Panera de Bergerac: LIVE!

Panera de Bergerac: LIVE! is the two hundred and forty-fourth episode of Off Book: The Improvised Musical. It was recorded live at Good Good Comedy in Philadelphia, PA, in January 2019. First released as a Stitcher Premium episode on July 11, 2019, it was then posted onto the main feed on March 8, 2022. The musical follows two best friends who attempt to hang with their crush after being left alone for a weekend with two hundred dollars.
==Episode Description==
This episode was recorded live in Philadelphia in January of 2019 at the Good Good Comedy Theater! WOW! The ancient past. If you never had stitcher premium, you haven't heard this one! If you did... you may have heard this one! Honestly this was a lifetime ago, but it's got teens and Panera so some things never change! Enjoy: Panera de Bergerac! Official Episode Description
==Plot==
=== Act I ===
When Devin’s parents go on a wine vacation to Napa for the weekend, they leave their teenage son Devin behind with $200 dollars. Devin and his best friend Michael are excited to splurge on what seems like an unlimited amount of junk food ("No Limit to Two Hundred Dollars").
In Napa, Devin’s father worries about his son, but Devin's mother reminds him that they wanted to encourage Devin’s independence. As they continue to progressively get more drunk from the various types of wine, they are both reassured by the fact that Michael, who they consider smarter and a good influence, will be there with Devin (“Like Devin”). They promise to call Devin the next day.
Devin and Michael create a list of rules for the weekend: (1) no rules: just right, (2) some rules: okay, (3) all rules: no good. Michael asks if Devin wants to invite some dudes, girls, and beers over. But while Devin is game for the first two, he’s uncomfortable with the beers as they are underage. Michael explains that he doesn’t want the first time he gets drunk to be in college when he’s surrounded by strangers and susceptible to peer pressure. He wants to test it out first in a safe environment with his best friend. Devin relents, and the two try to figure out how to acquire beers. They agree not to ask Michael’s cousin, Brent, who is a bad influence and once nearly made them drive a golf cart into a ravine. Michael suggests asking their classmate Lexi Burke’s older brother, but Devin worries about making a bad first impression on Lexi as he has a crush on her (“Like an Angel”). Michael assures Devin that they will play it cool and promises to be his wingman.
Over at Lexi’s house, Lexi is trying to write an essay, but her older brother Scotty keeps bothering her. Lexi’s parents have also left them with $200 dollars, having gone on a wine vacation to Temecula. Although Scotty is only 3 months into his first year of college, he declares himself to be a completely changed and learned man who finds all of Lexi’s high school work juvenile. Not only does he claim to have changed his name first to Marcus and then to Dante, he keeps insisting that he studied abroad in Japan and currently attends law/medical/scientist school. Scotty fluctuates wildly between this new persona of his and moments of vulnerability where he tries to connect with his sister, admitting that college is not going well at all and that he feels an inferiority complex towards her. When Scotty finally leaves her alone, Lexi internally berates herself for not asking for her brother’s advice on love, the one thing that he’s an expert in (“Falling in Love”). Eventually, the two siblings manage to connect, and Lexi asks Scotty for help with her crush on Devin.
Meanwhile, Devin struggles to get in contact with Lexi. Devin dials her number and accidentally leaves a short, panicked voicemail where he only shouts “Hi!”. Trying to salvage the situation, Devin proceeds to send a single text that reads “Hi.” Lexi and Scotty are put off by this, especially seeing as this is all coming from an unknown number. As Devin continues to panic, Michael offers to write the text for him but Devin refuses, not wanting Michael to “Cyrano de Bergerac” him and cause Lexi to fall in love with Michael instead. However, Michael ends up helping him write the text anyway, asking her for her class notes.
Lexi begins to panic over how to respond. Scotty tries to take over the texting, but Lexi is also afraid of Scotty “Cyrano de Bergerac-ing” her. Scotty tells her that he’s exclusively into older women, but Lexi argues that doesn’t erase the threat of Devin falling in love with Scotty. Still, Scotty helps write the text anyway, and they set up a date at Panera to exchange the notes (“You Pick Two, Me and You”). Scotty and Michael both individually decide to disguise themselves in trench coats to secretly provide support from the back.
