the plot:
Celia, a pretty young girl, has a humble job in the Arcadia Hotel. To get on in the world, she starts something beautiful with the manager, and later, when given the opportunity, with the owner of the hotel, Corinna.
At the same time the self-important fop Alexis, unaware of the latter’s preferences, tries to force himself on Corinna, making an even bigger fool of himself than ever, to the general amusement.
Back in the hotel bar he runs into the manager, and together the two vengeful cuckolds rope in Strephon to help them make the women pay.
Strephon sweet-talks Celia into making out with him and then exposes her the same evening in the crowded bar, after which the whole coterie drops her like a hot potato.
In the end the men are sitting in the bar, as usual, philosophising about life and death. Meanwhile, the late news is showing the police fishing Celia’s body out of a canal, until the TV is switched off with a bored sigh.
dramatis personae
the actors:
Alexis (a complacent old fop, in love with/lusting after Corinna)
Strephon (a cocky young man, barman at the hotel)
Corinna (owner of the hotel, in love with/lusting after Celia)
Manager (of the hotel, also in love with/lusting after Celia)
Corydon (an elderly and impotent gentleman, a regular at the hotel)
Cloris (the sluttish anchorwoman of a local TV channel)
the singers:
Celia, soprano (employee of the hotel and fortune hunter)
Alto
Tenor (or Baritone)
Baritone
(Except for Celia’s all parts can equally be sung by a counter-tenor)
the orchestra:
piano, synthesizer, accordion, drums and strings
the scene:
The scullery, bar, lounge and a room of a big, upmarket hotel.
The orchestra and the singers, arranged as a ballroom-orchestra, use the stage; the actors play on the stage as well as between the audience, behaving towards them as if they were guests in the hotel.
