A single day in the life of an eighth grader waiting to hear whether they’ve been accepted to the high school of their choice.
The morning begins in a rush — “Time Is, Time Was, Time’s Past” — a reckoning with how fast everything moves, especially for a thirteen-year-old just trying to make the bell. At school, the student files into an assembly with an unusual guest speaker: God, who has been allotted exactly “Five Minutes with God.” Back in class, the students try on the people they might become in “I Know What I Want.”
As the waiting sharpens into real nerves, a delegation of high school admissions directors arrives to extol the virtues of their respective institutions — “War Chant of the Admissions Directors.” Later, in a quieter register, the kids consider the parents who are convinced no one is listening to them, and confess that they’ve been listening all along: “Lullaby for Mother and Father.”
The final song, “Dreamers of Dreams,” takes its words from Arthur O’Shaughnessy’s Ode — the one that begins, “We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams.”
THE SONGS
Time Is, Time Was, Times Past
5 Minutes With God
I Know What I Want
Time Is (Reprise)
War Chant of the Admissions Directors
Lullaby for Mother and Father