Behind the Song: We Have Instructions
Welcome, Plague Rat! To start off, if anything here looks familiar, that’s because bits of this article first appeared in an Asylum Newsletter on 1/2/22, and I’m sharing it in this new blog space for those who never got to read it.
Now! I am so incredibly delighted to share with you this never-before-heard song from the Asylum Musical, "We Have Instructions."
The song is now available worldwide for streaming/downloading, with several free options.
A handy guide to just a few of the biggies:
“Instructions…” is a wild one, to put it mildly. Just ask W14BB and Darjeeling—they were in the next room as I recorded it, and neither of them could look me in the eye for a week afterward. The song happens near(ish) the beginning of Act 1, wherein Emilie is admitted to the modern-day hospital and stripped of all her belongings except for her striped you-know-whats (that sounded smuttier than it was meant to).
The vocals are sung by all of 8 characters (4 Guards, 2 Nurses, the Head Nurse, and, of course, Emilie). Readers of the Asylum Book will be very familiar with this scene, and many who have been admitted to a psych ward themselves have likely experienced something quite similar.
What many know and even more do not is that nearly all of the roles in The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls musical are dual roles.
Madam Mournington is, obviously, the Head Nurse, the Hospital Guards are also the Asylum Doctors and Chasers, and the Hospital Patients are also the Inmates. You surely know who Dr. Sharp and Emilie are;).
You will do me the hono(u)r of recognizing the melody from the song "We Want Them Young," which will appear later in Act 2 (and which you know well from the FLAG album, most of which is part of the musical). I will let you guess which nasty character begins BOTH songs...
What else can I tell you? Oh, I get to be topless in this song for a brief moment as the Guards strip away Emilie’s clothing, piece by piece. I’m quite looking forward to this as I do enjoy being topless, as an inordinate number of my past photoshoots will confirm. To bare a part of one’s physical self that is so forbidden but that in fact ought not to be forbidden at all because that’s just criminally absurd…well, I for one find it incredibly liberating, and a nice old “frick off” to anyone who can’t handle the sight of a female torso.
So, tits out, I say.
And lest you think I’m just being provocative, W14BB and I have been writing a film script to act in together, and this is an actual conversation we had during a brainstorming session.
Me: “Is there any way in which my being full frontal in this would make any sense?”
W14BB: “Um…I don’t really think so.”
Me: “What about just topless? Is there any scene in which that could benefit the story?”
W14BB: “No.”
Let’s reel it in, shall we? Back to the song. I said “I” get to be topless, but I suppose this would apply to all of the actors who will go on to play this role.
It’s very strange but also extremely exciting to think of other girls playing the part, especially in international productions…the Japanese Emilie/Emily is going to rule the world.
And now, I am going to do something I've never done before...I'm going to share with you a page from the ACTUAL SCRIPT (a.k.a. the Book or Libretto) for the Asylum Musical, the page on which "We Have Instructions" is introduced, and which tells the actors what to do (or, more accurately, tells the director what to tell the actors to do).
Have a peek:
You know what…I’m going to pop the YouTube posting of the song right here below so that you can read along. That should help make more sense of things, surely.
It occurred to me that I should make a lyric video for this song (because I’ve got so much time) so that you can read along to the whole thing, but then, how to write out all the parts going on simultaneously? I’m considered reasonably intelligent, and I can’t quite picture it. Any ideas?
(EDIT: I kind of sort of maybe figured it out! The video above will show my efforts if you click on “Captions.” See what you think!)
Thank you, dear friend, for listening, for supporting the Asylum Musical in what is going to be its most exciting and developmental year yet (workshops anyone???), and for marching by my side through this whole mad adventure.
*Note: I don’t know who took the photo at the top of this post, but whoever did is marvelous and I thank them. It’s obviously not of “Instructions,” but the emotion fits perfectly with the song’s closing lines, “I am committed…take me now!”