#theatre performances are all time loops of sorts

[syrnyj]

concept: a theatre play in which every show is just one part of the overall story.

the first couple of plays happen normally, with all the same lines and scenes in every one. then something clues one of the characters in to the fact that they have already lived through these events before, but something keeps bringing them back to the beginning.

from this point onwards, the protagonist begins trying everything they can think of to break the time loop, altering the plot of every show in the process & the final performance is the one where they finally succeed.

[eneiryu]

While I wait for my cough drop to disolve so I can go back to sleep, I pose you with these ideas that have come to me at 4am:

I'm not entirely sure how the whole werewolf memory claws-in-the-neck thing works, but I'm picturing a scene like with the nogitsune where Liam and Scott go into Theo's memories to retrieve some kind of important long-burried information and they see something really terrible being done to Theo while he was with the Dread Doctors like with the white room and the nogitsune and Stiles.

Another sort of Motel California scenario where there's a supernatural or something that makes everyone dream of their absolute worst nightmares and makes them real and tangable until somebody snaps them out of it, so they stick together as much as possible and because Theo "isn't afriad of anything" he spends most of the time waking everyone else up. (Eg. like for Isaac he dreams of his dad and Theo has to literally pull him out of a freezer that disappears.) Except when it comes to his turn and Tara keeps pulling out his heart and talking to the rest of them like nothing was wrong until he healed and she could do it all over again and nobody knows how to make her stop.

They find an operating theatre and actually see footage of young Theo throughout the years of torture and training and experiments and Theo just sorta tries to wave it off but hearing about it and seeing it is actually pretty horrifying to the rest of the pack.

Thank you for listening to my rant, you've been a great audience, goodnight.

I hope the cough drop did in fact dissolve, and you were able to not only get some sleep, but to kick whatever it was that was necessitating the cough drop.

1. Interestingly, I have plans for something very similar to this to come up in a fic I’m working on now.

2. Hmmm, I feel like I would end up modifying this one slightly? Because I think if something like that was going on, Theo would be absolutely terrified, mostly because he’s smart enough to know what would be coming for him, and he’d be focusing on the others to distract himself from it. But then, yes, I could see an “others getting to see what Theo’s time loop experience is like” (similar to pay attention to the accident), and exploring their reactions.

3. Ah yes, always an interesting idea. I’ve played around with it here and there (all waves with the stolen memories reveal, down in the shallows with the pack finding that record of experiments the Doctors performed on Theo), but I’m always open to doing more with it.

You’ve been a great show, thanks for the ideas!

[hannmadi]

The Burnt City, July 2022

Stepping onto the set of Punchdrunk’s The Burnt City feels like being simultaneously catapulted into a futuristic neon utopia and plunged back into the sprawling cities of ancient Greece. Spread out across two former arsenal buildings in Woolwich, the space is unlike any theatre set imaginable. You’ll have to take my word on this one as prior to entering the set itself all phones are secured inside crossbody bags worn throughout the show. Thus, I have no footage of the mammoth 3-hour production but I will do my best to describe the experience.

(I must preface this by admitting that performance art in general is something I am relatively new to. In fact, I have been guilty in the past of assuming it to be the kind of art which is only accessed in a gallery space, the sort of art which has people gathering in groups and muttering in confusion. Within contemporary art, the vast sub-genre that is performance art undeniably harbours a stigma stemming from the anger of misunderstanding the concepts and themes explored, something which I myself have fallen prey to at times.)

The first piece that actually allowed me to connect with performance art, to feel as though I understood it, was Marina Abramović’s piece Rhythm 0. Unfortunately, I wasn’t around in 1974 to witness the 6-hour work unfold, though reading about it on the internet many years later still produced a startling effect. Rhythm 0 masterfully explored an idea central to performance art – what role should the audience play in its creation? By allowing visitors to choose from 72 objects (including chains, flowers, needles, and a gun) and use them in any way they wished, Abramović produced a work reminiscent of Zimbardo’s Stanford prison experiment. Audience members began by offering her flowers and gentle touches, but as time wore on and the performance entered its 4th hour the thrill of anonymity and lack of accountability meant that people became violent. Ultimately the piece ended with a loaded gun pressed against Abramović’s temple and a fight between those who could still had a sense of morality and those who were consumed by violent desires.

Audience participation and anonymity have also found their place at the heart of Punchdrunk’s practice. At each of their performances, audience members are required to wear a mask resembling a cross between a plague doctor’s and that worn by The Phantom in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera. Whilst daunting and ngl kind of creepy at first, once you get past the discomfort (we had to wear masks as well because this was soon after lockdown had eased) it was fun to step outside of yourself. Throughout the production, talking is banned and you are encouraged to wander off on your own, though admittedly I was too afraid to do that so clung to my boyfriend the whole time. One-to-ones occur between actors and audience, though this is not a guarantee. We saw a man get pulled into a cupboard at one point and he didn't emerge for the few minutes we stuck around.

I can't even begin to describe how visually rich the set was, everywhere you looked there were tiny clues linking it to ancient Greece. Whilst I definitely missed loads of said clues at the time, I could still appreciate the talent and dedication that went into designing the set. Every last detail was meticulously thought out, from the tiny drawings and stamps hidden away inside drawers to the beautifully choreographed finale, the whole show was jaw-dropping. The story itself only lasted one hour though it played out on a loop three times to ensure you could catch the main parts. That might sound easy but you can't imagine how big the set was, running around and following certain characters could easily take the full three hours. I'm considering going back to try and see what I missed the first time around. In fact, many people do.

Honestly, I can't praise it enough, the experience was unlike anything else. No performance art piece could compare. I don't think all of my senses have ever been so engaged at once. And with so much to explore and see, there is absolutely something there for everyone. You can spend the whole time discovering the set, or following characters, getting lost in Punchdrunk's world, and no matter what you see I bet it will be life-changing.

[isabellarosestudio6]

Week 5: Making

Playing with Symbiotic Dream Girl footage:

playing with ideas of reflections, and letting the video mimic the connection between self and doll.

also experimenting with reversing the footage? (Unsure if this is necessary, but perhaps there is something interesting in the way time is distorted- mimicking a sort of dreamscape, where nothing makes sense. Also a further Twin Peak reference... One screen is doing whilst the other is undoing? Simultaneously)

Reflections:

would like to play with this idea, just need to take into consideration how many screens/projectors would be needed, ie. one per shot? or mash into a single screen?

Do I need to show all these shots at once, or could I create an extended performance reel, in which many different versions of this footage is displayed over say the period of 12hrs. Fowards, backwards, fast, slow, upside down, etc.

I still like the idea of having two screens- a connection to reflections, image, self and mirror, and the doll-self relationship.

Could I use old tv monitors? Nam June Paik art.

Interested in the retrofuture aesthetic. Again referencing this sort of crushing and collapsing of time. Issues of past still relevant to the now. Everything old is new etc. Referencing old hollywood and 1950s culture, whilst questioning my own future?

Need to make soundscape to go with.

ITERATION 2:

Soundscape made using the soundtrack and dialogue from 'The Seven Year Itch', Rachmaninoff Concerto No.2 Movement 1 (as mentioned in the fantasy scene from the film- see link to scene below). Slowed down to for distortion and to draw attention to what's said. Script hasn't aged well.

Used an AI function on Premiere Pro to transcribe soundtrack, and then add transcription as subtitles on video.

Text is repeated across both videos, as a further reference to this idea of reflections, and the doll-self/image-self relationship.

Play with speed, duration and orientation of videos- playing with video as a medium, comment on the malleability and suggestibility of film? Looping time. Drawing attention to the fiction and stereotypes held within the piece. Narrative not truth. Theatre.

I like the idea that as a gallery visitor, you will likely only observe 5 minutes of the work, and depending on what time you arrive, you will see a slightly different version. Fast/slow/upside down/mirrored. With different subtitles. It is very unlikely anyone would stay for the whole 5hr duration. And in that sense, it exists partially beyond the viewer- has a sense of autonomy? Rather than existing for the viewers gaze, as in a 1.5hr cinema film.

Rachmaninoff Fantasy Scene from the Seven Year Itch

FURTHER MAKING (UNRELATED):

Creating a shortened video of 'LUMP' (2024), from last semester's studio, for social media purposes

Original film was 17min long.

Portrait Orientation:

Landscape Orientation:

After feedback with team (Kelsey Dell, Grace Campbell, Mitchell Chooi), we decided we would first use an even shorter version, to please the algorithm.

This version goes for 20sec. Please see below:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Bella Rose Cort - Artist & Model, Meanjin / Brisbane (@isabellaroseartist)

It is interesting having trying to cater the piece for different platforms. Obviously I do not have to advertise my practice on social media, but having a public presence is something I choose to do, and will hopefully have some sort of positive impact on my long term career. At least for providing further public outreach and engagement.

I do not view either of this shorter videos as the actual art piece however. I will reserve the actual 17min piece for exhibitions only.

FURTHER MAKING: POETRY

First bit of writing completed in a few months.

Thinking on my personal history and relationship tendencies.

NOTES/RESEARCH

How to set up a retro tv set for film display:

Also had a look online into purchasing an old tv set or computer monitor, however turns out they're quite expensive. Best option may be to hope and source them from an opshop.

[playingforever]

Do you think mono would ever noncon six? Perhaps in an obsessed crazy melty way? - retrospring ask [link]

[spotlight panning to me, as I am very severe and fingers steepled] [and my head is under a bag] Considering the fact that the whole time loop 🔁 operates on subjecting Six to torment without her consent — more or less personally orchestrating her constantly being abducted and rescued only to be abducted again... Yes, I do think that Mono has this capacity within him. In fact, I firmly believe it,,,

Usually I look to canon to gauge how much duress it would take for a character to cross another's boundaries so extremely... In Mono's case, he's able to get quite far in 'the ends justify the means', even before he has reached his apex of being the Thin Man — what he does to Monster Six is deeply upsetting. As I play it, I sure feel like I'm performing a sort of noncon... Persevering through a girl screaming and belligerently resisting me until the very end.

By contrast, I think actual rape, would be a lot more preferable for the both of them-!? (knows how this sounds, BUT HEAR ME OUT.) It'd just be a lot more direct... Not needing all the convoluted theatre of the environment around them. I think it'd be a pretty good breakthrough if Mono could lower himself enough from his position of Six's noble protector, to enact on her body for his own desires — and it'd be more digestible for Six to process her harm at the hands of her friend. I think the ending of the game leaves Six in turmoil, whiplashed about by the extreme poles of what Mono/Thin Man put her through. She likely, can't even really understand what Mono's intent even is. It might seem wantonly cruel with no goal. And only when alone does Mono perhaps, reflect on his own selfishness.

[waves hands...] Of course, this isn't me saying it wouldn't be intense, or alarming or upsetting etc... Just prefacing that I think it's both a logical escalation from their current dynamic (lol.) and that also it would be cathartic.

Now, let's get into the details. ( •̀ ω •́ )✧

Between the two... well, I do see Mono as closer to processing his feelings as 'a crush'... specificity of, Attracted To Six. I think he's able to identify, when Six is near, heart goes doki doki. Like to look at her, like to touch her. His reactions to her are not incidental; he knows he wouldn't feel this way about anyone else. There's a boyish simplicity to him... which, means I think he also understands, he gets Horny about her as well. He be seeing, ha panty, sometimes, as they're climbing ladders. Lingering gaze, on her bare legs. Compulsively keying into the location of her pussy. And so on. It's not something he shies away from feeling... She's a pretty girl, after all... [quietly stares, from the safe partition of my paper bag.]

As for Six... she is unable to have that kind of awareness for her feelings about Mono. Naturally kind of, doomful, listless girl... not one to think with romantic flourish. It probably feels like a fluke that they were even able to survive this long; keeping each other company is a bonus. It's not that she doesn't care about him — I do think he's able to make her feel things she never has before-!! Six would have her own moments of raw attraction as well, drawn to Mono as something distinctly familiar, in an otherwise hostile & unfamiliar world. Buuut I think she's also a bit wary of emotional intensity too ww, so she would be scared to feel doki doki... She can't quite linger on it, like Mono does.

Generally I think of it as... Six cannot consciously instigate, because she's so far from having expectations of affection (she can't even see herself as craving it...) Meanwhile, Mono is more capable of instigating, but is encumbered by self-hate and overly obsessing about being Six's protector. Mono's love language is like. Dragging Six around violently and bashing things with a pipe. He's, one-track-minded, so I think he's in this rut of seeing rescuing/protecting Six as the ultimate expression of what he can do for her. Fantasizing about kissing her is genuinely too self-indulgent... so he doesn't-!! Even if he would like to. Instead, I think he gets off on the extent his loyalty makes him sacrifice and enduring anything 'for Six's sake'. It's a problem lol.

NOW IMAGINE WE COULD GET PAST THAT BARRIER...!! (And I imagine this would be through the sheer power of looping and accruing 1000 little scant moments with Six. Basting in unmet desire.) Well then Mono could reach the Next Step of trying to Do Something-! Regardless of if it felt, selfish and awful and antithetical to what he is supposed to be doing... No, even so, the feelings just need to well up inside until he can't take it. I think he also needs to be poisoned by how passive and permissive Six is, and how much he's constantly directing her body... A part of him should understand, it's possible to get away with, Something, here...

