Andy's in a community theater production of Sweeney Todd, and he wants the whole office to come. But especially Erin, hoping it'll make her fall in love with him again. But his attempts to drum up attendance backfire, because Michael's pissed that he didn't get cast, and the only babysitter Jim and Pam can find is… Erin.
Still, everyone else shows up, so they're all there to witness Andy's singing triumph. And also his opposite-of-triumph when a cell phone goes off in the second act and it's Andy's, while he's onstage. Michael also disrupts the show by bringing balloons, dropping a wine bottle, and booing during the curtain call, but at least he wasn't onstage. Erin also messes things up by showing up with Cece, although Andy's pretty thrilled that she made it at all. The only thing that works is the early stages of Angela's cunning plan to make Dwight fall for her again by dressing like a farm girl and playing hard to get.
In the end, Andy gets over his dual disappointment (Erin went back home to Gabe, after all) by giving a private command performance to the rest of his coworkers, his favorite audience. And in the very end, we see highlights from the marathon audition that inexplicably failed to land Michael a part.
Andy comes into the bullpen wearing a sailor suit and starts singing "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd" (from the musical Sweeney Todd, coincidentally), but it's not until another cast member joins him that Jim says, "Yes!" like this is exactly what he's been waiting for all week. Between verses, Erin asks Andy if he wrote this. And then the entire rest of the company comes in singing and wielding their prop knives, which makes Dwight ready for a rumble. The musical's whole cast does a group talking-head in which Andy cockneys that they're doing "a bi' o' viral marketing, guv'nor!" At the end of the number, people applaud, Michael more excitedly than anyone. Although he wonders why no one called him after he auditioned. "Who am I playing?" he asks. The awkward pause lasts all the way into the credits. At least.
Andy presents Erin with a pair of tickets for closing night, but he's psyched to hear that Gabe can't come, because that fits into his plan to make Erin fall in love with him again. "Women cannot resist a man singing showtunes," Andy THs. "It's so powerful, even a lot of men can't resist a man singing showtunes." Back at reception, Andy tells Erin that everyone in the office is going, despite what Gabe might have said. Michael comes out and says he can't make it, because he's still bent out of shape about not being cast. Jim and Pam's babysitter fell through, and Dwight says, "The last time I went to the theater, a man dressed as a cat sat on my lap." Is that man still alive, or did Dwight stick him in the freezer?
Andy goes into Michael's office to plead with him to come, but Michael's still so hurt that he doesn't even let himself do a "that's what she said." But after hearing that they brought in a ringer to play the lead, Michael gives Andy the explanation that he'll be too busy seeing a friend in a play called Sweeney Todd. Andy celebrates, and Michael magnanimously says, "And, scene."
Angela wants Dwight to take her to the play, but Dwight wants to just "knock this out now. Disrobe." He THs that he doesn't like her any more. "Just contractually obligated to make a baby with her." When she refuses to let him punch her card (still not a euphemism) until after the play, Dwight agrees to take her on the threat of re-mediation, but Angela THs that she wouldn't mind if Dwight developed feelings for her, as per item 7C, clause 2. I would mind. I want more Isabel.
Andy finds Jim and Pam and gets them -- well, gets Pam -- to agree to keep looking for a babysitter. "Who knows, maybe I have a niece my family never told me about," Pam says. Andy thinks that would be amazing. "For a lot of reasons," Jim agrees.
Michael shows up at the play with balloons, and while he's talking to Stanley and Phyllis, an usher comes up and asks if he's "the guy that did an entire Law & Order episode for his audition?" After a pause, Michael lies, "Nope." Andy peeks out and thanks them all for coming, and Jim tells him to thank Erin. "She's the one who agreed to babysit." Andy's face falls with an almost audible clatter. Erin THs that she's been trying to get into babysitting forever, but it's tough to crack the 13-year-olds' monopoly in this town. Andy tries to be the bigger man about it. "This is, like, a huge opportunity for her," he THs. Aw.
Michael's in the audience, kind of impressing me by trying to keep his balloons down without even being asked by the people behind him, when Darryl recognizes his plumber's name in the program -- playing Sweeney Todd. As if that weren't bad enough, the actor's bio that says the director discovered him singing karaoke and didn't even make him audition. I think this may be one of the first times I can remember Darryl saying the wrong thing. Michael's disgusted, of course, but Darryl shushes him for the overture. Stanley's asleep four lines into "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd," and Pam and Jim get shooed out of their seats behind Kelly and Ryan, which means they have to go back to their proper seats to Michael and his squeaky-ass balloons.
As the play proceeds, Jim and Pam are impressed with Andy's solo on "Johanna," and so is Dwight, enough to lean over and whisper to a stranger, "I work with that guy." to him, Angela purposely gets gum on her skirt so she has to go change, and Dwight proudly adds to his other seatmate, "His name's Andy. He's a terrible salesman." Kelly asks Ryan what time it is, and he shows her a screen-sized clock on his iPad. Thanks for the weekly lame joke, Ryan.
During intermission, the director accosts Michael and promises him a role if he keeps auditioning. In gratitude, Michael steals a bottle of wine from the bar. Angela reappears in the lobby in a farmer-girl outfit, claiming her old gardening clothes were all she had in her car, but Dwight can't take his eyes off her. Pam calls on her cell to check in with Erin, and to tell her, "It's fun to hear Andy sing, in the appropriate setting." She wraps up the call when the lights flash, and apparently she was a little worried, even though Jim assured her there was nothing to worry about. A little early to decide that, I'm thinking.
