Line #139 AudioPlay/TheNewAlbionRadioHour


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thenewalbionradiohourcoversmaller_2354.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:"Brought to you by Papaver Cigarettes!"]]
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4	''The New Albion Radio Hour: A Dieselpunk Opera'' is a 4-Act opera composed and written by Music/PaulShapera. It is the sequel to ''AudioPlay/TheDollsOfNewAlbion'', and the audio version of the entire play can be found [[http://mochalab.bandcamp.com/album/the-new-albion-radio-hour-a-dieselpunk-opera here]].
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6	The Dieselpunk Opera occurs ten years after the events in Dolls of New Albion, and the featured family this time around is the O'Briens, with Constance O'Brien and her father John being the main protagonists. The story is told by an all-knowing {{Narrator}}, who describes a New Albion torn apart by war.
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8	The story of New Albion is continued in its sequel, AudioPlay/TheNewAlbionGuideToAnalogueConsciousness.
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10	----
11	!!Tropes:
12
13	* ActionDad: John is Constance's father and a super solider.
14	* ActionHero: All four of the main characters to certain extent, but Constance in particular. Doubles as a GuileHero.
15	* AlcoholicParent: [[DrowningMySorrows John]] becomes this to Constance. [[DescentIntoAddiction She ends up with a drinking problem, as well]]
16	* AllKnowingSingingNarrator: Of the Radio Broadcaster variety.
17	** [[spoiler: Except for when Jackie hears his narration in Blood Red Dogs and has a moral disagreement. She gets into a second argument with him in the Finale over his actual role of either telling the story or creating it.]]
18	* AnotherSideAnotherStory: The rebels briefly become the villains in the Blood Red Dogs song.
19	* AntiHero: [[GuileHero Constance]]. She's a thief who, at the beginning, is pretty selfish, only sees what she wants to see, and is only ResignedToTheCall when she can't avoid it any longer. However, she's JustLikeRobinHood, and pretty justified in selfishness/blindness due to her DarkAndTroubledPast. And once she has CharacterDevelopment she becomes a lot more of classic hero and ''certainly''does the right thing in the end.
20	* ArcWords: Anything have to do with dreams and being asleep--mostly used to describe Constance always "dreaming" and only seeing what she wants to see up until her CharacterDevelopment. Also, running away is a common theme, ending when Constance refuses her teammates decision to run.
21	* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Thomas delivers one to Constance during "The Discussion 2". Afterward, she admits to the karmic irony but is still hurt.
22	--> '''Constance''': You used me and you played me!\
23	'''Thomas''': Like you played your marks?
24	* BadassArmy: The Blood Red Dogs
25	* BadassDriver: Jacqueline, during "The Bust"
26	* BadassFamily: The O'Brien's.
27	* BecomingTheMask: Constance goes deeper and deeper into her own head and her life as a thief, to the point where she refuses see to what's right in front in her and only believes what she wants to believe
28	* BelievingTheirOwnLies: Constance blinds herself from the world around her to the point that she doesn't see what's right in front of her. This changes after her CharacterDevelopment.
29	* BigDamnHeroes: Jacqueline pretty much all the time.
30	** John, at the end.
31	* BigEntrance: Those guys in the beginning of "The Bust"
32	-->'''Police:''' And on the day we come, it's over!
33	** And John, in "The Operation" and "The Substation" (the same event happens in each song, but from a different point-of-view)
34	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Constance and Thomas live after Jacqueline argues with Lloyd Allen to change the story, but she is killed by government soldiers soon after. John then sacrifices himself to give them a chance to flee the battle. While the rebels are able to storm parliament and overthrow the tyrannical government, they soon fall into infighting and New Albion ends up split into eight districts that are at odds with each other.]]
35	** Constance eventually managed to get the unfair divorce laws overturned, but according to supplemental materials, [[spoiler:Constance and Thomas made it to a monastery in the mountains to the west, presumably to develop Constance's burdgeoning posthuman abilities. However, they suffered a HappyEndingOverride when [[NoodleIncident something went terribly wrong]], resulting in both of their deaths.]]
36	* BreakingTheFourthWall: A very odd example. They break one of the walls. It's a ShowWithinAShow, but the players want to change the narrative.
