THE MARILYN MONROE SHOW Musical in 2 Acts. Book, music and lyrics by Michael Dresser SYNOPSIS This innovative new musical takes place in the seconds before the death of Marilyn Monroe on August 5th 1962. Together Norma Jeane, Marilyn and their intellectual alter ego Zelda Zonk laugh, cry and fight their way through their memories of the most famous life and death in movies, revealing the innocence, ambition and flaws behind the myth. STORY ACT ONE Scene One Ladies and Gentlemen…for one night only welcome to the Marilyn Monroe Show! In true cabaret style, Marilyn makes her grand entrance onto the stage as she introduces her fellow performers, Norma Jeane and Zelda Zonk, and explains that ‘M Is For Me’. Scene Two The show gets off to an unconventional start when the three women decide to ditch the script in favour of telling their true story. And where better to begin than the beginning. They sit, telling stories about the early days of Marilyn’s life. Norma recalls that though life was hard, movies were the one thing that kept life bearable, imagining it was herself up on the silver screen, ‘In My Dreams’. Scene Three Something strange begins to happen…as the three women reminisce, people from their past begin to intrude onto the stage. Before they know it Norma and Jimmy Docherty are reliving their teenage wedding. Everything seems fine until Jim is drafted overseas in the war and returns to find that Norma has her own modelling career. In ‘Blah and Blah’ the couple reflect on how the marriage has become nothing more than a series of banalities. But by now Norma has realised that she has the potential to really be 'Someone' when she gets her first job in Hollywood as a starlet. Scene Four Marilyn soon discovers that it is tough fighting her way to the top but by the end of ‘M Is For Me’ she has won recognition and is sitting pretty, about to become the new princess in Hollywood. Scene Five She meets Johnny Hyde who is soon her lover, then her agent. But when he dies suddenly just as her career is starting to take off, she is left to fend for herself and she wonders, ‘Coming Back To Life’, how she can possibly carry on. Scene Six Marilyn meets Joe DiMaggio and the pair embark on a whirlwind romance culminating in what turns out to be a disastrous marriage. Angered by her enjoyment of her rising status as an international sex symbol, Joe becomes increasingly belligerent and they finally concede that staying together is ‘Too Much’ and agree to go their separate ways. Scene Seven Hounded by the studio and the press, Marilyn wonders, disconsolately, what to do with her life. Zelda suggests a new start in New York where she has no ghosts and nobody expects anything of her. Norma tells Marilyn to ‘Close Your Eyes’ and the three sing hopefully of new horizons, as they set off for the East coast and a better tomorrow. ACT TWO Scene One In New York Marilyn unveils her new ambitions at a press conference. She is desperate to show off her new-found intellectual confidence in her fight against control by the Hollywood studios. She tells the press that ‘M is For More’, but they refuse to take her seriously. Scene Two Virtually a prisoner of her own fame, Marilyn is desperate to begin this new life she dreamt of away from Hollywood. Zelda shows her the art of disguise and how to have fun with it. Their confidence growing, the three women drop into shops, parties and even begin a clandestine affair with Arthur Miller
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