Theatre / The Civility of Albert Cashier

The Civility of Albert Cashier is a musical based on the life of Albert D.J. Cashier, a soldier in the Union Army during the Civil War who was assigned female at birth.

The musical tells a fictionalized narrative split between two eras: Old Albert in a veteran’s home in 1915, and Young Albert’s time as a soldier with Company G of the 95th Illinois Regiment.

It debuted in Chicago in 2017, with book by Jay Paul Deratany, music by Joe Stevens and Keaton Wooden, and lyrics by Stevens, Wooden, and Deratany. The soundtrack is available on SoundCloud.—-

This show provides examples of:

• All Musicals Are Adaptations: Based on the true story of Albert D.J. Cashier.
• Almost Kiss: Between Albert and Jeff just before “What Is Real?”
• Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: The song "Finale", ends with Albert's funeral. The song describes how soldiers go to Heaven when they die, with the implication being that this was Albert's fate. Jeff end's his eulogy for Albert with an expression of the hope of this.
  When his final battle's won
  The angels come and take him home.
• Badass Boast:
  • He makes a few in "I'm Alive"
  Old Albert (to a Southern Born nurse who started a fight with him): "You wanna challange me! I took you down at Holly Springs and I can take you down again!" (after winning the fight) "Come on you rotten to the core Greybacks! You ain't gonna get the best of Albert Cashier nosiree!"
  • Albert makes one again when rejecting Nurse Smith's offer in "Woman to Woman".
  Albert: "I would rather die for the truth than live a lie like you!"
• Berserk Button: Calling Albert a woman or suggesting that Albert live as one are this for him. The fact that Nurse Smith insists on doing this in "Woman to Woman" is a Kick the Dog moment for her.
• Bittersweet Ending: Albert is sent to a mental asylum and forced to wear a corset and dress. In addition to being forbidden from living as his true gender in his last days, the corset suffocates and kills him. However, he is buried in his uniform with full military honors as a man.
• Character Development: In "The Perfect Home", when Jeff proposes marriage to Albert, he is asking Albert to be his wife (and, by extension, to live as a woman). In "Finale", when Jeff sees Albert's body in a dress, he says "that won't do" and re-dresses his late friend in a military uniform. Jeff finally accepted Albert as a man.
• Child Soldier: Discussed. When Albert first tries to enlist, Sergeant Collins mistakes his feminine looks for youthfulness and suspects him of being underage. He lets Albert enlist anyway once it's clear that Albert has no kin, and thus nobody to care if he dies in battle.
  • Played straight with Billy, who is only sixteen when he enlists.
• Distant Duet: All of the duets between Young Albert and Old Albert.
• The Eleven O'Clock Number: “Breathe. Walk. Home.”, a duet between both Young and Old Albert after Old Albert is placed in a mental institution.
• Fighting Irish: Albert is an immigrant from Ireland and a veteran of the Civil War.
• Friendship Song: “Brothers in Arms,” for the soldiers of Company G and Albert and Jeff in particular.
  I’ve been on my own for all this time
  No kin
  No one standing by my side
  My world was dark, but you bring the light
  You’ll always be a friend of mine
• Green-Eyed Monster: In "Woman To Woman", Nurse Smith reveals that she resents Albert for being able to gain glory by living as a man, while she was barred from becoming a doctor because she was a woman.
• "I Am" Song: “Ghost Boy” for Young Albert and Old Albert.
• "I Am Becoming" Song: “Bullet in a Gun” for Albert.
  Say what you think of me
  I'm opportunity
  I'm strength
  Potential
  I'm the gust of wind in a stormy sea
  Somethin' small
  Unknown
  Not dangerous on my own
  But look for me when the battle's won
  I'm a bullet in a gun!
• Love Epiphany: Jeff has one during “Excuse Me Sir.”
  I don’t really care if I’m a nance or a ninny
  Or some skinny-lookin lily-livered schoolboy you can shove
  I’m a man on a mission in an amorous condition
  With ambition of admission of the person that I love!
  ...Love?
  Love!
• Meaningful Rename: Albert Cashier, who adopted this name after transitioning. In "Ghost Boy" he reveals that he considers the day he transitioned to be the day he was truly born, and that as far as he's concerned Jenny Hodgers - the girl his parents raised - was never really him.
  I am a self-made man,
  born with my two hands,
  I've been waiting for so long,
  to take a stand.
• Patter Song: “Excuse Me Sir” has moments of this.
• Scatterbrained Senior: Old Albert.
• Squick: Albert has this reaction when Jeff suggests they have children together in "The Perfect Home".
• Time-Shifted Actor: Young Albert and Old Albert are played by different actors.
• Unfortunate Names: Jeff's full name is Jeffery N. Davis. The fact that his name sounds a lot like Jefferson Davis does not escape notice when he first enlists.
  Sergeant Collins: "Sweet Jesus what an unfortunate name!"
• Unwanted Assistance: In "Woman To Woman", Nurse Smith tries convincing Albert Cashier to live as a woman in order to avoid being sent to an asylum. Of course, Albert rejects this "help" out of hand.
• War Is Glorious: The "I'm Alive" talks about the thrill Albert Cashier felt in a skirmish against Confederate Soldiers during the Siege of Vicksburg. The song "Battlecry of Freedom" presents enlistment in the Union Infantry as a heroic calling. Additionally, throughout the story, Cashier is proud of his service in the civil war.
• War Is Hell: “Civilized.”
  Brand new Gatlings to kill fifty men with one crank
  New formation to charge full-force into their ranks
  New-found genius conceived by a general's mind
  Never thought or believed it'd be used
  On civilized kind