=== Act II ===
At Panera, assistant manager Trevor approaches his fellow employee, Kelsey, about her hostile attitude. He attempts to explain to her that he is not her enemy—in fact, he is only just barely above her in the corporate chain of command and has very little actual power. Trevor begs Kelsey to stop yelling at their customers as each complaint they get reflects poorly on him. Still, Kelsey accuses him of being a capitalistic corporate lackey and resents that he keeps telling her to convince people to buy apples. When he asks why she hasn’t quit yet, Kelsey tells him that her parents are making her have an after-school job. Otherwise, she’d be pursuing her interest in photography. Trevor suggests she get a job at an art gallery instead, but when Kelsey says that’s impossible, Trevor snaps and says that he doesn’t actually care about helping her—he just wants her to get out of his life because she’s too troublesome. Trevor then apologizes, but Kelsey acknowledges that he’s made some good points. She confesses that Panera was the only place that offered her an interview. Trevor tells her that he has very little agency at this job, and feeling sorry for him, Kelsey agrees to try and be nicer to customers, especially the two people coming up who seem to be on a date.
Devin and Lexi meet at the Panera where Lexi gives him the notes and they learn they’ve both been left with $200 dollars for the weekend. Devin fumbles through the interaction, however, and keeps having frantic sidebars with Michael to get his advice. Lexi takes the opportunity to talk to Scotty, who promises to find out why there is another man in a trenchcoat interrupting their date. Kelsey takes Lexi and Devin’s orders, but when Michael decides not to order anything, Scotty confronts him and demands to know why he’s at the Panera.
Michael and Scotty both try to convince the other that they are rich business CEOs and compete over who will foot the bill for the two cookies they’ve decided to order. As they hesitantly try to one-up each other in a “trench coat gentleman’s game” without knowing what exactly a rich business CEO does, Kelsey gets fed-up and throws two cookies at them (“A Trenchcoat Gentleman’s Game”).
As it provides the best view of Devin and Lexi, Michael and Scotty end up sitting together at the same table. The two of them steal glances at each other and nearly bump hands and knees together, though their sunglasses and trench coats get in the way ("Hands Touch, Eyes Meet"). Scotty is surprised to feel a kind of chemistry with Michael, especially because as a younger man, Michael is far from an older woman. The two of them both come clean about why they’re actually there at the Panera, and when asked, Scotty agrees to purchase beer for Michael (despite not being 21).
Lexi decides to call her parents for advice on how to be herself. Her parents are extremely drunk, however, and are of little help, so Lexi hangs up on them. She returns to Devin, telling him truthfully that she doesn’t know how to talk to him. Devin admits that he’s been acting weird because he has a crush on her and is focusing really hard on not just talking about all the ways she looks like an angel. Devin asks if she sees him as an inferior version of Michael, but she rejects this, saying that just thinking about Devin makes her speechless. 
Devin suggests that they stop overthinking and instead try to take their time to get to know each other ("Think a Little Less, Take a Little More Time"). Both of them simultaneously come up with the idea to go get dim sum, throw it into the ocean, and see if it floats. Delighted that they had the same idea, they agree to start as friends. Scotty returns to the Panera with a drunk Michael in tow. Michael confesses that he feels a lot of pressure from everyone’s expectations of him and, declaring himself to be in love with Scotty, is impatient for the next two years to pass by so that he can date him once he’s old enough. Faced with Michael’s confidence in him, Scotty finds it easier to do away with all the pretenses and accept himself as he is. Trevor realizes that he’s been taking out his own dissatisfaction with his job on Kelsey and apologizes to her, telling her he’s quitting to go work at the art gallery his brother works at. Kelsey asks if she can come too, and Trevor agrees, saying he does in fact want to appraise art and work with her.
Show/Hide
==Musical Cast==
===Jessica McKenna===
*Michael, Devin's best friend
*Devin's mom
*Lexi Burke
*Kelsey, Panera employee
*Lexi's mom
*Trevor's dad
===Zach Reino===
*Devin
*Devin's Dad
*Scotty Burke, Lexi's older brother
*Trevor, Panera assistant manager
*Panera customer
*Lexi's dad
==Talkback Cast==
===Jessica McKenna===
*Director
*Translator (working with the original playwright)
*Actor who plays Michael
*First dramaturg
===Zach Reino===
*Panera brand ambassador
*Original playwright
*Casting director
*Third dramaturg
==Songs==
*"No Limit to Two Hundred Dollars" (4:19)
*"Like Devon" (8:08)
*"Like an Angel" (14:36)
*"Falling in Love" (21:02)
*"You Pick Two (Me and You)" (30:27)
*"Kelsey, Break Free (Get Away From Me)" (36:58)
*"A Trench Coat Gentleman's Game" (44:42)
*"Hands Touch, Eyes Meet" (46:05)
*"Think a Little Less, Take a Little More Time" (55:08)
==Cut Songs==
*"Rise" (1:06:48)
== Gallery ==
File:Panera de Bergerac.jpg
== References ==
Category:Episodes
Category:Live episodes
Category:Cut Song
Category:LGBTQ
Category:Completed plot summary