CAPTURED

(Story, music, and lyrics by Gregory L. Garrett)

Treatment

Contact Information: Gregory L. Garrett,

1700 Airline Hwy, PMB 289, Hollister, CA, 95023

Writers Guild of America Registration Number: 1472789

Logline: CAPTURED is a combination character and action driven musical comedy about how the lust for power, be it political, ideological, conventional, or romantic, runs, head long, against the struggle for certain treasured ideals of freedom.

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CapturedSynopsis

Thady Finn and Caer Blight mirror each other in patterns of seductive lust and the thirst for power and stature. This is a primary motif, underlying the entire musical.

Caer Blight, a handsomely seductive and deceptive tyrant, has risen to power through propaganda and terror. The Elders have foreseen the never ending cyclical rise and fall of tyranny and have fashioned an enchanted fife and a collection of Tears of Innocent Elvin Children to defend against the next tyrannical cycle, which would be led by Caer Blight. In addition, they foresaw of the birth of the one who was honest and innocent enough to take the journey with the enchanted fife to The Citadel of The One Truth, and marry it with The Tears, thereby, preserving both Old and New LockLeven for 1,000 years more, unto harmony and peace. That one, Thady Finn Brandywine, accompanied with two friends, Mythrauch and Branwen, take the journey that the Elders inspired, and with the aid of Elthlion, the Blue Wizard, and Princess Etain, Caer Blight’s beautiful and sorrowful prisoner wife, are able to achieve their mission and restore both Old and New Lockleven to peace and balanced harmony. Along their journey, the three travelers encounter various teachers, a spider, a dragon, and a siren, who teach them about the corrupt nature of Caer Blight’s influence. In the end, Thady is changed from desiring power and stature to capture the lass of his heart’s desire, Branshee White, to a more humble and provincial lad who has won the affections of Princess Etain by virtue of his innocence and integrity, instead of chivalrous deeds done for power and stature. Thady marries Etain after both Lockleven worlds are healed by Thady’s success, and they bear a child, Owen, who begins the same cycle of seduction and potential tyranny that we saw in the opening scene with Caer Blight and Thady Finn. Ultimately, it is clear, as the Elders knew, the cycles of peace leap oscillate with the cycles of tyrannical corruption.

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TreatmentAct I

The scene opens 2000 years ago, in the Old World of Lockleven, in a rather ominous, Alchemical Scientist’s Chamber, filled with cauldrons, vessels, beakers, weights, and measures. A simple dark figure, Caer Blight, surrounded by dark cloaked Alchemical Scientists, begins singing about his authority as The Chosen One, comforter to all who thirst for truth and harmony. His song is, “I’m the One,” and the scene is riotously cabaret-ish.

Quickly, a scene opens nearby, revealing a young, handsome Caer Blight spying on the young, beautiful Etain, while holding a bouquet of flowers. Just then, yet another suitor approaches Etain with a bouquet of flowers and Blight intercepts him, stabbing him in the heart with his carving knife. Instead of recoiling back in shock, Etain runs to Blight and hugs him, grateful for protecting her.

From here, like a scene within a scene within a scene, another scene opens up with an even younger Etain being accosted by a young boy, and in turn, her father violently pushes the boy away to protect his daughter. Etain then rushes to her father, grateful for his protection…

These consecutive Chinese box within a box scenes now close, leaving only the original scene of Caer Blight in The Alchemical Chamber remaining. Blight sings more about his authority as the One and The Alchemical Scientists join him in his self-exaltation.

The next scene opens up in the idyllic pastoral village of New Lockeleven, 2000 years in the future from the opening scene. Cardewec, The Miller, and his son, Thady Finn, are arguing in the mill because Thady Finn was late again for work because he was daydreaming his morning away, according to his father. Thady protests and says that he had seen a “wise, but stern” menacing face in the reflection of the pond outside. His father lectures him on the dangers of daydreaming and of the importance of working hard to acquire power and stature to win himself a bonny lass for a wife. Thady confesses to be failing at wining the affections of Branshee White, the bonny lass of his heart’s desire, and that he doesn’t want the same provincial life that his father wants for him, but rather, he wants to travel beyond the boundaries of New Lockleven and see what more life has to offer. Next, Mythrauch and then Branwen, friends of Thady’s, intrude into the mill, and all three express how they are bored of their provincial life. At this point, Thady sings, in concert with Mythrauch and Branwen, Thady’s defining song, “The Truth Inside.”

