Matthew Morrison
The World Is Upside Down
[BARRIE]
Welcome, my friends

[BOYS]
Mr. Barrie!

[BARRIE]
Glad you could join me on this most auspicious day

[BOYS]
Hip hip, hooray!

[BARRIES]
I hope you'll forgive
Mistakes and errors
We're just getting under way

[BOYS]
Of course! We understand

[BARRIE]
You may recognize some of the scenes
You all played a part in sowing the seeds
‘Cause there is magic here in my imagination
Just believe and it can be a creation
The stories we invented
All the fun that we found
Appearing here before your eyes
The world is upside down!
[MISS BASSETT]
Our characters

[MISS JONES]
Nibs and Tootles...?

[MISS BASSETT]
What is their motivation?
Because you see, I have to live and breathe my part, drawing from my own life experience...

[BARRIE]
Nibs is a lost boy

[MISS BASSETT, spoken]
Lost! Good, interesting

[MISS JONES, spoken]
Yes...

[MISS BASSETT]
That I can use

[MISS JONES, spoken]
Good, right

[MISS BASSETT]
Is he lost in an emotional purgatory?
(spoken)
...or lost in an existential search for himself?
[MISS JONES, spoken]
Yes!

[BARRIE]
No, he's just lost

[MISS BASSETT]
Good heavens! Where, when, and how?

[BARRIE]
Do you have experience being lost?

[MISS BASSETT/MISS JONES]
We're experiencing it now

[MR. HENSHAW]
Dogs!

[MISS POTTER]
Boys!

[MR. CROMER]
Flying!

[MISS BASSETT]
Lost!
[FROHMAN]
So...

[ACTORS]
Frustration!

[BARRIE/BOYS]
Believe and it can

[ACTORS]
No!

[BARRIE/BOYS]
Be a creation

[MISS BASSETT]
Actors don't fly...

[MR. CROMER]
Because actors could die!

[BOYS]
Start by saying I can do
And then you can try

[MISS JONES]
I can't

[MISS POTTER]
I won’t

[MR. HENSHAW]
Will not

[MR. TURRIN]
Not me

[ACTORS]
There is no magic in your imagination
I do not believe in your new creation
This disaster is all due to your play
This could be my last first day

[MR. CROMER]
Nauseous!

[MISS POTTER]
Anxious...

[MR. HENSHAW]
My reputation!

[MISS BASSETT/MISS JONES]
Playing lost?

[ACTORS]
Get lost! Serious actors cannot work this way!

[FROHMAN]
A positive start!

[ACTORS]
The world is upside down!