Ed Helms has kind of gone back and forth on the show, trying to find where he fits in. He’s gone from the angry guy, to the preppy guy, to Dwight’s romantic rival, and nothing’s ever quite stuck, save for his singing, which has been the basis for some good jokes (his a cappella group Here Comes Treble is a personal favorite), but it’s a trait, not a character.
But it’s still his most defining characteristic, and “Andy’s Play” runs with it by casting him in a local production of Sweeney Todd to flaunt his vocal chords and impress Erin, who’s moved on from him to office drone Gabe. (I hope wherever Andy ends up it’s not as the new pre-Jam Jim.)
Andy invites the rest of the office to the production with a showstopper featuring him and several other players (in a surprisingly plot-relevant cold open), but each of them stumbles to think of an excuse not to attend—Jim and Pam because they can’t find a sitter and Michael because he also tried out for the production and just now realized that’s he’s not the lead (or even in the play).
But the rest of the gang just up and decides to go anyway (not sure where that came from). However, Andy’s original plans are dashed when Jim and Pam explain that their last-minute babysitter was, in fact, Erin.
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