The atmosphere varies... I could see it being stoic, severe, ahh the mindset of 'I will just Do It. Here I Go.' Harsh low breathing, forceful, crushing Six against his body, pinning her against a surface... (They're often in tight, enclosed spaces together, aren't they?) Or, something more plaintive, trying to shush her, apologetic, 'Please just let me...' petting her, trying to hold hands during, errr but also definitely keeping her restrained and not letting her wiggle away... I've also dwelled on, like a cowardly pathetic attempt at somno, like a kind of Bargaining emotion... scoot pants down, but still be in underwear, press tented boner between her legs... please god, I just want to kind of feel it, for 1 second. [TRYING TO NOT HUFF IN MY PAPER BAG...]

Emotions I envision at the start of such a thing are mostly, lowly, guilty... though I think it could escalate midway into some sort of, entitlement, arrogance, I do so much for you please just let me...!!! and so on. And then of course, her body feels good, to fuck. So there's satisfaction gained from the sheer act. Maybe a childish belief that it can't only feel so good for him. Surely, it feels good for her too... [mentally justifying actions] Six's reflex is to run from things — maybe she just needs him to be persistent. That's how it often is, between them... ⬅ わがまま！！

For Six, on the receiving end, I like it to be genuinely pretty scary and inscrutable, whatever he is initiating with her — like she's not even fully able to grasp the sensations, she can't think 'sex' or 'rape', even. It's more disorienting than that, like, Mono is acting on my body, Mono is forcing himself inside me. Feels like he's created an opening in her, he might as well be stabbing her — just that extreme, of a gap of understanding what is happening.

But ahhh I think, her own attraction and interest in Mono means her body rawly responds to things like his touch, scent... She's already keyed into his voice as a firm anchor, something she's meant to react to, so hearing him haggard, breathing, or babbling at her, slurring, anything would make her brain feel as though it's reverberating in her skull. Draws out unconscious feelings, desperation, aching — terrible awe that she's somehow made him do this? That she isn't running away from it, either? — all this happening internally/physically would make it all feel Crazier. Like oh, Mono's lost his mind, and ig me too. AhhHHH.

For how complicated it is for these two, baseline, I see things as even starting consensual ➡ descending into noncon, midway during interfacing. A consequence of having hazy memories of multiple timelines; a kind of ability to go from 0-1000 easily, with no warning... Alsoo, I kind of, stylistically(? ??) like to imagine they do not talk aloud very much, and have predominantly nonverbal interactions. But it means, they're both often floundering with their own internal perception of things, and unable to bridge a discussion about what the other is feeling or what is happening... or what the other wants. It takes a lot of pressure to reach that event horizon, I think... The great conflict at the end of the game is their discrepancy in perspective, after all.

All that said, I think the scariest rape potential is, well. Bagless Mono at the end of the game who has just usurped power from the Thin Man and is tormenting Monster Six. That guy, I think is like uniquely off his rocker, swangin his axe around and booming HEYYY at a cowering screeching girl. God help Six if he could, just channel enough power to resist being tossed into the abyss or something. I think he could fuck her to death. He really froightens me. She is right to drop him and turn and leave. Seriously get away from him before something bad happens. [laughing...]

[impeccablebackside]

Any celebrities or well known women who'd you think would look good in skintight cat costumes? Need Taylor Swift again imo

While I appreciate the ask anon, I will be honest with telling you that I literally do not know anything about any celebrities at all. I am so far out of the loop it would probably astonish you. The main reason is due to the fact that I do not watch any TV or movies whatsoever, and have not for at least a decade at this point. Nothing against those (a.k.a. normal people) who chose to. I am simply someone who has been disinterested in almost all forms of TV / movie media for most of their adult (and teen) life. More than enough people have told me I am crazy, so I do fully understand how bizarre the above statements are. Where some people find a balance between things like TV / movies, music, sports, video games in their life, I went full board into the music camp in high school and have not looked back since.

Anyway, if I think hard, I would say someone like Emma Stone. I would say she can be considered a good choice (right?). Since she is a redhead (not that it matters), she could probably make a good Rumple. Taylor Swift is a good choice for me as well, so I do agree anon. She is definitely pretty hot. In terms of others, I have no idea anon. Perhaps you can make some other suggestions.

In all fairness, while many celebrities are assuredly beautiful and all that, I greatly prefer who could be deemed as 'common / everyday folk'. Normal people are far more compelling than someone with a celebrity status. That is not meant with any sort of negativity against those who are famous.

Many of the most beautiful people have ever seen have been the actors over the years, and they are merely just performers. They are no one special (but they clearly are), just those doing their jobs. It is such a great thing to me. They have literally defined or redefined what I find beautiful or attractive in a woman, and have informed new benchmarks for beauty in my mind. I am not lying or over embellishing this either anon, I am being truthful. Not only are they stunning, they get to dress up in the aforementioned skintight costumes. Pretty much perfection to me.

Beyond this, the show also allows for a bit more body / ethnic diversity too. Though they are still not perfect with this as more diversity would always be welcomed, but recent casts have been pretty great. Especially with Asian actors and Victorias. Those are very good to me because I think 'everyday' Asian beauty, particularly amongst Japanese women, is just so so beautiful. I have a hard time phrasing it in a way that would not come across as my appreciation being built from fetishized or sexualized preferences. It is not a fetish thing, I promise.

Regardless, I hope the general push for increased diversity in theatre leads to more performers being given the chance to be in the show and make their own mark.

[tobi-smp]

hi !! i’m sorry if you’re sort of done with talking about the cc!techno lore discussion situation, but i wanted to weigh in, if that’s okay. (no pressure to respond !)

the whole thing sort of reminds me of this distinct disconnect i think audience members tend to see among [some] actors and their work - and i can tie this to my own personal experience of having been in varsity theatre in high school, and even to big-name movie stars.

for example, i was in a show called radium girls, and i was cast as this doctor character. i knew my scenes and my lines front-to-back - since that’s really important in giving a good performance - but when i wasn’t directly involved, i was backstage. as a result, if you were to ask me “hey, what’s the plot of radium girls?” i’d be able to give a brief synopsis based off of the parts i myself was directly involved in - but that would be the extent of it, y’know? my synopsis would definitely exclude a significant portion of the story - all of which is vital to understanding the other leads’ characters arcs, and the nuance of the plot itself.

we even see this from cast members of ultra-popular media, like marvel. you’re sort of like, “how could these actors be apart of endgame and not have a clue what’s even really going on?” - and the reality is, unless you make the conscious effort of becoming hands-on, and investing your time into becoming familiar work the material, you’re going to be a little out of the loop. (very sorry for rambling !!)

i think my point is definitely i believe cc!techno is entitled to his personal interpretation of the media he’s in ! especially considering he was involved in a lot of major overarching events. however, i just think he’s sort of viewing the story through one of those cardboard toilet-paper rolls, and he should probably re-examine it as a whole to get a better understanding. dsmp analysts do so much for the community - especially those on tumblr - and i’d love to see him connect with them more. you know, use that english major knowledge for good, rather than evil. (/j /lh)

while I certainly understand what you're saying here, and to an extent you aren't wrong, the problem is the Specific Context

1: technoblade was specifically engaging with the ways that the Audience interprets his character, trying to argue with the perception of him as a villain (or at least as villainous at the red festival), as well as point out several points common in discussion that he doesn’t like (such as the “age arguments,” which in context is the idea that his actions in the red festival were worse because the person he chose to kill was a teenager), which just isn’t the same thing as him having his own interpretation of the character based on his limited perspective.

to use your experience in theater as an example, it’d be as if you walked up to people discussing the play afterwards and argued with an audience member for criticizing your character’s actions and trying to explain why your character Couldn’t have been in the wrong based on the limited knowledge that you have. it’s not a productive conversation and nobody was asking for it.

2: not everything that technoblade said was his personal understanding of his character or his character's motivations. in fact the Majority of what he said was about Other Characters' actions, which becomes problematic both because he didn't have the context to understand those characters on a deeper level And because many of the things he said were just objectively wrong.

as an example: telling his audience that wilbur, tubbo, and tommy tried to kill him by withholding information about the plan is, an extremely bad take on its own. but it becomes worse when we have in stream evidence that tells us that wilbur Did tell techno what the plan was and what techno was supposed to do [Link], tommy's entire arc during pogtopia was about him Not wanting to blow l'manberg up, and neither tommy or tubbo had any reason to think that techno Didn't know (because wilbur had already told them that he was in on it), among other things.

he's not just wrong about the things that happened while he wasn't around, he's wrong about the things that he actively participated in and he's spreading that misinformation to his audience which already has a history of twisting canon to demonize the other characters and downplay the results of c!techno’s actions to absolve his character of guilt.

3: technoblade isn’t just an actor, he’s a writer. he has direct control over his own character, what arcs his character gets involved in, what his character does and says and when he does it. this is an improv roleplay and while there have been instances where there was an overhead writer organizing the events so they played out cohesively that’s long gone. technoblade’s understanding of the story affects how Everybody Else is able to tell their story around his character, which Matters when technoblade is involved in every major arc as of right now.

I talk about this more here [Link], but when tubbo wanted to dig into the consequences the red festival had on his character in more depth he put Quackity into the role as the person his character was angry at and wary of Because of the red festival, having his character absolve c!techno because quackity “forced him to do it” when quackity was openly begging for schlatt and techno to Stop and got hurt By Techno.

c!tubbo isn’t Allowed to explore his trauma From Technoblade because cc!techno isn’t willing to play along, isn’t willing to see his character as a villain or even as someone who made a Mistake. so the narrative had to Bend Around the obstacle that technoblade became in order to explore those feelings. which makes it all the more frustrating when techno apologists turn around and use that to further absolve c!techno of guilt by saying that c!tubbo forgave him and didn’t blame him.

it’s Detrimental to the storytelling of an Improv Roleplay when one of the improvisers refuses to play along.

required reading before you argue with this post: [Link]

[leporellian]

*reserve for when available* pls talk about your rakes progress time loop concept

right so. timeloop rakes progress. the sort of regietheatre we actually need

so looking at the rakes progress's end and beginning, a few parallels become obvious 1) excepting the epilogue, the story starts and ends with tom rakewell musing about venus. 2) excepting the overture, the story starts and ends in the same key. 3) the epilogue is meant to take place outside of the 'reality' that the rest of the opera takes place in. usually you find a lot of productions making this take place in front of the transition curtain (ie hockney but others do it too). 4) rake's is Very Much About theatre and the sort of existential horror that theatre characters exist in. however: this only becomes obvious on repeat viewings.

so. here's the pitch: the rake's progress exists in a timeloop.

tom, anne, and most of the other characters are not aware they're in a timeloop. every so often there's this look on their face of having been there before, but they can't understand it. tom has this inkling that there's something More out there, which he ascribes over and over again to nick's schemes, and anne is realizing, more and more, that the world she exists within fundamentally doesn't make sense. she passes a stagehand when she enters the wedding, she sees how there's something controlling tom that isn't tom and isn't nick either, at one moment she almost sees the orchestra pit. There Is Something Very Not Right Here.

nick and baba, however, KNOW they're all in a timeloop and remember previous incarnations of it. they both have responded to this in different ways: baba ends up enjoying it, because nothing in life matters (positive), while nick hates it because nothing in life matters (negative). baba's 'return to the stage' is simply an acknowledgement that she knows losing her things in the auction doesn't actually matter because by the time the next show starts, she will have them again. the uncle nick came from for all we know could have been another tom rakewell. nick also doesn't realize he's a tool of the narrative just like everyone else- he THINKS his ability to 'change the story' by, say, rewinding time in act 1 means THIS loop he'll finally manage to get the upper hand and his own free will, when in reality he's just as much a puppet as everyone else

that's also why the graveyard scene plays out as it does. nick is trying to get his free will by fundamentally changing the game, which will- hopefully- change the outcome. but tom wins all the same, and nick freaks out so much because tom has essentially just been given a moment of free will in favor of his own. and the insanity nick curses upon tom isn't even nick's own, either- it's tom's escape, not his.

in bedlam, anne realizes the schtick of the whole thing, and that she's in a story that was never actually hers. she soothes tom as his attempt to 'escape' only lends him into another story and his loop naturally ends, and she realizes that there is something more to life than this. that she has her own story to fulfill. it's not her job to constantly be trapped in this loop like everyone else.

and at the epilogue- which is just the stage slowly transitioning to the first scene- we see every character choose what to do now. baba remains, naturally. nick is resigned to the loop and so also remains. tom decides to put his faith in the next loop- this time, he will win, this time, he will find a way to escape. but anne... anne chooses to leave, and she essentially truman show stairway scenes her way out of there.

the last shot of the whole thing is identical to the first- tom has already forgotten the last loop, and he is there, in the garden once more; but with a new anne trulove who's face is, unlike everything else, unfamiliar.

ideally the show would differ every performance in its run, with the anne trulove changing each night (maybe between 2 or 3 performers?) and the way characters are interpreted changing as well (nick growing more and more agitated in each 'loop' for example) but i am aware that would be extra as hell to do LMAO

[writemarcus]

‘A Strange Loop’ Takes a Victory Lap That Was Years in the Making

When he put ‘Broadway’ in a song lyric, Michael R. Jackson was unwittingly naming the destination, and the destiny, for his unapologetically Black and queer musical, which won the Best Musical Tony last night.

