#Tommy htdio

[thesquirrelqueer]

it would be impossible to do a show without swings, so much love to the amazing swings of how to dance in ohio!

#htdio #how to dance in ohio #drew htdio #caroline htdio #remy htdio #tommy htdio #mel htdio #collin hancock #ayanna nicole thomas #jean christian barry #hunter hollingsworth #marina jansen #thesquirrelqueer art #musicals #broadway #art #fanart #digital art #swings

[ashleywool]

Possible fanfiction prompt:

A reboot of Gilligan's Island, but the seven castaways are the Spectrum Club 7 from How to Dance in Ohio.

Gilligan = Tommy (friendly, means well, tries hard, but kind of chaotic and likely to ruin things, usually seen in red)

Skipper = Drew (charismatic, good leader, but knows how to delegate when necessary, usually seen in blue, also I just like the idea of him clonking Tommy on the head a lot)

Professor = Marideth (more intellectual than emotional, has a vast knowledge of facts about pretty much everything, most likely to figure out how to do anything...except fix the boat)

Thurston Howell III = Remy (highly influential and well-connected, could be morally corrupt but chooses not to be, the most likely to pack an absurd amount of "necessary" possessions to keep with them on a three-hour tour)

Eunice Howell = Mel (stronger than they seem, wiser than you expect, protective maternal energy, also I just like the idea of Mel and Remy being married because probably what happened is Remy got rich and famous from influencer income and married Mel so that they could afford to leave Paws & Claws and have a better life with adequate healthcare and that's the wholesome queer aro/ace love story we deserve)

Ginger Grant = Jessica (is a star, knows she's a star, knows that you know she's a star, acts accordingly)

Mary Ann = Caroline (sweet, wholesome, has a toxic ex, bffs with Jessica, and people totally like her better than Jessica, but don't tell Jessica)

cc: @traderjoesfan2008 @indigogirl420 @wakanda-never

#how to dance in ohio #broadway #htdio #spectrum club 7 #musical theatre #actually autistic #htdio musical #jessica htdio #drew htdio #remy htdio #caroline htdio #marideth htdio #mel htdio #tommy htdio #gilligan's island

[sunbearscreaming]

Get off the road. Get off the road immediately.

Tommy took me a while to draw because truly my ambitions are not in tune with my abilities. Also I hate to say it (I don’t but I’m going to pretend that I do for a second) but I have given Tommy the fluffiest form out of all the htdio werewolf designs because I love Conor Tague’s fluffy curls in the promo images. I am also biased because I have a very similar hairstyle and my hair is fluffy as fuck. I would say that Tommy is definitely the most Dog of the crew.

#autistic artist #how to dance in ohio #werewolf #how to dance in ohio musical #htdio #broadway #sketch #actually autistic #Tommy htdio #licensed driver getting the fuck off the road when I see a Chevy Silverado

[thetisming]

i'm gonna learn to drive specifically so i can get a Chevy Silverado and then listen to all the songs where Tommy sings about driving while i drive

#chevy silverado #that song will be looping for 3 bajillion years #htdio #how to dance in ohio #tommy htdio

[azrantimes]

I saw htdio Saturday, and Kimberly Akimbo yesterday night and I have thoughts (I'm probably gonna make separate blogs to talk about both shows later) so this is for a small subset of people that love them both.

Tommy is the brother who crashed Seth's family car, and Seth is Tommy's brother whos car he wants to drive.

#Look I know this is very unlogical #but when Seth mentioned how his brother crashed their car i could only think of Tommy #lets ignore that they're in different states #different time periods #the ages don't match up #and Tommy isnt the bad kid Seth's brother is #nor does Seth match Tommy's brother's description (and let's be real #hes not allisitic) #but its just a funny thought I had lol #how to dance in ohio #htdio #kimberly akimbo #Tommy htdio #Seth idk

[jewish-fanboy]

something i really really love about htdio is how the members of spectrum club 7 cope with thoughts/feelings/situations with their special interests cuz hey i do that too! and i feel like it reflects a part of the autistic experience that is ignored a lot

marideth (my favorite!!) deals with the questions from her dad that she doesn’t want to answer about the dance and the uncomfortable situation in the diner by reciting facts about australia (leading into the song unlikely animals). she also thinks about her feelings for drew through the lens of continents and geography (in the song drift) which makes it easier for her to deal with. AND the way that she ends up talking to drew about her feelings for him is also through facts, when she talks about the history behind formal dances

caroline thinks a lot about her relationship with her boyfriend in terms of her interest in royalty and historical figures (like how all the costumes in the song slow dance are very historical)

jessica plans her conversations with tommy to be about dragons, instead of directly having to talk about her feelings, and she spends a lot of time thinking about dragons and fantasy (“don’t get me started on dragons,” and the way she gets a sword as her prize for being the intergalactic superhero of the formal)

drew talks about his feelings about change and marideth and social situations through the lens of engineering (in the song waves and wires) and especially his thoughts about emotions (“light is made of waves, sound is made of waves, feelings come in waves)”

remy talks a lot about their feelings about identity through his cosplays (especially in the song nothing at all) and how they express all the different facets of their identity and feelings as other people (“when i am sherlock the world makes perfect sense”)

tommy talks about independence and what he wants through his focus on driving (in the song chevy silverado)

mel uses their interest in reptiles to get a promotion in their job and their interest in quotes and literature to make friends (during their conversations with ashley)

i just think it’s really cool to see this kind of thing represented!!

