Episode 16 - "All in the Family"
Photos by Janna Hove
Synopsis by Jim Cej
Our Cast of Characters
Jason Hardwick - Keaton Abbott
-impresario, owner of the Ferguson Theatre-
Shannon Blanchet - Plootie Scampzingus
-spunky orphan, mysteriously rich gopher-
Kristi Hansen - Bobbi Smarts
-designer and stage manager-
Stephanie Wolfe - Juniper Jones
-now solo member of a sister act, running the Hoboken Pantages Theatre-
Delia Barnett - Daisy Darling
-showgirl, born in a trunk, also running the Hoboken Pantages Theatre-
Tom Edwards - Riff Van Winkel
- ex-WWI pilot, wing walker, song and dance man -
* * *
February 17th, 1920
Daisy and Juniper are hand billing for the Hoboken Pantages.
Things get uncomfortable when they run into Keaton Abbott.
He offers his help backstage.
Juniper says that they don’t need anybody,
but invite him to come see the show.
Daisy says that Keaton could see how a positively run theatre operates.
He can start at the bottom.
* * *
Daisy and Juniper have an energy circle
before the show at the Hoboken Pantages.
Once the curtain raises, they start running through acts.
The Chicken Act.
The Penguin Dance.
Bobbi Smarts shows up looking for work.
She still carries a torch for Juniper.
Since neither of Juniper or Daisy know how,
Bobbi can vacuum the theatre.
Juniper says that they have a non fraternization rule,
so no falling in love.
Bobbi says that she is pursuing different people now.
Theatre is incestuous,
and Daisy gets uncomfortable and leaves.
Plootie says that the next act isn’t ready.
Are any horses behind the theatre?
* * *
We see the Penguin Dance act.
The penguins are joined by the chickens onstage.
Riff sings, dances and tells old jokes.
* * *
Back backstage, Juniper looks over the list of acts.
We hear the applause from the theatre.
Keaton shows up and things are uncomfortable for everyone.
He is surprised to find Plootie working there.
Juniper asks why he is there.
He’s there to learn from them
whatever it takes to reopen the Ferguson.
Juniper says the Ferguson is like that space
on Stony Plain Road and 149th St.
Nothing ever works in that space.
Juniper offers to take him on in a junior position.
Maybe they can start a franchise, like Stage West.
If he does everything she says in a junior position,
she will teach him how they got so successful in such a short period of time.
She has no secrets.
Juniper suggests that they use the Ferguson as a rehearsal hall.
Keaton agrees.
* * *
Bobbi Smarts hides in a closet from Keaton Abbott.
He doesn’t know that she is working there.
She just wants a drink.
All her former lovers work in the theatre.
All her former lovers work in the theatre.
That’s some kind of trigger.
Bobbi wonders how she got to be here, sitting in a closet.
Riff runs in for a quick change.
He has a Tarzan act do to next, but the costume isn’t there.
He may have to do the act naked.
Bobbi thinks that wouldn’t be so bad.
He has a nice body.
She tells him that she is trying to sleep with many people,
but she has already slept with him.
Would it be alright with him if she pursued Daisy?
They both still have feelings for each other,
but they don’t know what to do.
He could be her Tarzan, and she could be his Jane.
Riff confesses to Bobbi that he loves her,
but he can not see her her anymore.
He leaves to go on stage. Bobbi cries.
* * *
We see Riff as Tarzan.
The animals search for him.
They hear his yell.
Tarzan swings in on a vine.
He is glad to see Cheetah and the other animals there.
Lumberjacks want to take the jungle away from them.
They have to have a plan.
The animals consult,
and share a feast before they fight for their jungle and their home.
They all do a war dance.
Bobbi wanders onstage, and she is recruited to play Jane.
Tarzan sends her as a mediator with the lumberjacks.
* * *
Plootie and Daisy send out more acts.
The audience is loving the show.
Send in the clowns!
Keaton sweeps while Bobbi vacuums.
She manages to hide from Keaton.
She sidles up to Daisy.
Plootie helps get things organized
while hiding from Keaton as well.
while hiding from Keaton as well.
The vacuum stops working,
but Keaton keeps sweeping.
but Keaton keeps sweeping.
He sees that they have stolen his idea of selling licorice.
Keaton loses his temper as he walks away.
* * *
Bobbi stumbles onto the backstage bar.
She hasn’t had a drink on 5 weeks.
What better way to celebrate than having a drink?
Moe, the piano player, says that then she would have to start all over again.
Bobbi said she had someone that was really kind to her.
We’ll call him Tarzan.
Moe wonders if Tarzan is worth talking to,
or should Bobbi move on?
Why do you want to go backwards?
Sometimes you have to go backwards to go forwards.
Bobbi contemplates her glass of booze.
She put the glass down, and gets a call over the PA system.
She is needed onstage.
