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"Seasons of Love"
The musical follows the lives of eight friends in New York City over the course of a year as they struggle with relationships, loss, creativity, the purpose of living, housing, and AIDS.
Characters include:
Mark, a struggling filmmaker Roger, an HIV-positive musician who is recovering from heroin addiction; Mark's roommate Mimi, an HIV-positive dancer and heroin junkie; Roger's love interest Maureen, a performance artist; Joanne's girlfriend; Mark's ex-girlfriend Tom Collins, an HIV-positive philosophy teacher; friend and former roommate of Roger and Mark Angel, an HIV-positive drag queen street percussionist/musician; Collins's love interest Benny, landlord of Mark, Roger and Mimi's apartment; ex-roommate of Mark, Collins, and Maureen Joanne, a Harvard-educated lawyer; Maureen's lover.
Act One
On Christmas Eve in his loft, Mark decides to begin shooting a scriptless documentary about his friends, starting with his roommate Roger, who has picked up his guitar for the first time in half a year. Mark's mother calls from the suburbs, telling him that they'll miss him at Christmas and saying that Mark shouldn't care that his girlfriend dumped him for another woman (Voice Mail #1). Outside, their friend Tom Collins, a former professor of philosophy, comes to visit them but is jumped by thugs and lies bleeding on the street. Meanwhile, their former pal Benny, who married wealthy Alison Grey of Westport and bought the lot next door to Mark and Roger's apartment building (which he also owns), calls and breaks his promise to let them live in the apartment for free and asks for the rent, which he knows they don't have (Tune Up #2). The power to Mark and Roger's apartment shuts off, and they start burning manuscripts to stay warm, and vent their frustrations about their poverty and their inability to pay rent. Joanne is working on the sound system for Maureen's protest against Benny's plan to develop the lot, which is currently the site of a homeless tent city, when the sound system blows. Maureen then calls Mark to fix the sound system for her against Joanne's wishes, and Mark agrees to help despite their breakup because he isn't over her. Frustrated, Mark and Roger decide to rebel against Benny and refuse to pay their rent (Rent).
Back on the street, Angel, a transvestite drag queen and street drummer, spots Collins and comes to his aid. They are attracted to one another and quickly discover that they both have AIDS. They leave the alley to tend to Collins' wounds. Meanwhile, Mark asks Roger to join him in going to Maureen's protest and out to dinner, but Roger declines. Mark reminds Roger to take his AZT, making the audience aware that Roger is also HIV positive. He also reveals that Roger's girlfriend, April, committed suicide after finding out that the two of them were HIV-positive (Tune Up #3). After Mark leaves, Roger sings about needing to write one great song to make his mark before he dies of AIDS, when he hears a knock on the door (One Song Glory). He opens it to find Mimi, a nineteen-year-old junkie who lives in the apartment below. We learn that she works as stripper at an S&M club called The "Cat Scratch Club." She asks him to light a candle for her, because her electricity has also been shut off. Mutual attraction is obvious, but Roger is hesitant as this is his first romantic situation since his girlfriend's (April's)recent death (Light My Candle).
In Maureen and Joanne's loft, Joanne's parents call (Voice Mail #2), but she is not home to hear it.
Soon after, Collins finally makes it to Mark and Roger's apartment, bearing gifts. He introduces Angel, in full drag, flashing a large stack of money. When Mark questions where (s)he earned it, Angel explains that a wealthy woman paid him/her to play his/her drums outside her apartment to annoy her neighbor's yappy Akita, Evita, and cause it to jump off a window ledge (Today 4 U). Benny arrives and tells Mark and Roger that he will let the rent slide and sign papers saying that they can live in the apartment rent-free if they get Maureen, a performance artist, to cancel her protest. However, Mark decides not to agree to the deal. After Benny leaves, Angel and Collins invite Mark and Roger to attend a Life Support (a local HIV support group) meeting (You'll See).
Mark arrives at the lot, meets Joanne, and they agree that living with Maureen is like dancing a complicated tango (The Tango Maureen), in that Maureen plays her lovers for all they are worth. After successfully fixing the sound system, Mark joins Collins and Angel at the Life Support meeting, where members share their thoughts and fears about living with AIDS (Life Support). Meanwhile, Mimi wants Roger to take her out (Out Tonight), and returns to Roger and Mark's apartment. Roger roughly turns her down and drives her out of the apartment (Another Day). Roger then decides to go join the others at the Life Support meeting, where the attendees are singing of the fear and uncertainty that comes in facing an imminent death (Will I).
Collins, Angel, Roger, and Mark leave Life Support and save a homeless person from a beating by a police officer, only to be reprimanded by that same person, who says she doesn't need their help (On The Street). As they walk away, contemplating her response, Collins get them all to think about what it would be like to live in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where the climate and the people are much warmer (Santa Fe).
Mark leaves to convince Roger to go to Maureen's show, and Collins and Angel sing about their romance (I'll Cover You). Joanne gets ready for the protest and her upcoming legal case (We're Okay), and Roger finds Mimi again and asks her to go to the protest and the dinner party planned for afterward (Christmas Bells). Mimi accepts Roger's invitation. Collins, Angel, Mark, Roger, Mimi, and Joanne attend Maureen's protest and watch as Maureen insults Benny for trying to evict the homeless from the lot just so he can build a cyber studio (Over The Moon). The protests ends in a riot that Mark catches on camera and the footage is purchased by a local news station. Afterward, the group goes to the Life Cafe, where they spot Benny and his investor, Mr. Grey, who is also Benny's father-in-law. Benny mocks the protest and tells them that they need to grow up, that Bohemia is dead. Mark gets up and delivers an amusing eulogy for Bohemia; then all the bohemians in the cafe rise up and tell Benny and his companions what La Vie Boheme (the bohemian life) is about. Through song, the bohemians explain that acceptance, love, and fun are critical parts of life. We discover that Benny and Mimi used to be in a relationship (La Vie Boheme A). During the song, Joanne, who has been cleaning up after the protest, reenters to ask Maureen a question, only to find her making out with a female ensemble member.