Now, as that song ends, the next scene opens up at the Citadel of the One Truth, 2300 years ago, in the Old World of Lockleven. The stark grayish-blue atmosphere of Old World LockLeven makes a sharp contrast to the much more bright and vivid hues of the far-in-the-future New Lockleven. Caer Blight and his wife, Princess Etain, are arguing violently. Blight sadistically impresses upon Etain the need for her to obey him and continue to act in her administrative capacity as commander of sentries to fight The Resistance. Blight’s sadism culminates in his holding his sword to her throat as a reminder of the fate which shall befall her should she disobey. He lectures her on statecraft and freedom, but she only replies with disgust to his tyrannical philosophies.

Then, Prince Eldomere enters to report to Blight on the war against The Resistance. It is obvious that Prince Eldomere has lustful affection for the princess, and Blight comments upon this after the prince leaves.

From here, Princess Etain sings her defining song, “Tears of Innocence.” The song reveals Etain’s internal struggle between sending men to die for Blight, at the threat of death, and her

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hate toward herself for not choosing death at disobeying Blight’s command, instead. The extent of her self-loathing is the measure of her innocence amidst such bloodshed, for she executes deeds, at sword-point, more or less, that she would never choose otherwise.

After she sings this song, Etain picks up a picture from her nightstand of Caer Blight and herself, which exhibits when they got married and were “in love,” and sings, “Drawn By The Mysterious.” This song illustrates Etain’s deep, dark attraction to Blight’s sadistic persona, rooted in the paternal similarities between her father and Blight, and her confusion between violent protection and violent sadism.

Evolving from that scene, a split scene opens up with Blight in his bedchamber and Princess Etain in hers. From these separate chambers, they sing the Gothic love duet, “Apart.” This song illuminates the deep, yet perversely twisted love that they shared when they first met. In these two last songs, it becomes clear that they share a very deep, dark connection, even if it is a dangerously abusive one.

As the song ends and the scene closes, we see a scene open up, 2000 years in the future to New LockLeven, where Thady Finn is hiding behind a tree, spying on Branshee White, the lass of his heart’s desire, as she, whimsically, collects Wild Bluebells from the country hillside, near The Mill. Thady had a bouquet of flowers in his hand, just as we had seen with Caer Blight in the opening scene work. Soon, a wandering minstrel (the River Raven Tavern Bard, in fact) arrives on the scene to sing, “The Bonniest Lass Among Lasses” to reflect Thady’s infatuation with Branshee. Thady and Branshee remain unaware of the minstrel as he sings, invisible to onstage characters, but evident to the audience, of course.

As the wandering minstrel finishes his song, he departs, and Thady begins to sing the song exhibiting his feelings for Branshee, “When I’m With You.” Before he sings, however, some discourse between Thady and and Branshee reveals that Branshee could never love Thady because he is but a poor peasant, and only somebody with stature and power could win her heart. A miller’s son won’t do. The scene ends with Thady vowing to show Branshee that he is much more than she thinks “…some day…”

The next scene opens in Thady’s bedroom at night. The Blue Wizard, Elthlion visits him in a dream and explains to him that he must go on an adventure to save both Old and New Lockleven, and that it requires Thady to journey through The Portal, back 2000 years, to Old World Lockleven, and marry an enchanted fife with the Tears of Innocent Elvin Children. Thady refuses the call and is visited by an Elvin Priestess who sings a song of persuasion called, “And Not To Know.” It is in this scene that Elthlion gives Thady the fife that he will journey with, with the gorgeous fife theme accompanying the passing of the fife from wizard to protagonist. Thady also learns various particulars about his quest from Elthlion, including the name of the dark master, Caer Blight, and that he must decide quickly about his decision to accept or refuse the call to adventure. For soon, things will change, even in the womb-like New Lockleven, for the worse. After the Elvin Priestess sings her song, the next scene opens up in The New Lockleven Marketplace, with every kind of occupation, including a priest, politician, flower maiden, mason, etc... singing in sequence, as well as chorus, about their indigenous policy “to agree to disagree,” when arguing. It is a bright and up tempo number, imbued with life, humor, and insights about a world, not yet heavily corrupted by Caer Blight’s insidiously tyrannical influence.

