#Build a problem musical

[build-a-problem-musical]

Theo writes Celeste a sympathy card expressing his condolences on Emma’s death in the Starless Sky timeline. His handwriting is much less legible than usual, as if he had written it in tears, shaky-handed, or in a way meant to keep it from being recognized if intercepted. Knowing him, it’s most likely all three at once. He begins with correction tape on top of which is just written Celeste’s name (the implication being that he had begun it with “Dear” but took it back).

[artist-issues]

Happy New Year, hi, it's me again! I have a pretty long ask for you and there is no pressure; I've just been thinking about the Build a Problem musical again.

I think I realized that perhaps I was confusing the idea of having Build a Problem's Emma recognize her own worth with her finding her answer in self-love. She does not, in fact, do that; she learns that because she has worth outside of others (which isn't to say that it comes from her), she can put her relationships in the proper place and even become willing to surrender them for the good of the other. I suppose now the question is how to make that delineation clearer? I'm not entirely sure how much I did wrong, but I suppose Elaine's dialogue has problematic elements.

"But anyway, you’re going to have to learn how to be by yourself. It’s not that we won’t support you–we will–it’s that you’re the constant in your life and we can’t be. And yes, it’s hard, but then you’ll remember you matter in and of yourself, even without someone else to remind you."

"You're the constant"?! HAHA NO. WE MOST DECIDEDLY ARE NOT. "You matter in and of yourself"?! DANGEROUSLY close to "your worth is not assigned and is for yourself." I'll have to figure out how best to fix that. Putting that aside, I think Emma's lesson is most apparent during her apology, which demonstrates a mentality of "if you love something, set it free; if it doesn't come back, it was never yours to begin with."

Also, I've seen you comment on the rise of "nothing is evil, just misunderstood" and how dangerous that can be. I do worry a bit regarding Celeste's storyline as to how I'm portraying that and where my responsibilities lie. (Even though I'm a moral absolutist, I do have a strong belief in understanding the nuance of where people come from so as to guide them to what is right. That might make me a bad absolutist, or it might...I'm not sure.) She's rather aggressive; on one instance, she pins a panicked Emma to a wall and screams at her for trying too hard to save her. I like the idea of her being too reactive and I don't really wish to tone her down! I do, however, fear that this might be irresponsible of me because I also want her and Emma to reconcile. I am not trying to encourage my audience to continue relationships with people who are outright harmful--far from it. Her ability to resume her friendship with Emma is specifically out of her own repentance and out of Emma's willingness to provide this second chance. (This contrasts Celeste's relationship with Thomas, which has to end because neither of those elements are present.) And we do see Celeste feel regret: it leads her to try and provoke Emma into leaving (this is obviously not a healthy response, but it at least serves to establish her regret), and then they sing a duet about it. It's a very fine line to walk; is there anything I should be examining to make sure I'm not going along the lines of "nothing is evil, just misunderstood"? Do I need to tone Celeste down to facilitate this?

(While we're at it, her relationship with Theo is something that warrants examination like this. He unwittingly drinks alcohol that's been disguised from authorities in an innocent-seeming bottle and winds up kissing her on impulse. They're both seen feeling guilty afterwards, though time constraints prevent a detailed examination and she states in the resulting song that she "felt more than [she] care[s] to admit." I'm not sympathetic to this and it is most certainly wrong. When we next hear directly from Theo, though, he blames himself for the more distant consequence of Thomas hurting her for it, and that's not exactly reasonable. So this is yet another fine line because while that was his greatest error and a rather weighty one at that, it was his only major one. He's otherwise characterized as very gentle, but I want his actions treated with the weight they deserve. How can I best do that? Does he need to be somehow less gentle for it to come through?)

TL;DR: Emma might have learned about her own worth as opposed to finding her answer in self-love, and this understanding of her worth enables her to let go and do the loving thing rather than act out of fear. Celeste might be too volatile and I'm confident that her actions get the weight they deserve, but I'm afraid of being irresponsible by bringing her back to Emma, even though I try to make clear that this is only possible because of sincere repentance and an offered second chance. Theo's actions might not be given the full weight they deserve because we don't see enough of him after the fact and by the time we see him again, he's swung so far in the opposite direction of loathing himself that I feel like audiences are likely to let that reaction overrule the problems with his original action. And as always, thank you for your amazing work with everything! You are wonderful and your blog is wonderful and I pray that God will bless you throughout the coming year and always!

