The Four Dorothys »

Paul Ruditis has written more than thirty books based on some of the most popular shows on television, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Star Trek, The West Wing, and Alias. He is also the author of an original fiction series for teens, DRAMA!, and the novel, Love, Hollywood Style. He lives in Los Angeles.

Every performance needs a little scandal and . . .

DRAMA!

Spawned from Hollywood's A-list glitterati, nearly every student at the exclusive Orion Academy is a singer, dancer, model, or actor -- with the ego to match. So how do you fit so many budding stars into one school musical?

Multi-cast, of course. It's a Wizard of Oz like no other: four Dorothys, two Scarecrows, two Glindas, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Every "star" gets a moment in the spotlight.

Meanwhile, Bryan Stark, narrator extraordinaire, needs to shed some light on a more scandalous plot. Dorothys are mysteriously dropping out of the show, one after the other. If Bryan doesn't figure out why, there may be no one left to click her heels by opening night. . . .

Publishers Weekly

Ruditis begins his first original series, Drama!, with a bang: "It was a drag queen's worst nightmare. There were four of them onstage... high school girls, that is, not drag queens." Bryan, the "Drama Geek" who narrates, considers himself a "background player" in his own life. But after strange accidents happen to the multiple Dorothys cast in his Malibu high school's production of The Wizard of Oz, he takes on a bigger role to protect his best friend, Sam (short for Samantha), who is playing one of the leads. When one Dorothy (Suze) has an allergic reaction to her lunch, Bryan thinks it may be an accident; but when nude pictures of another Dorothy get posted on the school's Web site, he realizes that someone did it on purpose. He suspects Heather, yet another Dorothy. The book has a wisp of a set-up (under parental pressure, "the headmaster... decreed that every student who tried out would get `a role of substance,' " hence four girls share the lead role), which stands in sharp contrast to the dark pranks (to stop the allergic reaction from killing Suze, Bryan has to inject her with epinephrine). Despite these tonal shifts and a rather meandering plot, the hero's narrative brims with fun touches, such as the stuffed dog emporium he visits to collect four identical Totos. Readers will find Bryan an authentic character, and feel for the closeted gay boy within who is "slowly moving up in the cast list of my life." Ages 12-up. (Feb.) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.