Book Revue: Moneyball, the Musical!

I was asked a couple of weeks ago why I hadn't reviewed the book Moneyball, being as it's one of the most prominent recent baseball books. The reason I hadn't reviewed it is because I felt like so many other people had already said everything I could ever say about it; I didn't want to be just another person reviewing it in the exact same way.

Well, um, a few days ago I came up with a way to review it that I'm pretty sure has never been done before. See, I started writing a parody of the Michael Jackson song "Billie Jean" about Billy Beane... and then I came up with some other songs along the Moneyball theme as well... and next thing you know, BAM! I've got an 18k file full of lyrics and dialogue!

So, here, in all its glory, is the first draft (ha!) of my stage parody interpretation of the Michael Lewis book. Hope you enjoy it. I made it a separate page because it's too big to make a blog post out of. I've listed and linked to the songs themselves incase you don't feel like reading the rest of it, or if my liberal application of swearwords to Billy Beane's speech patterns offends you.

Moneyball: The Musical!

A musical book revue in two acts
By Deanna Rubin

Cast
Billy Beane as the General Manager
Paul Depodesta as the Computer Guy
Michael Lewis as the Narrator
Eric Kubota as the Head Scout
Jeremy Brown as the Draft Pick
Scott Hatteberg as the Pickin' Machine
and various scouts, family members, and a book reviewer

Songs

Act One

1. Prologue - Moneyball Tonight ("Comedy Tonight", from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way To the Forum)
2. Draft (Main theme from the musical "Rent")
3. The Ballad of Swisher's Kid ("The Ballad of Sweeney Todd", from Sweeney Todd)
4. I Just Get On Base ("I've Just Seen A Face" by the Beatles)

Act Two

1. Fixing the Hole ("Fixing A Hole" by the Beatles)
2. Giambi's Face ("The Rain in Spain" from My Fair Lady)
3. Scott Hatteberg, Pickin' Machine ("Truckin'" by the Grateful Dead)
4. Finale - Billy Beane ("Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson)

Constructive criticism is welcomed, of course, as is appropriate wording to include to make it obvious that it's a work of parody and I'm really just being a goofball and not intending any harm to Michael Lewis, Billy Beane, or anyone else.