Junior Show - Class of 1966

MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE Class of '66 Presents SHEDDING LIGHT ON VERSYLUM ADRIENNE INGLEY - Head of Show PAM VERG - Director NORMA DAVENPORT - Author JOANNE LUPTON - Musical Director MARCIA HOFFMANN - Stage Manager LORNAGRACE GRENFELL JUDY SWALLOW - Choreographers SOUNDS ACT I: 1. Court Music 2. They're Crazy That's Why 3. We're Somebody Else 4. I Want To Do It Myself 5. How Come We're Such a Closed-Mouth Crew? 6. Ave Analysis 7. Take It To The People Act II: 1. Johnny Appleseed 2. Rin Tin Tin 3. Oh, It's Our Helen Of Troy Act III: 4. Let The Rest Of The World Be Damned 5. Utopia 6. A Man Needs Something To Reach For 7. You Live For Tomorrow 8. Come On World 9. Extraordinary People

Show. 1966 in 1964. Fifteen songs cut in wax for posterity. Music to have cocktails by every October 31st. Music to diaper the baby by a few years hence. Music to cackle by at our fiftieth in 2016. A fresh Show that makes Ionesco and Pirandello passe, but still a traditional show in its earthy sophistication. It's a chef-d'oeuvre that flatters the audience's perception of the witty and even of the esoteric. Something to mull over. Mull mull. A reprise, maestro. Versylum, where we observe the sane in a minority among the insane. Why are the latter there? 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 answer rather inastutely ("They're Crazy That's Why"). Announcements then made of arrivals include those of Bo Peep, Elizabeth I, Cleopatra and seven extant Napoleons. Overheard: "Queen Mary: I hear there's a new addition to the group. Helen of Troy: I wonder who it will be ... Lancelot: Maybe it's Guinevere ... Bo Peep: Or my sheep ... Cleopatra: Or maybe it's Richard Burton ... 2: All I can say is I hope it's not Josephine." Versylum. Who are these people? Answer: "We're different ... and I think that when people are a little different, that perhaps is better that they come away ... Most of us are just somebody else" ("We're Somebody Else"). Versylum, where Able through Edward, 1-2 and New Napoleon find themselves sane. Where the seven decide to communally save the world, despite 1-2's suppressed bent to do it alone ("I Want To Do It Myself"). Once overcoming initial diffidence ("How Come We're Such A Closed-Mouth Crew?"), the root of mundane evil becomes evident. Discovered: "1-2: NO! No! No! You're all wrong, and you're to blame for it too ... Talk, talk, talk, analyse, analyse, analyse ... All this analysis is destroying the human race." ("Ave Analysis) Exeunt the seven into the world they hope to change. ("Take It To The People.") Symbols now spill into the audience. Cadres reveal Madame Defarge; Johnny Appleseed ("Who's Got Problems Anymore?["]); Queen Mary and Elizabeth; Rin Tin Tin (Song: title same as said woofer); and Midas (["]It's Our Helen Of Troy.") All this at the same time the world is being "saved." Versylum - a refuge after failure, after a venture into a world of "grey sterile roadways," "computer cards" and deaf ears. Decided: "Baker: Let's stay here and form a colony. Dog: A colony spelled U-T-O-P-I-A. Able: A Utopia!! Dog: Yes ... let the rest of the world be damned." ("Let the Rest Of the World Be Damned") But Utopia to one is not Utopia to another. Ask Lancelot, Alexander, Mary, or any Napolean [sic] ("Utopia"). Ask Elizabeth: "... My dear, see straight ... It's not abnormal to want Utopia ... Yet there can be no future in Utopia ... what is there to look forward to after perfection?" (A Man Needs Something To Reach For") Versylum, the place Able through Edward, 1-2 and New Napoleon left. Who were those people they left behind, anyway? Ask Elizabeth: "... I'm not really Elizabeth, but it's more than that. It's a conscious refusal to repeat the mistakes of the past. The past is our truth, and yet we don't commit ourselves. Are we weak, or are we brave?" Versylum is gone; what's left? The world. Dancing ... friends ... poetry ... art ... love ("Come On World"). Good-bye, Elizabeth, Mary, 4, 2. Chin chin, Miss Nation! Who knows? They might even save the world ... Who knows? Never underestimate extraordinary people ... Never underestimate ordinary stars ("Extraordinary People Do Extraordinary Things").