Full Synopsis
Act One
The Taxi Driver appears on stage and welcomes the audience to the city of Madrid. As the music grows and the stage is filled with inhabitants of the city, we meet the main characters and learn more about the city ("Madrid").
Pepa, an actress, is jolted awake from a dream by the ringing phone. The answering machine takes the call; it is Ivan, Pepa's lover. He tells her he does not deserve her and must leave her.
We now move into the Dubbing Studio. Pepa has arrived late to work and Christina, a nosy receptionist, is quick to point this out. It is revealed that Pepa was scheduled to lay down vocal tracks for a duet with Ivan. She is disappointed to find, however, that Ivan had come in earlier to record his vocal track. As she sings to his recorded voice, we hear her inner thoughts ("Lie To Me").
At the conclusion of the song, Pepa faints. A doctor arrives and the singer admits that she has been feeling nauseous in the morning for the last few weeks; she has been feeling lovesick ("Lovesick"). Pepa takes off to Ivan's apartment but comes to find he hasn't slept there in weeks. Pepa leaves a card with Ivan’s Concierge but it is snatched away by a mysterious woman. With the help of the Taxi Driver, Pepa pursues her.
We come to find out that the mysterious woman is Lucia Beltran, Ivan's ex-wife, who is suing him for abandoning her 19 years earlier. Carlos, her shy and timid son, and his fiancée, Marisa are found in her apartment. Lucia treats Marisa as a maid, and clearly dotes on her son. Paulina, Lucia’s lawyer arrives, and they discuss the impending lawsuit against Ivan (“It’s You”).
Carlos informs Lucia he and Marisa will begin to look for apartments in anticipation of the wedding; Lucia once again feels betrayed and abandoned prompting a late night eviction complete with Carlos’s belongings being flung out the window. Pepa witnesses the family brawl from a payphone outside. She finds a photo of Ivan and Carlos and realizes Ivan has a son.
The next morning, Pepa returns home to find her machine full of messages from her best friend Candela - a fashion model and romantic. She is in love… but she fears her new love interest, Malik, might be an international terrorist ("Model Behavior"). At the end of Candela’s frantic messages, there is clipped message from Ivan. Pepa rips the phone and machine out of the wall in frustration.
Carlos and Marissa rehearse their wedding dance while discussing details of their nuptials. Lucia returns with a fresh stack of mail, Ivan’s mail. She learns Ivan is planning a trip for two to Ibiza that very night.
Pepa, back in her apartment, begins making gazpacho laced with sedatives and remembers the life she shared with Ivan (“Island”). Candela arrives and the two commiserate together before Pepa rushes out to get her phone fixed. Candela resigns to watch TV where a news bulletin is seeking the whereabouts of suspected terrorist, Malik. To complicate matters, Pepa's apartment has mistakenly shown up on the list of apartments to rent for Carlos and Marisa, who have just arrived.
As everything is unraveling, Pepa learns Ivan is leaving town with another woman and that she is pregnant, and Marisa realizes her future with Carlos is more uncertain than she thought. Candela, stressed and petrified, jumps out of the penthouse terrace. ("On The Verge").
Act Two
The Taxi Driver and ensemble open Act Two with a rousing entr’acte, “My Crazy Heart.” Transitioning back to Pepa’s apartment we hear Candela screaming for help from the terrace ledge…she decided not to jump after all. Pepa and Carlos pull her back to safety and learn of her wild romance with Malik, the wanted terrorist. Candela fears being arrested and has yet to tell the police. Meanwhile, Marisa unwittingly drinks the Valium laced gazpacho and passes out snoring. Pepa leaves Carlos to watch the shaken Candela and slumbering Marisa as she heads to Paulina’s law office. Outside her apartment Pepa finally has a chance to process the news of her pregnancy ("Mother's Day"). All of a sudden, her pious Concierge - who has sensed her troubles - tries to reassure Pepa that everything will work out the way it should.
The Taxi Driver drives Pepa to the offices of Paulina Morales, Lucia’s lawyer and also the woman Ivan is romantically involved with. Pepa is unaware of this as she heads to the office in the hopes of helping Candela. Despite her attempts of rejecting Ivan, he successfully woos Paulina ("Yesterday, Tomorrow, And Today"). Pepa arrives to a very hostile Paulina. After an altercation, Pepa leaves in haste and hops back in the Taxi Driver’s car.
Back at the apartment, Carlos and Candela are surely growing closer. We find out about a note discovered that highlights Malik's plans for an attack on the local courthouse. They anonymously call the police to warn them ("Tangled"). At the courthouse, Lucia is presenting a petition against Ivan to the Magistrates ("Invisible").
Lucia quickly unravels and her case is dismissed - she decides that there is only one solution: remove Ivan for good. Pepa returns home to inform Candela that the best choice is to leave town ("Island Reprise"). Just as they are about to depart, the police arrive. Lucia arrives shortly thereafter in search of Ivan.
