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The Black Parade

Act 1

It begins with a dark stage. It should look like a black void save for a stretchercenterstage…length wise. We hear the beeping of a heart rate monitor which begins

the acoustic guitar strum of “THE END.” A dark figure arises from the stretcher. He’sclad in a white hospital gown and a dark hood. THE BANDLEADER sings the openingrefrains as an invocation to the audience. He/She addresses the audience. As the songhits its stride the BANDLEADER rips off the gown to reveal A dark hoodie still leavinghis/her face in shadow. the stage is revealed to have many people scattered in macabreclothing of various scenes which we will later see play out. When the music calms theystand still. As he/she sings the second verse the BANDLEADER moves around andgracefully touches each figure around the stretcher and as he/she does they join him inthe line currently being sung. Before the second chorus the BANDLEADER movescenter up and gestures towards everyone on stage engaging them all in a choir of deathwhich then focuses on the stretcher still center stage. As the song climaxes the

BANDLEADER jumps on the the stretcher and faces the audience. We hear the heartrate monitor flatline and the beginning refrains of DEAD.“DEAD” This song describes the setting and tone of our story. They treat the audience

as the one who is, in fact, dead. As the song climaxes…and hits the last button with a yell of“DEAD” our entire focus is shifted to a figure sitting indian style on a bed.

This is where the true story begins.

The story begins with THE PATIENT sitting, disheveled in a room. His clothing iseveryday lazy attire. Jeans and a hoodie. He’s writing a note frenetically. “EARLY SUNSETSOVER MONROEVILLE” becomes more increasingly emotional and we see him pull out a gununtil he is interrupted by a girl. THE PATIENT hides the note and gun as quickly and

inconspicuously as possible. The friend drags him out into what ends up being a party. A largegroup of people in their early-mid-twenties are gathering together. “AMBULANCE/HEADFIRSTFOR HALOS” starts off with a blistering choir of voices. All they want to do is be free and party.Midway through the song it’s clear THE PATIENT is unhappy and he’s messing with drugs anddangerous levels of alcohol to compensate. As “HEADFIRST” reaches its climax a girlapproaches him. HELENA. She is close to tears. She hugs him…goes for the drink in hishand and manages to slowly pull it out of his hand. She talks calmly to him attempting to bringhim back down from his destructive behavior. He breaks into a quick moment of lucidity that is acalm slow nod of shame…that is quickly uprooted with anger (“THE SHARPEST LIVES”)

As the song reaches its climax the entire scene slows down like a record that has been turnedoff. The lights fall down with the music.

The next image we see is the same gurney from the beginning in the same position. THEPATIENT is now on it…wearing the same clothes as the opening number. His surroundings arewhat seems to be a barren wasteland of a ruined/decayed city. As he gets up to explore we allhear some drums in the distant playing a faint march. They get louder as a figure appears onstage. A figure in a hoodie. It’s the BANDLEADER. Very abruptly (And in time with the drums)he/she rips off their hoodie and underneath is a gothic Sgt. Pepper style uniform of black andsilver….he/she dons a hat and begins marching around with the drums playing. THE PATIENT

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is confused at first but then as the drums begin to become distantly echoed with massive reverbfinally understands what they’re seeing. “WELCOME TO THE BLACK PARADE”’s openingpiano section begins and THE PATIENT recounts his memory of his father taking him to theparade. As the music swells the parade enters and surrounds THE PATIENT. The song isspent as a celebration.

As the song ends our scene transitions to a dark, dingy, dirty bar. It looks like something out ofa Tim Burton movie. The bar wouldn’t be out of place in the underworld of Beetlejuice.Members of the parade are inside drinking merrily with their jackets open…their “Shift” for theday has seemingly ended. “BLOOD” is sung as a drinking song among the patrons. As thesong finishes THE PATIENT enters. The entire scene freezes except for THE PATIENT whoslowly moves towards a seat. The opening guitar riff of “THE GHOST OF YOU” begins andTHE PATIENT begins the first verse. As the first chorus comes in…we see the world of theliving. HELENA is kneeling down holding a single rose. She sings the chorus with a single tearin her eye. They trade verses back and forth. As the song progresses THE PATIENT becomesaware of HELENA. He watches her but she is completely unaware of him. As the song ends

the BANDLEADER is seen in the shadows overlooking HELENA… His focus shifts to THEPATIENT as HELENA leaves. “INTERLUDE” is sung by THE PATIENT as the BANDLEADERleads THE PATIENT begins to lose it. He sings a dark and heavy soliloquy in “THIS IS HOW IDISAPPEAR.” Halfway through HELENA appears above. She is looking through a smallwooden box full of trinkets and pictures. She joins in with various lines. THE PATIENT takes nonotice of her and angrily continues to sing that he cannot hurt her anymore. All his emotionexplodes in an angry frustrated frenzy of how he will truly just disappear from her life completelyunaware of her continued love him. The song ends with THE PATIENT on his knees in despairand HELENA taking the revolver we saw THE PATIENT with earlier. Lights out.

