Dan: what if…
Tracie: yes????
Dan: what if we put the last scene entirely into bill’s office. kill the whole picnic IDEA and have the whole staff revisit the office scene for some reason. have ken enter into that somehow. have monica stumble into the office.
Tracie: you know, i’m not even sure that we need the whole staff.
Tracie: i think we can axe vernon, george and janet. have starr and bill definitely, probably monica and maybe, for a time, hillary. it could be more of a showdown between bill and starr.
Dan: cut “mr. reno”? that line rules.
Tracie: OH, mr. reno.
Tracie: that line is funny, but she says it again.
Tracie: it got a bigger laugh the 2nd time.
Dan: it got a bigger laugh the second time for two reasons: 1) because it wasn’t clear exactly who monica was talking to the first time with all of those intros and 2) because it had already been established.
Tracie: hmmmm…we can think about it.
Tracie: but i agree that there doesn’t have to be a bbq.
Dan: i just think the staff needs to be there for a bit of it. it’s the ONLY other time we see hillary and janet together between things you can’t imagine and we’re out.
Dan: except for nine seconds in the first oval office.
Tracie: ooooh, that is true, aside from the one line in the earlier oval office scene.
Tracie: yes.
Dan: yes.
Tracie: no, that is good. maybe they’re having…a staff meeting?
Dan: maybe they’re having an “act I finale planning session.”
Tracie: HA!
Dan: in general, though, i think we’re heading in the same direction with it, big time.
Tracie: but really, there’s no reason for a bbq.
Tracie: i feel like we can rewrite a lot of the scene, not just in terms of location, but other stuff too.
Dan: maybe starr does something with a lot of actual agency. like, comes to SERVE bill and hill with papers saying they have to testify about whitewater.
Tracie: ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!
Dan: and bill makes fun of him anyway.
Tracie: bill is like “fu, nerd!”
Tracie: i like it.
Dan: because they’ve got nothing on him…yet!
Tracie: like this SHOULD be his moment of power…
Dan: yes!
Tracie: but he is thwarted and redoubles his efforts.
Tracie: and bill = idiot.
Tracie: and even hillary, maybe, is full of the hubris.
Tracie: hubris, idiocy.
Dan: and then we’ll just conveniently explain away why he’s STILL invited to bill’s inaugural ball in act ii.
Tracie: whatever.
Tracie: who cares?
Dan: whatEVER.
Tracie: maybe he’s NOT invited.
Tracie: maybe he crashes.
Tracie: maybe monica’s all like, “mr. starr, you’re not on the list.”
Dan: monica can’t find him on the list.
Dan: HA!
Tracie: brain meld.
Dan: really.
Tracie: please save this IM.
Dan: I WAS JUST GOING TO WRITE THAT, TOO!
Dan: “we have to save this IM.”
Tracie: BRAIN MELD!!!!!!
Tracie: and then…i think maybe…
Tracie: loser is morphed into a mini-duet bt bill and ken.
Tracie: but, like, 2 minutes long. short, but effective none the less.
Tracie: and it sounds completely different.
Dan: hmmm…
Tracie: and monica’s parents show up, too.
Tracie: i am really not sold on losing because i care. everyone who i talk to has loved it.
Dan: i could CLEARLY be convinced about that one.
Dan: especially if we’re not really cutting for time in act i.
Tracie: yup. and if we streamline ex-bbq and loser, we shave a few minutes anyway.
Tracie: i DO think that it still feels weird with IDK and BIC being smacked up against spin. too much song.
Tracie: i still like spin earlier. i don’t care when monica comes in.
Tracie: i actually had a little idea about giving her a mini-intro, kind of like starr, earlier.
Dan: but it makes contextual sense now with spin there. first we HAVE to meet monica, because that’s what ken is singing about. it’s like, ken uses the SHOW to mount his case again bill, in a way. monica and bill meet, and that’s why he can show up at the press conference and be all, “i know what’s going on here!”
Tracie: but i don’t think he knows yet.
Tracie: i think he knows about AFFAIRS, but can’t yet put the nail on the head.
Tracie: or whatever.
Tracie: and that only when he does his shakespearean aside is he realizing the truth about monica.
Dan: but WE know. it’s only after b&m meet that a sense of menace, the long, slippery slope down, has entered the picture.
Tracie: maybe. i just think it sounds bad all together.
Dan: yes. but if BIC comes out, spin really is kind of perfect there.
Tracie: kiiiind of.
Tracie: i think it gets lost.
Tracie: but, maybe you’re right.
Tracie: our mind meld has ended.
Dan: indeed, it has.
Tracie: you can’t have it all.
Dan: if we ONLY mind-melded, “the trial” would still be going on. as would the genre-busting epilogue.
Tracie: it’s a 2-day show. we have to have it at a campground.
Tracie: act 1 running time – 18 hours.
Tracie: act 3 running time – 7 hours.
Tracie: act 2 – endless
Dan: with phish as our pit band.
Dan: monica-stock.
Tracie: yes.