BY MARCUS SCOTT

On a cloudy Wednesday morning, less than a week before he was to make his overdue, pandemic-postponed Broadway debut, musical theatre writer Michael R. Jackson was scrambling. His idiosyncratic, existential, metafictional musical A Strange Loop was days away from opening, after the creative team had been forced to cancel a first preview performance when COVID-19 cases were discovered within the company. That meant less time for Jackson to finesse scenes and songs, causing a burst of small panic behind the scenes. Originally scheduled to start previews on April 6, the production launched instead on April 12, just in time for the show’s understudies to spring into action and for Jackson to make revisions. It opened just two weeks later, on April 26, becoming a bona fide critical smash, with Jackson being celebrated for the musical’s ​​craftsmanship, fearlessness, and unbridled humanity. Sales have been strong, and last night’s Tony wins—for Jackson as the show’s book writer, and A Strange Loop as best musical—are sure to bolster the show’s fortunes.

That Wednesday before opening, Jackson was thinking back to the beginning of rehearsals.

“It was a really exciting and emotional day,” Jackson, 41, recalled from the Washington Heights apartment he’s lived in for 15 years. “I told the room that day that it was really amazing that this thing I wrote alone in a room up the stairs of this little old lady in a bungalow house in the middle of nowhere in Jamaica, Queens—that I wrote this monologue as a little life raft for myself on my little Compaq Presario laptop—somehow, over the years, blossomed into this mighty ship that landed on Broadway.”

The seeds for that ending were planted, he thinks, when he added the lyric to the opening number calling what we were about see a “Big, Black, and queer-ass American Broadway show.” He confessed, “Even when I wrote that, I didn’t think the show was going to Broadway, and that wasn’t even what I was trying to do. I was trying to make what felt like a Broadway show to me—my version of what that was supposed to be. So it’s just wild, all that manifesting and that sort of artistic rigor ended up resulting in the show going to Broadway. It feels like a miracle or magical, or something otherworldly, that that could happen.”

A Strange Loop follows Usher (played Jaquel Spivey in his first professional gig out of college), a 25-going-on-26-year-old “overweight-to-obese” Black queer musical theatre writer making a musical about a 25-going-on-26-year-old “overweight-to-obese” Black queer musical theatre writer, ad infinitum. The character’s name is both a reference to the blockbuster-selling R&B singer-songwriter and to the day job the character holds at The Lion King on Broadway, counting down intermissions while assisting entitled wealthy patrons to their seats and dreaming up his breakthrough show; we spend the majority of the show in his mind. Accompanying Usher is a Greek chorus of six “Thoughts,” played to perfection by the spectacular sextet of L Morgan Lee, James Jackson Jr., John-Michael Lyles, John-Andrew Morrison, Jason Veasey, and Antwayn Hopper, each of them contrasting, conspiring against, or calling him out at every turn.

The origins of Jackson’s crowning achievement have become somewhat mythic: Shortly after graduating from New York University’s Dramatic Writing Program in 2002, a 21-year-old Jackson wrote a thinly veiled monologue, a coping mechanism for his career anxiety as a fresh-out-of-college playwright called “Why I Can’t Get Work,” that became the kernel for the show. That monologue was about a young Black gay man walking around New York assessing his life, his career trajectory, and his worth as a Black gay man who is “too fat,” “too femme,” and “too Black” for the culture.

Two years later, while Jackson was attending NYU’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program, a peer of his, Darius Marcel Smith, performed an original song about a one-night stand with another man, and the guilt and shame that came along with being a God-fearing Christian. Inspired, Jackson jotted a lyric in his notebook: “All those Black gay boys I knew who chose to go on back to the Lord.” This phrase, and a musical motif from Tori Amos’s “Pretty Good Year” (the third single from her sophomore effort Under the Pink) inspires him to pen “Memory Song,” snapshots from his coming of age in Detroit as a gay boy with a religious and homophobic upbringing; it would be the first song he’d write as composer and lyricist, and the first germ of what would one day be A Strange Loop. The monologue soon grew into a solo show titled Fast Food Town, performed to mixed reviews Off-Broadway at Ars Nova.

Originally titled “Gayville”—a riff on Exile in Guyville, Liz Phair’s seminal 1993 bedroom-pop indie-rock debut, itself a response to the 1972 Rolling Stones’ cock-rock album Exile on Main Street—Jackson’s musical followed an ultra-self-aware, disillusioned, and furious 20-something undergoing a quarter-life crisis and the downward spirals that come with wading through a liminal space of being a postgraduate, pre-career artist trying to find their corner of the sky. While Phair’s influence looms over the project (check out “Inner White Girl”), her inclusion was a bit more deliberate at first.

“There was an old, old, old draft of A Strange Loop wherein Usher, the character in the musical, was writing these mashups of his songs to Liz Phair songs, mostly to her Exile in Guyville album, and there was a narrative also within the piece where he was trying to reach out to her and get her permission to use her music in the show but also talking to her through his own music mashed up with hers,” Jackson explained. “In real life, I was trying to track her down and get the rights to use her music as well.”

Eventually Phair got back to Jackson, encouraging him to write his own material and make it personal. So he scrapped the mash-ups and began to purge, but thankfully he didn’t take himself too seriously. As a result, A Strange Loop is a disruption, an existential treatise on the soul as it wrestles with topics and taboos at the crossroads of the sacred and profane, all while eviscerating the musical theatre form. Yet its most alluring takeaways come from Jackson’s obsession with the self and with self-identity—an impulse that no doubt be traced to the singer-songwriters he adored growing up.

“There was a song I had written in the show that’s no longer in it called ‘Fan Boy’ that was a mashup against the Liz Phair song called ‘Strange Loop,’ and for years I never knew what the term ‘strange loop’ was—it was just a song on the album that I just really liked,” he clarified. One day it dawned on Jackson to type the phrase into Google, which led him to Douglas R. Hofstadter, the scholar of cognitive science and comparative literature. In his Pulitzer-winning 1979 book Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, Hofstadter coined the term “a strange loop” to describe the navel-gazing nature of individualism and intelligence, writing: “In the end, we are self-perceiving, self-inventing, locked-in mirages that are little miracles of self-reference.” The term, used to describe the paradox of one’s sense of self, is also mirrored in Jackson’s allusions to what W. E. B. DuBois called the “double-consciousness” of African American selfhood created by racism and anti-Blackness. Thus began a series of strange loops, with Liz Phair leading Jackson to Hofstadter, which in turn led him to the title and structure of his groundbreaking hit.

A Strange Loop is hardly the first metafictional musical. There was Jonathan Larson’s semi-autobiographical rock monologue-turned-musical, tick, tick . . . BOOM!, adapted by Lin-Manuel Miranda into a feature film last year. There’s also Jeff Bowen and Hunter Bell’s [title of show], a one-act musical about four characters creating the musical they’re simultaneously performing, which played at the Lyceum Theatre 14 years prior. Yet Jackson’s acclaimed pop-rock Bildungsroman actually follows a lineage of sui generis metafictional musical theatre writers of the post-Black Arts Movement tradition. Like Kirsten Childs’s The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin and Stew’s Passing Strange before it, A Strange Loop is a funny, life-affirming coming-of-age story about a young, gifted, and Black creative as they journey toward self-discovery and self-acceptance. Fusing gospel, jazz, punk, and blues with rock music, Passing Strange is a fourth wall-breaking picaresque odyssey of Black identity and code-switching against a backdrop of Berlin’s 1987 May Day riots. Through a mélange of ‘60s girl group pop, R&B, and showtunes, The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin explores a young woman’s battle with internalized racism and self-worth while surrounded by racial profiling, de facto segregation, and sexism in the wake of 16th Street Baptist Church bombing.

A Strange Loop continues the conversations that began with those genre-defying musicals, merging gospel, folk rock, bedroom pop, and alternative music while forging a new path for Black and queer storytelling in the age of Truvada. In American theatre, white gay men have co-opted and oversaturated the marketplace for LGBTQ narratives. Whether it’s the gay Civil Rights movement (Mart Crowley’s The Boys In The Band, Dustin Lance Black’s 8), or the HIV/AIDS epidemic (Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart, Tony Kushner’s Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, Steven Dietz’s Lonely Planet, William Finn’s Falsettos), or collective trauma (Doug Wright’s I Am My Own Wife, Moisés Kaufman’s The Laramie Project, Martin Sherman’s Bent, Harvey Fierstein’s Torch Song Trilogy, and Douglas Carter Beane’s The Nance), or even queer joy (Fierstein’s La Cage aux Folles, Sherman’s The Boy From Oz). Naturally, a show centering a plus-sized, dark-skinned Black queer man with ambition stands in opposition by design. But A Strange Loop goes further than that, showing no qualms about interrogating such issues as the HIV stigmatization of the Black queer community, racial fetishization, internalized homophobia, parental blackmail, self-loathing, and the paradox, trauma, joy and vicissitudes of being Black and queer and religious.

Indeed, in its brisk 90 minutes, A Strangle Loop both deconstructs and glorifies Black art and queer iconography with absolute abandon. Bristling with references to The Golden Girls and Designing Women, advice columnist Dan Savage, and spoken word artist Audre Lorde, Stephen Sondheim and bell hooks, Scott Rudin and Betty Friedan, the show skews the lines between gay and straight, Black and white, high and low culture with aplomb, putting the musical-within-a-musical in a league of its own, while bridging divides very few of the aforementioned shows have.

No one is safe from critique. One of the biggest targets of Jackson’s ire is Tyler Perry, the multimillionaire movie media mogul, well known for his lowbrow, Chitlin’ Circuit-inspired entertainment, full of ham-fisted messages about the power of prayer. Hallmarks of Perry’s works are satirized and spoofed with surgical precision in A Strange Loop: The stalwart matriarch, the low-income black sheep with an addiction to crack cocaine, the “Strong Black Woman” meandering through life as a lonely spinster with an offstage Ken doll lover interest. Jackson’s contentious relationship with Perry began when a childhood friend introduced him to the impresario’s work shortly after he arrived in New York in 1999; as a gag gift for her birthday, he purchased tickets to see a staged production of Why Did I Get Married? at the Beacon Theatre, starring R&B vocalist Kelly Price, who wore a fat suit in the first act. In A Strange Loop, Usher calls Perry out for his “simple-minded hack buffoonery,” but the mockery is tinged with anxiety; we get the sense that Usher might genuinely be afraid he will create such color-by-number material himself. With each gibe, Jackson holds up a mirror to both the protagonist and himself with profound hilarity and heartbreak.

In one of the show’s most subversive, farcical numbers, “Tyler Perry Writes Real Life,” Usher is confronted by his Thoughts as they masquerade as historical Black figures: Zora Neale Hurston, James Baldwin, Marcus Garvey, Harriet Tubman, and a proxy for every Oscar-bait antebellum picture simply given the name Twelve Years a Slave. Throughout the tune, the Thoughts chastise him for imagining that he is above Perry’s work, especially when an agent offers him an opportunity to quickly ghostwrite a gospel play—news that overjoys his devout parents but repulses Usher. While Usher’s critiques about Perry’s oeuvre have been echoed by his peers, it is his pointed criticism of the filmmaker’s stigmatization of Black queer sexuality and HIV that come into sharpest focus, especially where Perry’s “hate the sin, not the sinner” ethos is concerned. Toward the end of the show, Usher leads his Thoughts in a revival number titled “AIDS Is God’s Punishment,” ridiculing Perry’s proclivity to perpetuate stigma and condone the belief that people living with HIV are sinners who deserve punishment for loving and living out loud. It is a primal scream, Usher’s direct confrontation with the fear mongering and homophobic scripture preached down to him as a youth, as well as a moment of grief for a friend he lost to AIDS. Jackson doesn’t just critique Perry and the Black church here; he also zeroes in on the American theatre and its role in disregarding Black queer people and their stories in favor of white comfort.

“Being willing to challenge any assumptions or popular points of view, being able to question any orthodoxy or status quo—to me that goes in all directions,” Jackson said. “That means if Black Twitter is into something and I’m not into it, that means being willing to risk the ire of Black Twitter, that means being willing to risk the ire of the theatre world, that means being willing to risk the ire of liberal Democrats, of conservatives, of whomever—white people, Black people, everyone, treating everybody the same—and being willing to stand alone, if necessary, in your truth.”

A lot has changed for this musical theatre provocateur in recent years. A major career shift came when A Strange Loop was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2020, becoming only the 10th musical to earn the honor overall and the first to win the award without a Broadway run. Jackson, who was watching an episode of Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Atlanta while conversing with playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins when he received the news, not only made history as the first Black artist to win for writing a musical; he has also become part of a string of Black-authored Pulitzer winner, with Jackie Sibblies Drury’s divisive critical race experiment Fairview nabbing the award in 2019, and Katori Hall’s The Hot Wing King taking the award in 2021 and James Ijames’s Fat Ham winning it this year.

That win was part of the momentum building behind A Strange Loop, which had its Off-Broadway premiere at Playwrights Horizons in 2019, then a limited engagement at Washington, D.C.’s Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company last year. Joining a team led by producer Barbara Whitman and Page 73 Productions, the show’s current Broadway outing has attached an impressive Rolodex of stars to its co-producers’ roster, including RuPaul Charles, Don Cheadle, Jennifer Hudson, Mindy Kaling, Billy Porter, Ilana Glazer, Alan Cumming, Zach Stafford, Cody Renard Richard, Benj Pasek, and Justin Paul. It garnered a record 11 Tony nominations, and though it only took home two of those, they were ones that count: Best Book of Musical and Best Musical. (Best Original Score went to Six.) These wins cap a busy awards season that saw it take home Outstanding Production of a Musical at the 2022 Drama League Awards, and an Outstanding Actor in Musical Award for lead actor Jacques Spivey, who also got an Outer Critics Circle Award and a Theatre World Award honor. Meanwhile L Morgan Lee’s performance earned her the distinction of being the first openly transgender performer to originate a role in a Pulitzer-winning piece of theatre and the first to receive a Tony nomination. Jackson was also included in Time Magazine’s Time 100, an annual listicle of the most influential people in the world, where he was nominated by Porter.

