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The Pied Piper [Words & Music by Kevin M Reese] CAST: Script ready for perusal: Dec 2005 Theme: value of imagination and childhood. Time setting: negotiable, but ideally the "old-fashioned" once upon a time period. Scenery: Simple. Town Square and Mayor's office. Approx 50 min.
A power-hungry mayor runs the town of Hamelin.
During his reign, the arts have been virtually cancelled (saying
they’re impractical and a waste of time) and children have been forced
to grow up sooner, leaving their childhood and imaginations behind in
favor of more “realistic” behavior– like voting for him.
Meanwhile, the town has become infested with pests (rats, bugs, etc
– think: Moses’ plagues) and the mayor can’t figure out a way to get
rid of them before his next re-election.
A decree is issued and The Pied Piper answers the call.
She rids the town of all the
pests, but when she goes to collect her reward, the mayor reneges, saying
if he had known it would have been so easy he wouldn’t have agreed to
such a high price (again, a parallel with the arts). This
prompts the Piper to teach the mayor a lesson.
She brings back all the
pests and vows to bring all the unwanted pests from the other towns to
Hamelin. In desperation
(election day is looming!), the mayor tries to use the children of the
town as bait to get rid of the pests.
Piper hears of this and returns, giving the mayor one last chance
to make his word good and pay the agreed fee.
The mayor refuses, so the Piper lures the children away (to protect
them). Under pressure from the
citizens, the mayor sends for the Piper and agrees to “make good” his
original agreement if the Piper will bring back the kids.
Piper agrees and says “They are returning as we speak.”
Thinking the children are safely home, the Mayor again reneges.
The Piper leaves and all the pests return (the “they” she was
referring to). Finally, the
Mayor’s Assistant tricks the Mayor into honoring his original agreement.
The Piper brings back the children and removes the pests the day of
the election. Thinking he has
saved the day, the Mayor is shocked to find that his Assistant has won the
election for Mayor. He is
even more shocked to discover that he is now in charge of the town’s
Pest Control. Synopsis
© 2004, Kevin M Reese. All
Rights Reserved. Songs: 1
Poem
Underscoring - Piper 4 The Piper's Song (Instrumental) 5 Land of Imagination - Piper 6 The Piper's Song (Instrumental) 7 Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire - Piper 8 The Piper's Song (Instrumental) 9 Land of Imagination (Finale) - All
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