[DRAFT] Dark Reflections (Memshare Event Libretto)

[certaininequities]

ACT ONE

[The black velvet curtains open on a man in a polo shirt and khakis sitting in a well-worn armchair, smoking a cigarette.]

MAN
You know, this isn't the house you're supposed to be living in, Normie.

[A second spotlight comes up stage left: the NARRATOR - a young man in his mid-twenties, clean-shaven, simply dressed. He speaks well, but isn't completely composed: as if he isn't sure of himself yet.]

NARRATOR
That's my dad: Amberson Osborn. I think I was maybe four or five, in my oldest memories of this story.

AMBERSON
[he speaks to the audience as though they're his young son]
No, your grandad's house is in Greenwich, about half an hour from here. Right on the New York border. He used to say you could spit and hit the George Washington Bridge if the wind was right. He's the one you're named after, you know.

NARRATOR
Norman Virgil Osborn. Ugh. Did I have to inherit the middle name? ... At least he didn't name me after himself. The family was never good at names.

AMBERSON
His father - your great-grandfather, Alton Osborn, started the family business. First it was hired carriages, rides for the rich. Then he got into actually manufacturing the carriages, and he greased the right palms, rubbed the right elbows - got in with the robber barons. Carnegie, Osgood, Schwab. People whose names are on street signs and buildings all over New York.

NARRATOR
Once, when I was eight? I said: "But Dad. This isn't New York. It's New Haven."

AMBERSON
You watch your mouth!
[he stands and hits the air to foley of a loud SLAP.]

NARRATOR
Some Haven.

"Suburbia Overture" (Company)
Amberson loses the last of his inheritance on a bad business idea. The family barely manages to present an idyllic front to the neighbors at large. Behind closed doors? Drunken rants and rampant abuse.
"Dr. Sunshine Is Dead" (Norman)
Norman tells his father he's afraid of the dark. Amberson drives him to the abandoned Osborn mansion in Greenwich and leaves him there overnight. He meets his demons... one of which is a tall goblin dressed all in green.

NARRATOR
I tried to put that night behind me. I buried myself in school. Gave myself every excuse to not be home, every study group and extra project. I'd live in the library until lights out, some days. It wasn't enough, but you just didn't talk about it in those days. If Ralph Kramden could say "TO THE MOON, ALICE", was it really that alarming that your dad actually tried to send your mother there at least once a week? Anyway. She caked her face with foundation for my graduation. You would have thought I was getting on a spaceship. I guess that's what a Columbia scholarship looked like to her. To me? It just looked like opportunity. Freedom.

[SCENE TWO: THE COLLEGE YEARS.
Freshman Year: "New York, New York" (Norman)
Norman arrives at Columbia in your stereotypical starstruck Big Torch Number.
Sophomore Year: "A Little Help From My Friends" (Norman, Jonah, Otto, Phil)
Norman's roommate, an aspiring journalist, practically dynamites him out of his shell.
"It Just Won't Quit" (Otto, Rosie, Norman)
Otto finds love. Norman finds ... denial.
Junior Year: "Pas de Cheval" (Norman, Caroline)
At a school gallery show, Norman meets his future wife and they both share their dreams of Making It Big
Senior Year: "Taking Care of Business" (Norman, Jonah, Otto, Phil)
All four young men graduate, marry, and head straight to dream jobs. Anyone critiquing this from a Stereotypical Broadway Perspective will notice that there's no Designated Wedding Song. Hmm.]

NARRATOR
Things were looking up, up, up, to the top of the Empire State, all things considered. One of my mentors and professors, Dr. Mendel Stromm, believed in my vision so much that he decided to help me start my pharmaceutical company. Oscorp opened on July 22nd, and I was done looking back...

[SCENE THREE: THE RISE OF OSCORP
"Hey Look, Ma, I Made It" (Cast)
"Dear Theodosia" (Phil, Norman, Jonah)
Phil Allan celebrates the birth of his daughter, Liz, as Norman and Jonah both welcome sons of their own to the world. One of the four friends is ... conspicuously not present in this number. HMM. MAYBE GO SEE ANOTHER SHOW FOR THOSE DEETS.
"Big Shot" (Norman, Caroline)]

NARRATOR
And so she left me. I put my foot down about a couple bad habits and big checks, and she left me. I thought learning how to navigate the business world was bad? I'd never gone through a divorce.
[He goes to drink from his water glass and finds it empty.]
Be right back. Gonna top off.
[He exits stage left and comes back on older, looking more like the Norman people would recognize. A little younger, much more polished, much more uptight. A persona from head to toe ... with a glass of whiskey now, not water]
Where was I? ... Oh, yes. Life went on. Honestly, things just got bigger and better ...
"Cult of Personality" (Norman)
mmm popularity yay
"Handlebars" (Norman, Stromm)
govt contract. otto & norman argue, sad day
"Self-Made Man" (Norman)
back to formula, link scene]

STROMM
Dr. Osborn -!

[The NARRATOR passes out. The stage fills with green smoke. When it clears, the NARRATOR has been tied up, standing in place, gagged. Beside him, at the podium, stands the goblin from young Norman's night in the mansion ... dressed in a somewhat familiar suit of armor.]

GOBLIN
Hi, folks. Sorry about the understudy. I got stuck in ... traffic. Thankfully, I got here just as the good part's starting ...