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Nowhere Town
Nowhere Town: A Punk-Ass Musical, the Book and Libretto
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls.
I bid you welcome, from a drunken poet, to a cruel world.
Be seated, take your coats off, just kick back.
We have a tale for you tonight, my friends, the tale of Jack.
This is a tale of Love and Death.
This is a tale of those two thieves of breath.
This is a tale—we hope—to make your hearts swell.
This is a tale of how the living go to Hell...
Jack Flash is a punk rock star bent on self-destruction. When he picks a fight with the wrong thug after a gig, he finds himself not just at Death's door, but on the other side of it, in the No Exit Lounge and Bar in Limbo--albeit too drunk to have a clue where he is. There he meets an absinthe-soaked blues singer by name of Chorus, middle-man for Death and Jack's guide to the netherworld. As the two dissolute wastrels bond over their woes, Jack's tragic tale unfolds--of a true love found and lost, of Puck, the boy Jack couldn't save--and Chorus offers Jack that one last chance he wishes for.
In this full book and libretto for the stage musical--demo tracks on SoundCloud--our gay punk Orpheus must journey down into Hell itself--or at least one nightmareish cabaret franchise of it--to save the soul of the boy he loves from a demon that feeds on pain, nurturing misery to a terrible poison. And with Jack's bitter grief making him the juiciest morsel to that fiend, his own soul is as much in the balance as Puck's, if he can't do what has to be done.
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls.
I bid you welcome, from a drunken poet, to a cruel world.
Be seated, take your coats off, just kick back.
We have a tale for you tonight, my friends, the tale of Jack.
This is a tale of Love and Death.
This is a tale of those two thieves of breath.
This is a tale—we hope—to make your hearts swell.
This is a tale of how the living go to Hell...
Jack Flash is a punk rock star bent on self-destruction. When he picks a fight with the wrong thug after a gig, he finds himself not just at Death's door, but on the other side of it, in the No Exit Lounge and Bar in Limbo--albeit too drunk to have a clue where he is. There he meets an absinthe-soaked blues singer by name of Chorus, middle-man for Death and Jack's guide to the netherworld. As the two dissolute wastrels bond over their woes, Jack's tragic tale unfolds--of a true love found and lost, of Puck, the boy Jack couldn't save--and Chorus offers Jack that one last chance he wishes for.
In this full book and libretto for the stage musical--demo tracks on SoundCloud--our gay punk Orpheus must journey down into Hell itself--or at least one nightmareish cabaret franchise of it--to save the soul of the boy he loves from a demon that feeds on pain, nurturing misery to a terrible poison. And with Jack's bitter grief making him the juiciest morsel to that fiend, his own soul is as much in the balance as Puck's, if he can't do what has to be done.
208 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 12, 2009
5 people want to read
About the author
Hal Duncan
77 books133 followersHal Duncan is the author of Vellum, which was a finalist for both the William H. Crawford Award and the Locus Award for Best First Novel. He is a member of the Glasgow SF Writers’ Circle. He lives in the West End of Glasgow.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 12, 2011
I'm not sure how interesting reading this libretto will be to people who are not already huge fans of both Duncan and musical theatre but for those who are this story of love and despair and moving forward with grief is well worth a look.
Displaying 1 of 1 review