On knowing there's worse out there

So I was hanging out with Rick last night at the Bread Factory, and in between Boston clam chowder and cheesecake we came up with a terrific idea:

Dante's Inferno, the Musical. With such memorable musical numbers as, "Oh My God, I'm on Fire," "The Cerberus Shuffle," and "Song of the Flatterers." We're thinking that if it has a high enough budget, we could have a big bronze Satan at the end rise out of his ground, flapping his wings and chewing on the three sinners (with understudies playing the roles of Judas, Brutus, and Cassius). We'll crank the AC really high to simulate the chilling effect of being at the farthest possible point from the Grace of God, and use nifty immersion techniques like a chorus to do the moans of the damned. It'd be so terrific!

On a slightly more serious note, I actually did briefly contemplate the logistics of a musical about a high school drama class that attempts to put on "Dante's Inferno, the Musical" using a shoestring budget. There's nothing very solid, but I decided that they'd have freshmen carrying signs like, "Canto II: The Lustful" across the stage to indicate where Dante and Virgil have ended up. If I'd actually experienced what it was like being in high school drama, I could probably make this idea considerably more successful than anything I could produce at the moment. Oh, and if I could compose. That would probably help.