Stage Fright

The phantom of the Taft-Hartley Theater is on the loose! When Barrett wins the lead in the school musical, a jealous Jay warns him he'll "rue the day" - and soon an eerie voice is croaking those very words from the rafters, scaring the whole cast into quitting. Emily and Matthew refuse to believe in ghosts and sneak inside to investigate, where a trapdoor tumble and a caped figure in a dressing room only deepen the mystery. Jay can't be the phantom... he was home answering his telephone when the voice spoke. The trail leads to a runaway parrot named Winnifred, a hidden microphone, and gloomy director Charlie Stolfitz, who confesses he staged the whole scare on film to prove how fast fear makes sensible people act foolish. The cast won't let a fake phantom stop them, and the show goes on to cheers.

Found on Cause and Effect Album 52 · 12 episodes

The run See every episode

1 of 3 0664 The Jubilee Singers When Olivia dismisses school as pointless, a portrait of Frederick Douglass introduces her to the students of a struggling university whose only hope may be the songs they carry.

2 of 3 0665 The Jubilee Singers A Fisk choir and their determined director set out on a perilous tour to sing their school out of debt, facing hostility and hardship at every stop.

3 of 3 0666 The Jubilee Singers With Fisk University on the brink of collapse, a weary group of student singers must decide whether to keep performing on a grueling tour that has cost them their health, their dignity, and nearly all hope.

1 of 2 0667 The Mystery of the Clock Tower When City Hall's computerized clock mysteriously keeps resetting itself to 11:45, Eugene's investigation uncovers black roses, a warning note, and a twenty-year-old secret someone in Odyssey has kept hidden.

2 of 2 0668 The Mystery of the Clock Tower When a mysterious countdown on Odyssey's clock tower grips the whole town, Whit and Eugene must untangle black roses, a buried family secret, and a trail of clues that all point somewhere a little too neatly.

0669 Wooton's Broken Pencil Show When Connie steps away from her Kids' Radio show to deal with a blaring car alarm, Wooton takes the microphone and improvises his way toward answering whether entertainment really needs a point.

0670 Stage Fright When an eerie voice haunts the theater during rehearsals for their middle school musical, Emily and Matthew must unmask the phantom before fear shuts down the show.

0671 Fast As I Can When Whit explains the spiritual discipline of fasting, the Whit's End gang each give up something they love for a week - and discover their sacrifices are far harder, and stranger, than expected.

0672 Opposite Day On school Spirit Week's Opposite Day, Olivia's game of doing everything backward lands her in a friendship she never meant to start - while Barrett discovers his five hundred online friends may not add up to much.

0673 The Owlnapping When the Odyssey Owls' beloved mascot vanishes before a critical stretch of games, team captain Ryan must decide whether to chase a ransom-demanding kidnapper or convince his superstitious teammates that their luck was never in a stuffed bird.

0674 Square One When Matthew is invited into a secret club of boys who take machines apart to see how they work, one broken promise puts his new friendships - and a rare pinball machine - on the line.

0675 A Thankstaking Story When an ice storm strands Whit and his friends at Whit's End on Thanksgiving, they pass the time by inventing a tale about villains scheming to steal the holiday from a cheerful town.

0676 An Agreeable Nanny A polished new babysitter seems to agree with everything the Parker kids want - which turns out to be exactly the problem.

Featured characters

Minor characters & crew 4 more roles

4 supporting roles

Rhonda Adelaide Barbara Niles Priscilla Peterson Gatlin Green Winnifred Actor Unknown Charlie Stolfitz Jess Harnell

Made by

Chris Anthony Host Kirby Atkins Writer Paul McCusker Writer Dave Arnold Director · Executive Producer Nathan Jones Sound Designer Bob Hoose Producer

The story

Read the full synopsis 2 min

Odyssey Middle School prepares a musical called The Minestrone Man. Barrett wins the leading role of trombone player Tony Anthony, while Emily and Matthew become stage managers. Jay, furious that he has not been cast, warns Barrett that he will “rue the day.”

At the Taft-Hartley Theater, Emily and Matthew help theatrical director Charlie Stolfitz store scenery from his disastrous production, The Pirates of Penance. Stolfitz had insisted on using a real parrot, which escaped during the final performance. The children then join rehearsal and hear an eerie voice repeat Jay's warning from somewhere above the stage.

Jay answers his home telephone while the voice is sounding, proving that he is not inside the theater. Stories spread about the phantom of Roosevelt Hartley, who died after the building opened. Barrett, Priscilla, the other performers, and even director Rhonda Adelaide become too frightened to rehearse. Emily dismisses the legend and enters the theater with Matthew to investigate.

Matthew falls through an open trapdoor into the storage area. A light beneath a dressing-room door leads them to Jay, who wears a dark cape and flees before they can catch him. Matthew is sure Jay is the phantom, but Emily knows he could not have produced the earlier voice while answering the telephone from home. She notices that Jay avoids the nearer trapdoor stairs while escaping, suggesting he does not know the theater's hidden routes.

Emily gathers the cast and reveals that Jay has been secretly rehearsing for the next production. Stolfitz encouraged him to prepare early and gave him a costume and access to the dressing room. Jay planned to outshine Barrett in the future, but he is not the phantom.

The supposed supernatural voice belongs to Stolfitz's lost parrot, Winnifred, who has been living in the theater rafters. Someone has taught her Jay's phrase and used a hidden wireless microphone to distort it. Emily identifies Stolfitz as the mastermind. He gave Jay access, knew the building, and had plenty of time to train the bird.

Stolfitz drops his gloomy theatrical manner and confesses that his entire year in Odyssey has been an experimental performance. His failed pirate show and the phantom scare were filmed to demonstrate how easily he could persuade sensible people to behave irrationally. He hopes the footage will win the attention of Broadway producers. Emily's trapdoor clue proves mistaken - Rhonda opened it - but her larger conclusion is correct.

The cast refuses to let fear end the musical. The show goes on successfully, with Barrett and Priscilla delighting the audience. Emily and Matthew solve another animal-related mystery and learn how quickly imagination can turn fear into foolishness.