Excerpts from sixteen of the nineteen songs. Just click onto the song titles. Enjoy! -- Rita and Josie
#1: A PLEASANT LITTLE LIFE
(Sung by the cast)
The rustic and humble little English country town of Meryton has rarely been visited by the wealthy and prestigious.
#2: WELCOME TO OUR NEIGHBORHOOD
(Sung by the cast)
The arrival of the rich and highborn newcomers Charles Bingley, sister Caroline, and friend Mr. Darcy, has the town in a hubbub—especially the single ladies and their mothers!
#3: IT IS A TRUTH
(Sung by Bingley, Darcy and Caroline)
Darcy and Bingley banter about the pressures on single men--particularly wealthy single men--to marry. But while Darcy is disgusted by it, Bingley's attitude is more benign--perhaps because he is already in the throes of enchantment with one of the local beauties, Jane Bennet.
(Sung by Mrs. Bennet and Mr. Bennet, with their daughters)
Though the Bennet parents love their girls, Mr. Bennet has a decidedly more cynical view of them—and their prospects.
#5: ASSEMBLY BALL BUZZ
(Sung by the cast)
The guests at the town’s Assembly Ball are abuzz with the appearance of the party of Mr.Bingley—and with his increasingly obvious attraction to the eldest Bennet sister, Jane. However, Darcy and Caroline Bingley are less enthralled with the locals~to say the least.
Excerpt: Download 05_track_05_assembly_ball_buzz.mp3
#6: A HUSBAND
(Sung by Mrs. Bennet, with her husband and daughters)
Jane's invitation to the Bingley mansion, Netherfield, thrusts her mother into a fevered frenzy of orders and plans for making her eldest daughter into Mrs. Bingley.
#7: CHANGING WORLD
(Sung by Bingley, Jane, Elizabeth and Darcy)
To her mother’s delight, Jane is confined to Netherfield by illness. Elizabeth visits her there, where the voices of Bingley, Jane, Elizabeth, and Darcy entwine in separate soliloquies of their various heartfelt feelings.
Bingley and Jane are falling in love, Elizabeth is hopeful for Jane, and Darcy is fighting his growing attraction to the feisty Elizabeth who has steeled herself against his haughty ways.
#8: MR. COLLINS' MARRY ANTHEM
(Sung by Mr. Collins)
With the Bennets' home entailed to their ridiculous cousin Collins, his presumptuous offer to make one of the Bennet girl his wife enthralls the mother and repels the daughters.
#9: IN MY IMAGINATION
(Sung by Charlotte)
At the Bingleys’ masked ball, Lizzy’s pragmatic friend, Charlotte, confides that while Lizzy might have marital choices, Charlotte herself is in no position to be picky--and that romantic love is not the only path to contentment.
#10: CHANGING WORLD - REPRISE
(Sung by the Bennet Family)
The sudden departure of the Bingley party for London devastates Jane, and her family for her. Elizabeth suspects the manipulation of Bingley’s spiteful sister Caroline. But she is unaware of the impact of the rude behavior of her younger sisters and her mother, plus her own attentions to the secret scoundrel Wickham, upon Darcy—who has decided to rescue his friend--and himself--from the clutches of the conniving Bennet women by taking his party off to London.
#11: BEING MARRIED
(Sung by Charlotte and Mr. Bennet)
Having spurned Collins’ proposal, Elizabeth acquiesces to visit him and his rebound bride, Charlotte, in their new home—where they sing the praises of the ties that bind. However, Charlotte’s performance of the song hints at her being less than ecstatic about the choice she has made.
#12: That Would Be Me
(Sung by Lady Catherine DeBourgh)
The bossy Lady Catherine is even more pompous than her sycophant, Mr. Collins, whom she has invited to dinner along with his wife and Elizabeth. Noting the attentions of her nephew Darcy to Elizabeth, she holds forth even more obnoxiously.
Elizabeth's unexpected appearance at his Aunt Catherine's estate sends Darcy into turmoil, as he wrestles with his conflict between passion and prejudice.
#14: HOW DARE HE!
(Sung by Elizabeth)
Elizabeth expresses her shock and anger to her friend, Charlotte, that Darcy had the nerve to propose to her, even while insulting her family and destroying her dear sister’s hope for happiness. Yet, between rantings emerges her irrepressible ambivalence, evidence of even deeper feelings of caring for this exasperatingly complicated man.
#15: A HUSBAND
(Reprise, Sung as a duet by Elizabeth and Jane)
Elizabeth is summoned home, only to find the Bennet household in an uproar. Not only has Lydia run away with Wickham, but her letter indicates no plans to marry—which will throw the Bennet family into total disgrace!
Elizabeth assumes the reason for Darcy’s sudden appearance at Longbourn is to gloat in person over her family’s misfortune. On the contrary: upon hearing the bad news, he feels compelled to tell Elizabeth how Wickham had once tried to run away with Darcy’s wealthy little sister. Only a payoff from Darcy dissuaded him. This story only deepens Elizabeth’s despair, since unlike Darcy, the Bennets are too poor to “purchase” Lydia’s betrothal to the odious Wickham, even if they wanted to. Their only hope is to find the girl before word of her actions ruins her reputation—and the futures of all the Bennet sisters.
After Mr. Darcy leaves, Lizzy confides in Jane about his proposal. The two fantasize about a world in which marriage isn't a woman's financial salvation...
#16: WHAT IS A MAN TO DO
(Sung by Mr. Collins)
Not one to miss an opportunity to gloat, Mr. Collins shows up to blame the Bennets’ faulty childrearing for daughter Lydia's scandalous disappearance with Mr. Wickham. From there he tangos around to the universal truth—that "hanky-panky" is NEVER the man’s fault.
#17: THAT WOULD BE ME
(Reprise, Sung as a duet between Lady Catherine and Elizabeth)
Lydia's sudden appearance—with her new husband, Wickham in tow—gives the Bennets reason to rejoice.
Lady Catherine's unexpected visit is less so. She is there to learn the truth of Darcy’s rumored proposal to Elizabeth, and to exact from Lizzy a promise that she will never accept Darcy’s hand in marriage. Lizzy‘s indignant refusal to cooperate drives out Lady Catherine in a vengeful rage.
The eavesdropping Darcy is ecstatic, and summons his courage to propose to Elizabeth one last time. Finally realizing her respect and love for him, Lizzy accepts.
#18: THE ONE WHO I WILL BE WITH YOU
(Reprise, Sung as a duet between Darcy and Elizabeth)
Darcy takes Lizzy to the window to show her that Charles is proposing to Jane.
As Darcy and Lizzy sing of their love in the finale, Charles and Jane join them, as does the rest of the cast as the song crescendoes into a joyous double wedding scene.
#19: I WISH YOU JOY (WEDDING SONG)
(Sung by the Cast)
Through repenting for his prejudices, maneuvering the redemptive marriage of Lydia and Wickham, and reuniting Bingley and Jane, Darcy proves himself to be worthy of Elizabeth—herself repenting for her own misguided pride--after all. A double-wedding unites the two couples, as the Bennet family and the whole town joins in on this paean of love, friendship, and
community.
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