Over the years, musicals have been a large part of popular culture, be they those that were made for the stage, the screen, or TV. In recent years, shows like GLEE and SMASH have proven that there’s room for musicals made for TV. Yet, there are very few  web series that have music as a major part of its storytelling. The new comedy DESTROY THE ALPHA GAMMAS, debuting its first of 7 episodes today on Youtube (see link below), hopes to change that. Created by its star, pop singer/actress Leah McKendrick (who also wrote the series), and directed by Scott Brown (LARRY KING NOW, BLUE MOVIES), DESTROY THE ALPHA GAMMAS stars McKendrick as Carrie, the newly appointed president of the Delta Pi’s, which happens to be the worst sorority on campus.

It’s a sorority that finds itself constantly tormented by the more popular – and nasty – Alpha Gammas, and when Carrie finds that her boyfriend, Scott, is smitten with the Gammas’ leader, Autumn (played by Anastacia McPherson, a finalist on the reality show THE PUSSYCAT DOLLS PRESENT: THE SEARCH FOR THE NEXT DOLL), she and the rest of her sisters fight back against their tormentors, one prank and chart-topping pop hit at a time. The show features great dance sequences, with choreography set to a soundtrack (performed by the cast) including songs by such artists as Kanye West, Cee-Lo Green, Kelly Clarkson, Marvin Gaye, Michael Jackson, Britney Spears, and Adele, just to name a few.

The series also stars Jon Hall (GLEE) as Carrie’s new love interest, basketball player Adam, plus viral video sensation Michelle Martinez as Carrie’s Delta Pi sister Ling, Sara Fletcher as fellow sister Jessie, Lindsey Morgan (Daytime Emmy nominee for her role on GENERAL HOSPITAL) as Lauren, vice president of the Alpha Gammas, plus Judy Norton as the dreaded regional sorority board president, Mrs. Andrews, and Dennis Haskins (best known to TV audiences as Mr. Belding on SAVED BY THE BELL) as Officer Glenn.

Inspired by her experience in college (including dorm life), and films set in college, McKendrick developed the concept for DESTROY THE ALPHA GAMMAS out of curiosity about what life would be like in a sorority, and as she explains, it was also a way to produce a musical web series that could be filmed in a very convenient setting. “I knew I had to develop a musical that could have a home base of an apartment or a house, since I had access to those locations to shoot! I originally thought I’d do something like MELROSE PLACE. Then I got the idea of sororities. I love college films! My college roommate, Laura, was a hot, skinny, blonde sorority girl in a hot, skinny, blonde sorority! In reality, Laura is one of the sweetest girls you’ll ever meet, but I’m sure it was easy for other houses to hate on them out of jealousy! I thought to myself, ‘but what if Laura’s sorority was actually just full of all the mean girls from every high school and just terrorized the school? They’d be unstoppable!’  Unless there was an uprising, (but) clearly I’m dramatic. I was a theatre major and we were not encouraged to join in on Greek life, but I always thought it looked like a lot of fun (and drama)!”

McKendrick and Brown had little trouble finding the show’s cast, and with the exception of Morgan and Karma Stewart (former lead singer of the hip hop group PPP), the ensemble was comprised of performers McKendrick had worked with previously, or had experience with prior to filming the series, and while Brown says that filming the series had many similarities to other projects he had worked on previously, the talented cast and crew of DESTROY THE ALPHA GAMMAS made the production process a great experience for all involved. As a result, it’s a show that is the total package – great music, great singing and dancing, and most importantly, great storytelling. “I like to think that we’ve really pushed the high level of production design for a web production as far as we’ve been able to. Also, sometimes musicals run the risk of relying more on the music, rather than give a satisfying total experience that includes story and character. The best musicals fire on all cylinders, and our show aims to do the same.”

McKendrick and Brown also hope that DESTROY THE ALPHA GAMMAS will be a winner with audiences as well, and while Brown says that not everyone will relate to being in a sorority, the show’s music, story and characters will make the series worth watching. Yet, as Brown says, there’s a deeper message to be found with the series: “I think in life it can be very easy to have interactions with people and judge them as one thing or another, but the message we’re trying to say here is that people are a broad spectrum of nuance and intentions and feelings and ultimately humanity. If you take the time to really get to know people, and always fight to see things from their perspective, you can go through life in a way that is ultimately happier and richer. So in a nutshell, don’t judge a book by it’s cover.”

(The series is not closed captioned or subtitled, as of yet, but the show’s creators say that they will focus on that aspect of the series sometime after the launch.)

ON THE WEB: www.DestroyTheAGs.com

YOUTUBE: www.youtube.com/DestroyTheAGs

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TWITTER: @DestroyTheAGs

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