Brooklyn the Musical is essentially a play within a play. It begins with a group of street singers, busking underneath Brooklyn Bridge The singers decide to put on is a play within a play, led and narrated by the lead ‘Street Singer’. And this is the story they tell….
Once upon a time, a young Parisian singer found fame in France and travelled to America to search for the father she never knew. Her mother committed suicide when she was a child and her daughter only knows that her father came from the part of New York she was named after--Brooklyn. She has been left with an unfinished lullaby that he began and she is desperate to finish...with him. Although she captivates and intrigues American audiences, Brooklyn wanders the streets in vain, desperately searching for a clue to the man who got away. In the meantime, her appearance has unsettled the reigning diva of New York, Paradice, who challenges Brooklyn to a “Battle of the Divas” at Madison Square Gardens. Brooklyn accepts the challenge, determined to put Paradice in her place and find her father (Taylor). Acting as an alternative Fairy Godmother, the Street Singer leads Brooklyn to him and she discovers that Taylor is a drink and drug addict, suffering from PTSD following his experiences as a soldier in the Vietnam War. However, the Street Singer reminds Brooklyn to look beyond the fragility and distress of her father’s current situation and to remember what he has been through. When Taylor is tempted by Paradice’s offer of heroin and fails to show up on stage to sing with his daughter, Brooklyn loses the “Battle of the Divas”, but she finds solace in the encouraging face of the Street Singer. Finally tracking down her father, he tells her that he will always be more comfortable in the crowd than center stage, and he and Brooklyn reunite, believing in their happy ending.
Editor’s Note: Brooklyn the Musical was originally performed without an interval but it can also be produced with two shorter acts.
BKLYN the Musical guide sections
