Legshark in Miami

Legshark in Miami is a 2001 rock-musical written and directed by Seraphina Anderson. The music was written by Blanche Langston, and it is loosely based on Tobias Wingmercy's Thiefbeast, published 500 years prior.
Its first production was in the Slothingham Hall in 2001, upon which it gained much popularity. The original cast toured Britain, the musical was performed and adapted across the globe, and it became a favourite with musical theatre fans and Legshark worshippers alike.
== Plot ==
=== Act 1 ===
A man named Diego Daldiva returns from 10 years lost at sea (King of Seals). Upon returning home, a neighbour that was looking after his dog tells him that his parents have lost their fortune and died of illness, his girlfriend has killed herself, and that his best friend Julio Jones, while trying to save his girlfriend, fell from the balcony of her apartment and was put in a coma (Strike Three). Distraught, Diego considers his options while studying his inexplicably broken necklace, but is harassed by a terrifying shape that seems to stalk him, making him paranoid.
Diego recieves a letter from Julio's eccentric brother Yvan. Yvan, who lives in Miami, tells him to accompany the comatose Julio on the plane journey to Miami. Diego, after considering this, decides to do so, and start anew in America (Orange You Glad). He puts his dog in the kennels (Bye Bye Buddy Boy) and boards Yvan's private plane, but is terrified to see the creature from his hallucinations crawl aboard the hold. The hold is inspected thoroughly, but nothing is there, and Diego questions his sanity.
Falling asleep on the plane by Julio's side, Diego has a nightmare about the 10 years at sea (Squali Viveret) and awakens with a start, realising that he has seen the creature before - it is a beast that attacked him and caused him to hit his head on the mast. He recalls it was a shark with legs, and further questions his sanity, as well as his isolation in the world, when Julio, in his comatose state, murmurs 'The sea, the sea', and Diego is comforted, feeling less alone.
=== Act 2 ===
Upon arriving in Miami, Diego and Julio are escorted to Yvan's home; a bizzare maze of gaily-coloured houseboats. This introductory scene is often lighted in pink to show Yvan's eccentric, tender nature. Yvan takes his brother to a special room with floor-to-ceiling windows, and by his bedside talks with Diego (Brother Dear). As soon as Yvan leaves the room to fetch drinks, Diego begins to hallucinate the Legshark appearing in the windows.
Yvan returns to Diego collapsed to the floor and consoles him, and Diego divulges the details of his trip - his days at sea, his neighbour breaking the bad news, and his hallucinations. Yvan offers to take his luggage to his room, and Diego shares a brief, emotional moment with Julio (Brother Dear - Reprise). Julio whispers something, but Diego doesn't catch it. He leaves for his room.
In his room, Diego opens his bags. To his surprise, one is full of envelopes that he doesn't remember packing. He finds a picture of himself and his girlfriend, and reminisces of his love for her, while Yvan, in the adjoining room, struggles with his brother's state and his feelings for this odd stranger (Crashing In The Wake).
Fast forwards a week; Yvan, about to go out to an art gallery, complains of how Diego never leaves the house. Diego says he fears the shadows and shapes, and needs to protect Julio (Night Watch). Yvan takes Diego out onto the sun deck and they admire the stars as Yvan names constellations and comforts Diego (Starring Me). Yvan goes to kiss Diego, but Diego, still raw from his girlfriend's passing, rejects him. Yvan goes inside, but before Diego follows him, the Legshark leaps from the water, trying to climb onto the sun deck. The home security alarm blares as a masked assailant tries to break through the front door, and both men are thrown into panic, Yvan hiding in Julio's room and Diego hiding in his own room.
=== Act 3 ===
Diego is cowering in his room (Strike Three - Reprise), trying to draw strength from his photos, diaries and letters from the other suitcase. He finds a picture of himself, Julio and his dog on the boat, as well as a diary entry saying that his girlfriend broke up with him months before he went to sea, and that his parents died when he was a child. Thusly, most of the events that his neighbour told him of made no sense, and could not have happened. He exits the room with his diary in hand and is attacked by the assailant, revealed to be the neighbour.
After a nightmarish chase through the labyrinth of houseboats (Squali Viveret - Instrumental), Diego, the Legshark and the neighbour arrive in Julio's room. The neighbour, armed with a large knife, attempts to murder Julio, but Yvan stands in the way, and Diego manages to stop the neighbour's hand. Diego tackles the neighbour out of the window, landing on a yacht that he cuts free of the dock and the Legshark pushes to sea. He and the neighbour grapple (Names and Faces) until Diego realises that he does not recognise the neighbour from anywhere but mirrors.
He then realises the truth in a grisly flashback - when he hit his head on the mast, he lost parts of his memory, and formed the personality of the neighbour. Julio, who was with him, was made comatose by trying to protect Diego from the Legshark. Realising that the neighbour is an embodiment of his fear, his bitter loneliness and his jealousy of Julio's perfection, he fights this alter ego on the boat (Palindrome). The neighbour grabs Diego and shoves him underwater, threatening to drown him, with dark hands extending from the deep and clawing at him, representing his isolation and giving into depression. Although it seems as if the evil alter-ego will win, Diego's dog swims to the rescue, reminding Diego of all that's good in his life (Bye Bye Buddy Boy/King of Seals - Reprise) and Diego fights back, killing his evil self, but is now halved and feels unbalanced, unstable, incomplete.