#htdio #how to dance in ohio #spectrum club 7 #marideth htdio #remy htdio #jessica htdio

[amazingabby300]

Htdio thoughts part 3:

Tommy and Drew are actually good friends their dads will watch football together and have a barbecue in the fall.

Jessica and Caroline will do that high pitch scream whenever they hear gossip or just overall good news.

Mel and Meredith geek overall the reptiles at Mel’s work. Paul isn’t happy.

Rick Jenkins, Hawkins, and Kurt are all put in a room together to think about their own actions. (They are played by the same guy this would be funny. A Jekyll and Hyde moment)

Tommy gets Drew into Pokémon because of the electric Pokémon. Drew falls in love with Pikachu

Remy does Inktober but for cosplay.

#how to dance in ohio #htdio #broadway #actually autistic

[backstage-autorin]

I can't stop thinking about the HTDIO scene where the characters read the blog post

Content note: the quotes from the blog post will have ableism in them, which is called out in the context of the show but may not be what people want to see on their tumblr feeds.

I've seen the show twice, once in early January and again at the closing performance, so I didn't pick up on everything (unfortunately I forgot what Tommy's line was and until my 2nd time seeing it I misremembered which character had a specific line.) The first time I saw it I felt the breath get sucked out of the room at the opening line that Dr. Amigo read; I didn't get quite the same feeling the 2nd time but I saw it but I feel like the closing show was more fans seeing it one last time/who had seen it already and had somewhat braced themselves for the scene. (That being said, the 2nd audience cheered more when Remy's livestream included the phrase "Nothing about us without us, while I heard less of a reaction from the audience my 1st time).

But one thing that stands out to me about that scene is how the lines are perfectly crafted to tie into the characters' storylines and hurt each character individually.

To break it down by character with the caveat that the quotes are gonna be incomplete paraphrases(in alphabetical order except for Drew because I remember his line being last in the scene):

Caroline: "most will never marry or have children" (a few scenes ago she was singing about hanging family pictures down the hallway with Jay) (when I first saw the show I thought this was Marideth's line, tying into her conversation with her dad about dressing like Santa for her hypothetical future children)

Jessica: "most may never be able to live on their own" (throughout the show she has been working on trying to move out of her mother's house by learning life skills like cooking and the fact that her crush on Tommy is partly due to her search for a boyfriend who can drive so she no longer has to use unreliable government transport)

Marideth: "the nightclub is full of loud noises that can cause meltdowns and tantrums" (Marideth's sensory issues are prominent throughout the show--her opening line is an opinion of the scent of soap, she hates zippers that touch her skin [at least that's my interpretation of hoodie zippers being ok when dress zippers are bad] and the loud sounds in the diner stress her out. However, we also see that she has strategies to deal with unpleasant sensory input, like noise-canceling headphones)

Mel: "kings and queens for one night" (erases their existence as a nonbinary person)

Drew: "when you think you can't do something, think of the young boy with autism asking a girl to dance" (not gonna lie I also saved this one for last because there's so much to unpack. Given the fact that Drew is a high school senior, "young boy" is pure infantilization. At the end of Act 1, we see him want to ask Marideth to the dance but end up asking her if she wants to borrow his book about Pangea instead. In the long run this works because the book helps Marideth process her feelings for Drew, but in the short run the article line looks like it was written to taunt Drew for chickening out at the last second. This line in the article also ties back into the beginning of the song under control, when Drew contemplates his life thus far and the pressure he feels to "be the poster child for if he can then you can")

I just feel like the way the lines are individually crafted to each character's storyline needs to be talked about. Also if anyone can remember what Tommy's line was (with or without a connection to his storyline) that would be appreciated.

#how to dance in ohio #htdio #htdio musical #actually neurodiverse #actually autistic #ableism #scriptwriting #musical theatre #broadway #fan theory

[mysweetoddbird]

tommy htdio is aro. to me

#diarytag #how to dance in ohio #htdio

[thesquirrelqueer]

What is HTDIO?

How to Dance in Ohio or HTDIO is a musical about 7 autistic young adults in a counseling group getting ready for a spring formal. All 7 of them are played by autistic actors. It is based off of a documentary of the same name. The show focuses on the relationships between characters as they prepare for the formal as well as face some of their biggest social fears.

The show had a short run at Syracuse Stage back in 2022 and started previews on Broadway on November 15th, 2023. It is set to officially open at the Belasco Theatre on December 10th, 2023.