* * *
Tarzan arrives in the jungle back from London,
still wearing his tuxedo.
still wearing his tuxedo.
The lumberjacks are chopping down the jungle.
Jane doesn’t want to fight.
Doesn’t she care about the jungle?
She cares about Tarzan.
Tarzan has cared about Jane for a long time now.
They take the lumberjacks by surprise.
Tarzan and Jane have love on their side.
They beat the lumberjacks and wind up in each other's arms.
* * *
The audience loved the Tarzan act.
Riff and Bobbi embrace and hold hands backstage.
Juniper calls Riff into her office.
Riff says that they have a great theatre.
Juniper says that she doesn’t want cracks
developing in their perfect situation.
developing in their perfect situation.
When it comes to the theatre, No More Love.
Plootie puts No Moe Love signs up all over the theatre.
He can have his life, but it needs to stay away from the theatre.
The only drama should be onstage.
When he questions Juniper about it,
she asks him if he would have questioned Keaton.
Riff says that it’s not because she’s a woman.
Did she say that it was because she was a woman?
Riff will be professional and behave himself.
After he leaves the office, Riff and Bobbi make out.
* * *
Keaton is starting from the bottom
and has work to do on the roof,
and has work to do on the roof,
which is where Bobbi is hiding.
She contemplates what Moe said to her.
Sometimes you have to go back before you can go forwards.
Does she have to go back to the Ferguson?
Keaton is staying here.
It’s where he belongs.
There’s nothing left for him at the Ferguson.
Bobbi is going back to the Ferguson
and she will take Riff with her.
and she will take Riff with her.
How could she turn her back on Keaton?
Keaton has the body of Biff,
the owner of the owner on the Hoboken Pantages theatre.
He is going to throw it into the Hudson River.
Bobbi overhears and wonders what he’s talking about.
* * *
In the backstage bar, Daisy tries to iron things over with Riff.
He didn’t expect things to happen with him and Bobbi.
Daisy understands, because she is working with Lou Costello.
She had an incident with him, but it was outside of the theatre.
He called her a bird of prey, but they’re not there to talk about her.
They listen to Moe on his piano.
Daisy says that Juniper wants him to find his own feet,
to make his own tracks in the snow.
Moe sings, and Daisy dances.
* * *
Plootie is cleaning the theatre
when she finds Bobbi hiding on the closet again.
Bobbi is having a moment to herself.
Plootie says that you have to laugh at yourself,
because you’d cry your eyes out if you didn’t.
They’re both hiding from Keaton.
Bobbi had a run in with him.
They both hear a voice saying that they killed Biff.
Bobbi really doesn’t know anything about Riff.
She isn’t ready to leave the closet.
If Keaton comes, I was never here.
Plootie sneaks out.
* * *
We go back to when Juniper Jones discovered
Moe, the piano player.
After emotional phone call,
Juniper stumbled into a piano bar
where Moe was performing.
He told her not to rain on her own parade.
Who’s going to clean that up?
Juniper was feeling sorry for herself.
She finally has a place for herself, but she’s lonely there.
Moe says that she has a brand new theatre,
but it’s going to get older eventually.
You’ll have to fix the toilets.
* * *
Bobbi is in the closet.
Keaton goes into the closet and says hi to Bobbi.
What is she doing in there?
Just taking a breather.
She had a drink earlier and was on the roof and she was drunk,
so she doesn’t remember anything.
He was up there throwing away an old rolled up carpet.
Keaton was watching Riff backstage,
who was having a case of the nerves.
Keaton told Riff, “You’re going to kill, Riff".
Riff joins Bobbi in the closet, and talks with Bobbi,
but Keaton and Riff can’t see each other.
Keaton tells her that she needs to keep cool,
he’s playing the long game.
Riff wants to make out, but she says that it’s not the time.
* * *
Daisy and Juniper take Plootie out for brunch.
They ask how old he is.
How old do they want him to be?
Juniper made a new drink with champagne and orange juice.
It’s called a mimosa.
Since it’s illegal to drink anyway,
it doesn’t matter how old Plootie is.
it doesn’t matter how old Plootie is.
Daisy and Juniper think Plootie has a lot of spunk and drive.
They’d like him to become a third partner.
When he asks what that means,
they says that they’ve been playing it by ear.
Everyone wonders where Biff is.
Plootie would like to run this by him first.
Plootie gets drunk.
* * *
It’s the end of the Tarzan musical.
The animals sing Welcome to the Jungle.
Jane wonders what their life will be like in the jungle.
They will have a mansion in the trees.
What will happen when people find out about their love.
Will people try to stop them?
Tarzan will stop them with his Tarzan yell.
We see the end of the number in the future,
when it plays at the Stage West...
...starring Joyce DeWitt and Jamie Farr.
* * *
* Directed by Matt Alden *
* Music by Paul Morgan Donald *
* Lighting by Brad Fischer *
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