As that scene closes, we begin a scene at the River Raven Tavern with a drinking song waltz, followed by a particularly ominous song by The Bard. An aura of mystery is prevalent as well as dreamy, intoxicated wildness amongst the tavern customers. In this scene, Mythrauch conveys to

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her friends a chilling legend that she read the night before about a dark master named, Caer Blight. Next, a comic scene in the tavern with the tavern wenches, Marge and Tina, ensues, evocative of the Wizard of Oz’s “Poppy Fields”, or the ancient mythological Lotus Eaters, for its emphasis on quest derailing intoxication. The scene ends with The Dire Locken Sentries arriving at the River Raven Tavern, causing Thady, Mythrauch, and Branwen, to ultimately, “flee to The Portal.” With the DireLocken Sentries in hot pursuit of the adventure clan the scene shifts to the front of Allen’s house, where Allen is explaining to Mythrauch that he needs a lass to be subservient to his will, resulting in Mythrauch’s disgust of him. Branshee then arrives on the scene, and it becomes clear that Allen is two-timing. The scene is comically volatile, and culminates in Mythrauch singing her defining song, “A Love That is Free.”

Immediately, as Mythrauch finishes her song, we begin the song which defines Caer Blight’s influence upon New Lockleven entitled, “We Disagree to Disagree.” The song, “We Agree to Disagree,” employs a full cast of marketplace characters, but with more grey-ish blues in costume and set than in the opening New LockLeven Market Place scene. Obviously, disagreements, now, will not be tolerated, and often lead to violent opposition, owing to Blight’s tyrannical nature infiltrating their idyllic village.

Finally, as the preceding scene ends, we rejoin Thady, Mythrauch, and Branwen after they have converged at The Portal, just beyond the River Raven Tavern woods. They pass through the Portal with The DireLocken Sentries on their heels, close behind, and just in the nick of time, pass through it as it closes behind them, transporting them 2000 years into the past to Old World Lockleven. Elthlion greets them on the other side in Old World Lockleven, and provides them more information about their journey, including their destiny to encounter three teachers upon their path. He says they will know them by their power, and to be careful, likewise, because of their power, Elthlion then proceeds to sing his defining son, “No One Alive.”

The next scene opens up at the outskirts of the Traume Woods with a human-sized, female Blackwidow spider perched on her web, knitting a garment with long sewing needles. She relates to them, in a comic scene, the art of seduction and how Thady could seduce Princess Etain into telling Thady where the Tears of Innocent Elvin children are kept at the Citadel of the One Truth. This Traume Woods spider is the first sexy, seductive, and powerful teacher. The spider sings her defining song, “Spin a Web,” which is intended to cast a spell of seduction upon Thady, so that he may seduce Etain, unbeknownst to him. The Traume Woods spider bites Thady in the neck to secure her spell of seduction upon him, and they, finally freed of the paralyzing power of her seduction (freed upon the spider’s command), depart.

As they leave, they meet Elthlion, who warns them that they must now, more than ever, hurry, for Caer Blight has discovered a spell to seal The Portal, and thereby, trap them in Old World Lockleven, but will not seal it until he has apprehended them, for reasons that shall be revealed as they venture forth. Elthlion, however, does tell them that Blight wants Thady to remain alive for some reason that he cannot relate. Next, he presents a sort of riddle which results in the clan learning The Princess Etain is the key to their success. Elthlion relates, in this scene, that the Traume Woods spider was their first teacher.

The next scene opens up at the Citadel of the One Truth, with Elthlion and Caer Blight locked in an intense diplomatic match of wits, where Blight seeks to persuade Elthlion that he and himself are, ultimately, two sides of “the same sword.” Elthlion argues with logic and reason equal to Blight’s until, finally, Blight’s spell of logic starts to capture Elthlion’s sensibilities. Blight attempts a logic “death blow” with his song, “The Same Sword.” Elthlion, in turn, counters with “We’re Not The Same,” his song on the matter.

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The next scene opens up with the clan of travelers approaching a scene with a rather haggard-looking siren dressed up like a weary housewife with apron and chaotic hair. As they approach, she is lamenting her sad and lonely life by singing “Tears of a Siren.” They stop behind a rock to listen. After this song, they reveal themselves, and in the ensuing discourse, the siren, called Desirous, relates how she is lonely because every time she sings a song, the sailor that hears it wrecks his ship on the rocky shoals, and so, she remains alone. She also relates to them about two old friends of hers, Hecuba The Witch and Calypso The Harlot. Finally, Desirous sings her defining song, “The Siren’s Song.” Next, she relates to them her competition, Calypso, and how Calypso gets all the dates with shipwrecked sailors who she finds washed up on a shore after Desirous has sung. Calypso and Desirous proceed from there to sing a duet which expresses Calypso’s view of how you can “get your man,” and by using silence and beauty to do it instead of song. Calypso, in turn, is their second teacher in a chain of three.