Like many writers for the theatre, he has also become an in-demand writer for TV and film. He recently joined the creative team of the Amazon original series I’m a Virgo, a half-hour superhero satire from writer-director-producer Boots Riley (Sorry to Bother You), starring Jharrel Jerome. Jackson is also developing a TV series for ABC Signature and sold an original pitch to write an untitled horror feature for A24, which Ari Aster and Lars Knudsen are producing under their Square Peg banner. But not to worry, theatre fans, Jackson is still at work on various stage works: White Girl in Danger is a new pop-rock musical partly inspired by classic daytime soaps and ’90s-era Lifetime movies, in development with the Vineyard Theatre Off-Broadway and director Lileana Blain-Cruz; and Teeth, based on the 2007 indie vagina dentata horror comedy by Mitchell Lichtenstein, is being workshopped in collaboration with composer-lyricist Anna K. Jacobs. Jackson has also been commissioned by LCT3, Lincoln Center Theater’s program for emerging artists, to pen Accounts Payable, an original musical inspired by the days when he was slumming it as a finance clerk and executive assistant.

From those bleak early to his current success, Jackson’s North Star has been his dedication to his craft and to the truth.

“I do feel like I’ve changed in a lot of ways,” Jackson said of the past few years in the spotlight. “But I also feel like I am the same person I’ve always been, which is to say I’ve always been somebody who has been trying to get at the truth of life as I understand it and constantly try to scavenge and dig deeper and get past the surface level answers of questions I might be having or that confuse me. I feel like as a young person, a young writer, I was doing that from a much younger perspective.

“That has been the trail I tried to blaze: to be willing to have an unpopular opinion and have a nuanced opinion,” he continued. “That’s only gotten more important to me, especially over these last couple of years, as lots of cultural conversations have taken hold and really gotten louder. I have lot of criticisms and questions in places where I stand apart from my peers, and I have to be willing to stand in that place. I try to stand in that place respectfully and with compassion, even when I want to read people for fucking filth. Even when I have utter contempt for some people and ideas that I see being bandied around.”

As uncompromising as his show’s protagonist, Jackson stood in his truth, and, upon receiving his Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical to a standing ovation, encouraged the American theatre to opt for quality in art. This is a fulcrum moment not just for Jackson, but for every outcast and outlier building their life rafts on the island of misfit toys that is the theatre at its best. As a patron sings to Usher in “A Sympathetic Ear”: “If you’re not scared to write the truth, then it’s probably not worth writing / And if you’re not scared of living the truth, then it’s probably not worth living.”

Marcus Scott is a New York-based playwright, musical writer and journalist. He’s written for Architectural Digest, Time Out New York, The Brooklyn Rail, Elle, Essence, Out and Playbill, among other publications.

[harmonic-function]

i listened to cendrillon on loop and ended up writing something for my voca ship.. i figured i might as well post it?

in advance: i write the boys based off of my own headcanons/characterizations of them, this particular story takes place pre-relationship, and it's also meant to be more of a comedy than an actual cute and fluffy fic ww. it's basically "this is almost romantic but is then immediately ruined"

word count: 2,123 ! ... woah!

None of them were sure how to address it, but something strange was going on with their producer.

Recently, he’d started showing up to their meetings dressed in some sort of costume, and he would randomly speak under his breath- words that none of them could really hear, but with the way he said them so passionately, you’d think he was trying to summon something right there in the cafe. Not to mention he would always show up late, would appear out of breath whenever he did show up, and when asked about what he had been busy doing, he would simply respond “It’s nothing. I’ll let you all know when it’s ready.”

So basically, at this point, they were all convinced that their producer had joined some sort of evil cult. They all decided that today’s meeting would serve as an intervention.

“Hey guys, sorry! I was busy again toda-” He stopped and stared at the three, who were silently sitting at the table- surrounded by bottles of water labeled with crosses. “...Hello?”

Wil gestured for him to take a seat, which he reluctantly did. “Producer, we need to talk about your…” he paused, thinking about how to phrase the next bit. “...occult habits,” he finished.

“My what?”

“Oh, come on, don’t act like you don’t know! You’ve been acting so weird lately!” Yuu slammed a fist on the table. “All that whispering, or whatever! That elaborate outfit you’ve been wearing to every meeting! You showed up with your hands stained red once! Are we supposed to just ignore all of that?!” He inhaled, then exhaled, calmly folding his hands together. “Dude, you have a serious problem. Do you have anything to say for yourself?”

The producer was silent. You could nearly see the gears turning in his head as he tried to piece together just what the hell they were talking about.

Then, it connected.

“...Are you guys talking about my theatre rehearsals?!”

“Huh?” They all spoke up at once.

“Theatre?” Wil.

“You’re in a play?!” Kyo.

“Well, why didn’t you just say that?” Yuu.

“I wanted to wait until the day before our show to tell you,” Eve said, then frowned. “Which.. would have been today, but.. well, the guy who plays the other lead role with me got injured, and-”

“You’re playing one of the lead roles in a play and didn’t think to tell us?!” Yuu clutched at his chest like he’d just been shot.

“I said I wanted to wait, didn’t I?” Eve moved his hair from his face, shooting Yuu a look that made him shrink back in his seat. “Right. Anyway, he tried really hard to keep showing up even though he was hurt- poor thing- but it just kept making it worse. Now he’s basically been forced to take some time off, which means we have no other lead role.” He sighed. “We’ve been trying to find someone suited to take his role, holding last-minute auditions and everything, but it doesn’t seem like people are interested in acting on such short notice. So we’re basically screwed. Might have to call it off entirely.”

The group was silent for a few moments. Wil stood up, collected all of the holy water bottles that were still sitting on the table, and left to go throw them away.

“...What was the play about?” Kyo asked.

“Oh, just your typical fairytale story. Two princes meet, spend a nice evening together, you get it.”

Kyo’s eyes lit up. “Sounds romantic.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

Yuu looked back and forth between the two, an idea forming in his mind. “Hey, producer.” He spoke, using his most innocent-sounding voice. “You need someone to play the other lead, right? I definitely know how to put on a good performance..” He winked. “I could always-”

Yuu felt someone kick him from under the table. There we go.

“What, you? No way, it should be me!” Kyo protested.

“Kyo, you like acting?” Eve asked, making him freeze in place. All he could do was nod. “Really? That’s so cool! We could be the leads together, then! Or, well, you’d probably have to audition against Yuu-”

“No, no. No need for that.” Yuu smiled. “Kyo can take the role, I don’t mind.”

“Really? Great!” Eve turned to Kyo, taking his hand in his own from across the table. “You and I are together, then! I’ll pick you up later!”

It was at that moment that Wil returned to the table. He looked back and forth between the two, who were still very much holding hands.

"Oh." He said. ‘Congratulations?’

Kyo felt like he was going to die.

…

“Have you ever been here before? Like, backstage?” Eve led Kyo through the old community theatre building, muttering ‘excuse us’ and ‘sorry’ to nearly every person they bumped into. Kyo shook his head, prompting a smile from Eve. “Really? Nice! I’m glad I get to be the one to show you, then.”

“I.. I’m really glad, too." Kyo's voice was barely raised above a whisper.

They made it. The backstage area wasn’t relatively big or anything, and it wasn’t nearly as pretty as the actual stage itself, but Kyo had to admit- it did seem to have some sort of strange magic to it. It even made his heart race a little…

..or, no, that was just because Eve was here. And because, well, thinking about it-

“You said the play was a fairytale, right? A story between two princes?” He was already thinking of what possible cute scenes they would have to act out together. One rescuing the other from danger? A kiss, maybe? A wedding??? “..Could you tell me more about that?”

“Oh, yeah. Um.. it’d be easier to follow with the script- someone should be here soon with those, by the way- but basically, these two guys meet at the ball and fall in love with each other. Like, love at first sight kind of deal. They spend all night dancing together, talking, laughing, you get it.”

Kyo looked away, trying to hide his blushing face. “That’s..” Exciting? Everything I could have ever hoped for? “..sweet.”

“Yeah, at least until the clock strikes midnight.” Eve chuckled. “Then everything goes to hell.”

“...What?” Kyo turned back towards him, staring in horror. “What does that m-”

Before he could ask, someone rushed up to the two, a bunch of stapled papers in hand. “Sorry, sorry! I hope this is fine?” He looked down. The top of the first page read ‘SCRIPT’. Kyo hesitantly took it, giving the person a small “thank you”. Then, hands shaking, he flipped to the last few pages.

“...You have to kill me?!”

Kyo spent the entire rest of the practice session asking the director for a rewrite of the ending. He got rejected every single time.

…

Despite the complete shock and terror Kyo had felt initially, the practice had gone well, and eventually, all that was left to do was put on the final performance.

“Do I look okay?”

“This is the fifth time you’ve asked me that in the past three minutes.” Eve adjusted his tie, then turned to smile at him. “You look fine. Cute, even. Now, quit worrying!”

Kyo turned away so Eve wouldn’t see his face flush at the compliment. “That’s.. ah. Thank you.” There was silence between the two of them for a few moments before he spoke up again. “Look, I know I said I’d suck it up, but… man, this ending really sucks!”

“It does, doesn’t it?” Eve looked towards the stage. “It’s all pretty messed up. But, if it helps, I’d never want to do anything like this with you in real life.”

“What, the ‘spending a romantic evening together' part, or the part where you kill me?” Kyo joked.

Eve continued staring in the stage’s direction.

“...C-Can I get an answer to that?!”

“Yes! The answer is always yes!” A familiar voice came from behind them, and an arm slung itself over Kyo’s shoulders. With a startled yelp, he spun around and came face to face with Yuu- and Wil, who was standing close behind him. “Hi, lovebirds!”

“D-Don’t call us that!” Kyo resisted the urge to hide his face in his hands. “How did you get back here, anyway?!”

Yuu shrugged. “The director let us in! Nice guy, huh?”

‘Yuu distracted him and then dragged me in here.’ Wil signed.

“Hey, don’t tell them!” Yuu elbowed him in the side, then shook his head. “Oh, forget it. Just wanted to tell you both to break a leg or something. Uh- but don’t actually get hurt, though. Seriously, I want to watch Kyo make a fool of himself up close and personal.” He grinned. “That’s exactly why I’m back here, actually! This is a good view- even better than what front row seats will give you! Don’t you agree, Wil?”

‘I would literally rather be sitting in a chair right now.’

While Yuu whined about how Wil “wasn’t any fun”, Eve and Kyo managed to slip away to a quieter spot in the backstage area. They sat next to each other, perhaps a little too closely to really be comfortable. Their hands were almost touching. They were both aware of that, but they did nothing.

“We go on in a few minutes,” Kyo stated simply. “Um.. I’m glad we get to do this together.”

“Even if my character ends up stabbing yours?” Eve grinned, giving him a playful shove.

He hesitated. “Well.. I wouldn’t mind dying, if you’re the one that kills me.”

Eve’s eyes widened. He looked down at the floor, tapping his fingers together nervously. “Don’t… don’t say that. That’s weird, man.” He let out a weak laugh. “I wouldn’t even want to kill you, anyway. I care about you too much for that.”

“You- you care about me?” Kyo’s voice wavered, making Eve look back up at him.

“What, are you about to cry? Dude, of course I care about you! You’re.. um,” He paused. “You’re my best friend. You’re important to me.”

Kyo’s expression became unreadable. “Your best friend.. right.”

Somewhere, someone called for them to take their places.

…

The fated scene drew closer and closer. Gently, the two moved across the stage, holding each other like it was the last time they were going to be able to do so. And technically, for their characters, it would be.

...Did it really have to be the end for them, though? Could they still be able to 'love’ each other, even off-stage?

“Kyo,” Eve murmured, making sure the audience couldn’t hear him. “When this is over.. I have to tell you something. Okay?”

“Okay,” Kyo whispered back. “Is it time now?”

Unfortunately, it was. The clock chimed, marking the time as midnight, and the two withdrew from each other.

“Ah… it’s been an honor being in your presence tonight. I’ll say, I found myself wishing that the night would never end.” Eve spoke, bowing. It was true, for both his character and himself.

“Likewise, my dear. Being with you has brought me a special kind of happiness that I thought I’d forgotten. I believe… that kind of happiness.. is called love.” Kyo took Eve’s hand in his own. “That is to say, I think.. I’ve fallen in love with you.” Oh, he didn’t just think. He knew he had.

Eve took a step closer, leaning in. “I love you, too.” He forced himself to look down, taking in a deep breath before he delivered his next line. “..But it cannot be.” And then, the fatal blow was struck.

Literally.

See, Eve was meant to graze Kyo’s side with his fist as he moved in, to merely simulate the appearance of a stab. Unfortunately, the recent romantic tension had thrown him completely off-balance, and so...

He ended up punching Kyo in the gut, at full strength, in front of an entire audience.

Kyo fell to the ground instantly, a pained wheeze leaving his lips. Eve stood there, horrified, before turning around and bolting off-stage in a complete panic, leaving him there to suffer.

