“A Magical Musical Mystery” follows a consciousness as it wanders through its own dream landscape, which manifests as a young girl. This consciousness creates a landscape in which people and animals co-exist. The musical begins with the overture ‘Falling for the Magic’ as the person whose dream it is slowly falls asleep and the dream landscape is created. The plot is cyclical and can therefore begin at any song in the inner circle finishing at the one previous.
This synopsis we will begin by falling into the dream landscape and the consciousness will encounter a father, Fred, and son, James, in the woods preparing for battle with the Jabberwock (‘Jabberwocky’). Fred warns his son of the threat of the Jabberwock while James marches into the woods in search of the mighty beast. After some time James finds the Jabberwock and kills the creature with his sword. James returns home and is greeted by his father who celebrates the Jabberwock’s demise.
After the confrontation with the Jabberwock the consciousness follows the father, Fred as he wanders towards the beach. While Fred wanders through town you can hear a lullaby sung in the background (“The Mad Hatter’s Song”). It is not clear if this is a mother’s voice singing to James or perhaps the voice of someone from the “real world” leaking into the dream landscape. This decision is left to the listener. At the beach Fred sees his friend the walrus. Fred and the Walrus go for a walk along the beach where they meet several oysters who join them for the walk, even though the eldest Oyster does not think that the walk is such an innocent proposition. (“The Walrus and the Carpenter Part I”).
The consciousness abruptly changes course and heads further along the beach past the eldest Oyster where we meet a group of friends. A whiting, porpoise, lobster and turtle and all looking forward to going for a dance in the sea. The snail however, is not so keen on the idea (“The Lobsters Quadrille”). The consciousness follows the friends into the sea to the turtle’s restaurant where the turtle sings about their world-renowned soup (“Turtle Soup”).
After the sea friends enjoyed their meal the lobster departs to afternoon tea closer to shore with some animal friends. The lobster is very much the life of the party and laughs and sings with the owl, duck, dodo, lizard, cat and eldest oyster (“The Lobster”). On the way home the lobster tells a story of the time that he sent a message to the fishes of the sea, however the story ends abruptly as he does not recall the ending (“Humpty Dumpty’s Recitation”).
The consciousness peels away from the lobster as it spots the King Fisher resurfacing. The King Fisher attempts to court the Lady Bird on the shore line however, the Lady Bird as no interest in the King Fisher’s advances (“The King Fisher’s Song”). The consciousness withdraws from the scene and encounters three young badgers on amossy stone. The badgers are entitled and wish to be the next king once their father dies. Nearby three young herrings are loitering near the shore making their mother very worried for their safety. The badgers soon catch the three herrings while their parents are searching for their children (“The Three Badgers”).
The consciousness returns to the Walrus and Carpenter further up the beach, where the walrus and carpenter taunt the young oysters that have settled at their feet. They soon eat all of the oysters while continuing to talk to them (“The Walrus and the Carpenter Part II”). The consciousness retreats from the murderous scene at the beach back to the nearest town of Oporta where we meet an old Draper (“Melody II”). The Draper plays a lullaby from when he was a young boy, to his grandchildren, Sam and Lucy (“The Duchess’s Lullaby”). Sam soon leaves and explores Oporta. He encounters an aged man, sitting on a gate. Sam enquires about the aged man’s life and the aged man happily tells Sam some of his stories. Sam then returns home where he tells his sister of this encounter (“A-Sitting on a Gate”).
The consciousness travels downstairs to William, the father of Sam and Lucy. William is currently speaking nonsense (“ He thought he saw”) and his wife is very concerned. As Sam and Lucy come downstairs we learn more about them and their troubles (“Melody III”). Sam is very inquisitive and starts asking his father many questions which William answer to begin with however, he only has the patience to answer three of his sons questions (“Father William”). As the family go their separate ways the consciousness cautiously moves next door to their neighbour Fred (“Melody I”). The dream falters and the stream of consciousness is broken with a story interlude leaving the dream landscape unhinged (“Little Birds”).
We return to Oporta where Fred is talking with his son James before he heads off to slaughter the Jabberwock (“Jabberwocky”).
And so the cycle repeats …
