Takeover: Libretto for an Operetta

by Derek Strahan

This drama is intended primarily as a music drama and, more specifically, as an operetta, as it contains passages of very quick dialogue that are written to be spoken, not sung. I would compose music underscore for these in an operetta version. The dramas could also be staged a “straight” spoken play, with some specific musical episodes. Given the convergence that has taken place in media it is imperative that a writer takes a flexible attitude to the question of use in respect of a dramatic product. I have written “Takeover” with explicit indications of musical content, and where specific solo of choral passages would be scored. There are scenes of high drama, and there are scenes of satiric intent where a touch of vaudeville is suggested. The dialogue is mostly in free verse, but there are two comedic episodes where the words are rhymed.

There is also an element of fantasy. The character John doubles as a kind of Greek chorus, offering observations on events with a degree of irony, and commenting on how he relates to Anna and to society. In these moments, which are in the form of soliloquies/arias there is a element of quantum distancing which takes over completely in the final scenes, where Anna’s fate is left unknown.

Anna is a journalist. She is involved with three men. Bernard represents old money. His family owns an established media empire. Ivan represents new money. He is a corporate raider. John represents no money. He is a composer, currently commissioned to write a Wedding March for socialites, Roger and Clara. Anna is currently living with John, but their life styles differs, and after meeting Ivan at a press conference she leaves John to live with Ivan. After a month she leaves Ivan because she finds him too controlling. She briefly returns to John. In describing her experiences she passes on confidential information about Ivan’s future financial plans. She also passes these on to several socialites including Bernard who has approached her privately. She accepts his offer of marriage. Ivan, furious that Anna is now with Bernard, sells assets to achieve liquidity to make a play for Bernard’s media empire, which has just gone public. A stock market crash puts Ivan in a position to pursue this takeover. Bernard agrees not to marry Anna, if Ivan will abandon his takeover. Anna is furious when she learns of their dealings, and accuses them both of treating her like an asset that can be bought or sold. She informs them that she will do her own marketing, She is joining an escort agency, Meanwhile Roger, now financially ruined, jumps off a tall building, There will be no wedding for Clara, and the wedding March will not now be needed. Nor will John be paid. A month later Anna sends out an SOS from a hospital where she is being treated for an overdose. Ivan, Bernard and John speed to her bedside. Ivan and Bernard offer to pay her medical bills, but tell her that she is no longer suitable as a wife. John has no such problem with her current profession, and assures her that “their” Wedding March will be played at “their” wedding. If she gets better.

143 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 9, 2012

Reviews

[Derek Strahan]

AUTHOR'S COMMENT: A CASE OF REVERSE ENGINEERING: Both opera and operetta in the 19th and 20th centuries constantly pillaged theatre and literature for plots, so, in this case, the reverse procedure can apply. This is written as the libretto for an operetta, but it is also intended as the play from which the libretto was taken, except that, in this case, the libretto comes first and the play will be taken from it. Easily done, by deleting or greatly modifying the lines written for “Chorus” (they can become ad.libs for “Crowd), and by ignoring the indications in the text pertaining to musical content (which, in any case, double as indications of emotional subtext). The several long speeches that actors direct at the audience can serve equally well as either Operatic Arias or Soliloquies in the manner of Elizabethan drama. When I do write the musical score this “play” will undoubtedly be revised and tightened for its final version as a libretto. Passages of spoken dialogue (singspiel) will have music underscore, as in cinema, and link fully scored segments. My intent is to allow for adaptive usage of this product across media. Convergence in media requires this as standard practice.