I think I might need to read the whole musical before I could give a super-accurate rundown of the questions you’re talking about 😅 but I’ll try anyway because you were thoughtful enough to take the time to write this much out and ask me!

I think you have your head on straight with all these questions, which is really good.

For example, I think you’re totally correct about what sounds like Celeste and Emma’s reconciliation. That’s the thing; the Bible teaches that while there can be forgiveness without repentance between humans, there can’t be restored relationship or reconciliation unless both parties are willing to repent of wrongs committed and forgive the other person.

So then the question “is Celeste’s wrongdoing being treated irresponsibly if she gets back to being friends with Emma?” has a good foundation. But it seems like you’re assuming that if someone who does something wrong reconciles with the person they hurt, then the wrongdoing doesn’t seem so wrong. But that’s not true at all—you just have to show the horrible consequences of her actions convincingly during the conviction part (the moment where Celeste realizes her wrongdoing), then fix the relationship with her repentance.

I mean, take Anna and Elsa (a sister-hurting-sister scenario seems like the best one to use as a template here?) Elsa hits Anna in the heart with her ice (literally, but during a scene where she’s figuratively pushing Anna away, which has been the main source of hurt in their whole relationship.) That was Elsa’s wrongdoing. Elsa realizes how bad that was, how wrong she was, when Anna freezes in front of her. That scene is great because it shows Elsa completely devastated by what she’s done. She’s sobbing and clinging to Anna—which is important, because for the entire movie Elsa has been doing the opposite of clinging. She’s been pushing away. So right there, you see the beginnings of ‘repentance.” She caused a hurt, she sees that the hurt is bad, and she’s taking an action that is the opposite of the hurt she caused.

But remember, Anna is also, in that moment, showing Elsa unconditional, self-sacrificial love. Elsa pushed Anna away with devastating, life-threatening consequences. Because of Elsa, Anna had her heart not only frozen, but broken. And Elsa never once did anything that would make Anna believe she would change, or stop pushing her away. Yet. Anna still chose to save her, knowing it would mean dying. Elsa did nothing to deserve it. Elsa did not indicate to Anna that Anna’s act of good will would change her. Anna simply did it with no thought of gain, with no hope of a better relationship afterward, because she loves Elsa regardless of the hurt caused.

It is important that Elsa sees that. Because seeing unconditional love is often what forces humans to realize the weight of their wrongdoing. Because unconditional love is so the opposite of whatever they did wrong. So it often unlocks the wrongdoer’s ability to repent.

Basically, what I’m saying is, as long as you show not only the audience, but Celeste herself, the horrible consequences of her wrongdoing and the hurt that it caused, and show it convincingly, (which often takes the wrongdoer realizing the unconditional love or innocence of the person they hurt,) then you won’t need to worry about whether or not that wrongdoing was considered “absolutely evil.”

Of course Elsa pushing Anna away and freezing her heart was the wrong thing to do. Anna’s frozen now. Elsa can’t do anything to undo what she’s done. It’s too late for her to be clinging to Anna.

and THEN

like a beautiful sunrise bursting through clouds

You show how love is stronger than evil. You show how self-sacrifice is love. You show how, when both people are repentant and willing to forgive because of that self-sacrificial love, the wrongdoing isn’t stronger than the love.

After all, that’s the whole point of showing evil—to defeat it. Sometimes you defeat it by punishing the unrepentant wrongdoer. Sometimes you defeat it’s effect by making the wrongdoer repentant. But either way, the evil isn’t stronger than the good.

Moving on

I don’t think it sounds like Theo needs to be less gentle for the weight of his actions to come through. I think his gentleness actually could highlight how wrong his actions were. Because if he’s got feelings under the surface of gentleness, which alcohol caused him to act on, then that puts the gentle surface in a less-moral light. Kissing her on an alcohol-influenced basis wasn’t the first thing he did wrong. The first thing he did wrong was let those feelings he had for Emma stay alive deep down inside him, even if they were buried—he shouldn’t have buried them, because then something like alcohol could dig them up. He should’ve killed them. The second thing he did wrong was be unwise and lack selfless introspection: the idea is that he knew somewhere that he had those feelings, and hadn’t killed them yet, and THEN let himself be in a situation alone with Emma, makes his “gentleness” seem even more like a facade. You can make clear, in some way, that the alcohol isn’t what created the wrong. It just brought it to the surface.

