Meanwhile, the returning boys in blue compete for Helen's favours only to discover that she has married in their absence, and Ulysses is forced to save Sheriff Menelaus from the fury of the frustrated youths. Mischievous Mother Hare, who is hurt by her exclusion from town life, gives a shining apple made of golden wire to be the prize of a baking contest held during the welcome home celebration for the return ing soldiers. She knows that Miss Minerva, Mrs. Juniper, and Lovey Mars will all covet it and scheme to win it. The three ladies insist on an "impartial" judge and choose the handsome Paris, who has just arrived via balloon. Each one then proceeds to try to bribe him. Lovey Mars wins out by offering him the favours of Helen, whom she knows cannot resist any thing in suspenders. Golden Apple logo Helen, bored to death with marriage to an old man, devours the poor fellow and they are soon balloonbound for the big city. Lovey Mars is guilt-stricken, while Menelaus and the old men of Angel's Boost whip up a frenzy for revenge in Helen's legion of former town beaux. Ulysses conveniently reverses himself, choosing to fight a war and leaving his stalwart Penelope once again. He leads his men off to battle as the female figurehead of their ship sings an exhortation to victory. Act Two begins with Helen the toast of Rhododendron. But when Ulysses and his men arrive and defeat Paris, Helen hastily makes up with Menelaus and they leave for home. Ulysses stays on. He wants to see the big city before returning, which gives Mayor Hector a chance for revenge. Penelope is surprised when Helen and Menelaus return by themselves. Alone. she remembers happier times and fears for the future of her marriage. As Ulysses and his men step out on the town the sinful city lures him and his men into a late night bender that is to last 10 years, staged as a nightmarish sequence of music hall turns. Calypso, Scylla and Charybdis. and the Sirens arc portrayed as the various tempting corruptions of the city (respectively, insincere social climbers, greedy stockbrokers, and sarong-clad prostitutes, doubled respectively by Mrs. Juniper, Menelaus and Mayor Hector, and Lovey Mars. Miss Minerva doubles as a crazy lady scientist who confirms Mother Hare's vision of the future, sending men into outer space whom she cannot bring back. Ulysses' men are being picked off one by one. Finally, Circe, the sorceress who turns men into swine (doubled by Mother Hare), here portrayed as the lady assistant in a magician's act , arrives to offer Ulysses complete power at the price of human feeling (in the form of the golden apple of Act One.) Ulysses is about to accept when a cowardly Paris tries to stab him. Achilles, Ulysses' last remaining compatriot, dies intercepting the knife meant for his beloved leader. Now completely alone, Ulysses is forced to look inside himself to find the meaning of it all. His questions answer themselves, with a little mystical prompting from Mother Hare. His lust for adventure, excitement. and sensation is what has turned victory into ashes. He goes home to faithful Penelope, who is rejecting suitors, but is nonetheless furious with her husband. Though she is prepared to reject him as well, a chastened Ulysses convinces her that he is home to stay. She forgives him, and they face the future together as the curtain falls. MUSICAL NUMBERS ACT 1 1. Nothing Ever Happens in Angel's Roost - Helen, Mars, Mrs Juniper, Miss Minerva Oliver 2. Mother Hare's Seance - (Mother Hare) 3. My Love is On the Way - Penelope 4. The Heroes Come Home - Entire Company 5. It Was a Glad Adventure - Ulysses, Heroes 6. Come Along Boys - The Heroes, Ensemble
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