The Legshark appears on the boat, but Diego knows it does not wish to hurt him (Moonbright Eyes), and it returns the other half of the broken necklace, making him whole again. Diego, the dog and the Legshark return to the houseboats' dock, and Yvan welcomes them back. As Diego turns back, he sees that the Legshark has disappeared. They go to Julio's room, where he seems to react to their presence in his coma, showing that he may wake up eventually. Diego returns Yvan's affections (Starring Me - Reprise). 
The following night, Diego sits alone in his room as Yvan sleeps in a chair by Julio's bedside, the dog on his lap. Diego studies letters and photos, wishing to burn them (Pyre), and as he lights a match and studies the flame, the light illuminates the Legshark's silhouette on the wall behind him, and he asks himself if it is better to remember the dark and the damned, or to not remember anything at all. He blows out the match and the curtain falls.
== Notable versions/performances ==
=== Original Performance, British Tour and Silver Screen Performance ===
The musical's first performance was shown in Slothingham Hall in January 2001 in front of an audience of 4,000. It was described by critics as 'captivating' and 'tearjerking'. After being wildly acclaimed and praised, the original cast went on a tour of Britain, a tour that lasted 3 years and consisted of 27 shows across the nation.
The 2008 movie adaption gained similar acclaim, although it was nothing new, and even recieved criticism for cutting Bye Bye Buddy Boy, Squali Viveret, Names and Faces and Moonbright Eyes from its soundtrack, as well as the reprises of Bye Bye Buddy Boy, King of Seals and Strike Three. It recieved much praise for the chase scene in the houseboat, however, often claimed to be one of the 'most intense houseboat scenes in cinema'.
=== Slotham High 2015 ===
Slotham High School made a production of the musical in 2015, with Johnny Cobra starring as Diego Daldiva. Despite being a notorious truant and total lad, Cobra was excellent, moving the audience to tears with his heartfelt acting and angelic singing, even going so far as actually kissing the boy who was acting Yvan on the lips during the reprise of Starring Me. After the production, however, Johnny turned down various choir and record offers, saying that singing was 'totally lame' and that it 'wasn't that big a thing anyway'. Friends of the boy told reporters that he was 'still salty about his parents not showing up' and 'a total ledge'.
=== 2004 Riv-ival ===
In 2004, three days after the Britain tour ended, artist Fransisco Riveska announced that the show was now 'vintage' and made a 'Riveskavated' version of the musical, which involved changing most of the plot, making the houseboat about 20 times more hallucinogenically art-deco-bizzaro than it originally was (which was pretty hallucinogenically art-deco-bizarro) and adding an explicitly filthy scene between Diego Daldiva and Yvan Jones.
Riveska insisted that it 'represented purity and Yvan's confliction', and that critics should stop 'taking it literally when he's literally taking it'. When asked about the scene in which thousands of live seagulls were released from the rafters, bombarding the actors, orchestra and audience, Riveska said, 'It represented- capitalism, I don't know. Comes out there, starts squawking, does its business- I haven't been sleeping lately. I haven't- slept much. Where's my latte?'.
=== Wingmercy's Thiefbeast ===
The play that the musical was loosely based on, written by Tobias Wingmercy. The story revolved around a prince who was constantly losing his possessions and blaming his subjects, accusing them of theft. After killing his wife and maiming his best friend, he moved to live on a boat with his most prized item - a golden pendant with a sparkling ruby. However, on the boat, cabin fever sets in, and he hallucinates of a shark-beast with legs that wishes to steal his treasure.
He is marooned on a jungle island and refuses help from the natives, running into the jungle to escape the legged shark beast, climbing a tree, but the branches give way and he falls, landing on the pendant and breaking the gemstone. He also breaks his elbow, but thinks the blood came from the stone, thinking that he has killed his treasure, which breaks his mind. Chased by the leg-shark, he runs to a cliff, and falls to his death. The next day, the natives find his bones picked clean on the beach, leaving the reader to wonder if the shark-beast was a figment of his imagination or a true creature.
This is one of Wingmercy's best-known plays, and is often praised for the vivid depiction of the prince's madness. The 'broken pendant' scene is often used in auditions, as it recquires passionate acting and a wide emotional range.
== Songs ==
All of the songs were composed and written by Blanche Langston, Lagos-born songwriter-composer.
* King of Seals - The song Diego sings as he returns home from his 10 years stranded at sea.
And here, home, I return/Through storm and crashing waves/The King of Seals is saved/The king of all depraved
* Strike Three - Diego is told of his parents' death, his girlfriend's suicide and Julio's coma by his neighbour.
Strike one, she's gone, your sweetest hon/She shared a shot with poisoned gums
* Orange You Glad - Diego decides to go to Miami, to take Julio to Yvan and get a new start.
Goodbye, old rain and snow/I'm going to where the sunshine glows/And when I'm gone, don't ask 'where did he go'/Orange you glad you know!