People who have feelings for someone who does not belong to them, but is already on some level promised to someone else, should not let those feelings linger or stick around. That is wrong. Unrequited “love” stops being loving and starts being a wrong thing to feel when you learn that it is unrequited. Entertaining a romantic feeling for someone, in any way, after you know that you can’t serve that person with those romantic feelings, is wrong. Theo should’ve killed those feelings or, if that was too hard, removed temptation by setting up boundaries. Not being alone in a room with Emma; not getting into deep personal discussions where one heart can speak to the other heart with Emma; not letting Emma talk about Thomas (her boyfriend?) in a negative way around him, etc.

But…maybe I’m misunderstanding him? I’d have to know more about the character.

I mean, it’s fine if the character is so non-introspective that he never realized he wanted to kiss Emma before alcohol brought it up. But. It was still wrong. Because introspection is not just the right thing to do for yourself, but the right thing to do when your goal is to have selfless relationships with friends, family, and lovers alike. Anyway.

The point is, no, I don’t think you need to make Theo any less gentle. I think you should make it subtly clear that Theo has a problem with carelessness. (I actually have a friend who/s biggest character flaw is this.) It’s all well and good to be a dude who is happy, sweet, would never intentionally harm anybody or get between his friends…but if you never intentionally prevent yourself from harming anybody, by doing the work to look at how you could actively care for someone (think about doing what’s best for them, which would’ve led him to avoid being alone with Emma) then you’re careless. You’re sweet, and you’re kind, and you’re not meaning to hurt, but…that’s your problem, because you’re also not meaning to do much of anything. You’re coasting along through your relationships with no careful thought, just assuming vaguely good intentions and an even vaguer “sweetness” vibe will be enough to keep you and your friends out of trouble.

You could do that by characterizing him carefully even before the kiss scene. Have him make jokes in large group of friends, and everybody laughs, and clearly he’s not meaning to hurt anybody, but the girl he slings his arm around when he says it is clearly offended by the joke…and Theo doesn’t notice. Have him walk into a serious conversation between two or three of his friends, and then try to “lighten the mood,” when clearly what his friends probably needed more was for him to take what they’re talking about seriously, and join in. If there’s ever a scene where everybody’s at a dance party, have him dance really spazzy to try and make one awkward person laugh—but he’s not being careful of his surroundings and accidentally elbows somebody in the face. You know. Little characterization traits that show the audience, “this is Theo, he’s a sweet guy, but he’s a little careless, needs to learn to be introspective and intentional.” Then when he kisses Emma, you’ve subtly built this up: Theo would never try to cause trouble between Emma and Thomas, but he also isn’t careful enough to not try to cause trouble between Emma and Thomas.

I don’t know if that’s helpful, I don’t know the characters well enough.

As for the big main question, with what allows Emma to stop acting out of fear—I still think making her own “worth” the thing is going to be a little too tricky for you without establishing where she gets that idea of “worth” from. It can’t come from others, so where’s it coming from? I would avoid that idea altogether, but that’s just me. Maybe you can figure a way around it.

I would simply replace the motive of fear with a new understanding of what unconditional love for others looks like. She’s not willing to sacrifice because she knows her WORTH—in fact, she’s not thinking about her worth, or her safety, or her security, at all—because she’s entirely stopped thinking of herself. She’s just thinking of them.

But again…it’s hard to explain why or how she goes from thinking about herself to thinking more of others. You do need a catalyst in there that causes her to make the switch. Don’t know if this helps!

[build-a-problem-musical]

In the sense that none of my Build a Problem OCs are directly written to be in the universe of a pre-existing intellectual property like a show, book, movie, or game, they're entirely original. I made them and their story up from whole cloth. That story, however, was written to be a jukebox musical built around a pre-existing album (or in the case of Miranda, a short story built around a song from the album that didn't make it to the musical). In that sense, they're based on a pre-existing piece of media.

Is your OC entirely original or based on a pre-existing piece of media?

[chaotic-theatrical-weaver]

EVERYONE GO FOLLOW MY BUILD A PROBLEM MUSICAL BLOG!

