The villain, Doctor Major Mortimer Malmer, is after the Daughter Of The Moon, a rare coconut pearl worth a fortune. It is known to be lost in the manor house of the impoverished Allworthy family. Malmer arrives there pretending to be an Army Doctor escorting home the seriously wounded Allworthy son. The heavily bandaged son is really Nurse Nun Sister Sinestra. Everyone searches for the pearl. Eventually Malmer kills Sinestra, and takes the heroine hostage. The hero, Blaise Ardent, has a umbrella vs. sword fight with the villain, and defeats him. The pearl is found. The manor is saved from being sold. The hero and heroine fall in love. Everyone sings a lot.
THE CARROLL’S
CHRISTMAS or PLEASE DO NOT BREAK THE
ORNAMENTS is a lively two-act classic-style melodrama for family holiday fun.
It requires 1 simple set, 3 men, 3 women, and a keyboardist. Playing time,
excluding olios, 1 intermission, and audience participation is about 80
minutes. It premiered at the SouthWest Rural Theatre Project in Albuquerque,
NM. Royalty rates are $25 per performance payable to Cliff Gravel within 30
days of the end of the run. No scripts to buy. Author will grant permission to
make copies of the perusal script. Free PDF perusal script and contract available
as an email attachment in Word for Windows upon request that includes the
theater company name and location. Email copy of sheet music sent upon receipt
of signed contract. All music is in public domain.
The story takes
place in an old inn in the English countryside near Christmas day in the late
1800s.The dialogue is peppered with asides but no vulgarity, profanity, or
sexual innuendo.
The impoverished
Carrolls are in jeopardy of loosing the family inn. The villains arrive seeking
a fabulously valuable stolen ruby hidden in one of the ornaments on the Carroll’s
Christmas tree. The villains fail. The hero saves the heroine and the inn.
Everyone sings and/or recites holiday poems or stories.