Act One
As the siren of the Overture fades, the show curtain rises on
a darkened set where the audience can faintly see the outline of a city
skyline and bridge behind the flashing blue of the police cruiser light
-- and into a blue-tinted spot steps Leland Dorsey, the New York
City policeman on his village beat -- and as he circles the stage singing
"The
City's Like a Child", the city lights glow to life like a magic
painting.
The Citizens of our Village-within-a-City return home to the strains
of "Looking For Love", and proceed to gather at The Corner
Bar and chorus the entry of glamour icon and model -- Celeste Brooke
-- with "It's Celeste" and "Celeste Is On Her Way".
Celeste
proceeds home to her apartment, where we see her drop her glamour facade
and become her true self as she sings her desires and wishes first to her
teddy bear, "You and Me", and then to her lucky charm in
the sky -- "Morning Star".
The following day, Celeste announces that she is going to act
on those wishes -- that she is retiring from the fashion world and is "going
domestic" -- as she explains to her friends in "The Best of Me".
She chooses the three most-likely suitors -- Tom Stewart, Dick Garland,
and
Harry
P. Morgan III, and arranges to dine and discuss the future with each,
and with the help of her friends -- to make the very best choice for her
future.
Tom Stewart, a young and handsome agent--much too young
and much too handsome, takes her to the Sidewalk Cafe, presents her with
a music box for her upcoming birthday, and sings his proposal "Closer
to Love". Afterward, Celeste introduces Tom to her
friends at The Corner Bar and later explains her doubts and desires regarding
him in "Awkward Angel".
Dick Garland, fashion designer extra ordinaire -- who not only
designs skirts but also chases them -- is more Celeste's age, but
a confirmed "party" man. He wines and dines her at The Well Hung Coconut,
sings her a beguine -- "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes" --
gives her a birthday present of a locket (with his picture inside, of course),
delivers her exhausted to The Corner Bar where he continues to party with
a reprise of his song with the regulars -- and Celeste slips away thinking
one evening with Dick might be quite enough.
Harry P. Morgan III, entertains Celeste in his own inimitable
style in a private dining room of one of New York's finest restaurants
where he makes his proposal most eloquently in "I am Dreaming of
April" and presents her with a "wrist warmer" birthday bracelet
heavily weighted with diamonds. Harry is mature -- Harry has money. Harry
is sophisticated -- Harry has money. And Harry can never be too old --
because Harry has money. And he truly loves Celeste, as well.
All three suitors - Tom, Dick, and Harry arrive for the neighborhood
celebration of Celeste's annual 28th Birthday -- hosted by the stalwart
cop. Officer Dorsey introduces Celeste with "That Girl
Named Celeste" to which she responds by calling him a "Dream
Maker", and he presents Celeste with his special birthday
gift -- a police whistle -- and after the chorus does a "Birthday
Best of Me" -- Celeste answers with her birthday speech,
then begins to sing "I Believe in Broadway", and the first
act ends with an old fashioned "block party" -- 'The Broadway Can-Can".
Entre' Act- Orchestra
Act Two
The curtain rises on the second act with Leland on patrol --
and his confession to his sleeping city that he has fallen in love with
Celeste - "Street of Dreams and Stars". Meanwhile -- Tom,
Dick, and Harry are frustrated trying to reach Celeste
who has gone into seclusion to think things through -- "Operator,
Operator" and the suitors trio laments "Where Love Has Gone".
Meanwhile -- at The Corner Bar -- Celeste is receiving guidance
and advice on the art of domesticity from her friends and cohorts as "Build
a Better Nest" and "You Gotta Keep Fit". Officer
Dorsey duets with Celeste in defining exactly what "Happiness
Is". And afterwards, alone in the early hours of the dawn -- our
village cop bares his heart to the stars as he sings "You Are Everything"
about Celeste.
The morning after, Celeste is trying to tidy her apartment and
her life at the same time -- "Why Didn't Somebody Tell Me to Change
My Ways"-- and Saturday night, at The Corner Bar, the suitors catch
up with her and make one last singing and dancing attempt to win her hand.
Tom
tries
with a two-step "Every Day Love" -- to which
Celeste
confesses that she has the "Cradle Robbin' Blues".
Dick
waltzes
in with "Don't Be Blue Danube", and Harry
tries to
soft-shoe his way into Celeste's heart with "A World Full
of Love". Leland caps the Saturday night by leading the
Village Citizens in explaining to Celeste that love is what sets
you "Free", and the evening ends to the sound of tapping
feet and a community kick line.
Celeste and Leland are seen downstage beneath the cyclorama
of city lights and stars -- a pool of light picks up Tom upstage
left in a phone booth, Dick upstage center at a cocktail table,
and Harry upstage right at his desk -- and they all begin "The
Morning Star Quintet".
As the quintet progresses, Tom, Dick, and Harry, one by
one, fade into the darkness -- and eventually, even Leland abandons
Celeste
with the admonition that "love and home are everything that make the
world all right...".
Celeste , alone on stage - has her "Epiphany",
and with slow self-recognition realizes what it is she truly wants -- and
who it is she truly loves -- and she lifts Leland's police whistle
and begins to blow, louder and louder -- there is the sound of the siren,
a flash of blue lights, and Leland returns to sing with
Celeste
-- "You Are Everything" -- the choice is endorsed by the full
company in reprises of "The Best of Me" and "Morning
Star", and, of course, being there is a happy
ending, the final endorsement of -- "I Believe in Broadway",
and the curtain is down.