37	*** First, where the second act opens, Lloyd has a conversation with Constance O'Brien who will be "playing the part" of the lead role in that act. However, as it turns out, the lead character in the second act is, in fact, named Constance O'Brien. After that, it starts to become clear it might not be as much of a ShowWithinAShow as it seemed.
38	*** In "The Underground" Constance hears Lloyd Allen narrating and starts asking him who he is. He's able to get her to "slip back into character."
39	*** In the third act, Jacqueline gets into two arguments with Lloyd. [[spoiler: The first is when he wants her to execute Thomas but she refuses. The second is when Constance saves New Albion, but Lloyd finds this stupid and thinks the story would be better as a tragedy. Jackie's the only one who can see his narrative, aside from Constance on occasion]]
40	* BreakTheBadass: This happens to Constance when Thomas betrays her. But she doesn't let herself stay broken for very long.
41	* BreakUpSong: "Discussion 2" for Thomas and Constance.[[spoiler:They get back together at the end of the album, though]]
42	* BrokenAce: Arguably Jacqueline. She's all badass and intense, and in reality it still devastated over the lobotomization of her beloved girlfriend Dorothy.
43	* TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive: Both the government and the resistance know where Constance lives.
44	* CannotTellFictionFromReality: The album itself purposefully makes it as complicated as actually possible to tell what is part of the ShowWithinAShow and what's not.
45	* {{CatchPhrase}}: It's a musical, so lyrics are often repeated, but:
46	** "Bathe in The Fire" for [[BrokenHero John]]
47	** "And now back to the New Albion Radio Hour!" for [[UnreliableNarrator Lloyd]]
48	** "The Thief.....is a lady" for [[NiceGuy Thomas]]
49	** "Run, run away" for [[TheSmartGuy Constance]]
50	* TheCaper: The first few songs in the second act detail Constance and Thomas stealing the MCG.
51	* CharacterDevelopment: John goes from a regretful drunk to a heroic solider, and Constance stops ignoring her problems and the world around her.
52	* CityNoir: New Albion.
53	* CoolAunt: Jacqueline to Constance
54	* ComeWithMeIfYouWantToLive: [[RebelLeader Jacqueline]] tells [[GuileHero Constance]] that if she doesn't give the rebels the MCG, the government will kill her. About one minute later, [[UndercoverCopReveal Thomas]] tells Constance that if she doesn't give government the MCG then....the government will kill her. (In his defense, he truly is trying is trying to save her). [[RefusalOfTheCall Both times, Constance refuses and runs away]]
55	* CozyVoiceForCatastrophes: Lloyd remains composed and calm even when narrating how things go awry.
56	* {{Cult}}: The Voodoopunks are also the rebellion.
57	* DarkAndTroubledPast: All four main characters have had pretty rough lives.
58	* DitzyGenius: Constance is super smart, but tends to make her fair share of mistakes in the way of common sense
59	* DefectingForLove: Thomas starts out as an undercover police officer, but he ends up joining the rebels to protect Constance. John does the same thing, although it's for a different kind of love.
60	* {{Delinquent}}: Constance is only in her late teens or early twenties, but she's a mastermind thief.
61	* DescentIntoDarknessSong: [[spoiler:The Pitch]] starts out with a very catchy and upbeat tune. Then, about two-thirds of the way through, the music cuts out into a brief interlude that calls the dark nature of the super soldier program into the forefront before going back to the happy upbeat music.
62	* DisappearedDad: John is this to Constance.
63	* DrowningMySorrows: John does this after losing his wife and abandoning his daughter Constance.
64	** Constance herself did this when she was in her early teens after losing both her parents in one way or another, but she's stopped by the time the the opera takes place, when she appears to be in her late teens to early/mid twenties.
65	* {{Dystopia}}
66	* {{Earworm}}: "Blood Red Dogs". Justified as it's meant to be, and narrate, a brainwashing song.