Draft 1 done yesterday and blog just set up! -> @build-a-problem-musical

[lythevoidwitch]

Chapters: 98/98 Fandom: 人渣反派自救系统 - 墨香铜臭 | The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Luo Binghe/Shen Yuan | Shen Qingqiu, Shen Jiu | Original Shen Qingqiu & Shen Yuan | Shen Qingqiu, Mu Qingfang & Shen Jiu | Original Shen Qingqiu, Shang Qinghua & Shen Yuan | Shen Qingqiu, Mobei-jun/Shang Qinghua, Liu Qingge/Shen Jiu | Original Shen Qingqiu, Shen Jiu | Original Shen Qingqiu & Yue Qingyuan Characters: Shen Jiu | Original Shen Qingqiu, Shen Yuan | Shen Qingqiu, Yue Qingyuan, Mu Qingfang, Ning Yingying, Ming Fan (Scum Villain), Luo Binghe, Liu Qingge, Shang Qinghua, Qing Jing Peak Disciples, Qi Qingqi, peak lord OCs - Character, Mobei-jun Additional Tags: Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied Childhood Sexual Abuse, Adoption, Slow Burn, Getting to Know Each Other, Oblivious Shen Yuan | Shen Qingqiu, Chronic Illness, Unreliable Narrator, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Shen Yuan's Terrible Self-Esteem, Eating Disorders, Slavery, Parental Shen Jiu | Original Shen Qingqiu, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Child Abuse, Hurt/Comfort, Family Feels, Implied/Referenced Torture, Coma, Abandonment Issues, Second-Hand Embarrassment, Misunderstandings, Awkward Romance, System Reveal (Scum Villain), Shen Jiu's A++ people skills, Attempted Sexual Assault, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Angsty ending but will have a happy ending in the second part Series: Part 1 of Healing in the most complicated ways Summary:

Shen Yuan has been dealt a rough hand at the beginning of his life. Then he gets sort of adopted by Shen Qingqiu, who desperately needs someone to help smooth out his interpersonal relationships. Thankfully, Shen Yuan is awesome at understanding people and what they want!

Shen Qingqiu can't decide if he regrets claiming this chaos gremlin as his own or not, but now that Shen Yuan is here, he's never letting him go. He'll have to be pried out of Shen Qingqiu's cold, dead fingers first.

Meanwhile, Luo Binghe is just caught up in the wake of both of them and trying not to be dragged under.

(Or, a drama of errors with comedic moments, exploring the growing relationship between an unforgiving misanthrope with serious issues and a traumatized kid that just wants to teach him what family means (and maybe learn it, himself))

[build-a-problem-musical]

“Guiltless” begins as a song Emma writes in-universe.

Has your OC ever written a song?

[starpros-sunshine]

ADHD combined with ennui and the "eh how hard can it be I'll manage somehow" mindset will have you fixate on one specific idea in your head and maybe potentially end with you making unwise impulsive financial decisions. On the other hand I really want that bass guitar. I have no idea how guitars work all I've ever played were key instruments and I'm not even particularly good at those. Head in hands.

[build-a-problem-musical]

Here’s Stars Restitched Emma as an ambulatory wheelchair user (using saszor OC maker by saszor and 2c4ub)! She can stand and walk short distances on flat surfaces, hence the cane, but her weakened right side leaves her off-balance, and she uses the chair (aluminum alloy) for more demanding terrain and longer distances. She’ll need it less and less as she goes through a lot of hard work at PT, though her balance may never quite return to what it was beforehand and the cane will be a fixture in her life. (If her hair’s a bit too long, no, it isn’t. None of the short-haired options suited her. Maybe she can grow it as a treat.)

[synthaphone]

so there's a Stop Making Sense cover album coming out in honor of the movie's 40th anniversary, and i listened to the preview tracks that are out, and the best thing about it so far, for me, is that its reminded me that Girlfriend is Better is a really fucking good song

[build-a-problem-musical]

A bit late, but vote Theo, guys!

Please vote based on the picture AND the description!

Theo Gray [@build-a-problem-musical]

17, a once-close friend of Celeste’s from her prior membership at the engineering club. He occasionally still meets with her to help her with math; Thomas, with no awareness of the club’s past goings-on and a belief that this is the extent of their relationship, allows him in to avoid appearing unreasonable. As the only one aware of Celeste’s true thoughts regarding the situation, Theo views himself as responsible for giving her an outlet and does not understand that his burgeoning attraction to her compromises his ability to do so properly. His solution of burying his feelings so as to protect her from his capacity for damage proves short-lived, as he assumes too soon that they are safe and that their interactions will not threaten his resolve. Ultimately, Theo lets his impulses overcome him and turns out no better or truer of a love than Thomas; all of his former gentleness is replaced by great inward violence and self-destruction once the remorse of recognition sinks in and undoes him.