The crowd cheered, seemingly unaware of the absolute freak accident that had just taken place. To them, it was a part of the show.

Backstage, Yuu and Wil seemed just as unaware.

‘Nice work.’

“Yeah, right? That scene just now was incredible! I didn’t even know Kyo was so good at acting- the look of betrayal on his face right now is so realistic! It’s like you’ve actually wounded him!” Yuu gushed.

Eve collapsed, curling up into a ball on the floor. “I ruined it. I've ruined everything. God, there’s no way I can tell him now...”

Somehow, negative progress was made towards their relationship?!

(It's okay, it'll get fixed up later!)

[iwach4n]

this is basically an AU me and @snazzieyama have been talking about where haikyuu characters are the actors in Hamilton, and i haven’t been able to get it out of my mind so have an obnoxiously long set of headcanons about it

(i wrote this listening to the soundtrack, proper jamming i tell you)

CAST LIST (hear me out on some of these)

alexander hamilton - hinata shoyo

aaron burr - akaashi keiji

eliza schuyler - kageyama tobio

angelica schuyler - atsumu miya

peggy schuyler - yachi hitoka

john laurens / phillip hamilton - nishinoya yuu

marquis de laffayette - bokuto koutarou

hercules mulligan - tanaka ryuunosuke

george washington - sawamura daichi

thomas jefferson - tsukishima kei

james madison - yamaguchi tadashi

king george III - oikawa tooru

maria reynolds - kozume kenma

james reynolds / the doctor - kuroo tetsurou

samuel seabury - sugawara koushi

charles lee - lev haiba

george eacker - yaku morisuke

the bullet - shimizu kiyoko

HEADCANONS

hinata auditioned for hamilton despite having literally no theatre experience besides like school musicals and like one community theatre show. he was cast in ensemble at first but worked his way up to hamilton’s understudy and then the official hamilton

tsukishima auditioned for burr. he was salty that he was cast as someone else (his dynamic with yamaguchi was too good to pass up and akaashi had a better voice for Wait For It) at first but then he immediately clashed with hinata and took great pleasure with being able to roast him every night

in Alexander Hamilton, the laffayette/jefferson and mulligan/madison parts switch actors every show so bokuto, tsukishima, tanaka and yamaguchi all get to do it. sometimes they switch it at the last minute because “please dude my grandma’s come to watch i need to be on stage as much as possible”

tanaka has the Best fun on stage. he never fails to get the crowd pumped, he is jumping around and bringing so much energy, especially in his part in yorktown. it makes you mad that its a musical and you can’t start jumping up and singing along

suga was cast as seabury because he was perfectly good at the role and they preferred kageyama as eliza, which he auditioned for originally. he’s really good at it but it took way too long for Farmer Refuted to come together because him and hinata kept bursting out laughing. they both consider each other, like, the least threatening people ever, and they couldn’t take it seriously whenever hinata would have to get in suga’s face

SOMETIMES IT STILL HAPPENS!! if you watch carefully, you might see one of their lips twitch while they try to keep a straight face. the minute suga gets off stage, someone always has some cushion or piece of clothing he can laugh into because once he started laughing while his mic was still on

THE BIGGEST CAST JOKE IS ABOUT THE HEIGHT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HAMILTON AND ELIZA!! kageyama looks so much taller than hinata (coz he is but its so noticeable when they’re alone on stage) and they torment hinata with pictures where it just looks ridiculous

oikawa always absolutely steals the show. he’s so dramatic, but he’s also one of the most simped-for cast members and sometimes he’ll throw a wink into the audience in the middle of You’ll Be Back to make things more interesting. 

also the bits in act 2 where he just comes in to watch and laugh at everything that’s happening? he’s so fun! just because he’s not the main focus of the scene doesn’t mean he isn’t gonna make the most hilarious facial expressions. half the audience ends up focusing on him instead.

daichi is the most commanding washington literally ever. he just comes on and he immediately takes over the stage. he barely has to try to give the character the air of authority. literally the perfect actor for the role

he’s also been in the show the longest. was cast as washington right off the bat and has been doing the role for multiple years. it makes him the unofficial dad of the cast and the go-to for advice since he’s seen a bunch of people do every other role

the “CALL ME SON ONE MORE TIME” line was another one that took too long for them to do without laughing. daichi has been doing this for ages but when he practices with hinata, he can’t help but laugh because this is the kid who he witnessed choke on hello kitty gummies with five minutes until the show began (back when hinata was in ensemble). hinata does the line too well and its hard to take it seriously at first

akaashi singing Wait For It is the literal most beautiful part of the show. he’s an amazing actor and his voice is incredible and it’s the sort of thing you could rewatch on loop for an entire week non-stop without getting bored

bokuto got akaashi the audition for burr, and even though their characters don’t interact too much their chemistry is really good. The “everyone give it up for everyone’s favourite fighting frenchman!” line is so genuine they just really admire each other as actors

lev auditioned for lee for the sole purpose of getting the line “i’m a general, WHEEEE”. he got the role mostly because he was just,,, really good at that line

atsumu refused to interact with anyone outside of rehearsals and performances for a solid month. the instagram of the cast had loads of photos on the story that were just mugshots of him saying “day 24, atsumu still won’t talk to us :(” whenever any of the cast take over it for a day

akaashi is the second most simped-for actor in the cast (after oikawa). you can literally feel people in the audience swooning in Dear Theodosia because he’s just so sweet

when yachi found out she was the only girl in the main cast she was literally terrified. she latched onto kiyoko really quickly and there’s a ridiculous amount of pictures that every fan has seen of those two together

kiyoko is really mesmerising as the bullet!! when she’s lifted her form is just stunning she just looks really nice okay-

every wondered whether kageyama would be like,,, actually good because he just seems kind of awkward off stage, but the minute he’s on stage and following a script, he’s like the perfect eliza

nishinoya has the perfect range for both laurens and phillip. fun and friendly yet still principled and serious rebel? check. small sweet nine year old? check. charismatic flirt? check. heartbreakingly dying from a gunshot wound? check.

tsukishima is a really unique jefferson. he’s not as flamboyant as the role usually is, but he’s super sassy to make up for it. it’s really refreshing and SO fun to watch. “uh,,, france?” becomes “france.” with a ‘are you stupid’ expression

yamaguchi wasn’t expecting to get anything past ensemble but he came in to audition with tsukishima and he is so good at what few lines he has. “which I wrote!” is said with such a scandalised tone, it gets a laugh every time

everyone who knew kenma before thought he’d be too awkward to do maria but he is actually really good once he gets past the initial awkwardness, he manages to portray her like a victim really well

i’ve already done like two of these so here’s some more scenes that took too long before they didn’t burst out laughing: eliza teaching phillip to play piano in Take A Break (just imagine nishinoya and kageyama doing it i can’t-), the duel in Ten Duel Commandments (the height difference between nishinoya and lev made them laugh every time they turned around), 90% of Say No To This but especially the kiss (kenma would just stop and get off like ‘no, i can’t, i can’t do this’ every time it was about to happen while hinata just started cackling)

part of the reason noya got cast as phillip as well as laurens was because he’s one of the only people who auditioned who was shorter than hinata

in rehearsals, akaashi has fallen off the table from The Room Where It Happens because they couldn’t time him jumping while the tablecloth was pulled off. there’s a compilation of the falls on youtube, no one knows who recorded them, let alone who posted it (it was kuroo)

speaking of kuroo, he takes his like five lines and he runs with them. he’s awesome as james reynolds but he’s also the fandoms favourite instagram of the cast because he just posts all the backstage shenanigans. he’s somehow always recording whenever something is going wrong.

he also teases kenma relentlessly about how their characters are married, but kenma is having none of it. it always goes like “awe we’re married” “,,, you’re literally abusive” or “come on, do it for your husband” “i’m cheating on you”

(i stopped here to jam to That Part of Hurrican. i wrote my way out hell i wrote my way to revolution i was louder than the crack in the bell i wrote eliza love letters until she fell-)

bokuto managed to rap Guns And Ships first try. he listened to it like twice, read the lyrics, and he could immediately do it. he took ages to do a convincing french accent though, and it pained everyone

TSUKISHIMA COULDN’T DO THE FAST PART OF WASHINGTON ON YOUR SIDE AND HAD TO ASK BOKUTO FOR HELP

bokuto is just,,, such a good laffayette. he’s jumping all over the place, flexing his muscles while he does the fast raps without looking out of breath at all. it seems almost impossible

also!!!! kuroo has a ridiculous amount of videos of bokuto backstage fortnite dancing to serious songs like Burn or Its Quiet Uptown

kageyama in Burn!!! heartbreaking and beautiful but he burns his hand on the letter too often. he’s gotten used to it at this point so he only slightly flinches when the flames touch his hand. its worrying

congratulations was almost brought back because atsumu really likes it and he absolutely kills it. they recorded him singing it in like a studio and everything because its just that good

when noya found out yaku was playing eacker he was so happy because they’re both short and he already looks ridiculous and tiny enough in the first duel

tsukishima will never admit how much fun he has with “southern motherfucking democratic republicans!!!” but its so clear his eyes literally shine (he kind of carries that line coz yamaguchi and akaashi are a lot more mellow)

oikawa once got dared to fortnite dance in reynolds pamphlet when he’s throwing the one singular sheet of paper. he was going to do it but the directors found out about it and literally threatened to fire him if he did it (they did it in a rehearsal to make up for it)

you know that bit in Your Obedient Servant where its like “careful how you proceed good man, intemperate indeed good man, answer for the accusations i lay at your feet or prepare to bleed good man”? literal chills from the look on akaashi’s face when he does it

whenever other cast members get food gifts from fans and they leave them unattended atsumu will always steal them. only daichi has figured out its him and he has kept quiet on two conditions - he leaves his alone, and he gets half of all the cakes

sometimes yachi just likes to lie down in the middle of the spinny floor and spin to destress. yamaguchi joins her sometimes.

there’s always a ton of people waiting at stage door, and kuroo has made it his mission to come out first and announce everyone as they leave. people play along with it and cheer for every person. some of the cast (mainly oikawa and bokuto) make it super dramatic and do massive bows as they walk out. kageyama never fails to look bewildered despite it happening every day

oikawa chills in full king gear backstage way before and way after he needs to. like half of his instagram is selfies is him in it doing dramatic poses. he’s broken the crown too many times because it fell off his head

hinata sometimes subconsciously does the My Shot dance while he’s going about his life. he can’t escape

they can be sorted into three groups: is the literal sweetest baby to their fans and is kind of shocked they even exist, adores having fans and fully expects them to exist, and the ‘i appreciate the support but pls leave me alone i want to go home’

i don’t know how to round this off but this is getting too long and its gonna keep on going because i’m listening to the soundtrack as i write. maybe there will be a part 2 one day.

[obscure-sentimentalist]

For @storiesofimagination, who prompted “kissing on a mission” for Flommy.

...I can promise that the prompt fill is in there, or at the very least worked up to through this piece. 

“Okay, somebody be honest with me: am I still a conventionally-attractive man with a winning smile and an appealing backside?”

While her position across the crowded floor gives her the perfect vantage point to watch Tommy approach the bar, Felicity is immensely grateful that she isn’t as easily spotted in return and thus can choke on her glass of wine in relative peace. The Merlot slipping down the wrong pipe also saves her from having to answer that question.

(The spiral of awkward that would come with the vehemence of her Yes is the last thing Felicity needs right now.)

“You’re fine, Tommy,” Oliver assures him instead, albeit flatly and edged with the fond annoyance of a longtime friend who’s trying to be the scourge of the criminal underworld at the moment. The comm picks up the patter of rain on metal, confirming that he’s arrived at the docks. “Give it time.”

Tommy huffs out a laugh at that, tucking his chin down as he signals the bartender with his right hand. “That’s the problem—I shouldn’t need time. I played up the right qualities, didn’t I? Charming but not too friendly, mysterious but not too closed off… by all accounts, Lina should have taken the bait.” He pauses to give his drink order to the bartender, before surreptitiously peering over his shoulder. “She’s not even looking this way, is she?”

Throat now cleared of alcohol gone rogue, Felicity takes that as her cue and scans the room for the (ironically) emerald green of Lina Matheson’s gown. It’s subtle in the sea of black and white, but any pop of color is bound to stand out, and Felicity’s gaze locks onto the woman in question just as she retrieves a champagne glass from a passing serving tray. She smiles with performative politeness and nods to a few other guests as she passes, but true to Tommy’s prediction, not a single glance is spared towards the bar.

“I’ll go over the workup again,” Felicity says in place of a more direct confirmation, making a careful operation of retrieving her phone from her clutch without spilling her half-full glass of wine. “See if there’s anything else we can use to our advantage, or a new angle we could try. Maybe you just need to go in and, I don’t know, appeal to her guilty pleasure for procedural crime dramas or something.”

“That would make for an interesting guilty pleasure,” Tommy notes, the mic picking up the clack of ice in his glass as he takes a sip of his drink. “You know, seeing as she’s working on the side that usually gets caught in under an hour. That’s either disheartening, or empowering for her own activities.”

“If you find something, work with it,” Oliver cuts in, steering the conversation back on track. “We need access to Lina’s hotel room and her hired guns off her back long enough to drop a couple bugs. Doran is due to meet her in two hours to confirm this week’s shipment and so she can give him the crate number, and we need to find it before any of their men can.”