67	-->'''Blood Red Leader:''' Ignore this damn music\
68	Stay focused instead\
69	Do not start singing, stop--\
70	Dolly oh oh we come dollay!
71	* EleventhHourSuperpower: At the end of the third act, [[spoiler:Constance suddenly gets the ability to save New Albion by singing a song. Lloyd Allen does not appreciate this]]
72	* TheElevenOClockNumber: "Storyville Station"
73	* EmergingFromTheShadows: Jacqueline does this in the "Discussion 2"
74	* EstablishingCharacterMusic: The 'run away' verse from "The Bust" was this for [[BelievingTheirOwnLies Constance]] before her CharacterDevelopment in [[IAmBecomingSong Storyville Station]]
75	-->'''Constance:''' Run like the hunted
76	--> Run like the coming, run like the sword will finally fall
77	--> Run like the desperate, your last final minute
78	--> Run like the end has come to call
79	--> Run like the hours, the days all when counted
80	--> Run like they past while dreamers slept
81	--> Run like the fire, the winds of desire
82	--> Run if you want to live again
83	--> Run, taste the rain
84	--> Run, from mistakes you've made
85	--> Run, run away
86	--> Run, and just embrace
87	--> Run, the air, the pulse, the pain
88	--> Run, run away
89	* {{Fanfare}}: The Pitch from Act I.
90	* FilmNoir: It has many elements of this; CityNoir setting, a Mafia of some kind, a MacGuffin, a baddass hero, etcedera.
91	* {{Foreshadowing}}: "The Bust" foreshadows Constance's CharacterDevelopment
92	* ForGreatJustice: The reason why Thomas betrays Constance.
93	* GoneHorriblyRight: Jacqueline's plan to save New Albion. [[spoiler:The Voodoopunks' song is perfectly successful in paralyzing the government's soldiers, but because the possessed soldiers start singing along with it, the effect soon spreads throughout the entire city.]]
94	* GuileHero: Constance. She even refers to herself as this in "Storyville Station"
95	* GuiltFreeExterminationWar: Jacqueline is willing to let the entire New Albion government's army be possessed forever if it means ending the war.
96	* GriefSong: "The Green Room Pale", "The Wasteland", and "The Best of Times" all apply.
97	* HeartbrokenBadass: All three of the O'Brians. John became an unstoppable cyborg after his wife's death, Jacqueline took over the voodoopunk resistance in response to what happened to her girlfriend, and Constance was an extraordinary thief even before being betrayed by Thomas.
98	* HeroicNeutral: Constance is this until she can't be.
99	* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:John and Jackie do this to protect Constance at the Battle of Cryer's Boulevard]].
100	* HiddenHeartOfGold: Constance is truly very selfless and brave, although you wouldn't have thought so at first.
101	* IAmSong: The Green Room Pale. Doubles as a GriefSong.
102	* IAmBecomingSong: "Storyville Station" is this for Constance when she decides to "wake-up" to the world around her.
103	* IdiotBall: They toss one of these around; [[GuileHero Constance]] is TheSmartGuy of the opera, being clever, crafty master thief....but decides to run around the city with the object everyone wants. [[RebelLeader Jacqueline]] is smart enough to figure out to use the MCG, not smart enough to realize it's probably not a good idea to posses people with it. [[TheMole Thomas]] tricked TheTrickster (Constance), but five minutes after got kidnapped by a cult.
104	* IdiotHero: Downplayed as Constance is far from stupid, but she is clueless. [[spoiler:To the point that she doesn't realize her aunt runs the resistance and her boyfriend works for the government.]] She loses this by the end, though.
105	* InteractiveNarrator: Lloyd Allen interacts with Constance in "The Underground", and Jacqueline several times.
106	* IronicName: Constance is anything but constant.
107	* ItsAllAboutMe: Constance is like this, a little bit, before her enlightenment. She despises the war because of the way it destroyed her family, and therefore tends to ignore the greater good.
108	-->'''Constance:'''I don't care about your plan, I only care about my man!
109	* IWantSong: "Discussion 1" is about Constance's desire to leave New Albion with Thomas.
110	* JerkassHasAPoint: There's awhile there where Thomas doesn't seem so great, but Constance still can't deny that he's right in "The Bust" and "The Discussion 2"
111	-->'''Thomas:''' And on this day, the party's over. It's time to wake up, there's a war to win!
