Nothing is Guaranteed.
“The world is a microbe. There's earth, which can fit more than a thousand times in jupiter. Then there's the solar system, and the galaxy, this galaxy and a million others, similar, alike and different. The earth is literally one in a million; hence, a microbe. Almost as surely to be as small as a cell. Everything is a single cell in a sea of other cells, each one unique. If one single cell were to die, the world would live on. It would simply be a microbe among other microbes that ceased to exist. A single cell in a large vast sea, a single earth in jupiter, a single penny out of a million dollars that is ceasing to exist. It's as simple as that. So what's the difference between a penny and a planet? Nothing. Everything else lives on, even after its time. And in the end, all microbes crumble, and that's... okay.
— The Narrator
Finale is an original musical written by Julia "Jay" Veloso and Brian Sumerau. The plot focuses on the lives of several different, ordinary people and how they are affected when each of them finds out they have less time then they think.
The show follows several different characters:
- Tyler Jenson, a newscaster in a Love Triangle with her co-anchor/boyfriend Dylan Russ and weatherman Alex Valturn
- Noah Boslin, an aspiring college student who faces the decision of going to his dream school or staying near home to be with his widowed mother, Krista
- Dani Prasmin, a teenaged girl trying to find love through a constant stream of boyfriends, but is constantly stopped by her dad Liam, who wants her to find someone she really loves
- Sam Kinsley, an aspiring Broadway actress
- Amy Ryner, a retiring alcoholic
However, all of these seemingly ordinary situations have their stakes drastically raised at the end of Act 1.
These ordinary people are all now forced to make the most important decision of their lives: how to spend their last few days. The entire show is looked over by an omniscient Narrator to provide us with all the Exposition Dump we need to understand the world.
The show's gofundme page is here
, official website is here, and official twitter is here.
The show premiered May 25th , 2017.
Tropes present in "Finale" include:
- All Musicals Are Adaptations: Averted, the show is completely original.
- All There in the Manual: Many of the character's names are only mentioned in the script and never mentioned in the show.
- Bittersweet Ending: The show ends with the world ending and life as we knew it ceasing to exist. However, everyone does get to tie up all the loose ends from Act 1!
- Bolivian Army Ending: Although we never actually see them die, the show ends with the characters singing about how they are accepting the fact that this is their last night on earth and the world is going to end tomorrow.
- Counterpoint Duet: Krista and Noah get "Leaving You/Me," about how Noah can't wait to go to college and Krista is sad that he is leaving.
- Cue the Sun: In the end, as the characters accept their deaths and walk into the burning sunset together.
- Crowd Song: a few.
- "Today is the Day", a song about how everyone is going to have a good day.
- "Panic in the Streets", a song about everyone stressing out over the fact that the world is ending.
- "Finally", a song about everyone accepting their deaths and the end of the world.
- Dance Party Ending: The last scene of the show takes place at a ball celebrating the last night on earth in Times Square, where all the loose ends are wrapped up, and all the characters come back and dance.
- Dark Reprise: "Today is the Day" is a hopeful opening number about how everyone is going to have a good day. This song is reprised in "Finally," the finale, when the world is ending, along with many other character's musical motifs. "Today is the Day" no longer means "Today is the day that my life gets better," it now means "Today is the day that we die."
- Diabolus ex Machina: The reveal that the world is ending in a week comes at the end of Act 1, and severely screws up everyone's plans.
- Distant Duet: The show loves this trope.
- Tyler and Alex get "More Than This" in Act 2, where Alex and Tyler sing about wanting to express their feelings for each other.
- Act 2 also contains "My Last Days" sung by Dani and Noah about their respective parents. This is made even more distant because of the fact that they have never met each other before, but are simply singing about parallel situations.
- Doppelgänger Replacement Love Interest: Played for Laughs with Dani's boyfriends, who are all played by the same actor.
- Downer Ending: The show ends with the world ending, everyone dying, and life as we knew it ceasing to exist. Yep.
- "Everybody Dies" Ending: The show ends with the world ending and life as we knew it ceasing to exist, therefore causing all of the characters to die.
- Face Death with Dignity: How the show ends, with all the characters accepting their death and walking off into the burning sunset together.
- Fauxlosophic Narration: The Narrator can fall into this, as seen in the page quote.
- "I Want" Song: Most characters get one.
- Alex has "Perpetually Almost" about how he wants to date Tyler.
- "Today is the Day" is one for the whole cast, as they all sing about their goals.
- "More Than This" is one for both Alex and Tyler about how Tyler wants to leave her abusive relationship and Alex wants to finally ask Tyler out
- Dani has "Break Free" about how she wants her father to stop being overprotective of her.
- "Leaving You/Me" is a Counterpoint Duet version of this for both Krista and Noah about how Krista doesn't want Noah to leave for college and how Noah wants to go to college.
- Love Triangle: Between Dylan, Alex and Tyler.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: During the ending, when it is revealed that Amy is Sam's mother.
- Massive Multiplayer Ensemble Number: quite a few.
- "Today is the Day", a song about how everyone is going to have a good day.
- "Panic in the Streets", a song about everyone stressing out over the fact that the world is ending.
- "Finally", a song about everyone accepting their deaths and the end of the world.
- Minimalist Cast: While originally the show was written to have a large ensemble, this trope ended up being invoked with the final original cast.
- Minor Character, Major Song: The character of Lucy Everett, whose name is All There in the Manual, is only in the show for one scene, and only has two other minor appearances. However, she sings one of the biggest production numbers in the show, 'Congratulations!"
- Mr. Exposition: While not an actual character in the story, the Narrator can be considered one.
- Narrator: The Narrator.
- Off-into-the-Distance Ending: Ends this way, with the cast walking to what is implied to be their deaths.
- Opening Chorus: "Today is the Day."
- Parental Love Song: Two.
- "Adjust Your Thinking," Liam's song to his daughter Dani about how everything he does is to protect her
- Krista's part of "Leaving You/Me," a song sung to her son Noah about how she wants the best for him.
- Red Sky, Take Warning: The lighting at the end is done to invoke this, as the characters walk into the burning sunset to their deaths.
- Reprise Medley: The finale, "Finally," combines this with Dark Reprise. It reprises almost every major character's "I Want" Song, including "Today is the Day," "Once in a Lifetime," "Perpetually Almost," "More Than This," "Leaving You/Me" "Break Free," and "Falling". All of these songs are given new meaning, however, by the fact that when they were sung in Act One, they were about hope, and when sung in the finale, they are about how the world is ending.
- Riding into the Sunset: A variation. The show ends with the characters walking into the burning sunset, to their deaths.
- Significant Double Casting: All of Dani's boyfriends are intentionally played by the same actor.
- Straw Nihilist: The Narrator, while not an active character in the story, can fall into this, as seen in the page quote.
- The End of the World as We Know It: The show ends this way, with the gamma rays from a nearby galaxy causing Earth to become uninhabitable.
- "They've Come So Far" Song: "Finally," the finale, has the whole cast singing about their lives as they walk towards their deaths.
- Torch Song: Alex gets "Perpetually Almost" where he sing about how he loves Tyler, who is in a relationship with Dylan.
- Two Scenes, One Dialogue: During the second scene, where it switches between Dani & Liam and Noah & Christa's conversations.
- Walking Spoiler: It's hard to describe the plot of the show without including the reveal that the world is ending.
- Wham Line: "This will be... our... last week on earth." Bonus points for the fact that it comes right at the end of Act 1, so you have all of intermission to have an existential crisis.
This is Tyler Jenson, signing off.