“Right, right,” Tommy acknowledges with a sigh. “Give me a sec…”

“I should have something for you in just a few more.” Miraculously, Felicity manages to bite her tongue to keep from pluralizing Tommy’s word choice in her offer.

This night is becoming a crash-course in why she and Tommy aren’t often put out in the field together. Even when they’re not supposed to interact directly, keeping an eye on Tommy—in formalwear, no less—from across the room has a way of making her brain-to-mouth filter want to glitch even more than normal.

(It certainly doesn’t help that his own comms chatter keeps giving her so many openings to do so.)

Turning back to the task at hand (and distracting herself from thinking about feelings of any sort), Felicity swipes at her phone and pulls up Lina’s file, giving it another scan. She’d been thorough in compiling it, gathering the standard data—the phone records, the credit card statements, the offshore accounts—and whatever personal and social life details she could track down. For a regional theatre actress turned crime syndicate higher-up (a rather drastic career change) Lina doesn’t seem to value much discretion on the latter, making Felicity’s job that much simpler.

Tommy had tried to subtly work theatre into the conversation on his first pass with Lina, but it still hadn’t been enough to hold her interest. Felicity starts there, scrounging for any other possible threads, but if it didn’t do much the first time…

There’s a small flash of color in the corner of her eye, heading towards the bar, and Felicity immediately jerks her head up. Rather than finding Lina with a change of heart, though, her gaze lands on another woman in a gorgeous deep blue gown, stopped at the counter a couple seats down from Tommy. She gives him a red-lipped smile, just this side of lusty, which Tommy returns politely yet emptily before turning back to his drink.

False alarm confirmed, Felicity lifts her phone once again, only for her attention to jump to the opposite side of the room at more movement. Lina’s shade of green is instantly recognizable as she weaves through the crowd, coming to a stop at a pillar that gives her a clear line of sight to the bar.

One that she’s making good use of, with the way her stare lands on Tommy’s back, and that of his would-be drinking buddy—watching, waiting.

Lips popping into a surprised ‘O’ as puzzle pieces begin to connect, Felicity swipes her screen a few times to pull up one particular section of the file while keeping a close eye on Lina. If there’s indeed something in here that can back up her conjecture, then they may have just found their perfect bait.

A few more quick taps, a little scrolling and skimming, and sure enough, there it is.

“Alright, Tommy,” Felicity starts, voice confident as she swings her attention from her phone and back across the room. “I’m going to need you to…”

Her jaw clicks shut the moment she notices that their key pops of color are now down to one, whose interest in the happenings at the bar has fled with the other.

“Felicity?” Tommy prompts after a prolonged moment of silence, discreetly turning his head towards her. The motion—and the fact that he felt he could freely address her over the comm—confirms that he’s alone once more. Not even the departure of his quiet admirer was enough to draw Lina over to take her place.

Oh, the details are assembling into a very clear picture, now, and Felicity’s not entirely sure how she feels about it. She’s even less certain if it’s actually a better idea to take things into her own hands and run with it than to brainstorm another option, but her feet are moving before she can stop herself.

Wine held conspicuously high as she squeezes through the crowd, Felicity totters on her heels and sways enough to convincingly appear wasted. Her movements become even more distracting the closer she gets to the bar, punctuated by the full collapse of her weight on Tommy’s arm the second she reaches his side.

“I think I found a new angle,” Felicity hisses to Tommy under her breath, silencing any (rightfully) confused reaction to her appearance. That’s all the explanation he gets before Felicity struggles to crawl into his lap with the grace of someone trying to balance a drunken charade and her actual relative sobriety.

Automatically, one of Tommy’s arms slips under Felicity’s legs to carefully maneuver them over his thighs, while the other loops around her back to support her while seated sideways. “Consider me your captive audience,” he quips back, a single eyebrow arched.

Letting out a high-pitched giggle loud enough to ensure Lina’s attention (if it wasn’t already on them the second Felicity got close), Felicity collapses heavily against Tommy’s chest. Half-consciously, one hand drifts from its place at her side and begins roving over the lapel of his jacket for further effect.

“I missed something in the initial search,” she admits in a much quieter tone, discreetly keeping a bead on the flash of green across the floor. Both her hand and words pause a moment in consideration, before Felicity amends, “Well, not so much missed as didn’t really connect the pieces or recognize the pattern as one until now. It was helped along when I noticed a few things tonight.”

“Mmhmm,” Tommy hums, glancing back at her with interest and a soft smile. While Felicity can tell it’s intended as an encouragement to go on, the sound lends itself so easily to the façade, as if expressing his enjoyment over basically being felt up.

The phrasing of that last thought finally catches Felicity’s brain up with her actions, with dawning clarity that it seriously isn’t going to lead to anything good if she keeps rolling down this path. Her hand drops away from Tommy’s shirt (when and how did it wander over to the middle of his chest?) as if it’s shorted out.

“Never mind,” she says hastily, moving to push herself up and off of Tommy altogether, regardless of whether or not Lina is still watching. “I… I didn’t think this through. It was just a hunch, even with substantial evidence, and there’s too much of a risk factor to foll-…”

“Felicity.” The hand settled on her waist draws her attention with a light, comforting squeeze. “I am fresh out of ideas for how to get this back on track, so if you have a suggestion, please, lay it on me.”

There must be something about that soothing hand at her side and the tone of his voice, because Felicity has no other explanation for the “I already am,” she blurts in response.

The wide-eyed double-take that plays across Tommy’s face would be adorable, if it weren’t the complementary reaction to the heat rising in Felicity’s.

“Both… physically laying on you, and… laying the plan on you,” she clarifies slowly, squeezing her eyes shut as the hole digs deeper and deeper. “They’re kinda interconnected.”

“I, uh, figured,” Tommy acknowledges, though it breaks on a slight cough. His throat bobs as he swallows thickly, then drops his voice lower. “But you do have an idea?”

Every alarm bell and klaxon in Felicity’s brain is going off, but over the noise, she can already tell it’s too late to turn back without having a really concrete explanation. And try as she might, that’s the one thing she can’t seem to summon right now.

If she’s this deep into a bad idea already, then maybe it’s time to grab the scuba gear and hope nothing too catastrophic happens.

“The last two men Lina’s been attached to,” she starts, slowly lowering herself back down until her head settles comfortably next to Tommy’s right ear. “Brian Sumter and Paolo Dochelli.”

“I remember,” Tommy murmurs back, lips twitching futilely in reaction to Felicity’s breath tickling his skin. “She met them both through mutual friends, right?”

“Maybe not the right choice of words,” Felicity contradicts, “because in both cases, Lina was friends with Brian and Paolo’s respective girlfriends. And from what I could see, those splits predated the relationships with Lina by hardly any time at all.”

The pieces almost audibly click into place in Tommy’s mind after that, and he pulls back slightly to glance at Felicity head-on. “Lina was the cause of those break-ups. Or, at the very least, was immediately there to reap the rewards.”

“That’s the working theory. Combined with how she’s risen through the ranks and gained the power she has now—and if the rumors surrounding her short-lived stage career are true…”

Felicity trails off, risking another careful glance back at Lina over Tommy’s shoulder. Sure enough, the other woman is turned fully towards the bar, one hand and a champagne glass held aloft in a tight grip, while her opposite arm folds across her chest in clear displeasure.

That’s the final confirmation they need, which leads Felicity to conclude, “…she likes taking what others’ have.”

Bomb dropped, Felicity bites her lip in nervous silence as Tommy takes the time to process both the deduction and the likely course of action to make use of that information.

“So, what we’re thinking here,” he starts after a moment, voice slightly strained and pitching high, “is we convince her that I’m something worth taking. From you.”

Having it vocalized makes Felicity flush and almost duck her head against Tommy’s neck, but she manages to get at least her thoughts straight. “I think you almost had her on the first go-around, otherwise she would have just dismissed you entirely and wouldn’t keep checking you out from a distance. Especially when someone else gets close,” she points out. “So we’re about halfway there.”

“The worth taking part, I’m guessing.” The way Tommy says it sounds much too disbelieving.

Felicity sighs, and this time her hand deliberately moves from Tommy’s chest to rest—gently but grounding—along his jawline. “That’s not even a question, now or ever,” she assures him firmly, even as it risks revealing more than she might like.

There’s a flash of surprise (and maybe even understanding) behind Tommy’s eyes, before they fill with something soft and his free hand drifts up to settle atop Felicity’s. “I get that this is more in regards to me right now,” he says with a slight laugh, before dropping into a quieter, earnest tone. “Just know that the same goes for you, too.”

Anything Felicity might have to say to that gets thoroughly wiped from her mind when the arm wrapped around her back carefully nudges her forward, and her eyes fall on the particular cant of Tommy’s head.

“So, if we’re going to give Ms. Lina Matheson a great many reasons to be seeing green beyond her gown,” he murmurs, the sensation of his breath against Felicity’s lips making her immediately aware of their closeness. “I’d like to propose an encore later on. Little bit less of a production, little bit more private…”

“I accept your terms,” Felicity finds herself saying, a thrill running through her chest. Her hand once again finds Tommy’s shirt, this time gathering the material in a tight fist to pull her in and close the few remaining centimeters between them. “Lina doesn’t get to keep what she takes this time.”

Tommy has no verbal response to that, just the eager, wholeheartedly agreeing press of his lips against hers.

If everything goes according to plan, in a minute or two they’ll have to part for breath, as well as an approaching Lina and her renewed interest in Tommy. The mission will be back on track from there, returning Felicity to her support role behind a screen and leaving Tommy to his bug-planting upon invitation to Lina’s room. No job is over until the arrows fly, and even then, there’s bound to be a few more hours of wrap-up before calling it a night.

The promise of later is a sweet one, something to chase and carry them through the tasks to come. But it’s the now that makes it even possible, and neither of them are in any rush to let it slip away.

[thewidowstanton]

Josie Stone: costumier

Costumier Josie Stone was born in London and lived and worked there most of her life but is now based in Rochester in Kent. She’s been in the business “going back to the Flower Power days of the sixties” in London’s King’s Road, and worked for a lot of up-and-coming pop groups, selling clothes to Tommy Roberts’ Kleptomania in Carnaby Street. She made fashion samples for designers Paddy Campbell and Katherine Cusack, and one Christmas Liberty’s department store had windows showcasing Cusack’s dresses – including one for Diana, Princess of Wales – all of which Josie had made. She also created samples for adverts in the boutique Medusa near Sloane Square. 

Later Josie moved into the entertainment industry, making outfits for both the children’s and adults’ Royal Variety Performances, as well as doing TV work for the Des O’Connor Show, the Michael Barrymore Show, the Lesley Garrett and Frank Skinner shows, TFI Friday and for organisations such as Butlins and Bassline Circus. She’s made costumes for shows on cruise ships and for films such as Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again, and has made those for Thursford Christmas Spectacular for many years. Even though Thursford always credits her work, her considerable contribution to the industry has largely gone unrecognised. 

She is performer Becky [Rebecca] Burford’s mother, and her son-in-law is stunt man Andrew Burford. The Widow’s Liz Arratoon has always regarded costumes as a vital part of any show and was delighted when Josie agreed to chat about her impressive – and lengthy – career. 

The Widow Stanton: Have you always loved clothes and fashion? Josie Stone: It was always in me. I was one of these kids that when my mother and father bought me a sewing machine I made all my dolls’ clothes.

Was this skill in your family background? No, my mum was very good at sewing… very good. But no they didn’t do this. My father was a printer. I learnt a lot at school and a lot from my mum. I didn’t go to college; we had lessons at school for making… millinery classes and also sewing classes.

That’s amazing! We had sewing classes at school but we never learnt anything worthwhile. How did you start out actually working in the industry? I left school and went to a couple of places making shirts but that didn’t last long. Then I met up with this guy who had his workroom above Tesco’s in Victoria. He was very keen to start making… it was like Flower Power days but you couldn’t buy shirts and trousers and things like that for the pop groups. Those sort of things just weren’t around. So I went to work with him. It was a rented flat he lived in and we were all working in there making these things. Then he suddenly got this place down King’s Road in Chelsea called The Potato Shop; on the corner in World’s End. At the time Granny Takes a Trip was just down the road from us, with this American car sticking out the window that appeared to crash through on to the step. It was great! I mean good fun, great fun!

Do you design as well as make? No, I don’t design. I get a drawing and that’s it. It depends on who the designer is… sometimes you get ‘I want that at the bottom, I want the skirt to look like that and the top to look like that’. 

Can you remember any of the pop groups you worked for? [Laughs] No! You’re talking a lot of years ago, lots of years ago. It was any group that was starting out in that industry and they had nowhere to buy their things. We would buy Indian bedspreads and make them into kaftans, sailors’ trousers, dyeing them all different colours and altering them, and frilly shirts that would be sold to the antique market at the Sloane Square end of the King’s Road, near the town hall. We had one floor in The Potato Shop and there were crazy carryings on downstairs in the basement. We didn’t really know what it was all about but it was a bit naughty. One night we sneaked back into the place and worked all night so this guy could get his order out. 

We always hear about the Swinging Sixties… how much fun was it?  Oh, King’s Road was lovely. Beautiful, beautiful. It was a wonderful place to be in the sixties with all the Flower Power, then the punks. It was great fun; it was wonderful fun. It was all unknown to me; it was all new and that was the start of me getting into that type of work. My dad worked just off of Carnaby Street and he got us work from Kleptomania, a big, big place where all the pop groups used to go. We’d be making more kaftans and shirts with frills all down the sides and the centre. There still weren’t many shops around that were selling that type of thing. Tommy Roberts would sell to people like Jimi Hendrix and The Who. It was just fun. [Laughs] I was a single girl having great fun going from one place to the next, really. 

