neal learner

Get Me Home: A Travel Opera in Three Acts 

By Neal Learner (2020)

Synopsis

Get Me Home: A Travel Opera in Three Acts follows the adventures of Maxine T. Heart, an American expat, as she rushes home to see her father who was injured in a bicycling accident. Set in three 10-minute acts, the sung-through musical calls for four characters (2 men, 2 women) playing various roles:   

• Act I is set in a foreign airport as Maxine tries to sort out a ticketing snafu that almost prevents her from leaving. 
• Act II is set in the hospital where Maxine reunites with her mother and younger brother, and sorts through some family issues beyond her dad’s injury. 
• Act III is set in a restaurant of Maxine’s adopted country where she kindles a romance with the luggage handler who helped her overcome an obstinate ticket agent. 

Get Me Home is a musical odyssey that distills a series of real-life scenarios to their emotional essence, touching on themes of mortality, family, stress, jealousy, and love. The show calls for four characters — young adult male/female and senior adult male/female — with each act lasting roughly 10 minutes. The story is entirely sung through with solos, duets and four-part harmonies, all accompanied by piano. Maxine is the constant in each act while other actors change characters to reflect the story. Short narrations establish each act, and minimalist scenery is arranged to set each scene.

(See below Acts I & II performed below by Taphouse Theatre, Dallas, Texas; and demo recordings of Acts I, II & III)