The next scene opens up at DragonWald, the lair of PremaWrath, The Dragon. The clan is cooking a stew in a black kettle and singing merry and festive melodies to ease their journey when their loud carousing disturbs PremaWrath. PremaWrath is a human-size, sexy, female dominatrix-style, sadomasochistic comic character, alluring, and above all, dominating. A comic scene ensues, where PremaWrath expresses her tyrannical, dominating spirit, a direct reflection of Caer Blight’s tyrannical nature, ending in her singing her defining song, “That’s the Beauty of it All.” PremaWrath then reveals herself as one of the teachers on their journey (the third one). This is a very comic scene as they depart her lair entrance, ending Act I with a flourish of suspense with PremaWrath’s scene’s closing line, “There is no escape for them…and that’s the beauty of it all!”

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Act II

This scene opens at the front gate of The Citadel of The One Truth. The clan arrives at the Citadel gate entrance but are escorted in, rather than encountering any opposition, mysteriously to them. They are brought, by the DireLocken Sentries, before a sinisterly handsome Caer Blight in The Alchemical Scientist’s Chamber. Blight greets them with, “I have been waiting for your arrival, my sweet adventurous friends. I am so honored to finally make your acquaintance.” (darkly stated with venom). Princess Etain walks in at that point and opposes Blight by demanding that he release them, because they are from a different epoch of time, and therefore, have nothing to do with Old World Lockleven. Blight responds by putting his hand on Thady’s shoulder and saying that he and Thady, actually, are very close with the same nature, Subsequently, Blight launches into a dark Cab Calloway-style number, entitled. “Captuted”, illustrating Blight’s power over all things. This song evolves into the introduction of another character, Sophisticus Arcana, who evidently is Blight’s current hot and heavy flame, since his romance with Princess Etain has long been dormant. Sophisticus is the sultry, sexy, intelligent, whips-and-chains, Professor of Propaganda for Blight’s One Truth philosophy (i.e. the One Truth that Blight teaches, which states that he, Caer Blight, is the Chosen One, savior to all and infallible leader and comforter to all). Sophisticus, with Blight, sings a pre-song recitative which illustrates their secret and sick passion for each other, which is based upon their mutual lust for control and manipulation. For them, total domination is the ultimate turn on. Next, Sophisticus, accompanied by The Alchemical Scientists, sings the driving number, “Power, Lies and Corruption.” This song, in turn, careens into the subsidiary song, “Move Us,” sung by The Alchemical Students. Sophisticus sings from a podium the Great Hall, the great lecture hall in the Citadel. This is, potentially, the most electrifying song scene in the entire musical, drawing on every possible resource of stage lighting, costume, dance, vocal power, and staging.

Finally, the songs end, and Blight, who has detained Thady, Mythrauch, and Branwen in The Alchemical Scientists Chamber, has The DireLocken Sentries remove Mythrauch and Branwen to the Citadel tower cell, leaving Thady behind for dialogue. Blight proceeds to spell out how Thady is actually descended from Blight himself. Further, he relates to Thady that he insists on Thady’s return to New Lockleven, immediately, in order to fulfill a destiny laid out for him by virture of his being the distant seed of Blight’s seed. Thady, resistently, denies the truth of anything Blight is saying. Blight then says he will kill Princess Etain if Thady refuses to return. Thady, having been entranced with meeting Etain when they were first ushered into the Citadel, protests that Blight would never kill his wife, and that he is bluffing. Blight responds by ordering a sentry to bring Princess Etain to The Alchemical Chamber to make Thady re-evaluate his decision. Etain, opposing Blight, assures Thady that Blight has held a sword to her throat for years but has never gone through with his threat, and hence, Thady should disregard Blight’s threat, as well, and remain in The Citadel to fulfill his business there. Thady and Princess Etain’s mutual attraction toward eachother is visibly evident in every word and look between them. Blight points this out to manipulate the situation and prod Thady’s affections toward the princess to persuade the smitten lad to spare her life by returning to New Lockleven. Blight’s plan fails as Etain’s charms override Blight’s persuasions, convincing Thady that Blight is bluffing and to remain to fulfill his mission. Blight sends Thady away to think about the consequences of remaining and has him locked in the tower cell with his friends, leaving Etain behind.

Blight calls Etain an “incestuous whore” for flirting with the seed of her loins, though it be many times removed, in spite of the fact that he helped to foster Thady and Princess Etain’s

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mutual attraction. Ultimately, Blight orders her away to be locked up in a private cell where she sings the anthematic self-immolating ballad, “This Lonely Fortress.”

