Preview: Ranked at the Crest Theatre

Kyle Holmes is like a modern-day Nostradamus, but his predictions don’t take hundreds of years to come true or require hours of deciphering to make sense:

“Rich kids like you / Never have to pay their dues / Who needs to read textbooks / You’ve got daddy’s checkbook.”

Those are some of the lyrics of “Someone Always Bleeds” from Holmes’ musical Ranked, which he began writing in 2018. It was performed at Granite Bay High School in April, just as the national college admissions scandal was making headlines. Holmes, who heads the high school theater arts program, wrote the book and lyrics, while school musical director, David Taylor-Gomes, wrote the music.

Now, their play will be presented concert-style at the Crest Theatre—one night only on Saturday, June 8—with 28 of the original 35 cast members performing. The event will be filmed by the independent Break Thru Films company for a project that’s still in the planning stages, according to Holmes.

Ranked received immediate interest at its Granite Bay debut. More than 40 high schools have contacted the pair about the show. “We just got our first signed agreement from a school in the Bay Area to produce it in the fall,” Holmes added.

Holmes and Taylor-Gomes are also participating with award-winning director/choreographer Mindy Cooper at UC Davis’ Ground and Field Theater Festival this fall.

Holmes has one definite prediction for Granite Bay High School: Don’t expect a new musical from him next year.