Shows B

BED AND SOFA Music by Polly Pen. Lyrics by Laurence Klavan STORY In Moscow, in 1926, a housing crisis rages. In a cramped apartment, Ludmilla, a put-upon housewife, lives in dreamy complacency with her cheerful despot of a husband, Kolya. When one day, Kolya’s handsome comrade, Volodya, arrives from the country, but can find no lodgings, Kolya offers him their sofa. When Kolya returns early from a business trip, he is shocked to discover that Ludmilla and Volodya have become lovers. Kolya moves out, but there is still nowhere to live, so he reluctantly returns, taking the sofa, leaving Ludmilla and Volodya the bed Kolya stalls the new couple’s lovemaking with endless games of checkers, so that slowly, to Ludmilla’s frustration, Volodya becomes more interested in the manly sport of checkers than in sex. Finally, Volodya reveals himself to be just as much a domestic despot as Kolya. So Ludmilla banishes Volodya to the sofa and takes the bed for herself. Ludmilla’s “marriage” to the two men has already had its consequence as she is pregnant. The two men bicker over who is the father and finally decree: Ludmilla must have an abortion. Acquiescing, Ludmilla waits her turn in a frighteningly efficient clinic. But seeing a living, breathing baby out the window convinces her to leave, without the procedure. She packs up and abandons her two “husbands,” declaring them unworthy to be fathers, and Kolya and Volodya find themselves alone in the dose Moscow flat. They have no choice: as Ludmilla rides alone into the exciting unknown. Kolya takes the bed and Volodya the sofa. CAST: 2 men, 1 woman MUSICAL NUMBERS 1.Anthem [Instrumental] 2.Train 3.My Name 4.Lunch/Without My Work 5.Night 6.War - Michael X. Martin 7.Bed and Sofa, #1 (Volodya Moves In) 8.13 Meschanskaia Lane 9.News!/Over the Moon 10. Bed and Sofa, #2 (Ludmilla & Volodya Are Alone) 11. Silent Movie - Terri Klausner 12. Bed and Sofa, #3 (Ludmilla & Volodya Go to Bed) 13. Kolya’s Return/Beans 14. Big and Complicated 15. Do You Mean to Stay Here?/Without My Wife 16. Night/Over the Moon (Reprise) 17. Back and Forth 18. Bed and Sofa, #4 (Kolya Takes the Sofa) 19. Checkers 20. I Am Hungry 21. Dressing Screen 22. Walk 23. I Am Hungry (Reprise) 24. U.S.S.R. 25. Bed and Sofa, #5 (Volodya Takes the Sofa) 26. Back and Forth (Reprise) 27. To Have a Child 28. Abortion 29. Her Husband 30. Letter 31. Ending 32. Anthem [Instrumental] INSTRUMENTATION: 4 Piano/Conductor scores, Violin, Cello. Original Cast Recording

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