Bounce

[FranklinShepard-Inc.]

Posted: 2/25/05 at 5:09pm

Hi to all,

not having bought Sondheim's "Bounce" yet, I'd be interested to know more about the show's story line. Is there any not too small synopsis available online?

Thanx

Jay

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 2/25/05 at 5:11pm

I don't know the synopsis, but I definitely can't stand the music - Sondheim or not.

[FranklinShepard-Inc.]

Posted: 2/25/05 at 5:12pm

you wouldn't recommend buying it so? I heard some small bits and they sounded a bit like sondheim-gone-back-to-forum...

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 2/25/05 at 5:13pm

They are more classic Broadway sounding - yes, "FORUM." I hate FORUM as well, but BOUNCE does absolutely NOTHING for me. If you like that sort of thing, then go for it. I just don't like that style of music, but it's probably just personal.

[FranklinShepard-Inc.]

Posted: 2/25/05 at 5:15pm

Thanx anyhow, I'll probably be buying it at least to have all of Sondheim in my collection

So anyone else who knows about a Bounce Synopsis?

[commasplice]

Posted: 2/25/05 at 5:23pm

This site has one (some spoilers, if it matters): http://www.sondheim.org/php/news.php?id=1133

I got the CD from the library a few weeks ago.. I didn't finished it. I kind of forgot about it for a while, and now it's almost time to return it. (corrected to reflect I actually didn't return it yet like I thought.. oi.) Updated On: 2/25/05 at 05:23 PM

[FranklinShepard-Inc.]

Posted: 2/25/05 at 5:24pm

Thanx Beaverhausen, that is a good start. What I'd like to see now, would be some sort of synopsis which suggests in what way the songs are connected to the story.

[FranklinShepard-Inc.]

Posted: 2/25/05 at 5:26pm

Thanx, commasplice, it is obviously getting closer to it with every post. That is a good summary.

[FranklinShepard-Inc.]

Posted: 2/25/05 at 5:33pm

Anyone else still?

[commasplice]

Posted: 2/25/05 at 5:41pm

This one is mostly reviews, but has some summary and info on song context that may be helpful: http://www.sjsondheim.com/gold.html

[FranklinShepard-Inc.]

Posted: 2/25/05 at 5:42pm

Beaverhausen, you are great and a real support I am looking as well but somehow though there are many synopses of any weird musical there are none of that kind for Bounce. I found something similar too on the www.sjsondheim.com page.

Anyone something else?

[FranklinShepard-Inc.]

Posted: 2/25/05 at 5:44pm

you came right before me and had that idea as well, commasplice It is the page which has the most details about the songs as far as I have found something up to now. Actually strange since usually one finds a page where someone posted the content of the cd-booklet.

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 2/25/05 at 5:48pm

Try to find Melissa Errico Fan, FSI. He was a great Bounce fan as well.

[FranklinShepard-Inc.]

Posted: 2/25/05 at 5:49pm

A good one as well, containing all information about the cast and the musical numbers. Unfortunately not the synopsis though

[FranklinShepard-Inc.]

Posted: 2/25/05 at 5:49pm

thanx for the info type_a_tiff

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 2/25/05 at 5:51pm

No problem, FSI. I never saw it but I really enjoyed Howard McGillin in POTO and Spiderwoman, so I wish I could have seen it.

[commasplice]

Posted: 2/25/05 at 5:54pm

FSI, I thought I returned the CD, but I actually have it sitting up a few shelves above me (I just found it looking for my Bat Boy CD case - duh, me. I feel like an idiot.). Give me a little bit of time and I can type up the summary in the booklet and post it.

[FranklinShepard-Inc.]

Posted: 2/25/05 at 5:59pm

Wow, thanx, that is teriffic, commasplice. Thanx a lot!

[commasplice]

Posted: 2/25/05 at 6:33pm

Okay, here’s the summary from the CD booklet, as written by Sean Patrick Flahaven. If for some reason this isn’t allowed, someone please let me know, and I’ll remove it and offer it in PM instead. I’m sorry I didn’t realize I still had it sooner; we could have avoided the wild-goose chase. Enjoy, though!

