An Unexpected Kind of Luck
An Opera by Lucy Kocev
Setting: Lily’s apartment in San Francisco, California. Modern time.
Characters: Lily, (10 year old girl) Skye, (Lily’s 8 year old sister) Max, (Animal King) Philip, (Lily’s partner), The dumpster animals (give Lily the news she is magical), business man (a man who is walking to work.)
Exposition: Lily lives in California, where she thinks nothing interesting happens. She stares out the same window all the time and nothing happens. (Lily sings “Nothing good happens here!) One day, a drop of rain splatters on the window. The raindrop turns into a downpour.
Inciting Incident: After the rainstorm, Lily heads outside and she finds a crystal the rain formed. When she holds it, her hand glows. She asks a businessman if he likes her crystal. (Businessman sings: “I cannot see the crystal, what are you talking about!”) She brings the crystal to the safety of her house, but Skye gets in the way. Lily knows the crystal is not safe at her house, so she brings it with her as she takes a walk around the city. Later, she steps on a mirror in the road and breaks it and sees a black cat on the sidewalk and gets good luck. Then, she finds a four-leaf clover at the park and gets bad luck. Her life is mixed up.
Rising action: Lily is walking in the rain with the crystal in her pocket. She hears faint voices, but the wet sidewalks are empty. As she walks towards an alleyway, the voices grow louder. Lily realizes some animals on the dumpster are talking. She can hear them! They tell Lily she is magical, she can summon rain and talk to animals. The critters on the dumpster told her this. They said they always knew Lily was magical, but never told her. She realizes her magical powers can help her get out of this confusion. The animals tell her that Max, the animal king can help her.
Climax: The animal king is the black cat she saw on the road. His name is Max. Max tells Lily that she can use her magic powers to get out of this mess. (solo: black cat: Find a partner to help you!) Lily leaves and tests her animal talking powers on a lonely squirrel and asks him if he would like to be her partner. The squirrel has looks of suspicion, but nods his head. Lily assures the squirrel that she can understand him. The squirrel jumps on her shoulder and stands proudly.
Falling Action: Lily and the squirrel (now named Phillip) are puzzled. Philip sings, “Maybe you can use your powers to fix this mess!” Lily thinks and remembers she can summon rain, so she makes a thunderstorm occur right before her eyes. A raindrop falls on the tip of her nose and a burst of light comes into Lily and Philip’s view. Her pocket bursts open, and the crystal flies away into the sky. Lily feels a mix of many feelings and she is blinded by the light that has filled the sky. Time stops and starts a moment later. Lily does not know what has happened, but she knows her luck is changed by instinct. She can feel herself piece back together Chorus sings “It’s a miracle”
Resolution: Lily still wants to keep Philip. Philip is Lily’s companion, and she can’t leave him. Philip agrees that he has to stay and they both live at Lily’s apartment. It will stay that way forever and ever. Lily realizes then she was being superstitious and that the crystal mixed up her life. Now that it is gone, her life isn’t a jumble. Lily now knows that she not only changed because the crystal is gone, but because her life isn’t boring anymore. She has a squirrel to look after, and maybe the rest of the world too...
Music:
It’s a miracle (Chorus)
Nothing good happens here! (Lily)
Phillip’s Solo
Businessman’s solo
Max’s solo
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