Synopsis

I

We meet Martha, busy at preparing for tonight’s celebration at her restaurant, Martha’s Place.  She loves the simple life, and sings about people coming together as a community.  Her husband, John, enters and declares that he is going on a “Wilderness Retreat” – alone.  She is not surprised, they simply fight over it, as they do every year.  She threatens to not wait for him to return, but he leaves anyway.

Ian and Aine (“en-ya”) are a pair of young lovers, eager to escape the dull life of their small town.  We meet them goofing on puppy love, and we share a more solemn moment with them as they pledge their love by fire light.  But the mood turns to ominous as they fall into a trance.  While under the spell, Ian dances with the mysterious Julitta (who has appeared from the woods.) As they dance, Aine awakens, to see her love with another – and flees, heart broken.  Ian remains oblivious.

Aine briefly bumps into Eezum Squeezum as he slithers in to town, looking for a place to rest.  We get the sense that he is a shady, wheeler-dealer who took his last doublecross too far as he is nervously looking over his shoulder.  But he can smell the curse on Aine, and his interest is piqued by a town which would have been otherwise unremarkable.  Optimistic, he heads on in search of “business opportunities.”

Rejoining Ian, we find him sitting under a tree, singing to the moon.  He is silly with young love, and unaware that he has hurt Aine.  It soon becomes apparent that she is quite furious, and not feeling quite herself (what with being under a curse and all) she produces a knife and cuts Ian’s throat!!  Shocked by her own deed, she runs into the wood.

II

John discovers Ian’s body, and sets to work reviving the boy.  Ian is miraculously restored, but is not very appreciative.  In fact, he has discovered that being dead leaves you feeling quite wretched, and he has been betrayed by his love – he has lost his life plan.  He decides to foresake his past, skip town, and make it on his own.

Martha is sitting alone at her restaurant.  Her party has fallen pathetically flat, she is lamenting the loneliness.  In walks Eezum.  He buys a row of drinks, and breaks into song, comforting her by creating the party atmosphere she was looking for.  As Martha joins, being won over by his charm and promises for a glitzy life on the road, he suggests that she sell her business and join him as travelling companion.  Looking around her empty room, she decides to give the wheel of fortune a spin.   They plan to meet at the train station at midnight.

Aine is alone in the woods, lamenting her fate and her lost love.  Julitta watches her in secret from the woods.  Seeing no end except certain doom, she resolves to go back to town and face the music – no matter the consequences.  She breaks into a run, heading home.

Julitta, left in the woods, is joined by John.  Even as the story’s Change Agents, with the highest level of comfort with the supernatural occurences, they are awed by the complexity of nature and human interaction.  They sing a song about the night.

III

 Meeting Ian, Eezum sings a sea shanty, once again extolling the glories of an adventurous life on the road.  Eezum is confident that he has found a dutchess in Martha, and is now collecting an errand boy.  Ian is suspicious, with good reason.  Nonetheless, he can’t pass up the offer to get out of town, and while he hasn’t signed the contract yet, he agrees to meet Eezum at the Midnight Station.  They part ways.

 Ian meets Martha and begins helping her in preparing to leave town.  They start to sing together about how it is such as shame to lose their old way of life.  Each one starts casting the shame on the other, and they begin bickering and scolding.  Eezum finds them arguing, and attempts to calm the situation, but all three are pulled into a tumultuous 3-part round and the pace maddens.  Tension is pushed to the breaking point when Aine arrives back in town, out of breath and shocked to see Ian alive, and joins the trio in a frenzied shriek.  Ian, being pulled in either direction by Eezum and Martha, numbly reaches out to Aine, and she pulls him free.  The tension is shattered.  Ian and Aine share a moment of wailing passion, and an uneasy peace is reformed.  Turning, they join Martha in “casting out the devil.”

Realizing defeat, Eezum skulks away.  Ever the optimist, he is confident that the world is full opportunities – the listener is cautioned to be on the look out.

As a finally, the cast and band all joins together for a final reprise of the opening theme.