After that I worked in a boutique called Medusa. I was downstairs making samples all the time. I didn’t used to do much production. Mainly I’d make a sample up and then if they liked it it would go off to wherever, to a factory or somewhere like that to do production. Medusa was a swinging place, it was in a little alleyway off the King’s Road next to Sainsbury’s. I believe it was called Elystan Place. It was an up-and-coming boutique. That was at the time when Zandra Rhodes was big, and those sort of people. One time we made some samples for Apple Records, the Beatles’ label, but it never came to anything. 

What was the best part of your life then? I was young and having fun and it was all the unknown. I lived then in Wandsworth Road with my parents, and these were all Chelsea people and they were different, completely different to the life I’d led, and it was just really way out, anything went. It didn’t matter what you wore, anything went. And I loved my job. I’d work any hours because I loved it. I didn’t always like the places, I’d go from job to job, but I did love my work and I then started having my own workroom. I decided I’d work from home. I worked with a friend from my first mother-in-law’s house and we were still doing the kaftans… a guy used to pull up in this black cab that was all painted with psychedelic patterns. It was at Tulse Hill – they were very quiet there – and the neighbours used to look in absolute amazement at everything going on. But we loved it, my mother-in-law loved it and it was good fun.

So, let’s jump ahead, how did the Liberty’s window display come about? I worked for somebody called Katherine Cusack. That was just when Rebecca was born and I was working from home. I think Katherine advertised in The Stage and she wanted to start doing semi-couture work. I’d make her samples and then she’d have a party and invite all these quite wealthy people to her lounge. It was a beautiful Edwardian house in Grafton Square in Clapham Common. Then she managed to get into Liberty’s and that Christmas the whole front had all the dresses that I’d made. 

Which of Lady Di’s dresses did you make?  It was a beautiful silk velvet in a beautiful deep blue. It had long sleeves and rouleau loops with little buttons all the way down. I think Di went into Liberty’s and bought it. I believe she was photographed wearing it for The Lady. Katherine was over the moon. But it was real pain to make because silk velvet takes its own route. It’s not the easiest of fabrics to work on because it’s so soft. It is beautiful but it’s not easy to make. You’ve go to have the right feed on your machine otherwise when you’re joining the seams up you’ll lose it and it will be longer one end. Josie! That dress was later auctioned for thousands and thousands! £48,000, I believe.

How did you make the move into showbusiness?  I moved into that when Rebecca started at Sylvia Young’s. They used to put on shows all the time because it’s a theatre school and I started making costumes. Then I went on to doing the children’s Royal Variety. 

Is that how you got on to the adults’ Royal Variety Performance? I’d got into a workroom at Acton doing samples for someone I met on the children’s Royal Variety. Then I went into my own workroom at Acton and I used to help her out. Various different designers got my name and we took on the work. That’s how we gradually started doing all the shows. She didn’t want to go on the shows so I used to go to the studios or anywhere where the work was and I’d fit the costumes and then come back and we’d finish them, but she stayed in the workroom to do whatever needed to be done there. 

Can you tell us about any really nice celebs you worked with? Oh God, who haven’t I met? [Laughs] I worked on the Royal Variety for years with a wonderful designer called Linda Martin. That’s years and years so that’s one helluva lot of people I’ve met. Des O’Connor was sweet. He was lovely, lovely, absolutely charming and so was his wife. We used to do a lunchtime show with him. I did that for a lot of years. Michael Barrymore was also lovely. I was really upset when he went off the scene because he was a nice guy. 

Does anyone else stand out? There’s very few that weren’t nice. They were all very nice. No one was horrible. I worked on Michael Barrymore’s show at Wimbledon Theatre and there were so many celebs on it that they had to share dressing rooms. This one particular share was with Warren Mitchell and Chris Eubank. And Warren Mitchell didn’t want to share with Chris Eubank at all. At the time Chris Eubank had this electric scooter that he would go all round the corridors on it. I could understand Warren Mitchell not wanting to share with him because he was a bit wild at this point. He’s the only one I can say wasn’t very pleasant, but I think it was because he was unhappy about sharing because he and Chris were complete opposites. 

Do you know how many years you’ve done Thursford for?  If we go this time, probably 20 years. The designer I work with there is Stephen Adnitt; he was Cilla’s designer. I worked with Linda Martin for 12 or 13 years doing Thursford. I’d never met Stephen, I knew of him, and he asked me to join his team. The designer gets the job and they’ll have a team and usually they keep that same team all the time. I’ve worked with him for eight years. 

How many costumes might be involved in its Christmas show? We have to dress everybody at Thursford, even the orchestra. So you have 56 singers, 23 dancers and almost two full orchestras. 

So when would you start to plan something like that? We – I work with Rita Best – would start end of May, beginning of June. Our designs would come in before then. We’d measure people and make the costumes and fit them in September. There are probably eight or nine sets of costumes to make. It’s enormous! Enormous. It’s the biggest show I think in Europe. We’d spend three weeks in Norfolk just making sure that it all works on the set; making sure that sequins don’t come off – I mean it’s covered, absolutely covered in sequins – and we’ll be sitting for hours and hours sticking them on. But again, we love it. We’d see the rehearsals and the preview and the day the show starts we’d come home. Our job was done. When I was working for Linda there, I’d be there working late at night. That didn’t happen so much with Stephen. He’d be like: “We’ve got to finish now.” 

You mentioned doing millinery at school so do you do headdresses and that sort of thing? No, I would have liked to have done but for Thursford we have a milliner who comes with us; Shirley Davis, who has also been in the business a very long time.

What advice would you give to someone wanting to follow in your footsteps? Get into a workroom and learn how it goes. Learn how people work because what they learn at college is not how a workroom works. And really to earn any money at it, you’ve got to have a bit of speed on the machine. You can’t hang about. You can’t take a week or two or three weeks to make something. It’s nice if they can get into a workroom and see it first hand. I mean I get my work through various designers that I’ve known over the years or another maker who will ring me up completely out of the blue. Last week I helped someone out on a film. I’ll work on anything that needs a costume. I did Red or Black? at Wembley Arena, a game show developed by Simon Cowell. You could win a £1 million. It was massive. I worked with another designer called Scott Landridge, who did the children’s TV series The Worst Witch, the TV series Mile High and the sitcom Citizen Khan.

Have you had any costume disasters? Not really. [Laughs] I’ve had a lot of late nights or working all night to finish a costume off. You get the occasional broken strap and you have to quickly run down to the stage or on to the set and pin them up, or something doesn’t fit when they arrive. But no major disasters.

Have you been doing anything during the lockdown?  Just before the lockdown we had all these shows on cruise ships lined up but that all went. At first I was making scrubs for the hospitals. I did loads of voluntary work for anyone who needed them. Sometimes they gave me the material and sometimes I’d provide it. They were using all kinds of material in the end, even bedspreads. I did that for a while and I also made these little pairs of hearts. They were to send to hospices and hospitals so the patient could have one to hold and the family would have the other one. I made them out of all the material I have here. I also did masks, but I’m not doing so many now.

Do you ever think about retiring? No! [Laughs] I love what I do. But the work will get less and less and that will be it. I mean we’ve had hardly anything this year. We did a few bits for Butlins and a big Dame’s costume, which I don’t think ever got used because that show was cut. 

Can you pick out a few career highlights? I loved working on the Royal Variety at the Royal Albert Hall. I loved doing it in there. I did that quite a few times. Beautiful, beautiful. It’s a beautiful building and it’s just lovely to work in. If you look back at all the names that have been on the Royal and I did it for more than twenty years, there are a hell of a lot of names I’ve met. And that was quite fun. 

Josie is hoping that Thursford Christmas Spectacular in Thursford, Norfolk will go ahead this year. If so, it will run from 9 November – 23 December 2021 at 2pm and 7pm. 

In the meantime she can be contacted on 07956 832261 for commissions.

For Thursford tickets click here

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[enthusiasticmusicalquotes]

QUESTION OF THE DAY #5: What’s your favorite underrated musical? (One that maybe doesn’t have a huge fandom, didn’t get a lot of awards, didn’t get a long production or one at all, one that doesn’t get produced a lot, etc.) Feel free to say why you love it.

MY ANSWER: Groundhog Day

SUMMARY OF ANSWERS: 3/29 said Alice By Heart, 2/29 said Bonnie and Clyde, 2/29 said Bandstand, 2/29 mentioned Hunchback of Notre Dame, and the rest was a mixed bag. rest of answers below the cut!

Anonymous said: bare: a pop opera

mademoiselleenjolras said: An American Victory

penguinated said: Allegiance was such an underrated show and didn’t get enough attention. I mean, it was a beautiful story with great music and talent like George Takei, Lea Salonga, Telly Leung, and Katie Rose Clarke It’s also Asian representation written, produced, and performed by Asians/Asian Americans. Like. How are more people not obsessed with this show???

Anonymous said: fun home

Anonymous said: For the underrated musical thing: Ordinary Days!! it’s pretty amazing. A very heartfelt musical with amazing songs. It also emphasizes the importance of small things in daily life. Plus it’s super relatable as well? Reflecting on how it’s okay to be lost once in a while. :)

Anonymous said: qotd #5: THE DROWSY CHAPERONE. its so good and it gets next to no love from the theatre fandom

bwaycpunk said: To answer your question, There’s a show called Between the Lines that was set to open off-broadway in April that I’M SO EXCITED ABOUT AND NO ONE KNOWS IT. There’s no cast recording yet, but I adore the book it’s based off, and Ryan McCartan did the most LEGENDARY performance of a song from it.

Anonymous said: Something Rotten is genuinely such a good show, and i don’t think it gets nearly enough love

galactic-greens said: My favorite underrated musical is probably Man of la Mancha!!!!

Anonymous said: my favourite underrated musical is alice by heart !

empiresprincess said: The Secret Garden Musical is probably my all time favorite.

Anonymous said: My favorite underrated musical is the hunch back of Notre Dame

cuckoo-outlawoflove-in-nirvana said: Alice by Heart. I love Alice in Wonderland adaptations and listen to that soundtrack on loop all day sometimes and I want SO BADLY to be able to see it one day but I don’t know if that will ever happen

Anonymous said: Tuck Everlasting!!!

maryloohoo said: Question of the day #5 answer: Bright Star! Had a short life on Broadway, is and ignored by the musical theater community at large from a weird combo of “hur-dur, bluegrass is funny” and weirdly heavy subject matter, but it’s an absolutely gorgeous show that I think deserves way more love and fandom presence.

Anonymous said: One of my favorite underrated musicals is Lizard Boy! It’s sooo good!

Anonymous said: Jasper in deadland!

iwillmournthewicked said: In the heightsssssssssss. Anastasia sort of. Hadestown if that counts, I haven’t seen that many people talk about it.

Anonymous said: @ underrated musical: The first ones that came to my mind are Bridges of Madison County (is this an unpopular opinion? I don’t care, I will always love JRB’s score. Every song is a perfectly crafted monologue over a score that is luxurious & orchestral with a touch of yee-haw) + Ordinary Days (it’s so simple and beautiful, but also super small so it would be so easy to do for small theater companies and I don’t understand why I don’t hear about it ALL THE TIME)

Anonymous said: Anya the musical! It’s a 1965 operetta based on the 1952 play Anastasia. The music is based on themes from Rachmaninoff, so it’s lush and beautiful. Constance Towers shines as Anya, and the romantic lead is a bass, which never happens in modern musicals. It closed after 16 performances because it was considered old-fashioned, and there is almost no information available about the show. I think the score is great, and the show is perfect for an Encores production.

Anonymous said: Great comet. It just hits that spot of weird and historical and interesting just right and I don’t know why I love it so much

Anonymous said: come from away

ifeelasongcomingon said: Bandstand Definitely.

Anonymous said: bandstand, bonnie & clyde, and death note (the last of which didn’t even get a proper US premiere!)

Anonymous said: Merrily we roll along!

Anonymous said: the scarlet pimpernel!

Anonymous said: Venice! Or Bonnie & Clyde

Anonymous said: Alice by Heart! Also I want Hunchback to go to Broadway goddammit

minipyro42 said: Lightning theif

Anonymous said: (underrated musical) My favorite musical is Company and I think it’s a real shame that more younger people don’t like it because it’s really funny! The 2020 revival isn’t that good but the 2006 revival has a proshot (with a bootleg floating around somewhere). If you like existential angst and making fun of straight people then I highly encourage you to give it a watch or listen! The best cast recording is probably the 1970 original (:

[thesunlounge]

Reviews 334: SiP

One of my favorite releases so far this year, and indeed of recent memory, is Leos Naturals, a forthcoming cassette on Not Not Fun Records written and produced by keyboard explorer Jimmy Lacy, otherwise known as SiP. It’s rare that an album so perfectly intersects this many of my favorite styles and sounds, and across the nine tracks, my mind is carried towards the minimalist flights of Terry Riley and the organic music of Don Cherry; the spiritual meditations of Alice Coltrane and the interstellar journeys of Sun Ra; the ebullient kosmische of Manuel Gottsching and the dreamspace ragas of the Theatre of Eternal Music; the pastoral psych folk of Woo and the spaghetti western scores of Ennio Morricone; and the rich lineages of post-rock and experimental music in Chicago…things like Tortoise, Brokeback, Natural Information Society, Mind Over Mirrors, and Bitchin Bajas. More remarkable still is that Lacy does almost everything with a minimal palette of organ and synth, using his keys and fingers to create kaleidoscopic spiral patterns, multi-layered fire webs, and LSD tracers of every possible color. Often times the left hand holds down a narcotic bass groove reveling in shades of Saharan jazz, West African highlife, and bubbly sunshine dub while the right hand explores mystical sonic landscapes which, in addition to classical raga, minimalism, modal jazz, and krautrock, also touch on Ethiopian psych and a range of sounds from various Native American folk traditions. And though the tracks are often solo organ journeys carried by primitive loops of hand drum exotica, they are sometimes accented by summertime kalimba storms, seaside melodica breezes, and multi-faceted bass clarinet performances, which vary between lounge romance, rainforest mystery, big band nostalgia, and free jazz shaman magic.

