of them stop what they were doing. Loofah's back! So they all retreated, leaving Stanley all by himself, and he was still lost in his fun zone, dancing around with his eyes closed, unaware that the mice had stopped partying.
The cat chuckled, "You know, you guys have really convinced me; I'm not going to take any further of that nightmare's cockamamie bull. No, I'm going to look her straight in the eye, tell her she can't treat me or any animals this way...and why have you guys stopped playing?" He finally noticed they were all gone and sensed something else, with his look changing to worry. "She's back, isn't she?"
He turned around and saw his owner standing in the doorway, looking at all the mess around and even in the music room, before her attention stopped at the scared cat. She assumed this mess was all him as she gave a deathly growl.
"Stick a fork in me. I'm done."
Old Lady Loofah said sternly, "You certainly are!" Then she violently grabbed him by the neck. The father, mother and son mouse reappeared from hiding and watched on in worry as the old woman hauled the cat away, leering evilly at him and saying, "I was going to neuter you but since you're into music, I think it should be more poetic justice to take you to the violin factory!"
Stanley gasped in utter fear, and so did the mice in hiding, before they frowned. They weren't about to let that happen to their new friend! So they got out the cello's bow and pulled back on its strings, shooting the bow like a slingshot, and with a direct hit, it smacked Old Lady Loofah in the back of the head. She screamed as the force of the blow sent her tumbling into a nearby big flower pot, face-planting into the dirt and releasing Stanley from her grip.
She got up, coughing and spitting out the soil and ordered, "I demand to know who did that! Come out and show yourself!" She looked and saw the three mice in the music room. The angry old lady prepared to finish these three off herself before half of the other mouse colony reappeared all over the music room with stern looks. With that, she stopped frozen in her tracks. All of these filthy rodents in her music room?!
Freaked out, she quickly ran to the kitchen but to her further horror, the other half of the mouse colony appeared throughout the kitchen, glaring at the old woman and ready to place her in a world of hurt. This left the old biddy overwhelmed and terrified beyond capacity, that she screamed in horror and disgust, running out of the room, but not before one of the mice tossed down a rolling pin in the direction she was running. Not seeing the rolling pin, she ended up running on it, trying to avoid crashing. Then some of the mice stacked themselves together and opened the door to a basement where Old Lady Loofah was heading for. Once at the top step, she fell and started tumbling down the steps before crashing down to the basement floor.
The mice and Stanley took a look with some of the mice scurrying downstairs to check on Old Lady Loofah who wasn't moving.
"Is she dead?" asked Stanley.
One of the mice felt a pulse in her and responded, "No, just unconscious."
"I was so hoping she'd be dead," the cat groaned in disappointment, with the mouse parents frowning. "What? She's horrible."
So the mice and cat closed the door and pushed a chair in front of it. Stanley said to the mice, "Listen, everyone. Thanks for saving me from her. I am truly indebted to you."
The father mouse said, "Hey, you spared us, so we spare you. It's only fair. No animal should have to suffer at the hands of her."
The mother mouse added seriously, "Now it's time we all did what you suggested earlier: take the food we can, get out of here, and never look back, and that includes you."
The son mouse said with a smile, "Yeah, Stanley, it's time you start a new chapter in your life."
The cat happily nodded, knowing these mice are right. It's time for them, him especially, to start a new life.
(End of Act 1)
Well, that starts the first episode of our story. I do realize it strays a tad from the source material but it's called an adaptation, meaning that it's not going to be completely like the original fable. I should point out that this would be like The Princess and the Frog, where our heroes acknowledge that the Bremen Town Musicians exists as a story and that this would be like the story coming to life.
To those who are curious, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is Stanley's voice, Anne Hathaway is the dog's voice, Elijah Kelley is the rooster's voice, and Jess Harnell is the donkey's voice. The original two voice choices for the donkey were Steven Tyler and Huey Lewis, but that was before I found out Huey can no longer sing. However, there's a chance I could have the donkey sing one of Huey's songs later.
I'll be honest, I don't have the FULL story figured out, just the first episode: the animals escaping their abusive owners, but for the other episodes where the story is extended from the original short story, I need all the help I can get. It's anything from a small task stretching a short story into a one-season series with new adventures that didn't happen in the book, just like Green Eggs and Ham, considering that one person didn't think of all those adventures by themselves. And this is my first try at this kind of thing. I am seriously open to any help and suggestions for episodes, and speaking of which, I need to know how many episodes should be enough for these animals' adventures in the human world and later the SING world after deciding they can't live in the human world.
I'm also open to song cover suggestions, depending if they fit the plots of the episodes and if they're nostalgic. I mostly accept nostalgic songs, especially with the main story taking place in the end of 20th century, and I will NOT, for the love of all things sacred, accept anything done by Bieber or Nicki Minaj.
To anyone who wants to see this with the characters singing the lyrics, that copy will be uploaded to DeviantArt by the end of the month. Again, I'm sorry for not including actual singing, but the website requires I don't unless it's public domain.
