The Last Red Wagon Tent Show in the Land

Music by Linda Eisenstein; book & lyrics co-written with Teddi Davis.

CPT production. Photo: Robert Schnellbacher.

SYNOPSIS: Romantic dreams and rueful realities collide when a ragtag traveling circus comes to a 1950's small town and changes the lives of 3 women: a lonely single mother, her stage-struck teenage daughter, and a brassy ex-bareback rider. This chamber musical is a melodic tribute to the traditional musical -- "narrated" by a Mime, who plays many bit parts. CAST: 3f, 4m, 1 mime/dancer (either) ORCHESTRATIONS: Piano + keyboard; additional instruments optional. 2 acts, 2 1/4 hours. Minimal set. AWARDS: Finalist, 1996 Midwest Theatre Network Play Competition Year's Ten Best, Plain Dealer Finalist, Belles-Lettres, 1989 Northern Ohio Live Awards of Achievement

• PRODUCTION HISTORY: Actors' and Playwrights' Theatre (Akron, OH); Cleveland Public Theatre; Teaneck New Theatre (NJ), forthcoming in spring, '03

"A honey of a show -- warm, nostalgic, full of lilting melodies and intricate, witty lyrics" "It does remind you of vintage musicals of the '40's and '50s, but it is an original re-creation of a style, not parody or pastiche, and steers adroitly past cliche into truth." "...Eisenstein's melodies soar and float like an exaltation of larks" - Cleveland Plain Dealer

CAST OF CHARACTERS:
LAURA	Late 30's. Lyric soprano. The working mother of a teenage daughter. Competent, attractive, proper; a cultivated self-control over a romantic and vulnerable nature.
ALLIE	18. Ingenue soprano. Laura's daughter. Enthusiastic, pretty, self-centered, and show-biz crazy, with a tendency to speak in italics. A single-minded steamroller.
KATY	30's-40's. Comic belt mezzo/alto. Shop clerk & ex-bareback rider. Earthy, direct, playfully sexy with a sharp, comic sense of reality. Texas twang and low-cut blouses.
BEN	late 30's - early 50's. Lead baritone. Circus owner and star sharpshooter. Masculine, genuine Westerner; plain-spoken, warm, a survivor of major life reversals.
JEFF	Early 20's. Juvenile tenor. Ben's assistant and accountant. A bookishly-intelligent, good-looking, and slightly fatuous college boy, shy with girls.
ALAN	40's. Character baritone. A glib, magnetic, traveling man -- once handsome, now seedier, still trading on charm & charisma. Underlying unpredictability and danger.
GUY	35-50's. Character tenor (mostly talk-sing patter). The owner of a small-town custom dress shop. Shrewd, witty, impeccably-groomed, with a thick "French" accent.
MIME	Androgynous lead player (male or female). Silent "narrator", principal dancer, stage manager, bit parts, fantasy characters. One basic costume, with props, hats, etc. May be visible most of the time.

LIST OF MUSICAL NUMBERS (all on CD):

ACT I
La Belle de Paree	Guy, Katy, Allie, Laura
Big Towns	Allie
My Wedding	Laura	MP3
The Last Red Wagon Tent Show in the Land	Ben, Jeff	MP3
My World	Ben
A Twice-Fooled Heart	Laura
Respectability	Katy, Allie, Laura
Mirror Child	Laura, Allie	MP3
She Cares for You	Jeff, Allie
A Modern Renaissance Man	Alan
What Did You Expect?	Alan, Laura
The Night the Circus Comes to Town	All
ACT II
Three Days	All
Is It Real?	Jeff, Allie
Vive La Difference!	Guy	MP3
Let Myself Feel	Laura, Ben
Hold That Dream	Alan
I'd Like to Take You Home with Me	Ben, Laura
The Last Red Wagon Tent Show (reprise)	Ben, Jeff
Finding Magic	All

"Mature and literate...an original work that uses '50s musical conventions as an appropriate framework to say some important and true things about change in all our lives." "Daughters grow up; women and men relinquish old dreams for new realities; the romantic tent show heads for the concrete arena. The process includes both gain and loss." - Cleveland Plain Dealer (1986)

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