As she finishes, a scene opens up in the traveler’s cell, with Mythrauch and Branwen near each other, while Thady, in a far corner, sits thinking, sullen, and preoccupied. From this situation, Mythrauch and Branwen begin a comic, mock-affectionate song, sarcastically declaring how they will be “there for each other,” which is a song intended to reflect the increasing dissonance and disagreeable disharmony culminating from Blight’s influence. Thady manipulates the course of the song by holding the fife above his head periodically, which activates it power, in an effort to assuage Mythrauch and Branwen’s disharmony. Finally, ending the song with sincere warm regards between each other, thanks to the fife’s power, the cell door flies open, and Princess Etain is thrust into their cell. She explains, then, that Blight has gone wildly insane and intends to keep them all together with the intent of killing them all, should Thady decide not to immediately return to New Lockleven. Subsequently, Thady declares that he will return, but is countered by Etain who suggests that Blight’s placing her in their cell with this new information may actually just be another ploy of Blight’s to manipulate Thady’s emotions. And so, they all stop to think about alternate solutions, spurring Thady to reveal to Etain about their mission to acquire The Tears of Innocent Elvin Children. Etain, in turn, says if they can somehow escape, she can lead them to The Tears. Then, privately to Thady, Etain expresses her attraction to Thady, but warns that any increasing passion may lead to a reduction of the innocence that they share with each other, and that such romantic complications, at that point, may interfere with their quest. She relates to Thady how the innocence between Blight and she had been corrupted as their romance evolved.

Branwen interrupts them to blurt out that he has an idea for escape. His idea, that Etain assert her authority over the guard to command a release, fails. Just at that point, an adjacent cell is illuminated with green light to reveal a haggard old witch hovering above a green-glowing, black cauldron at the cell perimeter. This is a comic scene where we further learn about Calypso’s connection to Hecuba, The Witch, and how Blight had captured her when she was young and beautiful, and locked her into this cell to rot because her beauty was so seductive that it rivaled Blight’s seductive powers. Blight, threatened by the loss of limelight, locked her away 1,000 years ago, she tells. Hecuba also mentions her association with the beautiful siren, Desirous. Such information suggest an underlying theme in the musical that seduction is a game of competition with horrific consequences for the losers. Hecuba sings, at that point, her defining song entitled, “Hecuba.”

During her song, she speaks an optional aside to the audience, speaking quasi-extemporaneously about her desire for revenge on Blight. Returning to her song, then, she ends her song, and as she concludes, Etain announces that she has another escape idea and proceeds to fake an injury to her ankle to attract a guard to open the cell door and give her a cushion to elevate her ankle, until a physician could arrive. The guard concedes to this, and as he opens the prison cell door, Thady reaches into his tunic, extracts the fife, holds it above him, activating its power, and in doing so, a dazzling array of multi-colored light floods the cell, enabling the prisoners to escape as the guard stands stunned by the unexpected display.

In the next scene, Caer Blight sits in a chair in The Alchemical Chamber with his white cane, tapping the top of it with his black leather-encased fingers, as the prisoners enter into the room through a secret corridor that Etain knew about from early Citadel construction days. He greets them as they emerge from the corridor and comments on Etain’s predictability. He speaks

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venomously to them, and he and Etain share cold words about Blight’s affections toward Professor Sophisticus Arcana.

Blight then commands the guards to take them all away to separate tower cells. They are escorted away.

The scene now reveals Etain, alone in her tower cell, standing at her barred cell window, to sing the majestic ballad, “Beyond This War,” while an accompanying scene below her window reveals Elthlion walking amidst the Wolfscaim Woods in the melancholy shadows of a silvery, full moon, apparently hearing Etain’s song from her high-up, Citadel tower cell.

At the conclusion of Etain’s song, we see Blight approaching Elthlion in the Wolfscaim Woods adjacent to the Citadel, where Elthlion had been listening to Etain’s song, white cane in hand, to influence Elthlion to persuade Thady to return to New Lockleven immediately. They engage in verbal repartee, resulting in Blight’s trumping Elthlion, provoking Elthlion to sing the musical’s signature song, “The Mirror Distant.” The song is both plaintive and haunting.

Upon the conclusion of Elthlion’s song, the scene opens in the Citadel tower cells where a recitative duet begins between Thady and Etain, between the cell bars diving them. Thady, now touching the cell bars between them, begins to sing the transformation ballad duet, “I Will Never be the Same.” At its end, Etain grabs her head in agony, realizing that Thady’s attraction to her is no more than a repetition of Blight’s attraction to her, and that it will turn bad because love always goes badly for her. However, Thady convinces her that things are different now, and that they are not destined to fall into a repeat cycle of what she had with Blight. Eventually, it comes to the surface that Thady’s attraction to Etain and attempt to persuade her of their romantic connection may be nothing more than the Traume Woods spider’s seductive influence upon Thady, urging him, in turn, to seduce Etain. Thady suggests that in spite of such forces, they share love and can overcome those dark forces and combine to make two incomplete, imperfect people, complete, as joined, perfect in their imperfection. His words persuade her, and Etain sings the inspiring romantic ballad, “Imperfect.” They embrace and kiss through the cell bars.

