The Old Man and the Old Moon

About the show

The company of storytellers perform "Song from the Stone" to greet the audience. Matheson, the play's narrator, offers to the audience the tale of why the Moon changes shape: there once was an Old Man whose job it was to fill the moon with liquid light. He lived a peaceful life with his wife, but they had lived so long they forgot why they needed to fill the moon. One day, the Old Woman hears a mysterious melody she associates with their forgotten past, and runs away to find its source. The Old Man chases after her ("The Rain Will Fall"). Learning she is heading west in a boat, the Old Man fails to charter a boat: the shop owner gives him the hat of his clerk Mickey, despite Mickey's protests that the hat belonged to his grandfather. The Old Man manages to board a warship when he is mistaken for the legendary First Naval Lieutenant Pericles Llewellyn McWallander by the ship's quartermaster Llewellyn, due to the hat ("The Sailor's Anthem"). However, the ship is actually headed south for war. He soon notices that, due to abandoning his duty, the moon is continuing to lose its light. Matheson, who is also the ship's first mate, tells the crew the tale of Pericles Llewellyn McWallander, claiming he sailed west in search of a mysterious city at the end of the world, and was last seen at the port of Malefria, before his crew allegedly mutinied and threw him overboard. Continuing his charade, the Old Man proposes the crew follow him to the infamous city, but they are interrupted when a rebel ship attacks, and their captain is killed in the skirmish ("The Rain Will Fall (Reprise)"). Facing either certain death in war or returning home to be charged with desertion, the Old Man proposes a third option: they head west in search of the city. At first lying about what is there, the Old Man is struck by a strange memory and tells them that the city is filled with light. He rallies the crew and they sail westward ("Sail for Love"), but encounter several obstacles that cause the crew to lose faith in him, and grow concerned at the fact the moon is continuing to lose its light. Matheson privately reveals to the Old Man he knows he is lying and warns him not to take his crew for granted like McWallander. At the port of Malefria, the Old Man encounters two men who recognize his hat, revealing they were part of McWallander's mutinous crew. He learns they recently met his wife, who has continued west. The Old Man forces the crew to re-board the ship, and ends up sailing them straight through a field of volcanoes, severely damaging the ship and leading the ship's cook to flee ("Sail for Love (Reprise)"). The crew finally confront the Old Man, and Matheson finally reveals he is not McWallander, having himself served as McWallander's cabin boy as a child. Just as the crew is ready to throw the Old Man overboard, the moon finally loses all of its light and a sudden storm destroys the ship, sending everyone into the sea. As the Old Man sinks ("Just Like the Sea") he is swallowed by a giant fish. Awakening in its stomach, he encounters a strange man named Perry, who claims to have been swallowed by the fish a long time ago and has given up hope of rescue ("Prison Fish Interlude #1"). Perry reveals he ended up in the fish while he was on a quest to find the city of the light, only to be thrown overboard by his crew ("Prison Fish Interlude #2"). The Old Man finally realizes they can tear the fish apart from the inside by pulling at two ends of a particular bone, something he learned from his wife. Perry initially refuses to help, revealing to the stunned Old Man he is actually a ghost, and he has nothing to go home to. Realizing Perry is the real Pericles Llewellyn McWallander, the Old Man reveals he got his hat from Perry's grandson Mickey, and convinces Perry there are people still out there waiting for him. Perry elects to help the Old Man, but knowing he cannot really return home, he gives the Old Man the hat and instructs him to bring it back to his grandson ("Prison Fish Interlude #3"). After destroying the fish, the Old Man awakens alone on a deserted island. He encounters a dog―which once belonged to Mabelu, a member of the ship's crew. With the dog's help, the Old Man builds a raft that they use to sail away. The water around them dissolves into vapor, until they are left in a desert ("I Crash"). Continuing on but lacking drinking water, the Old Man passes out after drinking the moisture from a psychedelic weed. He and the dog are picked up in a hot air balloon flown by Solomon and Bartley Montgolfier, two scientists studying the change in weather since the moon ran out of light. They encounter the rest of the Old Man's former crew and pick them up, but the added weight causes the balloon to spin out of control. The Old Man leaps out in order to save weight. He lands in what he realizes is the city of the light, unearthed due to the disappearance of the ocean, and his memories of the past finally come back: he was once a resident of the city, which tapped into a well spring of liquid light. But the residents' use of the light brought on a massive thunderstorm, flooding the city. The Old Man saved a bucket of light but was nearly swept away himself, saved at the last second by a young woman. The two decided to keep it safe by hanging it in the sky from a lantern, which became the moon, and was able to calm the storm. The two decided to go exploring the world after saving the light, only to notice there was a leak in the lantern, and so they elected to stay so the Old Man could keep refilling it. The Old Man climbs the cliffs with a bucket of liquid light and refills the moon ("Bremen"). Realizing he has gone so far around the world he has made it back home, he goes to his house to find his wife waiting for him, and the two decide to go exploring as they pledged to years ago. Before they leave, the Old Man reunites with Llewellyn, who reveals the entire crew made it home safely as well. The Old Man convinces Llewellyn to take up his old duty of refilling the moon, but assures him it is alright for the moon to not always be full. He also gives Llewellyn the hat, telling him to return it to Mickey, before boarding a boat with the Old Woman and sailing off to parts unknown.