ACT I

As the overture plays, light comes up on a curtain painted with vintage postcards: the Yukon, San Francisco, NY, Palm Beach, Boca Raton…

The curtain rises on a rotund Addison Mizner, age 61, reclining on a beach chair. It’s 1933. He’s wearing a caftan, fez, and dark glasses – hiding unsuccessfully from the process servers who are chasing him down with subpoenas. As the last one arrives, he quips, “Horace and Frannie. I knew they’d come through. Now I’ve been sued by everybody!”

Simultaneously, Wilson Mizner, age 58, stumbles into his CA hotel bungalow, drunk, with a floozy on his arm. He excuses the mess: “My agent tells me I’m writing a comedy for Paramount. But if I am, then why are all these pages blank?” As they fall into bed, attention shifts back to Addison, who dies in his sleep. Wilson follows suit a moment later, coitus interruptus.

Celestial voices call, and Addison finds himself in limbo. He’s appalled to find Wilson there, too – they haven’t spoken in 8 years. Bickering, they reminisce on their ability to BOUNCE back from adversity.

As arguing leads to shoving, their clothing and old age fall away, transforming them into their younger selves. They’re in Benicia, CA, 1893. Spry Mama Mizner breaks up the fight and leads them to their father. The old schemer, Lansing Mizner, is on his deathbed. He urges the boys to seize every OPPORTUNITY, then expires, leaving the family financially destitute.

Luckily, Mama has squirreled away some “opportunity money” to help them make a new start. Addison suggests opening a florist shop, but Wilson grabs the newspaper from Papa’s dead hands and discovers the opportunity Papa has been raving about: GOLD! A grizzled prospector materializes, urging them toward the last frontier, the Yukon. Wilson and Mama convince a very reluctant Addison. It’s clear that Wilson is the charmer and Mama is in his thrall. Soon the brothers are outfitted and Mama is weaving farewell.

They trudge through a blizzard, miserable. Wilson decides they should stop and start digging, or rather, that his brother should dig while he goes into town to file the claim. Wilson finds a saloon and is drawn into a poker game with other prospectors eager for a new sucker (GOLD – PART 2). He resists, until Nellie, a sexy dance hall girl, gives him reason to stay (WHAT’S YOUR RUSH?).

Wilson hits a lucky streak, delighting in his new credo, THE GAME. Addison stumbles in, having actually found gold. Unfortunately, Wilson has already bet the claim. Addison is beside himself, especially when Wilson loses. But the winner has cheater, and the saloon disintegrates into a melee. Nellie saves the brothers by shooting the cheater. Wilson grabs a pile of cash and hightails it with Addison while Nellie grabs the title to the claim.

The boys return to Mama, Wilson proud of their winnings, Addison upset that they could have had so much more. Mama wants to hear all about their adventures, and they oblige, competing for her attention (NEXT TO YOU). As Wilson out-charms him, Addison, fed up, takes his share of the money and slips out.

Addison heads for the steamship office, buying a ticket to, “Anywhere. As long as it’s someplace where an adventurous young man with some money to invest and a willingness to seize an opportunity when it presents itself can make his fortune.” (ADDISON’S TRIP) He goes to Honolulu and buys a partnership in a pineapple plantation. Unfortunately, the company has gone bust that morning. Addison grabs more souvenirs and heads to Hong Kong. A fireworks salesman there offers him a partnership in his failing business. Addison takes it, and his partner abruptly shoots himself. Addison shrugs it off and acquires more souvenirs, then steams for Guatemala. A similar disaster at a coffee plantation, which is the victim of violent revolution, leaves Addison out of money and ideas. He rails at his father’s advice…until he notices that all the stuff that he’s accumulated in his travels. Slowly, he rearranges it to form a multicultural fantasy house. It turns out his gift isn’t business – it’s design.

Months later, Addison finds Wilson outside the private club at the Belmont racetrack. Wilson and Mama have been crossing the country, and now he’s looking for new opportunities and plans to gate crash. Addison is there to present his first design to Eleanor Yerkes, a millionaire widow. Wilson tricks Addison out of his invitation and heads inside, where most of the New York Social Register is lounging in its finery. He discovers that Mrs. Yerkes is actually Nellie from the Yukon, who’s been working her way up through society. Wilson woos her for her looks and her money (THE BEST THING THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED). Nellie sees through him, but succumbs to his charms. Addison finally forces his way into the private enclosure, seething. Wilson deflects Addison’s anger by suggesting that he build a grand house for him and Nellie.