The next scene opens in the Grand Dining Hall with Etain at one end of the long table and Blight at the other. Lavish opulence and Gothic splendor adorn the walls and ceiling. Blight uses subtle and brute seductive, coercive tactics to persuade Etain to convince Thady to return to New Lockleven, culminating in his brutal, physical manhandling of her, where Etain grabs a knife and poises it at her own stomach, provoking Blight to knock it away and have the sentries return her to her cell.

Princess Etain now sits in her cell crying, head down, as Thady tries to console her with words of comfort and the need to hang on to hope. And then, eventually, from their separate cells, as though they were not aware of the other singing, they begin the love duet, “This Much is True.” Gradually, the song leads to them facing each other through the cell bars. Suddenly, a guard barges in and pulls Thady violently out of his cell, barking that Blight wants to have a word with him. Blight tries more strategies to persuade Thady to leave, but to no avail, resulting in an enraged Blight sending Thady back to his cell with the promise to kill Etain without question, should he not return to New Lockleven and fulfill his destiny as Blight’s successor. Blight now becomes enraged, wild, and chaotic, knocking beakers and pestles to the floor from atop The Alchemical Chamber center table. He is now far removed from the cool seductive repose in which we are accustomed to seeing him execute his interactions and affairs. He eventually zeroes in on a great, ancient tome of spells, opens it up, and proceeds to recite a chant that will seal The Portal for 1,000 years, in which he intends to, by the sheer power of his telepathic mind, subdue future New Lockleven, 2,000 years in the future, to his dark, tyrannical

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will, and hold all things beneath his dominating fist until some course of events would bring forth an alternate heir as his successor......somehow, some way, always depending upon the cycles of good and evil in perfect, eternal oscillation…if he would merely be patient and wait for things to come around....

Leaving this horrendously wild and malicious scene, we return to Etain’s cell where a guard, who with treason in his heart, has offered to take them to the Tears, declaring that he had just seen Blight go wild with mad, raging eyes and now confesses that he has been hypnotized by a madman and can follow Blight no more. A second guard overhears the treason and plunges his sword through the cell bars into the heart of the traitorous guard, thwarting even this last attempt to escape. Etain, at this point, sings a sad reprise of, “Tears of Innocence,” and sits in her cell, head down, sobbing about the hopelessness of it all. Thady, in an effort to console the princess, hands here the fife through the cell bars in hopes that its ancient beauty might uplift her in some mystical way.

All seems hopeless.Etain holds the fife on her lap, sobbing tears of hopelessness all over the instrument, when

suddenly, the fife theme begins to play, the cells are flooded by a swirling array of multi-colored light, and The Portal appears in Etain’s cell with its spinning, swirling vortex of light within it. Thady exclaims, “The Portal! Your tears have activated the fife! Yours were The Innocent Tears, all along!” They embrace and kiss, Thady’s cell door having flung open as the fife’s music played.

Elthlion appears to further elaborate upon the success of their quest, and also warns them that they must pass through The Portal quickly, for Blight’s spell to seal The Portal shall take effect at nightfall, which is minutes away. They say their farewells to Elthlion, and Thady and Etain step through the Portal. Then, in succession, Elthlion opens up the cells of Mythrauch, Branwen, Hecuba, and even an unsuspecting Eldomere happens up to the tower cells, driven by his lust to capture Etain before she is no more, and is ushered by his own desire, with the rest, through The Portal. All, ultimately, exit The Portal at the woods just outside the River Raven Tavern, in New Lockleven, 2,000 years in the future.

When they arrive in New Lockleven, a rickety old carriage pulls up on an old dirt road near them, and an old blue-caped driver, complete with a long, grungy gray beard, gnarled oak cane, and twisted oak pipe, asks them if they need a ride into town. Naturally, everything about the carriage driver suggests Elthlion’s protective eye watching over them, even now.

Resolution: The scene opens, now, in the New Lockleven marketplace, with the original cast of marketplace characters to sing a reprise of, “We Agree to Disagree.” However, before the reprise begins, we see Thady and Etain steal away to a sheltered pillar enclave and sing the love duet, “So Complete.” They embrace and kiss.

