Riverdale: "Archie the Musical" Preview Released

By Nicole Drum

The CW has released a preview for "Chapter One Hundred Thirty-One: Archie the Musical", the 14th episode of Riverdale's seventh and final season. The episode will air on Wednesday, July 5th. The episode will be the fan favorite series' musical episode for the season and will see Kevin write a musical about Archie, though from the looks of things in the preview, Archie might have some doubts about the situation once it gets fully underway. You can check it out for yourself in the video below and then read on for the episode synopsis.

"RIVERDALE HIGH PRESENTS "ARCHIE THE MUSICAL" — After Principal Featherhead (guest star William MacDonald) agrees to let Kevin (Casey Cott) present him with an original musical written by him and Clay (guest star Karl Walcott), Kevin learns the group might not be as into it as he had hoped.  Elsewhere, musical rehearsals prompt Archie (KJ Apa) to question what he wants in life, while Betty (Lili Reinhart) and Veronica (Camila Mendes) confront what's going on between them.  Cole Sprouse, Madelaine Petsch, Charles Melton, Vanessa Morgan, and Drew Ray Tanner also star.  Ronald Paul Richard directed the episode written by Tessa Leigh Williams."

"Archie the Musical" Will Have All Original Songs

In a departure from previous musical episodes, "Chapter One Hundred Thirty-One: Archie the Musical will feature original songs for the first time on the series. Previous musical episodes on Riverdale have featured music from Heathers: The Musical, Carrie: The Musical, and Hedwig and the Angry Inch among others.

Will There be a Season 8 of Riverdale?

While Riverdale has been a fan favorite series on The CW since its debut, Season 7 of the series will be its last. It was announced last year that the series would end after Season 7 and thus far, it's been a wild ride. The season has seen its core characters stuck in an alternative timeline in the 1950s, a setting that series showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa previously told ComicBook.com was a perfect place to go because of how closely tied that era is to the Archie comics characters.

"It is true, though the Archie started publishing much earlier than the 1950s, the decade that most people associate with Archie comics is the 1950s for whatever reason. The Archie comics, they're so nostalgic, and I think when people think of time periods, they think of the 1950. Through the lens of nostalgia. So that was one big thing," Aguirre-Sacasa said. "Absolutely. And even when we've done their iconic comic book costumes from the past, even though they were technically the 1940s, whenever anyone would write about it, they'd say, 'Oh my God, they're wearing their 1950s outfits.' So, it was sort of like, 'Okay, well, that is ... 'And even when we were pitching Riverdale, and this is true, when we were pitching Riverdale to try to do a TV show, the executives would say, 'Wait a minute, wait a minute. Is this a show set in the '50s?' And it's like, 'No, no, no, it's set in present day.'  So, there was that."

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He continued, "The other big thing that felt really resonant is the 1950s were when the modern idea of the teenager was born. Teenagers really didn't ... Teenagers as we know them, and as consumers of popular culture, as consumers of movies and television and comic books and things like that, that really ... The birth of the American of the modern American teenager was the 1950s as well. So, it felt like, "Oh, well that's Archie." I mean, that is Archie. So, it felt like this is the time period, this is actually the time period. So those were also things that kind of resonated with us and why we landed on this time period. Also later ... and the world is roiling later in the '60s with counterculture, with the civil rights movement, with the sort of a gay liberation movement and things like that. And it felt like in terms of our thematic, which is the wholesome sweet innocent facade, and then the darker, more dangerous, more fraught themes and issues bubbling underneath, it felt like the '50s sort of suited that to a T."

Riverdale airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on The CW. "Chapter One Hundred Thirty-One: Archie the Musical" airs July 5th.

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