Totally engaging in its effect on audiences of all ages, REFLECTIONS captivates everyone with the spell of an adventure into the realm of the imagination. This was Ann Mortifee’s first full-length musical. She recalls, “I learned scriptwriting by going to the library to see what a script looked like, picking up a pen, writing the word ‘Title’ at the top of the page! It was a wonderful hit with children and adults alike and was staged for years at Christmastime.”
STYLE & GENRE
Whimsical and light-hearted fantasy, family musical
“It’s like a loving, delicate sketch – one where the playwright and lyricist expects her audience to watch and listen for the subtle details, the modest voice, the un-monumental change, all of which will culminate in a story of personal transformation. In short, it’s a daring piece, in that it’s so beautifully quiet and simple.”
“Ann Mortifee’s hit musical, Reflections on Crooked Walking. . . Judith Marcuse choreographed the show . . . audiences loved it. We revived it a year later and then we revived it two times after that and it became a Christmas show,” says Millerd, “And I keep threatening to do it yet again.” –National Post interview with Bill Millerd, past Artistic Managing Director, Arts Club Theatre
“Mortifee triumphs with magical fantasy, Reflections on Crooked Walking. . .the songs and adventures make the show a fine romp, and the special effects and unusual costumes cast a glamour over every scene—sometimes spooky, sometimes beautiful, but always wonderfully strange.” Marvin Entz, The West Ender
“Ann Mortifee has found the perfect vehicle for her many talents in this recording, which blends a collection of tongue-in-cheek songs from her new fantasy musical into a potion destined to be a family classic. She has even provided the unique cover art for the album.” Ann Garber
Synopsis, Cast and Selected Lyrics
OVERVIEW (Please note: song titles and lyrics are in italics)
A mysterious sleeping sickness has overtaken the town of Forest Near. Only four people are still awake: GABBY, BLINKERS, FEATHERTOES, and SUFFERTON.
What an odd quartet they make:
- Naturally curious, GABBY is open to anyone and anything.
- BLINKERS, a Most Rational Man, clutches tightly to his one book, the only book he's ever read, the only book he ever intends to read. He looks at the world through a very narrow lens.
- FEATHERTOES is best described as a bliss ninny: euphoric to the point of absurdity, she dances merrily through minefields.
- SUFFERTON is her opposite: he sees only the worst...and dwells on it.
Together, the four set out for the forest to find a cure.
There they encounter the enigmatic DOORMAN, who tells them that...
EVERY DOOR IS A MAGIC DOOR
Every door is a secret door
hiding something
Every door is a magic door
leading somewhere
Somewhere you've never been ever before
To open the door just lift the latch
But once you go in
you might never come back|
For that is the way of the spell
This first door takes each traveller to a completely different place. When Gabby goes through it, she meets Harvey Seymour, a friendly crow with top hat and cane, who advises her that to survive in this world, she better learn.....
THE SEE MORE SONG
You better learn to dream more...
to dance more...to cry more...
and laugh more...sing more...
take a chance more often
than you do
All of life is magic
peculiar and fantastic
it's sometimes even tragic
you don't like it...like it...
too bad...too bad...har...har...
you better learn to see more
Hiding deep in the forest is Opia, who doesn't want anyone to see more. Her lulling advice is DON'T ROCK THE BOAT. When Blinkers goes through the magic door, he comes face to face with Opia's two cronies, Wayless and Nimbleknees, who tell him that the quickest way to find the cure is to talk to Madame O. When Feathertoes goes through the door, she tumbles into a field of singing, dancing Plants, who tell her that she'll know she's close to the cure when her TENTACLES TINGLE. Feathertoes sings. Feathertoes dances. Feathertoes stumbles and falls. Lonely and confused, she begins to ask herself questions. When Sufferton goes through the magic door, just as he expected, things get worse. He finds himself in a cold dark cave. With a tuba player.
THE SUFFERSONG
You know you've got to sorrow
-Sad, sad, sad, wah
You know you've got to suffer
-It's too bad but it's
just the way things are
If you think it's bad now
it'll just get rougher
-too bad I've got those stumblin
in the darkness...
no one understands me...
think of the starving...
life is depressing...
BLUES!!
Meanwhile, Blinkers has resisted Opia and finds another door--leading to a huge and dusty library where a sneezy Librarian tells him of the wonderful world of...
BOOKS, BOOKS, BOOKS
Books, books, books
I love the way they look
I love the way they feel
I love the way they make things false or real
I love the way they make you want to steal away
I love books
I love books
I love...
But what is he to make of this? Life was so much simpler with just one. At last, as night is falling, the four friends find each other again. Lost and afraid, confused and exhausted, they huddle together and sing SONG IN THE DARK, each, in turn, to comfort the others. Three of them feel a little better. But Sufferton, unable to see anything but the sad side, gives up hope and falls under Opia's spell. When the others find him fast asleep, they feel terrible and wonder if they somehow failed him. Still feeling troubled, Blinkers wanders away from the others and goes looking for clues. Wayless and Nimbleknees taunt him, laughing and asking...
WUDJAGUNNADOO?
Wudjagunnadoo
when nothing's true
and everything's astounding?
Wudjagunnadoo?
when you feel abused and your head is thick and pounding?
Wudjagunnadoo when you're in the soup
and you fear you might be drowning?
Wudjagunnadoo..wudjagunnadoo...
wudjagunnadooo???????
Frazzled, Blinkers finally gives up the search and Opia siezes the opportunity with her HUSH NOW LULLABYE. His friends and the forest creatures come to his rescue. Poor Blinkers, he was so busy with facts that HE NEVER HEARD THE MUSIC. So they begin to sing... and sing, frantically trying to wake him. Opia doesn't give up easily. She leads them in circles of false clues. At the last possible minute, the Doorman reappears with another door, allowing the four friends escape. They are welcomed on the other side by a quaint old Professor working in a laboratory who explains how life began.
CREATION SONG
Long ago, before man was born
there was nothing there
except a big black void
and then someone said
I'm gonna fill it up I'm gonna raise the roof
kick up some dust
I think I'll start with a word or two
to try to make my wishes come true
Let there be sun, she said
Let there be moon, she said
Let there be stars, she said
Oh this is fun, she said
Wait she said
Somethin just ain't right
I made the north and the south
I made the dark and the light
now everything's hummin in harmony
but I'm bored, she said
It's too calm for me
Then it began to brew
like a great big bubble
AH! she said I'll make Man to give us trouble!!
And she did...she did...she did!
All along the way, Gabby and Blinkers and Feathertoes and Sufferton have each collected some small souvenir, only to discover that each is an individual piece to the same puzzle. And when they put them together, they have the cure. In the end, they discover that it's up to each one of us to find our own...
MAGIC DOOR FINALE (reprise)
Reach up, reach out, reach toward the sky
lift your voices high in silent wonder
Reach up, reach out, reach toward the sun
Life has just begun
It's an adventure or it's nothing
Dare to care, care to dare
where your thoughts turn over into wonder
Love to live, live to love
And above everything, let your heart find its wings
There's the door, here's the key
Lift the latch, learn to be
Dare to care...care to dare...dare to care
END
FULL SCRIPT AND RECORDINGS FOR REFLECTIONS ON CROOKED WALKING ARE AVAILABLE AT THE SIGN-IN SECTION OF THIS SITE.
ANN MORTIFEE’S first musical, Reflections on Crooked Walking, ran every Christmas for four years and was nominated for a Juno Award (Canada’s Grammy). Her fourth, When the Rains Come, was showcased on Broadway at the New York Festival of New Musicals. The Mysteries is her sixth. More info on Ann Mortifee at annmortifee.com