The scene now continues with the New Lockleven marketplace people, where an exhaustive recitative elaborates the Town Constable awarding Thady Finn title of Honorary Mayor, which Thady declines in preference of a simple life, without the need for the stature and power required to win the bonny lass of his heart’s desire. This situation is demonstrated through comic interaction, illustrating Thady’s shift in affections from Branshee White to Etain. Thady refers the honorary title of Mayor of New LockLeven to Branwen, to which the Town Constable agrees, which in turn, attracts the rather whorish Branshee White to Branwen. From this twist, a past suitor of Branshees, Allen, who was cheating on his prospective fiance, Mythrauch, to court Branshee, since Mythrauch was “out of town”, steps forward. Since Branshee has, now, decided

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to scam on the soon to be powerful Branwen, and because of Mythrauch’s discovery that Allen has been cheating on her, Allen is spurned by both bonny lasses. In turn, Mythrauch, owing to here fancy-free independent spirit, chooses to fly solo, departing to the tavern with Branwen in good, non-romantic friendship. And so, and all in comic turnover, Allen and Branshee end up alone, which appears to be just deserts for their shallow two-timing natures. Unexpectedly, Eldomere, who still lusts for Etain, asserts that only a prince such as himself is worthy of a princess, and that Thady, being only a poor peasant, is not qualified to claim Etain for himself. However, Etain denounces Eldomere as an argumentative warmonger, dethrones herself from princess to a simple peasant, destined to marry a miller’s son, to become a miller’s wife, and overjoyed at the humble life ahead, devoid of the power, corruption, deceit, and suffering that stature attracts. However, Eldomere, then eyes the now young, beautiful Hecuba, who has been transformed by her passing through The Portal from an old, aging hag to a vibrant, vivacious knockout. Eldomere is enchanted by the spell of Hecuba’s beauty and falls head-over-heels in love with her, in which case, Hecuba plays on his mesmerism by engaging him in a henpecking, castrating argument style, provoking Etain to remark, “He finally got what he deserves: an argumentative, nagging witch!” Next, Thady’s mother and father, Cardewec and Magestra Brandywine, congratulate Thady for finally catching a beautiful “fish.” Cardewec goes on to tell Thady that he knew his boy would come around and see that a provincial life with home, hearth, and a wife, is best..... once a young lad’s wanderlust for adventure is rent out of his system. Thady is grateful to his father, and his mother is very proud of Thady for “catching” such a beautiful lass for a bride. Further, Cardewec and his wife have decided to give their mill to Thady and Etain, with Magestra making inferences of the hope of a newborn in the near future.

Finally, this elaborate scene culminates in a grand reprise of, “We Agree to Disagree” sung by a chorus of all the New Lockleven marketplace citizens. Then the musical appears to end in this grand finale as all goes dark on stage. However, after “the musical is over” applause, a scene opens up with Caer Blight sitting in his Alchemical Chamber, back to the audience, staring at the giant oval mirror portal, hanging up high in front of him on the rear stage wall. Blight forms a black silhouette as he watches the screen, which in actuality, is a scene of an aging Etain and Thady, sitting on their New Lockleven mill cottage front porch, as their only son, Olwen, arrives at a countryside scene, carrying a bouquet of flowers and stopping to spy on the lass of his heart’s desire, behind a tree, exactly as the musical’s opening scene work had portrayed with a young Caer Blight. Olwen watches the young, beautiful flower maiden, Cassandra Arwen, as she picks Wild Bluebells from the country hillside. We hear some early reprises as underscoring, including, “A Love Beyond Reason,” and finally, we witness an interaction between Olwen and Cassandra that is identical, in every way, to the interaction between Blight and Etain some 2,300+ years ago.

Lastly, in this final scene, we are brought back to Caer Blight as he views this future New Lockleven scene, and then the oval mirror portal fades into a dark green before our eyes, as Blight spins around in his chamber, rises to face the audience and proclaims, “I can wait. Afterall, I am a very patient man.”