Tiger [Catalyst: The Void Children @chrystallink]

An amnesiac 14 year old with the ability to change size from 5'5" to 150' and anywhere in between. Combined with his temper, he ends up being more destructive than he means to be sometimes, and is often feared by others. However, at his core he is very protective, and is fiercely loyal to anyone who gains his trust.

[lavendarneverlands]

I have the Stars Hollow Musical stuck in my head… someone send help, for I have lost it .

[starfleet-lol]

it will never not devastate me in my intense delusion that dodie chose to change the lyric in all my daughters from “i wail aloud i need it back” to “oh my g0d i need it back”

maybe it’s cause i listened to her original demo on youtube during quarantine so it was like… nostalgic?? in a way

[build-a-problem-musical]

Everyone in BAP: *builds problem anyway*

happy bap day! 🥳

[build-a-problem-musical]

Ah, yes, my favorite album:

[shadowland]

my local library keeps throwing out books in their collection and i hate it.....

[build-a-problem-musical]

Thanks! Haha, this being a jukebox musical, copyright issues will never let it happen. That is beside the point, however.

So Emma's mom Elaine does give her some bigger idea like that...but THAT'S the whole self-love trap I'm trying to avoid.

"But anyway, you’re going to have to learn how to be by yourself. It’s not that we won’t support you–we will–it’s that you’re the constant in your life and we can’t be. And yes, it’s hard, but then you’ll remember you matter in and of yourself, even without someone else to remind you."

Mmm, I like your thoughts on the dissatisfaction with removing oneself from the picture. That actually happens to Theo (a boy who kissed Celeste on impulse despite her relationship; he decides he cannot stay with her even as a friend, but it's unclear what he's turning to now and it's suggested that he's turned heavily self-loathing). I think Emma's approach contrasts his in that she is eventually able to return to Celeste and have it work out okay? Maybe that's how her goodness is rewarded? (To clarify, she's not being rewarded for waiting and it's explicitly spelled out in the show that she hurts herself deeply by doing so. She's being rewarded for learning to let go and properly prioritize; now that the relationship no longer consumes her, she can have it back.)

I think the Big Selfless Ideal in Build a Problem as I've written it so far is love-- the entire show is characters working out what love is as they navigate their first serious interpersonal conflicts. For Emma, that involves getting it wrong and becoming dependent before realizing that isn't love and that her actions are undertaken out of fear. Once she does, she turns to love as she more properly understands it now, and this is what drives her to apologize for her mistakes even while she's aware that doing so does not obligate Celeste to take her back. Up until now, she had always looked to be reunited; here, she just wants to be made right. This is how she gets her unwitting reward.

Emma: "So, you would really…? After everything?"

Celeste: "I should be asking you that, but yes. Yes, yes. I love you."

I don't know that I care to rewrite the whole thing LOL. I'm just saying...maybe I had her Big Selfless Ideal all along, now that I think about it? I just really, really need to fix it so her mom does NOT encourage her to love herself because...that's just not true and I have a responsibility to the truth (both as an author and as a person). Thank you so, so much once again!

Regarding the whole entire idea that self-love is a dead end, as a Christian writer myself, I think I just accidentally went there. I've been working on a musical that centers around separating best friends and I think the protagonist's issues with all the separations happening around her (she's socially disconnected and her mom is leaving) are somewhat resolved when she realizes she can stand on her own...like, okay. I know what the Christian viewpoint would be (that God will support her even when the people in her life fail her), but the thing is, I didn't make her a specifically Christian character and I don't know how to do this without falling back on that dead end. (If it helps to know the ending, she and her friend do reconcile, but only after they've properly prioritized their relationships to avoid being dependent.)

Oooo! I love the sound of your musical's story. I would watch it. It sounds deeply relatable.

If the main idea of your story is, "you don't need other people to be happy or feel valuable," that's still a Christian value. It's just a little incomplete--like, it raises the question, "okay, so I know I don't need other people; but what DO I need to feel happy or valuable?"

After all, there's no reason for your character to give up her old way of doing things unless she's shown how to do it a new way.

I'm not sure how I would solve your problem (not knowing your characters) but I would say, think about what your character hates about the separations. What's she longing for?

Maybe she likes the security having familiar people around her gives her. (God is the most familiar with you because He knows everything about you.)

Maybe she gets her sense of worth from the people who love her, and if they leave she'll be sad/bored with life. (God assigns us worth, and it's not for ourselves, it's from Him; and He's always reminding us of that.)

