![]() ![]() Holmes and Watson swivel to comment on mortality and exercise. Houdini remains submerged in sand, finally sitting up, in complete command. Encouraged by Winifred’s confiding in him, Preston lets her know that he is fond of her, but she brushes this off, and dashes to rehearsal. Kenneth, on his lifeguard’s perch, and heard only by Holmes and Watson, emerges to consider the monster of his war experiences packed in his head. Meanwhile, Winifred confides in Preston the secret of her commitment to restoring the theater, the legacy of her adored brother, Kenneth, a shellshocked soldier who has disappeared. Tourists watch this display of prodigious lung power. As Queen Victoria swims in her bathing machine, Winifred and Preston towel off, while the Doyle children “bury” Houdini in the sand. Prolog on the Beach: A shawl-wrapped invalid, binoculars focused, enters in a rolling chair pushed by his faithful valet (aka Holmes and Watson), and they take in the panorama of scenes from an unobtrusive vantage point. “The game,” says Watson, “is afoot.” Act II Winifred is ecstatic: these actors seem born to the roles – maybe the theater can be saved. Preston then ushers in two actors “in full rig,” and Holmes and Watson audition with Bess. Bess appears, costumed as a Baker Street Irregular, charming Winifred. He is immediately smitten, although she is all business: they must find a Holmes and a Watson for the benefit. Scene 5 – Garden Pier Theater stage: Winifred, the “absolutely smashing woman,” leafs through actors’ resumes as Preston enters to offer technical services. Scene 4 – 221 Baker Street: Holmes is restless, bored, hoping for “an elusive trace of something behind the data of the commonplace.” Watson and he will shake the limits of Doyle’s characterization. As Bess emerges from her reverie, Arthur returns to announce that Harry has asked for a séance to try to contact his mother. “An absolutely smashing woman is getting up a benefit for that moldy old theater near the pier…Arthur’s appearing.… Why not Harry? And you, onstage?” Jean turns to her children’s antics, Bess recalls life onstage with Harry: “In the old days, it took two to play,” but eventually Harry abandoned vaudeville for daredevil feats. “I once shared Harry’s work, but vaudeville’s gone.” Not here, says Jean. Bess says she just admires Jean’s role in her husband’s work. Jean notices that Bess is preoccupied, and wonders if their spiritualist beliefs offend her. Preston, tutor to the Doyle children, interrupts: the children await their “underwater instruction” with Mr. Jean’s brother, Malcolm, appeared to Arthur, and Arthur believed. Scene 3 – Sir Arthur and Lady Doyle’s hotel suite: At Houdini’s request, Arthur outlines his journey to spiritualism through a litany of brothers, sons, uncles, nephews dead in the Great War. Scene 2 – Osborne House on the Isle of Wight: Queen Victoria in her pony cart looks out to sea, still mourning her dear Prince Albert, aware that she has neglected her responsibilities “from the collieries of Wales to the cloud-capped peaks of Africa.” She will tuck a message into a bottle – tomorrow. Bess suggests that he enlist the Conan Doyles, but Harry refuses. ![]() Scene 1 – Houdini and Bess’s hotel suite: Harry awakens from a dream of his mother wearing the dress he bought for her made for Queen Victoria. They agree not to argue about spiritualism, Sir Arthur’s passion and the subject of his current lecture tour, but to devote themselves to leisure. Prolog on the Boardwalk: Stagehands visibly bring in the scenic elements – projections, turntable, cyclorama - as the Chorus sets the scene – “We are here for our health and to make money” - Harry Houdini and his wife, Bess, are welcomed by their hosts, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his wife, Jean. SCENE: Atlantic City, London, June 1922, earlier, and later – both time and place are fluid Act I Hudson, 60’s, contralto the Conan Doyle children: Denis, 13 (boy soprano) Adrian, 12 (boy soprano) and Jean, 10 (immature soprano) Mamma, Houdini’s mother, 60’s, contralto (doubles with Mrs. KENNETH, Winifred’s brother, MIA, the Great War, late 20’s, lyric tenorĮxtras: Chorus SATB (at least 12 singers) Mrs. PRESTON, mid-20’s, tutor to the Conan Doyle children, lyric tenor WINIFRED, a New Woman, mid-20’s, soubrette soprano QUEEN VICTORIA, about 80, but often younger, dramatic soprano HARRY HOUDINI, 48, bass baritone (or lyric bass) JEAN, his wife, 50, dramatic mezzo soprano Presently the score exists in piano-vocal form only. Dorothy Louise’s imaginative libretto reveals the transitory nature of human existence. Composed in 2008, Disappearing Act is a full-length opera based on the Harry Houdini and Arthur Conan Doyle spiritualist connection.
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