Music by Jay Anthony Gach – Libretto by Royce Vavrek
SYNOPSIS
In a prologue, a female doctor, nurse, and reporter contextualize the fear and frenzy brought about by the flash outbreak of a new flesh-eating virus. Two men, handsomely dressed, weave about the room in a romantic waltz while the professionals sing of the gruesome horrors of the outbreak.
The two lovers, HARRIS and VINCE, return home from a party where it is revealed that their circle of friends is dwindling due to a flesh-eating virus that has taken many lives of those they hold dear. When Vince takes off his shirt, it is revealed that he too has the disease, and Harris cannot help but lament the loss of intimacy that has been stolen from their relationship.
The doctor, nurse, and reporter sing a brief interlude that creates dramatic ellipses, further revealing how the world is responding to the disease.
In a temporal shift forward, Harris brings LEIF home from a more casual night out. Both are slightly intoxicated, and head straight to the shower after fumbled kisses. They examine each other for signs of the virus (which has become the norm), as Harris speaks candidly about the lover he recently lost, and his sexual appetite that he’s built up. They go to the bedroom where Leif is tied, playfully, to the bedposts and a blindfold used to cover his eyes. Leif is asked to call Harris by his sexually anonymous name, “Vince”. Out of the shadows walks Vince, covered in severe lesions and crawling into bed with Leif, caressing him. Harris sitting on the side of the bed sings duet with Leif as he becomes intimate with the body of Vince.
The doctor, nurse, and reporter sing for a final time and reveal themselves to be afflicted by the disease.
The next morning, Vince lays in bed, as Harris drinks a coffee in his bathrobe. They jest. Harris so desperately wants to kiss Vince, as he believes that he has forgotten the sensation of his kisses. He pulls the sheet over Vince’s head and kisses him through the white cotton cloth. When the cloth is pulled down, Leif is revealed in all of his cherubic beauty.