Pepa realizes that she now must get to the courthouse where Ivan is. She convinces two of the police officers to drink the gazpacho - they do. Before she can stop her, however, Lucia grabs the police officers' guns and heads to the courthouse. A chase ensues. Pepa arrives just in time to save Ivan from Lucia's gunshot, which actually ends up wounding Malik.
Through this all, Ivan finally realizes Pepa is the one he truly cares for ("Lie To Me Reprise"). Pepa recalls the Concierge's words and rejects Ivan's offer. She leaves.
In the end, the women all join together to look towards the future ("Finale").
Show History
Inspiration
Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown, with a book by Jeffrey Lane (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) and music and lyrics by David Yazbek (The Full Monty, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels), is a stage adaptation of Pedro Almodvar's film of the same name. The film is a black comedy-drama that deals with an ensemble of people undergoing a variety of anxieties and stresses on a spectrum of farce. After finishing Dirty Rotten Scoundrels in 2005, Lane and Yazbek were searching to challenge themselves, and they decided to try a foreign film adaptation.
Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown was workshopped in several intensive sessions over the course of 18 months, all including Pedro Almodvar, the director and writer of the source material film.
Productions
Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown had workshop readings in October 2009 and March 2010; the latter was directed by Tony winner Bartlett Sher. The musical finally opened on Broadway at the Belasco Theatre in Lincoln Center on November 4, 2010. It played a limited engagement, playing 69 regular performances and closing on January 2, 2011.
The regional premiere of the musical premiered in September 2014 at the Theatre at the Center in Chicago. A West End production, also directed by Sher, opened at the Playhouse Theatre in January 2015 for a limited 20 week engagement, starring Olivier-Award winning performer Tamsin Greig.
Trivia
- Celebrities that have starred in Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown include: Patti LuPone (Lucia) Salma Hayek, Jessica Biel, Matthew Morrison, Justin Guarini (Carlos), Sherie Rene Scott (Pepa), Brian Stokes Mitchell (Ivan), Danny Burstein (Taxi Driver), Paulo Szot (Ivan), Mary Beth Peil (Concierge), and Laura Benanti (Candela).
Critical Reaction
"Packed with talent and creativity" - The New York Times
"A wholly serious comedy about a macho culture that encourages men to be faithless to the women who love them." - The Wall Street Journal
"Has many things in its favor. [& ] Book writer Jeffrey Lane gets a lot of mileage out of the dizzying situation of passionate women converging in brokenhearted turmoil." - The LA Times
"This grand-scale farce about love and all its attendant lunacy feature a sensational score by David Yazbek, whose credits include The Full Monty and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and whose clever lyrics here are paired with music that ranges from a tango and disco number to comic arias." - The Chicago Sun-Times
"A bustling, mesmerizing package. [... ] The heightened emotions and lyrical expression in the original Women on the Verge [& ] lend themselves to song and dance and the broad comedy that often accompanies them." - USA Today
"Benefits from source-material that's practically a musical already." - New York Magazine
"Much to enjoy [...] [including] Jeffrey Lane's frequently funny book, David Yazbek's perfectly professional Latin-infused songs.Jeffrey Lane's frequently funny book, David Yazbek's perfectly professional Latin-infused songs." - Backstage
"In today's hectic world of work and worry, a ticket to see the fantastically funny Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown is just what the doctor ordered. [& ] Left me laughing and eager for more with this silly, finger-snapping musical montage of romantic madness." - The NWI Times
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical (Laura Benanti)
Connect
Lincoln Center Theater
Playbill Vault
Official Webite
Twitter page
Theatre at the Center (Regional Premiere)
Billing
- Book by
- Music and Lyrics by
Based on the film by Pedro Almodóvar
Requirements
Book by: Jeffrey Lane 50%
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Music and Lyrics by: David Yazbek 50%
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?Based on the film by: Pedro Almodóvar 50%
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Included Materials
Item | Quantity Included |
---|---|
AUDIO GUIDE | 1 |
KEYBOARD1 - CONDUCTOR SCORE | 1 |
LIBRETTO/VOCAL BOOK | 28 |
PIANO VOCAL SCORE | 1 |
Production Resources
Resource |
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FULL SCORE |
HOW DOES THE SHOW GO ON-10/CS |
HOW DOES THE SHOW GO ON? |
KEYBOARDTEK |
LOGO PACK |
LOGO PACK DIGITAL |
PRODUCTIONPRO-DIGITAL SCRIPT/SCORE |
REFERENCE RECORDING |
STAGE WRITE APPLICATION |
STANDARD ORCHESTRATION
Instrumentation | Doubling |
---|---|
BASS | ACOUSTIC BASS , ELECTRIC BASS |
DRUMS | |
GUITAR | ELECTRIC GUITAR , LAP STEEL GUITAR , NYLON STRING GUITAR , STEEL STRG ACOUSTIC |
KEYBOARD 1 | |
PERCUSSION |