Beach City or Bust

Beach City or Bust
Information
Name	Beach City Or Bust: The Tale of William Dewey
Participants	Steven Universe Jamie
Location	Beach City Stage
Attendees	Barbara Miller Sour Cream Bill Dewey Buck Dewey Peedee Fryman Ronaldo Fryman Lars Jenny Pizza Kiki Pizza Nanefua Pizza Pearl Sadie Miller Harold Smiley Suitcase Sam

Beach City or Bust: The Tale of William Dewey (also known as Beach City or Bust) is a play originally written by Mayor Dewey, and later revised by Pearl, in which William Dewey (portrayed by Steven Universe), the great-great-great-great-grandfather of Mayor Dewey, sets forth to explore unexplored land. The first performance was produced by Jamie, who portrays Buddy, Dewey's firstmate. It was first shown in "Historical Friction".

The play pays historical and political homage to the founding of Beach City and marks the acting debut of Jamie. It is also the first Beach City Theatre performance shown in the series.

The play is notable for its evaluation of Gem history and prompts the idea of Gems inhabiting the Beach City area as early as the nineteenth century.

Cast

The first production was prominently displayed in the episode "Historical Friction". The cast included:

• Jamie as Buddy
• Steven Universe as William Dewey
• Jamie as Pearl
• Jamie as Garnet
• Jamie as Amethyst (voiced, manipulated)
• Jamie as Obsidian (Rose fusion) (voice)

Reception

The play was warmly received by the audience, fourteen Beach City residents, laughing along at times and applauding, before joining in a "Mayor Dewey" chant once the play had ended. Mayor Bill Dewey himself was not fond of the changes made by Pearl to his script at first, particularly the portrayal of William Dewey, but by the end regarded it so highly (perhaps due to his political promotion within the play) as to appoint Jamie as Lead Director of Beach City Community Theater.

Cultural references

• The line "it is the east, and we are the Crystal Gems" is a reference to the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare.
• Buddy refers to Dewey as "O Captain! My Captain!", a nod to the Walt Whitman poem of the same name and perhaps to its well-known quotation in the 1989 film Dead Poets Society.