Blog Post 3.1
The three to five most stories, I find most compelling are —
Act 7, “Up Where the Air is Clear”, Act 8, “The Greatest Dog Name in the World”, Act 13, “More Lies”, Act 16, That Guy at the Office”, and Act 20, “The Greatest Moment I Saw on Stage”.
The main quality that I see that they all share is that 4 out of 5 of the stories start in one situation and end in the opposite situation.
In Act 7, the penguin is a poet and dandy. But when he meets Mary Poppins, he feels ludicrous and tongue tied.
In Act 13, two college grads do some babysitting. They get hungry, put grapefruit and black beans in their bags. Both fall out; it is embarrassing and they mention to the parents that they got the food in the cafeteria at school.
In Act 16, Mat is the guy who sits near the printer. When people go to pick up their prints many times a day, they chat with him. In spite of this, nobody knows his name.
In Act 20, a girl steals clothes. She gets caught, and joins a gang to make money. The mother is disappointed, as she did not raise her daughter that way. She enters a detention center, and the girls sing to their mothers apologizing and that they are ready to change. They then give their mothers hearts.
The exception is Act 8, which ends in a compromise. In Act 8, two brothers get a dog, and fight over the name. One wants Pasta, one wants Batman. The mother enters, and declares that the name is Pasta-Batman.
Another quality they share, aside from ending in the opposite situation, is that the endings are rather unexpected; almost an irony.
For example, the penguin, a poet and dandy, becomes tongue-tied; two college grads tell a lie, Mat everyone chats with, but no one knows his name; girls in a detention center sing apologies; an argument between two brothers ends in compromise.
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