| EXIT
MUSIC Music By James Merillat
Lyrics by Dick Pasqual
Synopsis:
PROLOGUE: March 1939
 The threat of war rumbles ominously in the background.
In a nightclub in Geneva, "George Banks And His Bombshells" are performing
onstage [The Perfect Mate For Me/Easy Target For Love]. During the number, George Banks is stricken. While the group
tries to finish the show, George collapses and is rushed to the hospital.
He hears the voices of those who love him and those he has loved [The
Attack]. When he awakens, he is in a hospice room in Switzerland [The Rest
Of My Life].
ACT ONE
 Mavis Edmond, the unofficial head of the Bombshells,
has been waiting to see George throughout the night. She tires to cheer him
up by showing him the beautiful view of the mountains outside his window. George
will have none of it.
 Mavis has brought some small gifts, including a
diary-"just to jot down a few thoughts about your life… and the girls." After
Mavis leaves, George begins to think back on the past, specifically how the
"Bombshells" came to be as the scene flashes back to 1935 [The Audition].
 We see the first rehearsal where George's guidance and caustic wit are
already beginning to shape and mold the act and the girls [Me And The
Girls]. This rehearsal sequence turns into a performance onstage. After
the number, Mavis takes her "turn" in the spotlight [Don't Write Any More
Songs].
 Back in the hospice, George is visited by the surgeon,
Doctor Pierre, who performed his operation.
 The doctor explains that George
has an aneurysm and must be watched carefully. George
breaks the doctor's icy persona a bit as he contemplates the secret life of
the nun in charge of the floor [Secrets]. Doctor
Pierre leaves a sedated George Banks to reflect on the one true love of his
life, Henry "Harry-boy" Brewer.
 The scene shifts back to 1936 and George and Harry's
first meeting in Regent's Park [Never Lonely]. They
move in together and Harry joins the act to operate the lights. During a
rehearsal there is a minor altercation between Harry and Bonny MacIntyre,
the youngest Bombshell. After the rehearsal ends, Harry tells George that
he should fire Bonny. George explains that three Bombshells aren't enough,
but maybe if Harry could be taught to sing and dance… [I'll Show You How].
The two of them tumble into the bed at the end of the number. When the
lights come up, George is back in the hospice bed alone. Mavis arrives and
tells George that Bonny has gone to visit her mother, and that Sally
Alexander, another Bombshell, may be pregnant. George unthinkingly tells
Mavis of the time during their tour when, in order to calm an angry ship's
captain (who discovered Sally in a lifeboat, naked with the helmsman),
George had slept with the captain. Mavis is silent, having always been in
love with George, harboring the hope that they would someday be married.
George explains kindly that while he loves Mavis, that's just not the way he
is. Mavis still holds out hope, reminding him of an earlier time when their
relationship was more intimate.
  In Venice, Fall 1937, Beryl Martin, the fourth
Bombshell is onstage performing [I'm In Demand]. Noise
from backstage almost ruins her big number. Bonny and Harry are fighting
again. George had asked Harry to put Bonny's Balloon Dance on earlier in
the line-up to cover for an absent Sally. Bonny refuses to go on, since she
believes her routine is the showstopper and should come at the end. Harry
insists and Bonny hits him in the head with her hairbrush. George tries to
patch things up, but it is too late. Harry has had enough. He walks out on
the show and on George.
 George's sorrow expresses itself as rage towards
Bonny and he paddles her with the brush. He turns to Mavis for comfort and
goes onstage to finish the show [Easy Target For Love, reprise].
Back in George's hotel room they discover that Sally
has just had an abortion. The group bands together against the harshness of
the world, and George sings the girls to sleep with a lullaby [Mezzanotte,
Mezzaluna]. With the girls asleep on his bed, Mavis
awkwardly invites George to share hers. He accepts and
exits to her room. She finishes singing "Mezzanotte, Mezzaluna" and enters
the room. The scene has changed and Mavis has entered the hospice room. The
room is illuminated by the moon through the window lighting up the
mountains. George lies unconscious in the bed.
ACT TWO
  1937. Bonny is onstage performing her strange and
haunting number [Balloon]. The
scene changes back to Mavis and George in the hospice room. George knows
Bonny has left because she can't face his death. Mavis insists he is
getting better and that all will be well by New Year's. George knows
better. In two separate scenes, Mavis and George recall other New Years.
December 31, 1937. Mavis had readied her dressing room
for a celebration with George. She is convinced that he is going to propose
and tells the girls of her plan [Time To Celebrate].
 George
enters the room glowing, with the news that Harry has returned. Mavis is
crushed, but George doesn't notice [I Meant To Be Beautiful].
December 31, 1938. George and Harry are in the small
apartment they share. Harry has made a mess while fixing his motorbike. He
is getting ready to go to a football match. They argue. George joins Harry
on the bike and they race to the match. There is an accident and Harry is killed. [Harry-boy].
In the hospice room, George and Mavis are talking.
Mavis had overheard Beryl and Sally talking and believes that Beryl's famous
sister, Sylvia may be willing to join the act. The thought lifts George's
spirits, although he believes the time for cabaret shows may be over in a
world on the brink of war. He reminds Mavis of their booking near Lake
Lugano that ended disastrously when no one came to see them [Where Do We
Play?]. Out of it they got a booking in Naples. On the train to Naples,
they rehearse a number George has just written [You'll Get A Boot].
 February 1939. Onstage in Naples, Sally performs a
number she's not even certain she understands to an audience that speaks no
English
 [A Virgin, A Villain, A Vamp].
Sally and Beryl visit George and it becomes apparent
that the conversation Mavis overheard was not about Sylvia Martin joining the
Bombshells, but about Sally and Beryl forming a "sister-act" and setting off
on their own.
 George realizes they will be able to take care of themselves
and they bid each other a tender farewell [To Say Goodbye].
 The next day, Doctor Pierre tries to find a way to tell
George that it is time to make final arrangements [Consultation]. In an
effort to keep the words from being spoken, George kisses the doctor on the
mouth. Although embarrassing, it is an intimate moment shared by both men.
Harry appears and
helps George understand that the definition of George's life doesn't end
with his death, but that "the energy keeps on going… moving from one heart
to another and another." George glances into the future. He sees glimpses
of the lives he has helped form.
 Realizing that when he stops "imagining
all of the worlds he's been creating in his mind," that's when people will
say that he is dead. George prepares his departure… but not without one
last trip through the make-believe. Dressed in a tuxedo, George leads the
cast in his "grand finale" [Dancing On Air].
DEMO CD available.
 All
clips are in
Microsoft Windows Media
format only. |
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