NuOrbis Brainstorming Thread - Project Five: Give My Regards to Broadway

[Outbound]

Act 1 descriptions. Not sure how many scenes I should have so I kept it to the bare minimum. I can easily add a few filler scenes if needed.

Act 1 Descriptions

Act 1, Scene 1 The show begins with the Ghost Host’s voice over, welcoming guests to take their seats quietly and avoid making nuisances during the performance. Also, avoid flash photography, unless you want an angry ghost to follow you home. The curtains open, revealing a dark and eerie graveya...

docs.google.com

 

[Sharon&Susan]

Act 1 descriptions. Not sure how many scenes I should have so I kept it to the bare minimum. I can easily add a few filler scenes if needed.

Act 1 Descriptions

Act 1, Scene 1 The show begins with the Ghost Host’s voice over, welcoming guests to take their seats quietly and avoid making nuisances during the performance. Also, avoid flash photography, unless you want an angry ghost to follow you home. The curtains open, revealing a dark and eerie graveya...

docs.google.com

From a quick skim, it looks like a good length to me. I was planning on doing on doing 8 scenes too, so I'm glad to see that we're both on the same page when it comes to length.

I'll fully look it over tomorrow and give you some suggestions in the morning.

 

[pix]

Great progress today team! I really love how this project is coming together.

@gam3rprincess I've added in scene 5 to the Descriptions Google Doc. Could you try to figure out how to do the Giant Spider, that would be very appreciated.

I can. I very much do not want to as that would require thinking about a giant spider and how it would look and move and and that is an absolutely terrifying thought but I can in fact do that. And I will. And I will imagine it on fire the whole time.

 

[Sharon&Susan]

I can. I very much do not want to as that would require thinking about a giant spider and how it would look and move and and that is an absolutely terrifying thought but I can in fact do that. And I will. And I will imagine it on fire the whole time.

I'm sorry, I'll write it out immediately since its that uncomfortable. I'll simplify the scene and move the (kinda obligatory) giant puppet to a later scene (and I promise it won't be a spider).

 

[pix]

Ho

I'm sorry, I'll write it out immediately since its that uncomfortable. I'll simplify the scene and move the (kinda obligatory) giant puppet to a later scene (and I promise it won't be a spider).

No don't! I am arachnophobic but I was trying to play it up for comedic value it's really not that big a deal. I am still going to imagine it on fire but don't change the scene I can do it just fine!

 

[montydysquith-navarro]

Hello, everyone! Sorry if I haven't been responding lately. I was doing some online work in preparation for my graduation (!!!).

Regarding the presentation format of the story, I think a synopsis will do instead of a scene-by-scene breakdown. Mine and @AceAstro's plan for the presentation is something similar to a souvenir program of a Broadway show. Usually, it features some behind the scenes stuff (development of the production design, music, book, etc.), a cast list, the plot summary, etc. For the music, maybe we can just append the post with Soundcloud links or an unlisted Youtube video playlist (with cover art)?

 

[spacemt354]

Hello, everyone! Sorry if I haven't been responding lately. I was doing some online work in preparation for my graduation (!!!).

Regarding the presentation format of the story, I think a synopsis will do instead of a scene-by-scene breakdown. Mine and @AceAstro's plan for the presentation is something similar to a souvenir program of a Broadway show. Usually, it features some behind the scenes stuff (development of the production design, music, book, etc.), a cast list, the plot summary, etc. For the music, maybe we can just append the post with Soundcloud links or an unlisted Youtube video playlist (with cover art)?

Congratulations on your upcoming graduation!

 

[montydysquith-navarro]

THE GHOST HOST
Welcome, foolish mortals, to the Nederlander Theatre and to this performance of... The Haunted Mansion.​

--
Some concept art for the facade of the theatre. Obviously, the art featured (HM plaque albeit slightly reworked, Constance, Hattie, and Madame Leota) is not mine.

 

[montydysquith-navarro]

Playbill design:

 

[Sharon&Susan]

Here's a summary of Act 2:

Summary Act 2

The Ghost Host introduces the show noting that Mike and the Mansion are both in trouble. The curtains rise and Constance is causing absolute mayhem causing the walls to crack and musical instruments to float. Mike is angrily questioned by Leota and the Hitchhiking Ghosts about why he trusted Nitr...

docs.google.com

 

[Sharon&Susan]

How's the songwriting going @AceAstro and @ThatGuyFromFlorida made any progress?

 

[AceAstro]

How's the songwriting going @AceAstro and @ThatGuyFromFlorida made any progress?

I have some lyrics done but it’s hard with no melody

 

[Outbound]

Well we have two days to work on this, so hopefully @ThatGuyFromFlorida can finish up the melodies and give you enough time to do the lyrics.

 

[CookieMouse]

Well we have two days to work on this, so hopefully @ThatGuyFromFlorida can finish up the melodies and give you enough time to do the lyrics.

Okay, but as we all know procrastination is a female dog!

 

[Outbound]

Shortened Summary of Act One:

Summary Act 1

The show begins with the Ghost Host’s voice over, welcoming guests to take their seats quietly and avoid making nuisances during the performance. Also, avoid flash photography, unless you want an angry ghost to follow you home. The curtains open, revealing a dark and eerie graveyard. The Haunted...

docs.google.com

If you guys need any other help let me know. I'm really unfamiliar with songwriting but beyond that am willing to assist as needed.