112	* JerkassRealization: Constance acts selfishly throughout most of the album. Towards the end of the third act, she realizes this and also that she can't keep running from her problems and, as the opera puts it, living in a world of dreams. She has an IAmBecomingSong, "Storyville Station", which details this development.
113	* JustLikeRobinHood: Because of the unfair laws in New Albion, Constance steals from the high-society men who have left their wives and gives the goods to their ruined spouses.
114	* LovableRogue: Constance.
115	* LemonyNarrator: Lloyd is a more cheery and hammy example thanks to his job as a radio host, but his pulse doesn't waver when it comes to relate tragedies if he thinks they make an interesting story. [[spoiler:He was ready to dispose of Thomas if it weren't for Jackie's intervention, and caused hers and John's deaths to compensate for Constance's DeusExMachina song.]]
116	* MacGuffin: The MCG device, wanted both by the Voodoopunks for their master plan, and for the Police to caught the Voodoopunks.
117	* MadnessMantra: "Dolly oh oh we come dollay!"
118	* MeaningfulEcho: Several. Most notably,"Storyville Station"references "The Bust"
119	** For starters
120	*** In "The Bust"
121	-->'''Constance:''' Run like the hours, the days all when counted, run like they passed while dreamers sleep
122
123	*** Later in "Storyville Station"
124	-->'''Constance:'''...And everyday just goes by like a dream
125	** Also:
126	*** In "The Bust"
127	-->'''Thomas:''' And on this day, the party's over. It's time to wake up, there's a war to win!
128	*** Later in "Storyville Station"
129	-->'''Constance:''' Storyville Station can never take, the one who's here now and awake
130	** Another example:
131	*** "The Bust"
132	-->'''Constance:''' Run, taste the rain, run from mistakes you've made
133	*** Later in "Reunion"
134	-->'''Jackie:''' All that's left to do is run
135	-->'''Constance:''' We will not be running
136	* MentalWorld: Not a literal example, but the plot of the show is that, metaphorically speaking, [[BelievingTheirOwnLies Constance]] lived in a world only in her head and refused to acknowledge any real events because she was to afraid to face the truth. She even calls herself out on this at the end after her CharacterDevelopment
137	-->'''Constance:''' Storyville Station can never take, the one who's here now and awake
138	* MinorCharacterMajorSong: The Blood Red Dogs don't play a major role in the story, but their song is one of the most epic and intense.
139	* TheMole: [[spoiler:Thomas, Constance's boyfriend, is an undercover cop]].
140	* NeutralNoLonger: Constance starts out as NotInThisForYourRevolution but finally has to choose a side in the war.
141	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Aunt Jacqueline tries to save New Albion, but nearly destroys it.
142	* NotEvilJustMisunderstood: Thomas isn't evil, just misguided. He betrays Constance, but he is trying to do what's right.
143	* NotQuiteTheRightThing: Thomas realizes this about his betraying Constance. He did believe it was saving the city, but it still wasn't right. Plus, he also starts to see that the rebels might be in the right after all.
144	* NotSoAboveItAll: Constance sneaks around the soirees and steal like it's nobody's business--however, she's a StepfordSmiler in more then one respect and is actually does it to try to avoid the war
145	** Jacqueline is about as badass as it comes and a [[BigDamnHeroes BigDamnHero]], but is still lamenting the death of the woman she loved
146	* OddFriendShip: Between Jacqueline and Thomas, by the end
147	* OutlawCouple: Thomas and Constance seem to be this. [[spoiler:but Thomas turns out to be TheMole]]
148	* PapaWolf: [[spoiler:When John and Constance are reunited in the substation, John ends up turning on his own side to protect her.]]
149	* ParentalAbandonment: [[spoiler:John left Constance with his sister Jackie to join the war effort after his wife is killed in a bombing]].
150	* ParentalLoveSong: "Daddy Left"
151	* ParentalNeglect: (Implied as it all happens before the album) It was accidental on the part of Jacqueline; when she's left having to raise her niece [[{{Delinquent}} Constance]], she genuinely DOES try to do a good job, but fails and Constance ends up spending much of her teenage years drinking on smoking to try to get past the supposed death of her parents.
152	* PhlebotinumRebel: [[spoiler:John]] becomes this by the end.
153	* PluckyGirl: Constance to the extreme.
