Ranked, A Musical

03/31/2025

Stellar week of developing with some insanely talented ! These students tackled new scenes and songs nearly every day - making bold, nuanced choices and bringing it all to life at an impressively high level.

Huge thanks to the students and faculty for creating such a supportive and fearless space to develop new work. If you want to see what a top-tier musical theatre program looks like, we can’t recommend them enough.

Our goal continues to be shaping Ranked for a meaningful commercial future - which means concentrating the characters and sharpening our focus on the heart of the story. We’re walking away inspired by the work, and excited to keep sharing as the development continues.

04/19/2024

"I Promise You" was in very early drafts of Ranked, but was ultimately replaced with "Come Up For Air."

As we have been working on re-writes, we started thinking about a song for John and Lily as they shared their struggles with one another, and came back around to "I Promise You."

"I Promise You" from Ranked, a Musical featuring Tres Allison as John and Malia McLellan as Lily. Performed at SXSW.

03/05/2024

Thanks for having us, SXSW!

Immense gratitude to Mindy Cooper for staging a beautifully moving 45-minute performance of Ranked, Kaveh Ghaemi for documenting the whirlwind weekend, and Aaron Molho for engineering and capturing the sound.

Stephanie Klapper Casting found eight amazing actors who masterfully shared the heart of our story (and sang the hell out of it), and did it with two days of rehearsal. Thanks to Malia McLellan, Tres Allison, Nicole Richter, Grace Lord, Hailey Truong, Trey Shonkwiler, Kelly Whitlow and Hella Mastagni for their time and care with our words.

We are incredibly grateful for our continued partnership with Challenge Success and Dr. Denise Pope as they continue to provide research and meaningful strategies for school communities to improve students’ mental and emotional health.

Much more soon! 👀

01/19/2024

We are bringing Ranked to in Austin, TX! This is a paid 45-minute staged reading, directed by . Musical direction by . Casting by . Produced by .
Submissions are due next week - join us!

08/08/2023

We are partnering with Challenge Success to bring Ranked to SXSW EDU, a week-long event that brings together the brightest minds in education to tackle complex issues, and we need your vote!

If chosen, we would share a live, 45-minute selection of scenes and songs from Ranked, followed by a roundtable conversation with Challenge Success founder Dr. Denise Pope on students' mental and emotional health and the power of art to amplify student voices.

Please visit the link below, upvote our session, and leave a comment sharing how you believe Ranked can continue making a difference in our schools.

PanelPicker® is the official SXSW user-generated session proposal platform. Enter ideas and vote to help shape Conference programming for SXSW and SXSW EDU.

02/07/2023

After attending Lenaea High School Theatre Festival as students, we were so humbled and honored to join as special guests this year. An amazing weekend of creating, composing and playwriting, AND a staged number from Ranked, A Musical with 33 students from 13 different schools!

Shout outs to Jacob Gutiérrez-Montoya for his captivating choreography, and Hannah Nadine Photography for these stunning photos!

01/11/2023

Believe us when we tell you that working with Amber Ardolino, JJ Niemann & Alex Wong is even MORE fun than it looks!

"Eye on the Prize" is streaming now wherever you get your music. See the full music video - https://fanlink.to/eyeontheprize

Stunning photos by montephoteaux

01/05/2023

Eye on the Prize feat. Amber Ardolino, JJ Niemann and Alex Wong is NOW STREAMING on all major platforms!

Shoutout to the rest of our squad: Andrew Dawson Heringer (music production), Milliron Studios (music video), Scout Hushbeck Illustration (cover art), Stephanie Klapper Casting (dream team assembly)

feat. Amber Ardolino, JJ Niemann & Alex Wong

01/04/2023

The ultimate Broadway TikTok crossover has arrived - thanks Amber, JJ & Alex!

The musical was recently featured in the HBO documentary My So-Called High School Rank.

12/13/2022

Created with students at Granite Bay High School, the musical has been licensed around the world as schools seek to amplify the academic pressures facing today’s adolescents.

11/30/2022

Watch an exclusive video clip from My So-Called High School Rank, which showcases the musical's success as high schoolers around the country connected with the show’s themes as they themselves struggle to find their place in the world amid intense college admissions competition.