 

[AceAstro]

Shortened Summary of Act One:

Summary Act 1

The show begins with the Ghost Host’s voice over, welcoming guests to take their seats quietly and avoid making nuisances during the performance. Also, avoid flash photography, unless you want an angry ghost to follow you home. The curtains open, revealing a dark and eerie graveyard. The Haunted...

docs.google.com

If you guys need any other help let me know. I'm really unfamiliar with songwriting but beyond that am willing to assist as needed.

Monty and I were talking and making this presentation and one thing that we think could help the presentation/ overall project is this:

From Creepy Old Crypts to the Great Broadway - a rundown of what were the changes made to the original story of The Haunted Mansion for its Broadway debut.

@Sharon&Susan could help too since it was you two who wrote the story and it just goes into what was kept from the ride/ movie and what changes were made. Can go into depth on what influenced you to make those changes, etc.

Only needs to be a paragraph or two long

 

[Outbound]

From Creepy Old Crypts to the Great Broadway
When you consider Disney's long list of potential properties, all ripe for translation onto the Broadway stage, it's unlikely you'll come up with "Haunted Mansion". Though a beloved and classic attraction in the parks, the Haunted Mansion's 2003 blockbuster was a critical flop. It was unlikely to ever be adapted onto Broadway.

And yet, here we are. Disney's elite Broadway team felt the Haunted Mansion dark ride "had a spark" and wanted to catch onto an original tale based within the Haunted Mansion mythos. But to do that, a few changes were made. We caught up with playwriters @Sharon&Susan and @Outbound . After some short smalltalk, such as why two of them had very normal names and the other was named after a gravitational direction, the three got down into business.

"The first, and hardest part," says playwright @Outbound, "was figuring out the story. The ride really has no story, and we also didn't want to base it off the film. So we spent a long time brainstorming possible outlines. We kept trying to create a new human character to introduce everything, be the audience's window you know... but then we realized there was a character starring right in our face. The caretaker, the one you see in the graveyard part of the ride. So we took him, gave him a nephew who's going to be his replacement, and there you go: the story fits right with the ride."

After creating a main character specifically for the play (the original attraction features no such window for the audience) the playwrights turned to the mansion itself.

"One of the biggest changes to the Haunted Mansion story was elevating a character only seen in the portrait gallery to a full-blown secondary antagonist. “We looked at that guy on the dynamite picture (in the stretching room), he almost looks pure evil, but it’s obvious he’d be a bit of a joke,” writer @Sharon&Susan said, “we turned that character into Nitrokoff, Constance’s only husband that still loves her after death.”

Zombies were also deemed a natural fit for the Mansion, despite the Zombie mythos having not fully developed when the original ride opened in 1969. “Throughout the development of the original rides the original Imagineers were looking at the popular horror movies, comics, etc. as inspiration, we thought it was appropriate to do the same for our generation”.

Finally, there was a certain character who the playwrights adapted into the main antagonist. But the three were very adamant about not revealing this yet. "We want it to be a surprise" admitted @Outbound.

Well, that's all for now. You'll have to watch the play yourself (or read the reviews the day after it premieres) to pick up all the juicy details.

---

@Sharon&Susan and I collaborated on this.

 

[Outbound]

I don't know

 

[AceAstro]

@AceAstro and @ThatGuyFromFlorida I got two ideas for songs I'm ready to go forward with:
Nitrokoff's Song: First version of the song in Act 1 focuses on his love of his unnamed wife (that turns out to be Constance) and all the good times he had with her, the reprise in Act 2 is similar, but instead about money and opulent goods. I can't think of what music genre this one would be, but it needs to be upright.

I got tired of waiting for some sort of melody so here is "Nitrokoff's Love" (and reprise):

Nitrokoff’s Love:

Verse 1:

Hey, there beautiful,
How can I describe it?
I love you by the pocketful,
I will happily admit!

My eternal love for you will never die.
I will give you everything you ever need,
Because when you’re not happy it makes me cry.
I’ve give you everything you will need to succeed.

Chorus:

Oh, what would I do without you?
You are my one true love!
In the whole world you’re my best view,
And there’s no one else I’m proud of.

Verse 2:

Happiness is what you bring to my world.
All your little quirks, they make me happy!
Like how you like ice cream, but only if it’s twirled,
And you never eat corn ‘cuz to you it tastes crappy.

Ohhhhhhhhh, my wife!
You are my guiding light!
You bring joy into my life!
You make my life feel bright!

Chorus:

Oh, what would I do without you?
You are my one true love!
In the whole world you’re my best view,
And there’s no one else I’m proud of.

Verse 3:

Dear wife of mine:
If you read this, I need you;
Or at least give me a sign.
I’ll be there through and through


Nitrokoff’s Love (Reprise):

Chorus:

… Oh, what would I do without you?
You are my one true love!
In the whole world you’re my best view,
And there’s no one else I’m proud of.

Verse:

My jewels, my treasure, and my gold,
You are my one true desire.
I don’t care about Constance now that I’m old;
I have moved past my need to defy her.

Ohhhhh, my treasure!
You are my guiding light!
You bring my life so much pleasure!
You make my life feel bright!

Chorus:

… Oh, what would I do without you?
You are my one true love!
In the whole world you’re my best view,
And there’s no one else I’m proud of……..

 

[montydysquith-navarro]

Hi, @gam3rprincess! How are you doing with the production design/tech stuff?