The Street Piano Kid

It’s mid-August...and a new school year kicks in for 15-year-old LORELEI BERMUDEZ, a sophomore at Western High School in America’s most exciting city: Las Vegas, Nevada.

Lorelei’s a bold, intuitive teen known for her no-boundaries imagination...a worry to her tough, no-nonsense mother MARISOL, the strength-and-conditioning coach for the football team at UNLV.

Ten years after hearing Lorelei’s story of a monster that “followed us all the way from Los Angeles to Las Vegas,” Marisol warns her oldest daughter: “Come home smarter than you were this morning.”

This morning, Lorelei and FELLOW STUDENTS in World History class receive an extra-credit assignment from teacher LARRY DORISH: “Bring some world culture to the Las Vegas community.”

Lorelei’s project takes not just a page, but a whole book, from noted British artist Luke Jerram: “Let’s bring street pianos to Vegas.”

Her offer to create a Sin City version of Luke’s famous “Play Me, I’m Yours” popup-piano exhibit not only stuns the otherwise-motivational, gung-ho Larry...it meets with jeers from those classmates. On top of that, her idea brings skepticism to her confident sister ELVIRA and her searching brother ALBERT...to say nothing of her dogged, low-key father CESAR and Marisol.

Still, Lorelei adopts Luke’s test solution for ending Vegas’ record as the nation’s only Top 25 city to resist placing those colorfully-painted outdoor pianos in the streets: Stick one inside the Decatur Boulevard Laundromat, the Bermudezes’ favorite washday spot.

It’s all in the name of getting folks to interact with each other in what convenience-store manager Cesar likes to call “a city of professional entertainers.”

The family lands a 1950s spinet piano and places it in the laundromat...an act that incenses grumpy, hockey-loving custodian RAMONA SEGUI. Once her bosses JORGE and ROBERTO CASTANEDA overrule Ramona, the laundromat spinet becomes a boon for BOBBY COTTON and SONNY WEBSTER, a bumbling dueling-piano act thrown together to spell famed duo-pianists Kim and Tamara Pinegar...twin sisters off from their spot at Harrah’s to take their act on the road.

While Sonny and Bobby take to what eventually becomes a graffiti-laden eyesore, Lorelei receives a phone call from CHERYL HERCHMAN, the wisecracking president of the Clark County Artists Guild. Cheryl meets with the Five Bermudezes...and all sides agree to place twenty-five pianos in the Las Vegas area instead of the one hundred twenty-seven Lorelei sought.

Unlike the laundromat piano, all the outdoor eighty-eights actually do bring people together.

Once “Make a Play” launches on the second Saturday in April, Lorelei and Co. go on to meet a lot of interesting people: JULIETTE WYMAN, a stylish-yet-punk-rocker-minded Briton responsible for some previous “Play Me, I’m Yours” installations...GERALDINE PAUL, Sin City’s laid-back mayor...two piano-lounge performers in glib, elderly BUCKY HARRIS and optimistic, young MARKUS STUBBS...bubbly DONNA MAE RAWLINGS, an 11-year-old who loves to dress up to play any street piano she encounters...and eccentric TRISTAN MURPHY, known for sticking his bike atop a piano’s keys.

And then there’s Donna Mae’s jovial, colorful mom ELLY MAY, the marketing director for basketball’s Las Vegas Aces.

From the “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada” sign to the unique Downtown Container Park to the Neon Museum, the city “too cool for street pianos” wholeheartedly takes to the outdoor ivories...when a drive-by shooting in front of Allegiant Stadium claims the lives of Bobby, wife MERRILLEE, Sonny, and FOUR OTHER SPECTATORS.

A devastated Lorelei and her fellow family members learn that a beat-up, bright red 2002 Ford Explorer was the vehicle involved in the massacre. She, Juliette, and Cheryl become livid when they find out Geraldine broke a CITY COUNCIL tie...to yank the “Make a Play” pianos off Las Vegas’ streets.

Result: Acts of civil disobedience by pianists of all skill levels break out all over Sin City...resulting in mass arrests galore.

Bucky, Cheryl, Juliette, Markus, all five Bermudezes, and both Rawlingses not only end up among the handcuffed...they’re also among those named as suspects in the Allegiant killings. Even a newly-chagrined Geraldine ends up in handcuffs, too...and in the lineup as well. But soon, all are cleared.

The suburbs of Henderson and North Las Vegas resist the urge to take their pianos down. After all: “Whatever happens in Vegas...”

During a visit to a NLV popup-piano location, Geraldine decides to put the outdoor instruments back on her city’s own streets...and the smiles come back on people’s faces in Raider Nation.

Fellow Western High student BRANDON WIMBISH, a cousin to Merrillee and Bobby, doesn’t smile, though. He confronts Lorelei after her class: “If you hadn’t come up with those damn street pianos, my cousins would still be alive today!”

So Lorelei turns sleuth...and Cesar, Marisol, Elvira, Albert, and piano-playing showgirl FELICITY KELLY help. A stakeout at the suspect’s house fails...but they find the killer at “Make a Play’s” finale at Downtown Container Park: An armed Ramona...the owner of that beat-up Explorer.

Ramona’s excuse upon her arrest: “I sucked at piano.”

Once the smoke clears, Larry announces that Lorelei’s project nets her an A...and moves Geraldine to extend it beyond the original six-week period.

You talk about coming home smarter!