* Bye Bye Buddy Boy - Diego leaves his dog, Buddy, at the kennel.
Don't cry, brown eyes, Buddy boy of mine/There's clear blue skies and a sun that shines/With frisbee disks and crystal seas/I'll be back in time, Buddy boy of mine
* Squali Viveret - Diego has a nightmare about a storm at sea.
Luna, lucente luna tua/Squali viveret, omnibus circa
* Brother Dear - Yvan expresses his fear and love for his brother and gratitude to Diego.
Now you're by your bedside, now you're in the hall/Now you're but a lifeless voice that echoes in the wall
* Crashing in the Wake - Diego is depressed about his life. Simultaneously, Yvan is depressed about his life in the other room, but also feels a little bit gay.
Battered by the seas, he is a beast of all defines/What are these beasts I see? Have I finally lost my mind?/Thrashing in the wake, I am drowning in the tide/Crashing in the wake, don't know what I feel inside
* Night Watch - After refusing to go out, Diego explains that he fears the dark (metaphorical and literal), and that he isn't fully comfortable with society after his 10 years at sea, and that he is too worried for Julio.
I fear the dark this poor lad's trapped in/I fear the things I cannot see/But am I here to protect him/Or is he here to protect me?
* Starring Me - Yvan points out constellations, while not-so-subtly trying it on with Diego.
There's Orion, belt it out!/Ursa Major, scream and shout!/Ursa Minor, who's your mommy?/I want to explore all the stars in your heart/I want all of Miami to see/The constellations that you've trapped in your eyes/And I want them to be/Starring me!
* Names and Faces - While fighting with the neighbour, Diego tries to recognise him, and comes to a shocking conclusion.
Your face- your voice!/It couldn't be clearer!/Do I have a choice/In my destiny?!/I see it now/Every glance in the mirror/But wait- but how?/It's... ME!
* Palindrome - Diego is coming to grips with the embodiment of all his bitterness, hatred and sadness, and is trying to fight the dark side of him.
You know a heaven full of sin/You know a hell that's full of hatred/You know that bitterness is king/Where do you end and I begin?
* Moonbright Eyes - Diego, slumped against the yacht's mast, sees the humanity (and angeltastic superhumanity) in the Legshark.
Could there be a weapon/Quiet and lustrous, made of peace/Will earth be as still as heaven/As I see myself combine/As I find myself complete/In the quivering moonbright eyes/Of the beast?
* Pyre - In the final scene, Diego contemplates his memories and trials.
Is it best that you remember the storm's nightmarish call/Or is it even better/To forget it alltogether/And not remember anything at all?
=== Reprises ===
* Brother Dear is reprised from Diego's point of view, with Diego wishing that Julio was here to protect him, also foreshadowing the truth about Julio's coma.
* Squali Viveret is played again during the chase scene, but instrumental and at a slightly faster tempo.
* Strike Three is played again as Diego realises the truth in photographs, letters and diary entries.
* Bye Bye Buddy Boy/King of Seals are combined as Buddy the dog saves the good side of Diego and helps him win.
== Characters ==
=== ===
=== Diego Daldiva ===
Diego is a fisherman who was lost at sea for 10 years. He is socially out-of-touch upon return, and despite being a dreamer, he is bitter and depressed, as well as deeply fearful, isolated and slightly paranoid. After knocking his head badly, he suffers hallucinations and nightmares.
=== Julio Jones ===
Julio is Diego's best friend. He accompanied him on the fishing trip and protected him from the Legshark, despite being attacked by it and put into a coma before the Legshark fled. His comatose state, as well as being the thing that brings Diego to Miami, also raises questions about whether Diego was hallucinating or whether the Legshark was real.
=== Yvan Jones ===
Yvan is Julio's twin brother. He lives in an eccentric maze of houseboats, collects weird art, and can be flighty. He shows emotions far more freely than Diego, sometimes too much, with an exaggerated sexuality and flirtatious nature.
=== The Legshark ===
The Legshark mostly appears in Diego's hallucinations and dreams, but is a key element in Diego's recovery and becoming 'whole' again, as well as his pondering about memory. It is highly contested whether it was a figment of Diego's imagination or not.
=== The Neighbour ===
At first, Diego believes that his neighbour was looking after his dog while he was fishing. When he returns, he is told of the tragedies that befell him. However, the neighbour later turns out to be an embodiment of Diego's dark side, as his girlfriend left him years before the trip, his parents died when he was young, and that Buddy and Julio were with him on the boat. Diego manages to overcome this dark side with the Legshark and Buddy's help.
=== Buddy ===
Buddy is Diego's pet dog. In the original production, he was a yorkshire terrier, but in other productions he has been a sheepdog, labrador, poodle, papillon, and even an adult Bloudjen in Riveska's edition. He represents the good in Diego, and reminds him of this, allowing him to defeat his demons.
== Trivia ==
* The film recieved mixed reviews from Legshark cultists, some of which praised the sympathetic depiction of the Legshark, while others complained that it was an unfaithful depiction and was not brutal and all-consuming enough. The Legshark could not be reached for comment.
Category:In universe
Category:Theatre