154	* QuarrelingSong: "Discussion 2" is all Constance and Thomas arguing
155	* RebelLeader: [[spoiler:Jackie]] turns out to be one.
156	* RebelliousRebel: Constance's refuses her aunts offer to join the rebellion. To be fair, she refuses the government as well.
157	* RecruitingTheCriminal: The voodoopunks hire Constance to steal the MCG
158	* RefusalOfTheCall: Constance does this to Aunt Jackie in "The Bust"
159	* ResignedToTheCall: In "The Substation" Constance still doesn't want to be involved with the war but agrees to help the rebels anyway, if only so that she can get rid of the MCG and go home.
160	* TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized
161	* SavvyGuyEnergeticGirl: A somewhat {{Downplayed}} example, but [[LovableRogue Constance]] is the HotBlooded GuileHero Energetic Girl, to [[StraightMan Thomas's]] Savvy Guy.
162	* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: The rebellion in general.
163	** Also, Constance's career as a thief. Sure, she's breaking the law, but she's JustLikeRobinHood, since she does it to help the women of New Albion.
164	* SettingIntroductionSong: "New Albion 5" sets the theme for the whole opera, and "The Thief" sets the theme for Constance's character and the second and third act.
165	* ShowWithinAShow: It's all told as if it's a radio broadcast. [[spoiler: Until it turns out the players are real and they "change the narrative"]]
166	* SiblingRivalry: They end up as a SiblingTeam, but before that, John and Jacqueline were this almost to CainAndAbel territory, except that both of them were good-hearted, just on opposite sides of the war. However, it should be noted that while Jacqueline was the RebelLeader and John the government's secret weapon, they never fought directly against each other, being as John didn't know Jacqueline was a rebel and Jacqueline thought John was dead
167	* SiblingTeam: John and Jacqueline, by the end of the album
168	* TheSmartGirl: Constance is the smartest member of their team, which is saying a lot considering her teammates aren't at all dumb themselves.
169	* TheSneakyGuy: Constance
170	* StepfordSmiler: Constance plays this trope with two layers--Number 1, she flirts with people at parties, and then takes their money. Number 2, she forcing herself to ignore the world around her as to not have to think or feel or really live.
171	** Lloyd Allen seemed pretty trustworthy over the radio.
172	* SuperSoldier: Freedom Corps will make you a new man! [[spoiler: By replacing various bits and limbs with iron parts. John is apparently the only one who survived the process]].
173	* ThisCannotBe: Constance's reaction to finding out Thomas betrayed her.
174	-->'''Constance:''' This isn't real, this isn't happening.
175	* TookALevelInCheerfulness: Jacqueline comments on how much happier Constance is after being reunited with her long-lost father.
176	* TookALevelInKindness: Constance again; she loses her selfishness and risks her life to save the city.
177	* TruthSerums: Putting it in the water supply under Parliament is what kicked off the revolution.
178	* UndercoverCopReveal: [[spoiler: Thomas]]
179	* UnlikelyHero: Constance, a Delinquent thief, saves the city.
180	* UnreliableNarrator: Lloyd Allen turns out to be this, but he starts out as an AllKnowingSingingNarrator
181	* WellIntentionedExtremist: Jacqueline's attempts to save New Albion nearly destroy it.
182	* WhamLine: "And on the day we come, it's over," coming from [[spoiler:Thomas, revealing his affiliation with the government]].
183	* WhatTheHellHero: Jacqueline and Thomas feel this way about Constance, and her occasional selfishness, throughout the opera until the end when she does the right thing.
184	* WorldOfBadass: Rebels, soldiers, thieves, spies, gangs of orphaned children....yep, seems to fit the bill.
185	* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Defied by Jacqueline when the story calls for her to execute [[spoiler:Thomas. She decides that he's a good person despite working for the government, and refuses to go along with it.]]
186	* ZombieApocalypse: The Voodoopunk's brainwashing song was only meant to stop the Red Dogs Army by mind wiping their minds, but the soldiers can't stop chanting which causes the effects to spread like a virus all over the city. [[spoiler: This was foiled by Constance singing another song into the MGC transmission to restore their minds.]]

Context AudioPlay / TheNewAlbionRadioHour