Act 2

Act 2 opens with an office. It’s some kind of authoritative school office. Possibly principal,guidance counselor. HELENA is seated there and is being reprimanded by the officials for “Notsticking to the program.” “focusing on death too much.” “dressing too weird” and otherconformity concerns.. The opening riff of “TEENAGERS” plays softly underneath. Theirdialogue overlaps repeatedly giving a sense of overwhelming confusion. As she leaves a fewfriends are waiting outside for her. She approaches them and they give the look of “well?” Andthat brings us into the frenzied rebellious party that is “TEENAGERS.” As the song comes to aclose we are back with the PATIENT.

He is wandering and crying. In the very distance we can hear “TEENAGERS” playing…as if he’s hearing it through a long long tunnel. The BANDLEADER comes in. He explains why

he can hear it.

BANDLEADER: “The upworld.”THE PATIENT: “What?” (almost uninterested)BANDLEADER: “The sound you hear is what is called the upworld. It only comes through whensomeone has unfinished business. It’s funny…you all think the dead come back with unfinishedbusiness. It’s the living that can’t let go. Your own father constantly heard rumblings above.”THE PATIENT: “Don’t talk about my father.”

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BANDLEADER: “Still whining, I see.”THE PATIENT: “I’m sick and tired of your…” He rushes at the BANDLEADER who quicklywaves his/her hand infront of THE PATIENT’s face.BANDLEADER: “Sleep. Dreamers often lie in upworld. But here…you just remember forgottentruths.”

“SLEEP” begins as THE PATIENT falls under the spell of the BANDLEADER. As he fallsslowly under a tree…the lights begin to fade and we hear the sounds of someone talking.Repeating over and over like a tape player being rewound over and over. “…like last night, theyare not tremors, they’re worse than tremors. They’re these terrors. And it’s like, it feels like as ifsomebody was gripping my throat and squeezing and…" It’s a voice THE PATIENT recognizes.It’s his father. The entirety of SLEEP is an existential and broken trip into deep memories. AsSLEEP comes to an end the piano falls into a very atonal piece. We hear the drums of “HOUSEOF WOLVES.” Figures come out of the darkness. We are plunged into the depths of hell as thepatient lives out the punishment he believes he deserves. We’re in one of THE PATIENT’Smemories. It’s his father on a hospital bed. The father is speaking to someone who is not there.THE PATIENT realizes that he’s supposed to be there listening. he fillsthe void and begins

speaking to his father. His father is asking for him to pull the plug. As the father sings“CANCER” THE PATIENT sits and listens and gets sadder and sadder…THE PATIENT takesthe last line “The hardest part of this is leaving you…” THE PATIENT reaches for the monitor thepiano music increases. When he flips the switch the lights die down quick. As the song comesto a close we are dragged to another memory. We’re with HELENA. She is arguing withsomeone who is not there…again the PATIENT joins in on the memory. The PATIENT isbreaking up with her. She is arguing that it’s “not his fault.” “It’s not murder.” She angrily sings“I DON’T LOVE YOU.” As the songs finishes it fades into a new memory…of writing a letter tohis mother. His mother is angry. “MAMA” makes it clear that she is ashamed of him. We fadeback out of the memory into the current time as the patient angrily declares that we’re “Damnedafter all” along with everybody in the underworld. He is brought into the fury of a truebreakdown. “I’m Not Okay.”

As the song closes the lights come up to find THE PATIENT under the tree in the sameposition he fell asleep in. He hears what he thinks is his mother crying in the distance…it turnsout that it’s not his mother…it’s him hearing HELENA in upworld. He sees her sitting on her bedand writing a note “DISENCHANTED.” As the song comes to a close she places the gun on thetable next to her and lays down. THE PATIENT comes to her and speaks softly. She won’taccept anything he’s saying. As a last ditch effort he sings “THE LIGHT BEHIND YOUR EYES.”She breaks down and goes to hug him…but he stops her and sings “FAMOUS LAST WORDS”she joins him on “I am not afraid to keep on living, I am not afraid to walk this world alone” hesings “Honey if you stay I’ll be forgiven….” The show ends with the the PATIENT downstageand HELENA upstage above finishing the song with the line “Nothing you can say can stop megoing home.”

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