WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN Musical in 2 acts: Book: Jeffrey Lane; Lyrics: David Yazbek; Music: David Yazbek; Orchestration: James Abbott, Simon Hale, David Yazbek; based on the 1988 film Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar. Belasco Theatre, Broadway - Previews 8th October, 2010 Opened 4th November, 2010: closed 2nd January, 2011 (30 previews, 69 perfs. Playhouse Theatre, London 12 January, 2015 (20 week season) SYNOPSIS The musical tells the tale of a group of women in late 20th-century Madrid whose relationships with men lead to a tumultuous 48 hours of love, confusion, and passion. Act I Spain, 1987. In an answering machine, a lover’s voice in the night asks – “Pepa? Pepa, are you there? Is there any good way to say goodbye...” A woman startles awake and rushes to the phone, “Ivan? Ivan?” She’s too late, he’s gone. As day breaks, the city and its inhabitants come to life, as the ubiquitous and philosophical Mambo Taxi Driver sings of a place and time of joy and passion, a world where an entire life can be rewritten in one day (“Madrid”). Pepa, a working actress and singer, arrives at a film recording studio, where she is scheduled to dub a duet with Ivan. Still reeling from his message and hoping to get some answers, she is disappointed to learn he has already laid down his vocal tracks and gone. As she sings to his recorded voice, we hear her thoughts, the conversation she would have with Ivan if only he were there (“Lie to Me”), and she faints from the emotion of the song. A doctor is called, and Pepa admits she has been experiencing some morning sickness for the past few weeks. The doctor insists on running some tests just to be sure. Pepa protests. There’s only one thing that’s wrong with her, and it’s an ailment that seems to be affecting every woman in town (“Lovesick”). Pepa sets off to find Ivan at his apartment and learns that he hasn’t slept there in weeks. She leaves a card to let him know she was there, but it is quickly snatched away by a mysterious woman. Aided by Mambo Taxi Driver, she pursues her through the streets. The woman is Lucia Beltran, Ivan’s ex-wife, who is suing him for his desertion of her twenty years before and her resulting time in a mental facility. Back in her apartment, Lucia goes through a trunk full of memories - letters, clothes, and an old record (“Time Stood Still”) which take her back to a happier time full of hope. Lucia is brought back to the present by the appearance by her shy, stammering son Carlos, and his unhappy, frustrated fiancée Marisa. They inform Lucia they will begin looking for apartments tomorrow in anticipation of their upcoming wedding. Furious at being abandoned once again, Lucia throws Carlos’ suitcases out into the night. As Carlos and Marisa gather their thing from the street below, they question their relationship and their future together (“My Crazy Heart”). The next morning, Pepa returns home to an answering machine full of messages from her best friend, the fashion model and eternal romantic Candela, who has finally found the perfect man, expect for one small hitch - he just may be an international terrorist (“Model Behaviour”). Pepa wanders her penthouse apartment and remembers the life she shared there with Ivan (“Island”). Meanwhile, back in his old studio, Ivan is packing to leave town, when he receives a visit from Carlos. Torn between his mother and his fiancée, the young man receives a lesson from his golden-voiced father about how to communicate with women (“The Microphone”). Pepa is about to reach the end of her rope. She prepares a batch of gazpacho laced with sedatives in anticipation of Ivan’s return. She is interrupted by the arrival of Candela, seeking refuge from both the terrorists and the police, and by Carlos and Marisa, who through a series of mix-ups have found Pepa’s address on their list of apartments for rent. As their disparate
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