Juan Peron’s Hand

Full-Length Musical

Juan Peron’s Hand

Music by Philip Seward
Book & Lyrics by Kelli Ann Glaser, Steven Price & Philip Seward


2 Men; 2 Women
Piano/Vocal Score
Click here to listen to the whole score
Or click in the synopsis below for individual songs

Synopsis

It is cold winter’s day in the present as Dirk arrives home from his job on The Skyway, dreaming of his wife, Gayle. She arrives home from defending her master’s thesis on the Peronistas of Argentina and reminds Dirk that he promised to take her there when she completed her degree. He balks at the cost, since he wants to buy a small house under the skyway and start a family. The argument escalates until he storms out. Left alone, Gayle reveals that she found There’s Gold In Buenos Aires by discovering the location of the Peron fortune. Dirk returns and Gayle insists that Argentina Is Calling. She leaves Dirk to think it over. He admits he would do anything For Gayle. She interrupts with Argentina Is Calling as he relents and they prepare to go.

A few days later on a street corner in Buenos Aires, Victor contemplates The Curse that keeps fortune hunters coming to Buenos Aires where he can fleece them. Dirk and Gayle show up and he convinces them he is The Right Man For The Job. Meanwhile, back in the safe house, Consuelo, the leader of the Peopleís Revolutionary Brigade, relates The Tale of Juan Peron. She wants to find his fortune for herself. When her subordinate, Victor, arrives, she focuses him on finding The Argentinian Prize by working with the Americans. He arranges a meeting with them at the Café Tortoni that evening to plan The Expedition to the tomb. At the café, Gayle reveals that the key to unlocking the Peron fortune lies in the ring buried with Peron. As the meeting breaks up, both Gayle and Consuelo wonder about their incompetent companion in Who Is This Man Called Dirk?

In the hotel room and the safe house, the two couples prepare for their adventure.  They begin by Checking The List of things to bring to the tomb. At midnight in Finale Act I, Dirk at first hears Victor speaking Russian on the telephone, then the foursome arrive in the cemetery. At the tomb, they have an argument about who should go in. All agree that Dirk is the only trustworthy one. When he emerges from the tomb he admits that he couldn’t get the ring off the hand, so he cut off the hand. Consumed with greed, the others dream of the gold as the act ends.

Act Two begins later that night in the hotel room where Dirk is energized by the evening’s adventure, having discovered The Man Inside Me. At the safe house, Victor, singing Dulce Niña, is told he must find a way to keep Consuelo away from the vault, so he can seize the gold for mother Russia. He tries to romance her in Dulce nina, but the plan fails and Consuelo spurns him. Left alone, she again wonders how Dirk can bring off such a clever plan. She is joined by Gayle in Who Is This Man Called Dirk?

The next day in the market place, Gayle and Dirk meet Victor as he and Consuelo monitor the movements of their prey. Dirk and Gayle get caught up in The Grand Mercado where, as in every Latin American movie, they dance while discovering intrigue in the open air.  Victor makes a plan with Gayle to move against Consuelo. Consuelo tries to figure out Dirk, even as Dirk discovers a ring that looks exactly like the one he saw on Juan Peron’s hand. Later that day in the safe house, a frustrated Consuelo finally develops a plan to swap Peron’s hand with another. When Victor asks where she will find another hand. She eyes his hand and gives him a chance to say Good-bye Manuela before she cuts off his hand.

Back at the hotel room, in a reprise of For Gayle Dirk confesses he is still waiting for the day they can start a family. Gayle gives up on him and exits. Dirk plays with the hand and finally gets the ring off ó only to confuse it with the ring he purchased in the market. Consuela arrives with a cake and seduces him with Spice, while she switches the hand and exits.

Later that night in the basement of the hotel, the foursome find The Vault. They fight as Victor turns on Consuelo, Gayle turns on Victor, and Consuelo turns on Gayle. Acknowledging that she knows where the vault is and has the ring, she lets him go. At the last moment, he discovers that the ring he has is the actual key and opens the door on the Peron fortune as the show ends in the Finale Act II.

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