In Which We Attempt to Build a Foundation for a Musical
Today, we're going to do a thought experiment. We're going to break down a musical book. I have never broken a musical book before. I also do not know if this is even the correct terminology to be using with regards to musical theater, but this is the wording that I am going to use. I am also am not entirely convinced this is the correct methodology of coming up with a musical, but this is how we start anything, by using the language we are familiar with and we can learn the correct terminology later if we end up getting enough positive feedback.
So. Musical theater. This year we've seen a pop concert retelling of the wives of Henry the VI, a musical about corn that mostly about how ecological drift impacted a small town's livelihood and forced them to reconcile their stance on isolation, the Mean Girls stage adaptation (what the 2024 movie did to the source material is a travesty), a musical about complicated family dynamics, a Robin Hood retelling, a stageplay adaptation of a 1992 black comedy, and then also the first major arc of Sailor Moon in stage play. I like theater. I have exceedingly complicated feelings regarding Thoroughly Modern Millie, but I like theater and so I want to take a stab at… penning theater? I don't know how this is going to work, so we're going to do it together.
Musical's exist within an act structure, and the majority of musicals I've seen are either one or two acts, and for sake of things, let's just stick with the classical two act one.
Now, I have many ideas for a musical (my first one which I think is buried somewhere in a spare USB was “A Halfway House for Fictional Character” which was going to be about an Author named Arthur, but it definitely took several cues from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends), but the one we're breaking down today is an inkling I had back in 2023. So let's talk about “A Loosely Harrowing Cavalcade.”
The Large Hadron Collider in Europe is the largest particle accelerator in the world, used mainly in particle physics research. And if we're in the land of particle physics, we're in the land of quantum physics, which means we're in the land of alternate reality. And I think spurred by the constant barrage of headlines that seem farcical, I wanted to marry some goofy sci-fi tropes and some pop culture commentary.
Cast
(Two leads, one supporting, ensemble of indeterminate size)
Art - A down-on-their-luck journalist working at a Buzzfeed knock-off style site. Their listicles are the least clicked and at the start of the show, they are on the cusp of losing their job. Their music is more rock inspired. Their associated imagery is the spiral and their info conveying is live text editing.
Jules - A quantum physicist who has been working remotely with CERN on analyzing data from the Large Hadron Collider who lives across the hall from Art. Their music skews poppy. Lots of buttery imagery and graphs.
Scottie - Art’s courier roommate and also the narrator of this tale. They primarily communicate via dance and quick steps, and their imagery has a lot to do with branches and roads.
All character are as agnostic to any sort of demographic at the moment.
Premise
The inciting incident: Art accidentally intercepts a package for Jules that contains a tablet that is pulling headlines from an alternate reality. Thinking it's some sort of random text generator, they tinkers with it only to realize the true nature of the device and use it as the foundation for… I don't think this is strictly a story about satire. I think that's a part of it. I think it's about the audacity of the world. It's about escalation from what used to be normal. It's an inversion on the Back to the Future perspective. It’s a question: do we seek that heightened state? Can we appreciate what we have? Can we not be envious of a struggle? If things are going well, can we recognize how it could still be better?
So, how do we break that down into narrative...
Plot
We have Act 1 and Act 2.
Act 1
“It Could Always Be Worst (Somehow)” - Scottie introduce the principal characters, both down on their luck for different reasons. Art and Jules, neighbors by chance, friend by choice. A duet with a pep in the step. A wistfullness, a hopefullness.
“Another Mystical Listicle” - Featuring Art. About what happens when you try to write to manufacturing engagement. A plead to do more, but also needing to survive in the caplistic framework. A number of dissonance and juxtaposition.
“Butterflies” - Featuring Jules. This is a song about the titular Butterfly Effect, and also butterflies in the stomach, and also general uncertainty. About wanting a thing and spiraling out of control trying to figure out what that means practically. Bubbly and bubblegum. Analytic but overtly so. Perceptive to the point of tunnel visioned
“Metrics” - Scotties now accidentally instigates the rest of the story by racing to deliver their packages in a timely manner. This is ultimately a story about frameworks wrapping, so why not have a hectic crescendo. A race to the finish. A clock is ticking. A heart beating. An incessant movement, having to move and move and move.
“Just a Peak” - Art opens up the package and begins poking around the tablet. This is the ripped from the headlines. This is the “wow, this is something that just happened to us and it does sound utterly ridiculous in a different context. The song ends with Art trying to return the tablet, but Jules letting them keep it since they prefer their own laptop.
“Dead Folk on a Deadline” - We jump forward just a smidge. Art and Jules are independently working on their separate apartments trying to figure out their respective problems. Art needs to submit something. Jules needs to make sense of the assorted data that is constantly being funneled from the LHC data center. The two are frantic, and the two exhausted and manic and seek each other in a moment of confusion, ultimately ending with Art letting out her theory about the Tablet slip out
“Wobbly Windows” - Jules postulates about the nature of alternate realities and that this tablet is actually capable of looking at the world.
“Doom Scroll” - Gladys falls into despair about her employers have no interest in this alternate reality, since the reality is fucked and there is seemingly nothing to garner from it. Art is coasting on the momentum of using the tablet to get out a creative rut, at first just copying the headlines and then actually beginning to see the cause and effect.
Disco(rd) Dance Party - It's Scottie’s birthday, and in between all of the chaos of Jules having to travel back to Europe to deal with the implication of alternate realities and Art inspired again resulting in a weird asynchronous dance.
“It Could Always be Worse (Reprise I)” - Jules pleas to do something with this knowledge is brushed aside. Art'a editors begin to question the exact direction and that the trajectory may actually now that Art is trying to use the headline to bring attention to issues that aren't getting the same level of attention in this world due to the lack of the pandemic.
Act 2
“Who Said Print Media Was Dead” - Scottie serves as our narrator catching us up on what happened during the time skip of a few months. Both Art and Jules have moved on from their jobs and have found renewed purpose. Art continue to use the tablet to write a very popular newsletter and Jules has begun teaching, feeling a need to educate people. Scottie ends delivering a lot of physical books and contracts to both, although as it turns out Art and Jules haven't seen each other until…
“Huh, would you look at this” - Art and Jules finally get a chance to talk and catch up. Their attraction is rekindled.
“Imprisoned in a Prism” - The tablet's existence has been a kept secret from the general public and now it's time to come clean.
“Dead Folk on a Deadline (Reprise)” - The announcement, as unbelievable as it is.
“Trolls at the Gate” - Art's Marquis Song in the style of the mountain goats. Art's interview leads to an exponential increase of trolling, taunting her about making things up and overblowing the warnings about things coming down the proverbial pipeline.
“Permutation” - Gladys's Marquis song. This is the resignation about thinking everything's pretty much over, but at least there's a clean conscience.
“Integrity” - A duet about sticking to their connections and promising not to profit from any more from the tablet
“Doom Scrolling on a Wobbly Window (Reprise/remix)” - Montage about the world responding to the acceptance of alternate realities. Nothing really has change on the surface level, however, things do begin to galvanize in their communities.
“It Could Always Be Worse (Somehow [But this also means it can always get better] Reprise II, Medley) - Art and Jules continue worrying about the world, but vow to take it on the uncertainty together. Scottie is revealed to be a Multiversal traveler telling the tale of a Loosely Harrowing Cavalcade
General production notes
Set involves two apartments with a stair that can be emptied out to represent different rooms as needed. Multiple projectors are needed to display different information at different angles depending on the singer.
I am currently in the marketed for an additional lyricist and a composer and also maybe general encouragement to finish this thing.