Who are the characters?

Remy (played by Desmond Edwards) - The youngest of the group, a genderqueer cosplayer with a budding TikTok channel and a love of fashion. 16, any pronouns.

Caroline (played by Amelia Fei) - A bubbly college freshman who is just getting into her first real relationship. Best friend of Jessica. 19, she/her.

Marideth (played by Madison Kopec) - The newest member to the group, very shy but loves geography and Australia. Oh and just like fun facts in general. 18, she/her.

Drew (played by Liam Pearce) - A senior in high school preparing for college. Loves electricity and electrical grids. 18, he/him.

Tommy (played by Conor Tague) - The "class clown" of the group. Uses humor to cope with being self-conscious. Wants to get his drivers license. 22, he/him.

Jessica (played by Ashley Wool) - The confident best friend of Caroline. Loves fantasy stories, especially ones with dragons in them. 20, she/her.

Mel (played by Imani Russell) - The oldest of the group and the one who has been there the longest. Works at a local pet shop and loves reptiles and self-help books. 24, they/them.

Dr. Emilio Amigo (played by Caesar Samayoa) - The therapist in charge of the group, trying his best to get his clients to break out of their shells. he/him

Ashley Amigo (played by Cristina Sastre) - Dr. Amigo's daughter. Used to be a dancer but due to an injury is back in Ohio helping out with the group. she/her

Johanna (played by Darlesia Cearcy) - Caroline's mother. she/her

Terry (played by Haven Burton) - Jessica's mother. she/her

Where can I listen to/watch it?

Currently there are no video recordings of the show available (yet), but they did release an EP with 4 of the songs on it on Spotify which you can check out here

#htdio #how to dance in ohio #broadway #musicals #shut up dani #spectrum club 7 #remy htdio #Caroline htdio #Marideth htdio #drew htdio #Tommy htdio #Jessica htdio #mel htdio

[thesquirrelqueer]

one thing I love about the article in htdio is how each character reads the part that specifically hurts them the most

- jessica wants to move out of her parents house and live on her own. she reads “indeed they are unlikely to experience most of life’s many milestones like living independently” throughout the show jessica is shown to be preparing to live alone and the article implies that all her hard work is for nothing because she won’t be able to do it.

- caroline daydreams about getting married some day and having a family. adding on to jessica’s phrase she reads “or getting married and having children” caroline is a romantic, marriage is very much something she looks forward to doing. in saying that autistic people can’t get married or have children, it in a sense views us as kids who are never allowed to grow up, even if we want to.

- tommy is a character who lives in the shadow of his allistic younger brother. even as an older sibling, he still sometimes feels younger due to how autistic people are infantilized. he reads “this generous doctor has given his differently abled patients the next best thing: a spring formal” referring to jessica and caroline’s lines about autistic people not being able to grow up like “normal” people so in lieu of that they get to have a formal instead.

- mel is someone who knows who they are and their non binary identity is very important to them. they read “for one evening they will be transformed into kings and queens. for one evening they will be celebrated” mel has expressed many times in the show their discomfort with cisnormativity and heteronormativity with the formal so the article leaning into these gendered categories hits hard.

- marideth is shown to deal with a lot of sensory issues, especially with sounds. she reads “they will also face their worst fears: a nightclub full of lights and sounds that could trigger tantrums, meltdowns, or worse” it also feeds into the stereotype that all autistic people do are have tantrums and meltdowns. while these things do happen to autistic people, it’s very dehumanizing to imply.

- drew, who doesn’t want to “be the poster child for if he can then you can” reads “so when you’re feeling nervous about that tough conversation at work think of the brave boy with autism asking the girl he likes to the dance” it’s also interesting that drew has been struggling for a lot of the show to ask out marideth, so this line is an even bigger slap in the face to him.

- remy is an interesting case. he reads “these inspiring kids may be terminally human but thanks to dr. amigo they won’t let their special needs stop them. if they can do it, what’s your excuse?” remy actually gets a song in response to the article called “nothing at all” in which they talk about things such as “nothing about us without us” and how he is so much more than his disability. it’s also important to note that remy is the only character under the age of 18, so having them read the section calling the group “kids” is especially poignant.

#htdio #how to dance in ohio #musicals #broadway #shut up dani #jessica htdio #remy htdio #caroline htdio #drew htdio #tommy htdio #mel htdio #marideth htdio #htdio spoilers #this accidentally turned into an essay sorry not sorry #long post #media analysis

[thesquirrelqueer]

i’ve learned that if i raise my eyebrows like this, i look interested! whether i actually am or not…

#htdio #how to dance in ohio #tommy htdio #thesquirrelqueer art #musicals #broadway #art #fanart #digital art

[thesquirrelqueer]

the rest of the spectrum club seven: *singing about the person they like*

tommy: i want to curl up and diiiiie

#htdio #how to dance in ohio #musicals #broadway #shut up dani #tommy htdio #spectrum club 7 #death mention