Addison suddenly finds himself best man in a whirlwind wedding. The honeymoon is interrupted, however, as various and sundry parade through the bedroom (I LOVE THIS TOWN). Mama arrives. Stanley Ketchel, a prizefighter whom Wilson is “managing,” comes in sparring. Paul Armstrong, a Broadway playwright with whom Wilson is “collaborating,” sweeps in with chorus girls. A jealous woman shoots Ketchel and reporters rush in, wanting a quote. Wilson obliges and even stops making love to Nellie to listen to the results of a horse race that he has fixed, but loses anyway. The jockey, an angry gambler, and a policeman chase each other around the bed. A gunfight erupts. Addison keeps trying to show Wilson and Nellie plans for the house, but can’t get it past the crowd. In frustration over the interruptions and Wilson’s cocaine habit, Nellie throws everybody out – including Wilson.

In the shabby apartment that Addison shares with Mama, he works feverishly on the drawings for Wilson and Nellie’s house, giving it “echoes of Guatemala, touches of the British Raj…” Mama, in her sick bed, complains that Wilson never visits, but admires him anyway (ISN’T HE SOMETHING). She dies just before Wilson arrives, but Addison conceals her. When Wilson reveals that he and Nellie have split, leaving Addison without a client, Addison spitefully allows Wilson to discover Mama’s body. Addison chases Wilson out at knifepoint and agonizingly challenges himself to BOUNCE back.

ACT II

Act Two opens with a triptych of Wilson alone in a seedy jazz café, Nellie a flapper dancing in an elegant Paris nightclub, and Addison alone in bohemian Greenwich Village. They lament their misfortunes and blame each other (THE GAME). As Addison reads a newspaper, a real estate developer bursts in to proclaim the land boom in Florida.

Addison sets off and finds himself sharing a train compartment with young, handsome Hollis Bessemer, heir to a steel fortune. His father has cut him off, and he’s heading to Florida in the hopes of enlisting his aunt’s help in bankrolling an artists’ colony (TALENT). Addison is smitten and also sees a way to meet rich clients. As Hollis falls asleep, Addison tenderly drapes his jacket over him.

At the elegant but crowded Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach, the Stotesburys, Trumbauers, Wanamakers, and other New York society couples complain about the poor service. Hollis tries to persuade his aunt to finance the artists’ colony, but she’s unconvinced until Addison seizes the chance to show her the eclectic house he designed for Nellie and Wilson. She and the other matrons are instantly fascinated by Addison’s hodgepodge of world architecture and want him to build extravagant mansions for each of them. Nellie, having married again for money and been widowed as a countess, joins in the frenzy. At the same time, Hollis and Addison confess their mutual admiration (YOU). As the song progresses, the backdrop fills with mansions, and Palm Beach becomes the gold coast.

Months later, on a stormy night in Nellie’s solarium, Addison and Hollis are clearly in love and successful in business. Nellie and Hollis head out to a dinner party and Addison is sketching when the door burst open to reveal Wilson – wet, bedraggled, and penniless. While living as a hobo, he’s been reading about Addison’s successes, and of course he has a scheme. Addison doesn’t want to hear it, but before he can eject him, Wilson passes out.

The next day, Wilson has recovered and told Hollis his idea. They team up to convince Addison to build ADDISON’S CITY, a dream community in Boca Raton. Addison initially wants none of it, but eventually agrees when Wilson invokes the name of their old brotherly partnership.

The plan shifts into high gear with an elaborate advertising campaign (BOCA RATION). True to form, Wilson goes overboard, and it all falls apart. The investors lose everything. Addison loses his reputation and, even worse, loses Hollis, who believes that the brothers conspired to defraud him. Nellie and Hollis walk away, leaving the Mizners alone (BOCA RATON AFTERMATH).

Wilson tries to smooth things over with Addison, but Addison ferociously attacks him (GET OUT OF MY LIFE). The fight is over, they’re back to the beginning: dead, in limbo. Just as they resign themselves to their fate, a new road magically appears in the distance. They’re not finished after all (BOUNCE).

[FranklinShepard-Inc.]

Posted: 2/25/05 at 6:40pm

I am delighted, commasplice, thanx a lot If I can help you with something else, do ask me.