During the second act, Michael sneaks a swig from his wine bottle, then has to pass it around to Darryl, Meredith, and Kevin, at least for starters. Andy's checking his e-mails in the wings, hoping for a last-minute "break a leg" or an "I still love you." He tucks the phone back into his pocket, assuaging my fears that he was going to miss his cue, but what will happen is so much worse. Creed, meanwhile, is out in the lobby, phoning in a vicious theater review like he's in The Front Page.
Andy comes on stage and is in the middle of a scene when a cell phone starts ringing somewhere in the theater. The actor playing Sweeney Todd tries to ad lib about a bird to cover it and gets a laugh (and a "how is that funny?" from Michael), but of course the ringing phone is in Andy's pocket because the idiot forgot to turn it off after checking his messages. Andy tries to cover as well, saying he closed the bird's beak. Michael's the only one who laughs that time. When Andy's phone chirps the voice-mail notification, he completely goes off the rails, saying he killed the bird, which makes him a murderer just like Sweeney Todd, although Andy admits that his character doesn't know that yet. "His character" is also speaking in an American accent, strangely enough. The entire audience cringes until Sweeney Todd forcefully drags the scene back on track. But then it derails again when Michael loses both his balloons and his wine bottle, the latter of which starts noisily rolling down the floor all the way to the front row. And by the time it stops, his balloons start popping, up against the hot lights. A baby starts crying at the noise. "Sounds like Cece," Pam says as the house lights come up, because every crying baby sounds like yours. But in this case, it's because the crying baby is hers; there's Erin, in the back of the house, with the baby wrapped in blankets. Jim and Pam get up and rush her out.
Andy excitedly THs, "That's really irresponsible of Erin. She's a terrible babysitter!"
After the ads, Jim and Pam both yell at Erin, and decline her kind offer to take Cece home so they can stay for the rest of the play. "We're never leaving the house again," Jim says as they head out. "Not together!" Pam agrees. Okay, so now which one of them is leaving the show?
During the curtain call, Andy beams at Erin in the back of the house, and Sweeney Todd gets a standing O. Stanley's pissed about having to get up, but Michael actually boos. So much for being the bigger man.
Outside, Angela and Dwight exchange reviews, she calling it "more horrifying than Nunsense" and he declaring, "All that singing got in the way of some perfectly good murders." Angela pulls a Dude, Where's My Car, pushing her boobs out as far as she can against her checked shirt, which Dwight doesn't fail to notice. "Come on," she says.
Michael's talking to Darryl in the lobby when Sweeney Todd comes out and says hi to Darryl, whose toilet he fixed. "This plumber has pipes," Darryl jokes, which coming from Michael would sound completely toolish. Michael echoes the compliment, and Sweeney Todd recognizes him as the guy who booed him. Michael claims lots of people booed him, but he wasn't one of them. "Get your eyes checked, chucklehead." Creed advises him, "Be cool. Michael. I saw this guy kill a bunch of people." I'm always happy for a Creed bit, but not one that contradicts the one. Once he moves on, Darryl takes Michael to task for booing him, and even boos him a couple of times so he knows how it feels. "I don't like that at all," Michael THs afterwards.
Andy's out of costume, and pretends to kill Erin onstage. She says she's glad they're hanging out again, and they switch places so she can kill him. Hasn't she already ripped his heart out enough?
Dwight has walked Angela to her car, and wants to do it right there. She makes like she's willing to let him off the hook, even offering to count this as one of the five times specified in her contract, but this is a hook that he suddenly doesn't want off of. So Angela reaches into his pocket and...punches his card. Unfortunately for Dwight, that's not a euphemism. He's more disappointed than he wants to let on.
Andy and Erin are sitting in what would have been her seats when she gets a cell phone cal from Gabe, wanting soup. She has to take off, leaving Andy disappointed all over again.
Jim is trying to settle Cece into her car seat without waking her up, which doesn't work. "It's like The Hurt Locker!" he whispers. Finally they agree that the night, while not a disaster, was weird, and decide to party with a gift bottle of Irish cream and orange juice. I wish that were a typo.
The rest of the staff finds Andy alone onstage, which Michael diagnoses as a case of post-show blues. "I get those every day after work," he commiserates. They try to cheer Andy up by saying he did a good job, Michael the most sincerely of all of them: "I booed someone tonight. I have no filter. And if I thought you were terrible I would have booed. And if I thought you had done a better job, I would be saying nicer things right now. But I thought you were exactly awesome. No better, no worse." Just when I think Michael said the exact right thing, Darryl outrights him by asking Andy for a song. The thing we know, Andy's oversinging "I Try" by Macy Gray while Darryl plays the piano. Dwight enters the auditorium alone, looking as sad as Andy did a few minutes ago. While the song continues, Jim and Pam toast each other with the orange sludge in the front seat of their car, violating both open container laws and those of good taste. Angela drives home alone, looking pretty pleased with herself. With everyone else (even Dwight) singing along, Andy and Darryl bring the song to a big finish. And I'm sure it's about to turn into an all-night singalong, but fortunately the episode ends there.
Well, not quite. The tag is -- what else? -- highlights from the teaser and first act of Michael's Law & Order audition, playing all the parts including the chung chung and the theme music. And yes, the director did try to stop him, but you can guess how successful that was.
Watch the episode below, discuss it in our forums, then see the staff's most roastable moments!
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M. Giant is a Minneapolis-based writer with a wife, a son, and a number of cats that seems to have settled at around two. Learn waaaay too much about him at Velcrometer, follow him on Twitter , or just e-mail him at m.giant[at]gmail.com.