SiP - Leos Naturals (Not Not Fun, 2020) The percussion of “Amitabul” rolls through the desert with a subdued horseback gallop while subsonic basslines evoke warming dub liquids. Clustered keyboards spread across the spectrum like mirage sparkles and solar organ leads weave lullaby ragas and shake charmer serenades while tambourines and sleigh bells jangle in the distance and sometimes, the organ melodics are swapped out for gentle sunshowers of kalimba. Elsewhere, P. Prezzano’s melodica blows like a wheezing wind, with all distinction between melodica and organ disappearing as the two instruments blur into a smoldering cloud of psychedelic sound, and towards the end, we cut unexpectedly into tribal fire dance mysticism, with hand drums beating urgently, ringing bells filling all space, and Ben Chasny-style acid vox calling to the ancestral spirits. The percussion of “Pure Horse” mimics the sounds of clopping hooves against sunbaked stone while basslines slither through North African jazz descents. Repeating keyboard riffs execute a drunken delirium dance alongside the horse-gallop groove and everything proceeds according to Lacy’s own feverish dream logic, with acid-fried leads alighting on flights of spiritual jazz fantasy and Arabian desert exotica that sometimes mesmerically track with the basslines. Best of all, dueling keyboard leads sitting somewhere between a ceremonial wood flute and a rainforest pan-pipe occasionally sing overhead…their esoteric folk harmonies lifting the soul towards astral ecstasy. “Ras Cosmos” sets bells ringing beneath some approximation of a phaser-smothered zither…like an elven future spirit playing a strange psaltery strung with electrified strands of crystal, where each pluck swirls into a self-contained vortex. There’s a touch of Japanese traditional music as the spageage koto evocations are accompanied by E. Juhl’s cloudy clarinet abstractions, and at some point, shakers and floor toms give the groove a shambolic lurch as the clarinet works through big band jazz melodies from a bygone era. And though the whole thing seems to approach the drunken exotica of Haruomi Hosono, the moment is all to brief, for we soon return to blues-soaked space harp psychedelia and pastoral woodwind ambiance.

“Malabar” ends the A-side with desert caravan hand percussions bopping over a frog-squelch bass pulse while kalimbas flutter in a seaside breeze. Juhl’s clarinet approximates elephant shrieks and jungle mating calls until harmonious organ chords billow into the mix…like a warming blast of wind and sand. Shakers dance alongside a snaking synth lead awash in Indian ocean magic before the mix gives over to clarinet exotica…like Woo exploring a coastal oasis. And so it goes for the rest of the track, a sort of dream dance progression between clarinet balearica and passages dominated by immersive organ wavefronts and joyous raga-lead explorations, the latter of which increase in intensity as things progress….shakers hissing like snake tails, tambourines shaking out golden hazes, ethnological drums dancing wildly beneath an idiophonic rainfall, and Lacy’s keyboards climbing towards the sun with joyous abandon, his bleating leads and shamanic spirals falling over themselves and creating multi-layered tapestries of free jazz intensity, high life positivity, and raga complexity. There’s even a climax of wall-of-sound psychedelia where whistles overblow into feedback ecstasy while keyboards transmute through crazed LFO oscillations and hyperspeed fractal dances. Then on B-side opener “Electric Palm Study,” a shuffling psych rock groove is sourced from an old organ drum machine…a sort of primitive rhythm box kosmische, with basslines bouncing through acid-colored flower fields. And as spindly keyboard riffs jangle in the sunshine, the mix overflows with malfunctioning computronics, further overblown whistling, and garbled broadcasts from faraway star systems. The mangled electronic accents continue in “Sparkling Spur,” which establishes a loping groove built from tom-tom rhythmics, galloping bass riffs, and muted shaker clicks…a horseback trot through a seaside saloon town, or perhaps a journey atop a bouncing burro, riding the crest of a dune while sparkling waves crash against a white sand beach. Sunbeam synth leads rise towards the sky, with touches of spaghetti western and Ethiopian folk radiating in all directions, and towards the end, as these Afro-coastal and American western melodies converse across the spectrum, the crazed feedback electronics settle into synthetic birdsong.

In “Chicago Dream Center,” organ basslines move with a spiritual bop…a sort of Arabian desert fantasy sway. As we give over to a cosmic jazz groove awash in modal organ spirituality, one that evokes for me Alice’s late 70s classic Eternity, tambourines create glimmering webs and minimalist keyboard patterns splay out in each ear. It’s an eye-closed revery of mystical inspiration, one that pushes even closer towards transcendence as Juhl’s bass clarinet begins blowing waves of ecstatic fire across the stereo field. Elsewhere, we move away from free jazz intensity and journey towards the realm of dreams, as pan-pipe and forest flute leads invoke mystical visions of coyotes howling at the stars. And all throughout the mix, weird gusts of metallic wind blow and eventually subsume everything, until all that remains is sparse wind chime resonance. We move more directly into the Coltrane universe with the tributary “Alice,” though it could also rightfully be called “Herman.” Stuttering bass patterns eventually release into sustaining warmth…like be-bop rendered as otherworldly ambient in a way pulling my mind to Sun Ra’s “Exotic Forest” and that similar feeling of exotica space jazz threatening to vaporize at any moment. Juhl blows cool noir breezes via clarinet, the sounds filmic and emotionally affecting…like the twilit heroin journeys of Bohren & der Club of Gore’s…and all the while, an e-piano smothered in liquid tremolo moves between overflowing chord clusters and percussive runs up the scale. Tambourines and ceremonial bells generate sprays of sparkling metal that bring further touches of Alice, though the rhythms flow in and out of focus like a daydream. There are also moments where vents in the ground open up and spew forth neon space vapors and LSD-smothered fusion runs, which then swim drunkenly towards the stars. “Rainbow Kids” closes Leos Naturals with ecclesiastical keyboard waves and clattering chimes while overhead, Lacy’s organ does a fantastic impression of a tenor sax. It’s a transition from the world of Alice Coltrane to that of John, resulting a spiritual faux-sax paean awash in atmospheres of gospel and old world blues.

(images from my personal copy)

[tagsecretsanta]

From Taylart-x

to @fallenfurther​

Secretsanta does not own this fic, full credit to the author above!

God he hated these things.

The tight, well fitting suit that hugged his muscles felt restricting compared to his usual get up. He fiddled with the cuffs before sighing and looking at himself in the mirror. Foundation and a few masterfully painted layers of concealer cover a bruise he got the day before on a rescue when the rescuee had become frightened and lashed out. 

“You ready to go?” called a voice from the door, and Virgil turned to see Gordon’s head peeking into the room. He too was in a well fitting suit. They all were; custom made suits with all sorts of features specific to each brother. For example, John had the image destabilizer embedded in his to save him from uncomfortable photos. However, it wouldn’t be turned on until at least a quarter of the way through the event. There had to be some photos. Or else it would look weird.

Gordon was wearing a dusky blue tux with a matching waistcoat and a white shirt below. A mustard yellow bow tie, pin and pocket square completed it, and his hair was gelled into his usual spikes, if slightly tidier. “Yeah, I’m ready,” Virgil responded, giving himself one last assessment in the mirror before turning the light out and following Gordon.

They met with the rest of their family in the foyer. Alan had been wrangled into a white tux with a black trim, sporting a crimson red waistcoat and a black bow tie. John was in a charcoal set, wearing a crisp white shirt and no waistcoat, but a golden tie. Kayo was standing with their brothers, an emerald gown making her eyes sparkle with deep green pulled from their depths. Her makeup was perfect, as always, and her hair was artfully braided and resembled a crown atop her head before it cascaded down her back. And lastly, Scott. He was in a balck suit with silver lapels, a matching black waistcoat and a silver tie to match. His cuffs were adorned with shining cufflinks; Dad’s old ones. 

Virgil himself was in a pure black tuxedo, his waistcoat and tie a matching emerald, along with his pocket square. His unruly mess of hair was gelled into submission, and up in its usual position. 

Kayo swept forward and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “You look stunning,” she whispered, a knowing look in her eyes, and his heart swelled with some confidence. 

“Alright troops,” Scott announced, doing a quick headcount. “Let’s get going.”

The Tracy’s filed out of the hotel lobby, ignoring the sound of little kids pointing and people staring in wonder. They pile into the limousine and are race doff to the Christmas party they’re hosting.

Virgil sits in a corner seat, eyes closed and breathing calm. The others hatter around him but he blocks them out, centering himself. It’s only a few hours of playing pretend, then he can collapse in his nice hotel suite and not have to think about this stupid part y until next year.

It’s not that he’s anxious, he just hates these parties. The fake smiles, the fake conversations, the fake interest. All in all, the fake people. And the person he is turned into upon exiting the car. 

Scott is first out once they reach the event centre they had hired out. He smiles and waves for the cameras, his face turned plastic and his smile carved into the muscles. Next is Kayo, her eyes sharp as always, and only a small smile gracing her lips. Virgil takes a breath and then follows into the sea of flashing and bursting bulbs and the cacophonous reporters. 

They slowly make their way down the red carpet, stopping to sign different pictures of themselves and of their father, and taking questions here and there from reporters before heading inside. 

The whole ballroom was decorated in Christmas theming, with a big tree in the middle of the food table. The edges of the room were decorated with tinsel, baubles and a long wreath that wound all the way around the room. A large mistletoe was hanging in each corner and all the snacks and food were traditional Christmas foods, or decorated to match the theming. 

 Virgil could appreciate the design and the effort, but he questioned for what. Imagine if they were able to still get the donors to donate without spending all the money to host the ball. Imagine if they were able to put that money into their charities as well. 

Wouldn’t that be so much better?

But no. To get more money for their charities (and no, International Rescue was not one of them), they had to host these horrible, fake, theatre performance that was the Christmas Party so that investors would stick around for the next year. It was one of the ‘benefits’ of being an investor in both TI and for their charities. 

As soon as Virgil was five steps in the door, he was approached by a bleach blonde lady with nails longer than his fingers. Her teeth were blinding white, like a shark’s, and glinted in the different lights strung up around the room. Despite all that, he painted on his smile, even as her claws buried into his skin as she pulled him towards a group of other, equally plastic looking people. 

“This is Virgil! He;s the second eldest of the Tracy boys! We’ve known each other for years!” she tells the group, laughing (cackling) along with the others in the group. He kind of wanted to speak up, say he’s never met this unusual lady in all his life, but instead he just laughs along, and begins to talk to the investors, smile firmly in place and hands held tight behind his back so no one else attempts to grab one. 

A waitress came around, holding flutes of champagne, and Virgil eagerly grabbed one so he could sip on it instead of awkwardly standing there.

God he hated these things.

Eventually, he managed to wriggle away from the group, but was quickly pulled into the next, this time a group of board members mixed with associates. He happily shook some of the board’s hands- the ones he liked anyway- and the painful smile was back for everyone else. 

He made small talk, snuck another glass of champagne, and was dragged into the next group.

After way too long, Gordon finally came to rescue him, taking over the group with his over dramatic stories about the Olympics and his non classified WASP days. Virgil was glad for the chance to sneak away to the balcony and take a breather. 

“You okay?”

He whipped around and was faced with Kayo, dress and hair as impeccable as ever, but concern wrinkled her brow. He sighed before turning back to look over the city. “Yeah, I’m fine, but you know how much I love these events.”

“I think Alan and Gordon are the only ones that do enjoy them, and both of them because of the food,” she laughed, coming to stand next to him on the railing. Virgil chuckled in response, shaking his head as he thought of his younger brothers. 

“Yeah, you’re not wrong. Though, John seems to be doing pretty well tonight.”

“Yeah, I’m amazed he hasn’t gotten EOS to shut the power off for a minute so that he could sneak away,” she laughed. 

“Not too much longer now,” Virgil sighed, chancing a look back inside. Alan was standing next to John and talking to a group of rather rich investors. Scott was taking on a group of military people, including Colonel Casey, and Gordon still occupied the group that he rescued Virgil from. 

“Well, at least it hasn’t gone like last year,” Kayo said, suppressing a laugh. 

“I don’t think it could get worse than last year.”

“You’re not wrong there.” She let out a breath, smiled at him before turning to go back inside. “You coming back in? We can leave soon, only a couple more hours.”

Virgil looked down at his watch, then up at the stars, searching for something. Some sort of reassurance, or motivation. But he didn’t find it there.

He let out a deep breath, turned, and looped his arm in Kayo’s. “Let’s go entertain the hounds.”