Maybe she has a hard time taking risks, and is socially awkward, but she knows that the people who are leaving have already accepted her and doesn't want that safety net to go away. (There's no reason to worry about people not accepting you when you're focused on how God has already accepted you.)

The point is, whatever she's longing for that she thinks is getting ripped away with her mom/friends who are leaving--she needs to find that thing she's longing for in something else. Something bigger and better outside of herself. (Your problem, if I'm understanding you right, is that she's currently finding that thing she's longing for in just...herself.)

Now, you don't have to make the thing she fulfills her longing with the God of the Bible, specifically. Like I've said in other posts, you can just make a type of "higher power" that she learns to hang on to.

In Disney movies that's usually a concept. A concept like, "be selfless, do the right thing, even if you no longer get to have your friends around." Like Belle giving up her dad and home and dreams, to save him--and that commitment to the "concept of good," in selflessness, winds up getting rewarded. And you can have this vague idea of Magical Something out there that WILL make you cosmically fated to be rewarded for goodness...like the Fairy Godmother or the Enchantress. Get what I mean? The Enchantress doesn't have any role in Beauty and the Beast except to set up the system by which Beastnis cursed and then goodness is rewarded. The Fairy Godmother's only in one scene. The characters are freed up to either commit to good and get unwittingly rewarded (and it's not "convenient" because the Rules of Magic that reward them are a stand-in for a higher power) or choose selfishness and get defeated. You get the idea.

But if you don't want to have supernatural elements in your story, you don't have to.

You could...also just explore the "what not to do" idea in the story. You could make your main idea "Don't put the burden of your identity and your worth on the people around you--that's selfish and it'll hurt them in the long run."

The problem is, then you usually wind up with a pretty sad story where the protagonist does everything she can to get them to stay, even to the point of doing things that hurt them (think Anakin Skywalker) and only stop that when they realize that they're being selfish. Then they stop, because they know that "love" is giving up what's good for you if it's good for the people you're letting go.

But.

Then you leave your main character without anything to hang on to. It's the same thing as an epic fantasy where the main character is a villain until the very end, then they make a big sacrifice for the heroes...but then die. That's fine. That's Darth Vader. But then your main character's whole point is "what not to do." And you need another character (usually the hero or whoever changed their mind) to be the one that represents "what TO DO instead..."

Like Luke does.

Yeah, Vader was a bad guy because he was committed to controlling everything out of fear of losing his attachments--then Vader dies sacrificially--but that's a back door out of having to learn his lesson, really. Because once he's dead, he's not attached to anything anymore--he doesn't have to give the people he's attached to up, really--he's just dying and taking himself out of the picture.

If your character in the musical resolves her struggle by saying, "I'll let you go, holding on to you too tight is selfish," but doesn't learn what to hold on to instead, even if she doesn't technically die, she IS just taking herself out of the picture in a way that might wind up not being satisfying for audiences. Because they know logically that her life will go on... but they'll be like, "so she's just lonely and sad forever?"

I guess all my thinking-out-loud is to say, don't solve that problem with her being "enough" for herself. But you do kinda have to solve it, don't you?

You could do it by having her lean on an "idea." It could even be a Biblical idea. Have another character say a slogan to her when they see her struggling, like, "letting someone go frees up your hands to hold on to new things," I don't know 😂 NOT that, but just a vague idea that she'll be okay, that there's other stuff to hold on to in life...

Ultimately, I think, if none of those quasi-solutions leaves YOU feeling satisfied, it won't leave your audiences feeling satisfied.

And honestly, now that the can of worms has been opened...now that you know "self-love" isn't the BEST solution for the character...you won't be satisfied with THAT first ending you came up with anymore, either 😅 So all of this typing of mine and yours might just make you come to the conclusion: start over. Make the story around a new main point with higher power or selfless ideal for her to cling to--instead of trying make your main point fit characters that weren't meant for it.

If that's what you choose to do--it's okay. It'll be okay! My Design Professor once told me, after a project got destroyed by accident, "It's okay; you can always do it faster and better the second time."

And it's worth it, isn't it? If this awesome musical of yours gets made, it'll live longer than you. It'll be something that people will use and relate to and love, long after you're not around to explain it or help them understand it. So you always want to make sure that the thing your musical is saying is true--for their sake, because truth will stand the test of time.

Those are my two cents, take it or leave it, obviously, but thanks for sharing!

(hey send me it when you're done? let me know where to buy the tickets! 😁)