During the song, Mimi and Roger's beepers go off simultaneously, reminding them to take their AZT. They discover they are both HIV-positive and bond immediately, promising not to keep secrets and to love each other openly (I Should Tell You). Joanne enters a final time to break up with Maureen, and says that a riot has broken out in the lot and the police have been called in, sparking a new round of celebration (La Vie Boheme B). The act closes as Mimi and Roger "share a small, lovely kiss".
Act Two
The cast sings about "measuring their lives in love" (Seasons of Love), as opposed to measuring it in possessions.
Mimi, Mark, and Roger's building has been padlocked as a result of Maureen's protest. On New Year's Eve, Roger, Mark and Mimi try to break into their building with the help of Angel, Collins, Joanne, and Maureen. Mimi decides to give up her heroin addiction and go back to school, while Roger says that he is happy again because Mimi is in his life. Joanne and Maureen decide to give their relationship another try.
Mark, Maureen, and Joanne scale the fire escape and break in through a window. When they enter the apartment, they find that the electricity is on again (Happy New Year). They listen to an answering machine message from Mark's mother and then a message from Alexi Darling of "Buzzline," a tabloid news show. She has seen Mark's footage of the riots on TV and wants to offer him a contract (Voice Mail #3). Maureen, excited, decides that she will plan another protest and Mark can film it as a documentary. They go downstairs to meet up with the others.
Benny shows up as soon as the lock is broken and, after suggesting that Mark begin taping, offers Mark and Roger a new lease, rent free. When Mark says that his batteries were dead, Benny wants to reshoot, prompting Roger and Maureen to say that he only wants the good press that having this action on film would get him. Benny, incensed, implies that Mimi showed up at his place and had sex with him to get him to change his mind, while Mimi denies everything. Roger gets extremely upset, but Angel convinces everyone to calm down and make a New Year's resolution to always remain friends. They all toast Benny and go inside. Mimi, however, remains outside. She sneaks off to get some heroin from a dealer (Happy New Year B)
On Valentine's Day, the happy New Year's couples become not so happy. While rehearsing for the new protest, Maureen and Joanne have a fight and break up again (Take Me or Leave Me). Mimi comes into her apartment to find Roger waiting for her, tired of her excuses and convinced that she is cheating on him with Benny, her ex-boyfriend. However, they make up. In the spring, everyone senses that something is wrong and asks,"how do you measure a last year on Earth?" (Seasons of Love B). Roger leaves Mimi, deciding that she is definitely unfaithful.
All the while, Angel is growing more ill. Collins tries to nurse him/her back to health while Roger and Mimi and Maureen and Joanne get back together again (Without You). Alexi keeps calling Mark to try to convince him to join Buzzline (Voice Mail #4) and all of the couples perform the risque dance of love that ends in the separation of all. Unfortunately, Collins and Angel's separation is permanent. After a long struggle to hold onto life and the ones he/she loves, Angel dies (Contact). At Angel's funeral, the cast laments the passing of the one person who held all of the friends together (I'll Cover You (Reprise)). Mark wonders how so much could have happened in only a year, and finally accepts Alexi's offer (Halloween). A fight breaks out between Mimi, Roger, Maureen, and Joanne. Mimi and Joanne exclaim that they have done nothing but love Roger and Maureen, respectively, and they would be "happy to die for a taste of what Angel had -- someone to live for, unafraid to say 'I love you.'" Maureen and Joanne make up yet again, but Roger is leaving for Santa Fe. Roger and Mark fight because Roger is leaving; Roger accuses Mark of hiding in his work because he won't admit that he lives a lie. Mark accuses Roger of running away because he is afraid of watching Mimi die. They hear Mimi arrive in the middle of the fight; she admits that she heard it all, says goodbye to Roger and breaks down. Mark suggests that she go away to a rehabilitation clinic, and Benny offers to pay (Goodbye Love). In Santa Fe, Roger mourns the fact that he is all alone, and back in New York, Mark is thinking the same. Roger returns just in time for Christmas and Mark quits Buzzline (What You Own). In his time away, Roger has realized how much he loves Mimi and he found his "one song", but though he scours the city for her he cannot find her. Everyone's parents call to try and find their children (Voice Mail #5). On Christmas Eve, Collins shows up with money. He explains that he has rewired an ATM so that anyone with the PIN "Angel" can get money. Maureen and Joanne arrive, calling for help. They are carrying Mimi, who has been living on the street and has caught a fever. They bring her into the apartment; Collins calls 911 but is put on hold. Mimi and Roger talk. She tells him that she has always loved him (Finale A). Roger sings Mimi the song that he had been trying to write all year, which he was finally able to write after he realized that he loved her. Mimi faints, as Roger cries out her name (Your Eyes). Roger and the others believe that she is dead, but suddenly she comes to life. She says that she was heading into a warm, white light and that Angel was there, telling her to turn back and listen to Roger's song. Touched and relieved, the group breaks into song (Finale B).
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