COPACABANA ……..

AN OVERVIEW

Act I, Scene 1

OVERTURE for show segues into a large all-white production number of COPACABANA. As the
song progresses, we discover that this whole thing is in the mind of Stephen, a song/playwrite…
I would like him to be rolled into the scene with his keyboard and music and what looks like a
drum machine. (he sings “music and something, were something and something…he’s trying to
think of the words.” As the song winds down, we meet his wife, Samantha. She will have a
robe/slippers/towel on head. She is getting ready to go out for their 5th anniversary…she is
prodding Stephen to get ready, too but she can’t seem to break him away from his song-writing.

Act 1, Scene 2

Stephen is still on, but he has now invented the leading lady for his show, he will call her Lola.
(as it happens, Samantha plays Lola in Stephen’s vision) Lola appears, she has just gotten off the
train in New York. She sings the song JUST ARRIVED, and is joined by other members who have
also just arrived to make in big in NY.

Act 1, Scene 3

We are now in the famous Copacabana Nightclub. As the scene opens, Stephen’s pre-recorded
voice introduces Tony, the male lead is his show he is writing. Stephen IS Tony. Tony does a
great number with the Copa Boys called DANCING FOOL. At the end of that song, Lola enters
the club, has a funny encounter with the Maitre D’. Then she meets up with Gladys, an older
woman who is the cigarette/cigar lady. We also meet another comic figure, Sam the owner of
the club. Sam informs Tony that the regular bartender got arrested so Tony has to fill in…Tony
meets Lola, they hit it off…. Lola has been granted an audition to be a Copa girl the next day…
she leaves, Tony sings SWEET HEAVEN I’M IN LOVE AGAIN with the Copa boys and girls..

Act I, Scene 4

This scene takes place the next day. Need a split stage for this. Tony is auditioning for various
places as a jingle writer, piano player, etc. Lola is auditioning for various shows with a song that
was written by Mr. Lumpkin her school music director…Needless to say, neither of them earn
success with any of these auditions. By the end of the scene, Lola starts to sing her song, then
shouts NEXT, because she knows that’s what they’ll say.

Act 1, Scene 5

Outside of the Copa. Lola meets up with Gladys and tells her about her horrible audition
experiences. Gladys sings her the song COPA GIRL that tells all about her own earlier days as a
dancer at the club. She encourages Lola to keep trying….

Act 1, Scene 6
Lola’s audition as a COPA GIRL. She starts singing her song, MAN WANTED in the dirge-like
fashion it was written in, which Same doesn’t like (she offers to dress it up a little, he says you
could dress it in a mink coat, it would still stink!) Tony hears all of this and asks Sam to give her
another try, after he jazzes it up into a swing number. They do it again for Sam, he likes it, she’s
hired. She thanks Tony for his help. They talk for a bit…she asks him how does he get his
inspiration to write/arrange songs. He sings a song that he is writing “on the spot” for her
called Who Needs to Dream.

Act I, Scene 7

The Copa, several weeks later. This where we meet Rico Castelli (he wore a diamond…) He
enters with his escort and leading lady, Conchita. The Copa girls perform the song I GOTTA BE
BAD. Of course, Rico notices Lola and wants to meet her. He ends up getting her drunk, then
drugged and carries her off to his waiting plane, that flies them to Havanna. We get the
indication that they are flying to Havana (a map with a line drawn down to Cuba?) the Copa
spins off, a bedroom spins on. Rico carries Lola in a places her on the bed. As the scene ends,
STEPHEN enters to see how the plot of his show has turned. He sees Rico loosening his tie as if
he’s going to have his way with the sleeping Lola… and that’s how/where the Scene/Act ends.

INTERMISSION

Act 2, Scene 1

As scene opens, we see Stephen again, feverishly writing away at his script… we’ll hear
Samantha yell to him, “Stephen, Stephen, my parents will be here shortly….you gotta get ready,
etc..” As he is rolled off, we come up to the stage of the Tropicana Nightclub in Havana.
Conchita and her Tropicana Boys are rehearsing her song HAVANA/CARAMBA. At end of song,
Rico enters. He informs Conchita that Lola is going to play all of her parts going forward, that
she is getting too old to do this. This doesn’t set well with Conchita…who decides SHE will need
to deal with Lola…

Act 2, Scene 2

Backstage of the Copa (dressing room?) Gladys is there with Willy, one of the Copa boys and
Police Officer McManus. Willy had overhead Rico telling his thugs that he was kidnapping Lola
and taking her to Havana. Tony enters, other girls enter. They sing the song WHO AM I
KIDDING. When Tony learns what has happened to Lola, he decides he must go to Havanna and
get her back. Sam comes into the scene…he learns of Lola’s abduction and Tony’s plan to save
her. It ends up that Gladys convinces Sam he must go and help Tony, as he has no idea who he’s
dealing with in Rico.

Act 2, Scene 3

Conchita has come to visit Lola, who is still asleep from her drugging…she wakes her up and
confronts her. Lola has NO idea what Conchita is talking about, doesn’t even know where she is.
They talk for a while and Conchita decides to try to help Lola get out of this arrangement….until
Rico comes in. He persuades Conchita to stop trying to scare Lola…(he uses guns and physical
persuasion to get his point across…) After Conchita and Rico leave, Lola sings the song THIS
CAN’T BE REAL. Then Stephen appears in his studio as he is looking on at Lola…he sings the
second verse of the song….then the set disappears and they do a dream ballet.

Act 2, Scene 4, 5, 6

The stage at the Tropicana. The set for EL BRAVO, a Spanish musical that takes place on a Pirate
Ship. Conchita is there…all of a sudden we see Tony poke his head onto the set…he tells her
he’s a friend of Lola and has come to get her.. and then we see Sam. Tony is trying to convince
Conchita that she should help them free Lola…they talk until Rico appears with Lola. The
rehearsal for El Bravo begins, with dancing pirates and Pirettes…Lola plays the part of a
kidnapped waif…as it goes, the character Carlos is supposed to come on and save her….but it
ends up being Tony who comes to save her.. Of course Rico sees this and comes after them with
a gun. As he aims the gun at Tony, we hear a shot. Tony reels as if he’s been hit, but it is
actually Rico that has been shot….by Conchita..(there was blood and a single gunshot, but just
who shot who??) Happy end to this scene, Tony and Lola are together, they and chorus sing a
reprise of SWEET HEAVEN I’M IN LOVE AGAIN. At end of this song, the ensemble goes off and
it’s just Tony and Lola. Tony starts to sing a reprise of THIS CAN’T BE REAL. As he does, Lola
fades off..his studio rolls back in…And he ends up back where it all started…

Act 2, Scene 7

Stephen is still in his studio. He stands up, puts his coat on and finds a yellow feather in his
pocket. A montage of pre-recorded voices come back to him….of Lola, Tony, Sam, Gladys,
Conchita,… after he takes this all in, he starts to sing Her name was Lola, she was a showgirl…

Then his wife Samantha enters in a dress similar to the one she had on in the previous scene as
Lola. She is asking him if she’s ready to go to dinner. In come her parents, who happen to be
Sam and Gladys from the COPA!

Finale…bows….the end.