|
|
Synopsis
Prologue:
It is Christmas Eve. Little Elizabeth, wide-eyed and awake and dressed in
a tutu decorates the Christmas tree while listening to her father reciting
the children’s poem The Royal Partridge Christmas Ball. She is
enchanted by this story of an elephant getting a chance to dance before
the King and Queen before a catastrophe strikes…
Little does Elizabeth know that soon she will follow the path of the lead
character in this childhood fable.
Act I:
It
is Christmas Eve 20 years later. Elizabeth, now grown, waits on tables at
the Café Menagerie, a restaurant inside a high-end department store
called Plumage. Mr. Heartbern, the owner, and Ms.
Lustberg, the store manager, are preparing for The Royal Partridge
Christmas Ball.
Designed to promote sales, this yearly Passion play boasts a 25
foot tall Christmas tree decorated with jeweled ornaments. The Café
Menagerie pushes stuffed animal sales with waiters dressed in sleek animal
costumes; except for Elizabeth who is given a fat suit –– she’s
an elephant.
Meanwhile, Ben and Pete, the head cashiers upset
about the Christmas bonus being cut this year, orchestrate the stealing of
the ornaments from the tree.
With the jewels gone, Mr. Heartbern and Ms. Lustberg
call for an entertainer to buy time while they decorate the tree with
costume jewelry. Elizabeth, too clumsy in her elephant suit, is
fired from the Café Menagerie. Seeing a chance to fulfill her dream to
become a ballerina, she adds a tutu to her costume and offers her talents
as a dancer, but is promptly ejected. This leaves her inconsolable. Only a
phone call to her father succeeds in lifting her spirits. Alone, she
dances and glides through mid-air with breath taking agility and grace as
the curtain falls on Act I.
Act
II:
Curtain
rises for the big show starring: Elizabeth. But just before
her grand solo reality checks in when she snaps out of her daydream. She
bounds into the store where the actual show is about to start and makes
her way through the audience to the stage. When the electrically powered
angels descend on their own, they shine the spotlight on Elizabeth, who
seizes the moment to dance as the Prima Ballerina until she crashes to the
ground as the railing cracks under her weight. The castle set is
completely destroyed by her fall. In the ensuing chaos Mr. Heartbern
and Ms. Lustberg discover their love for each other, Ben and Pete
find the humanity they thought they lacked while Elizabeth
uncovers the stolen ornaments. Rejecting the perfunctory reward
reluctantly offered to her by Ms. Lustberg, Elizabeth for
the first time exhibits her true worth: at this Christmas Ball –– it’s
not Christmas for one, till it’s Christmas for all.
|
|
 |
Listen to Sound Samples
(real media files)
(Download free real player
here.)
Café Menagerie
Uniforms. discounts
and such
If just to
know
To steal the ornaments
You Who
Your Grace, My Lord
I'm
going to exit this fable
Plastic
Have a very merry
Christmas
Christmas for All
|
|