The music of the Caer Blight leitmotif crescendos as he grins and walks back to his chair to face the glowing, dark, iridescent green, oval mirror portal screen. The stage grows dimmer and dimmer, revealing the darkened silhouette of Caer Blight, back to the audience, sitting in his chair, facing the dying screen on the rear wall. Eventually, all is black except the fading dark green glow of the “Mirror Distant” screen. And then, even it grows dimmer and dimmer,

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until all is dark, as the Caer Blight leitmotif continues on, and gradually decays into nothing…

(End Musical)

Song Analysis: The Mirror Distant

Act I

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Scene Song Characters Type Content1.) The Alchemical --- “I’m The One” --- Blight, Etain, Alchemical -- Cabaret/Gothic ---- ExplanationScientist’s Chamber Scientists

2.)The Mill ---------- “The Truth Inside” --- Thady, Cardewec, Mythrauch,-- Power Ballad --- Aspirations Branwen, Magestra 3.)Blight and ---- "Tears of Innocence"------- Etain, Blight --------------- Gothic Ballads --- Lamentations, Etain’s “Drawn By The Mysterious” Yearnings Bedchamber “Apart” 4.) New LockLeven---”The Bonniest Lass --- The Minstrel -----------------Celtic Ballad ------ -DeclarativeCountryside Among Lasses”

5.) New LockLeven ---"When I’m With You"---- Thady ---------------- Up tempo Big Band--- AdorationCountryside Swing

6.) Thady’s --------”And Not To Know”------Thady, Elvin Priestess--------- Pop Ballad --------- Inspirational Bedroom

7.)New LockLeven--"We Agree To --------New LockLeven Marketplace ---Extravaganza -------AssertionsMarketplace Disagree” People Recitative

8.) The River --------"Drinking Waltz" ----------- The Bard ---------------Enchanting Ballads---Expositional Raven Tavern “Nobody Really Knew” Marge and Tina Dramatic Recitative Intrigue “Recitative Comic

9.)Mythrauch’s ---------"A Love That Is Free" -----Mythrauch -------------- Doo Wop -----------Romantic

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Stable Idealism

Scene Song Characters Type Content

10.)New LockLeven---"We Disagree -------Marketplace People ------------Extravaganza ----Evolving AssertionsMarketplace To Disagree” Russian Folk

11.)Old World -------”No One Alive” --------- Elthlion ---------------------Power Anthem --------Nobilities LockLeven

12.)The Traume ------"Spin A Web" ---------The Traume Woods --------- Big Band Swing ----- SeductionWoods Spider Intrigue

13.) The Alchemical ---"The Same ------------Elthlion, Blight ---------------Musical Theater ----- Persuasion Scientist’s Sword" GothicChamber Recitative

14.)The Gulf ------ "Tears of a Siren"---------- Desirous ---------------------- French Cafe ----------Mourning of Gimlie “This Siren’s Song” Pop Ballad Melancholy

15.)The Gulf -----"Calypso On My Coast" -----Desirous, Calypso -----------Broadway ----------- Rivalryof Gimlie Big Band Swing Gospel, Blues

16.)DragonWald--”That’s The Beauty --------PremaWrath ---------------------Tengo -------------- Comic Sadism Of It All”

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Act II

17.) The Great Hall --”Captured” ------------Blight, Sophisticus ---------Cab Calloway Swing ---Predatory “Power, Corruption, Arcana Gothic Recitative Control and Lies” “Move Us”

18.)Princess Etain’s---"This Lonely------------Princess Etain --------------Power Ballad ------------LiberationBedchamber Fortress” Dignity

19.) The Citadel----"There For You" ---------Mythrauch, Branwen --------------Tengo --------------- Sarcastic/Tower Cell Supportive

20.)The Citadel ----"Hecuba" ----------------------Hecuba ---------------------Eastern European -------HauntingTower Witch’s Folk Song LamentationCell

21.)The Citadel ---"Beyond This War" --------Princess Etain -----------------Power Anthem --------ProtestationTower Window

22.)The ------------"The Mirror Distant" -------- Elthlion ---------------------Power Ballad -------Signature SongWolfscaim Woods Moral Exposition

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23.) The Citadel---”I Will Never Be ------------Thady, Etain -----------------Love Ballad --------Transformational Tower Cell The Same”

24.) The Citadel ---”Imperfect” -----------------Princess Etain ----------------Power Ballad ----- Romantic Idealism Tower Cell

25.) The Citadel --"This Much Is True" -------Thady, Etain ---------------- Love Ballad --------TransformationalTower Cell “Tears Of Innocence Lament (Reprise)”

26.) New ----------"So Complete" -------------Thady, Etain ------------Power Love Ballad--- Romantic Resolution New LockLeven Sheltered Pillar

27.) New ---------"We Agree To Disagree ----New LockLeven ----------Buoyant Extravaganza --- ResolutionsLockLeven (Reprise)" Marketplace People (Finale) ConclusionsMarketplace

28.) The --------- "I’m A Patient Man" ------- Blight, Olwen, ----------Leitmotif, Underscoring -----EpitaphAlchemical “A Love Beyond Reason Cassandra,Thady, Afterthought Scientist’s (Reprise)" EtainChamber

End Musical

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