Continue reading for a more detailed outline.
Running time: Act One, 65 minutes; Act Two, 55 minutes
In a mysterious limbo-space, we see three figures: mystery author Agatha Christie, aviator Amelia Earhart, and evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson. Agatha clatters away at her typewriter, writing out the beginnings of Amelia’s story as Amelia looks on. Agatha adds her own story, and that of Aimee Semple McPherson. Each of the women vanished mysteriously, at the height of her celebrity. (Adventure, Spectacle, Mystery).
Agatha continues typing away, creating a script for the trio to act out one another’s stories. We begin with Amelia; an as-yet unknown amateur aviator, she is called to the offices of promoter G.P. Putnam, who is looking for a female flier to make a trans-Atlantic flight. She ponders the considerable risk involved in flying The Atlantic– women have died making the attempt.
G.P. Putnam (played by Aimee) spells out what he’s looking for: he needs a woman to be a passenger on the flight, but there will be no piloting involved. Amelia is dubious; G.P. is struck by her resemblance to Charles Lindbergh. He dubs her Lady Lindy. She makes the flight and is caught up in a whirlwind of reporters and photographers. Her mother gives her own perspective on things: “I thought she’d have more sense than to try it.” Nevertheless, Amelia is a sensation.
Agatha Christie is working in a hospital dispensary during World War I. Her sister Madge visits, bubbling about a mystery novel she’s just finished. Agatha hasn’t found any mysteries difficult enough for her; Madge challenges her. “If you’re so clever, why don’t you write a mystery of your own?” Agatha does just that, going to a hotel to seclude herself while she cooks up The Plot. Midway through her work, she is distracted by thoughts of her husband Archie, a pilot in the RAF, whom she is still madly, passionately in love with.
Seventeen year old Aimee Kennedy has been dragged by her mother to a church service. Aimee is not a believer; she heckles the preacher (a handsome Irishman named Robert Semple.) He calls her to the altar, where she is suddenly spellbound (The Heat.) The song flashes forward: Aimee is now a preacher herself. She tells those listening how she and Robert journeyed together as missionaries, until he was struck down by a fatal fever. Now she travels alone as an evangelist and faith healer. She concludes by laying hands upon an ailing woman, healing her.
Aimee’s mother, Minnie (played by Agatha), has been watching from the shadows. She has come to bring Aimee home, and demands that she stop all this foolishness. Aimee turns her powers of persuasion on her mother, convincing her to come with her on her travels. Minnie is skeptical, but she can’t resist Aimee’s zeal.
Amelia is giving a lecture about her trans-Atlantic flight. She is besieged by reporters, who all want to know one thing: How Do You Do It? She reminds them that she didn’t really do anything – she was only a passenger – but no one seems to listen. She runs from interview, to product endorsement (“Amelia Earhart drinks Horlick’s Malted Milk!”) to lecture, and back again. She manages to grab a few spare moments to fly, exalting in the freedom and solitude. The demands of promoting herself grow greater and greater, leaving her no time to polish her somewhat shaky piloting skills. Finally, she comes in an embarrassing third in the Women’s Air Race; the reporters watching the race dub her Lady Lindy, Queen of the Flops. Amelia vows to live up to her reputation, and fly the Atlantic on her own.
Aimee is driving across the country, preaching under makeshift tents in small town after small town. (On the Way) The song follows her as her fame grows, until finally she is preaching to enormous crowds in her own temple.
Agatha takes the stage as she finally finishes her book (The Plot, Part II.) She is at home with her husband Archie, who opens a letter from her publisher. For her first book, she has received the not-so-grand sum of 25 pounds. She vows that writing one book was quite enough – all that effort for so little return! The rest of the mail is overdue bills -- the couple are in over their heads financially. Archie tries to broach the subject of selling Ashfield, Agatha’s childhood home, where her mother still lives. She flies into a sudden rage at the idea, and Archie backs down. Making amends, Agatha wonders if she mightn’t be able to get a bit more money if she wrote a second book. Archie helpfully suggests she write a best-seller.
“It’s a best seller!” reporters cry as Agatha squints in the glare of photographer’s lights. She has achieved sudden fame, but doesn’t know quite what to do with it.
We see all three dealing with the consequences of their rise to prominence: Agatha wrangles with her publisher; Aimee starts broadcasting her own radio show, flirting with her newly hired handsome radio engineer, Kenneth Ormiston; Amelia prepares to fly the Atlantic solo, dealing with rumors that she has become involved with G.P. We see Agatha on the phone with Archie late one night; she is writing late into the night while he stays at the office. Meanwhile, Aimee, burning the midnight oil, becomes dangerously close to Kenneth. (Mysterious Affair.) Amelia presents G.P with a letter on their wedding day, laying out her conditions for undertaking marriage:
You must know again my reluctancy to marry, my feeling that I shatter thereby chances in work which means so much to me.
In our life together I shall not hold you to any medieval code of faithfulness to me, nor shall I consider myself bound to you similarly.
I may have to keep some place where I can go to be myself now and then, for I cannot guarantee to endure at all times the confinements of even an attractive cage.
I must extract a cruel promise, and that is you will let me go in a year if we find no happiness together.
Meanwhile, Aimee is taking on a saucy, sexy new public image, as she teases reporters trailing her around nighttime Los Angeles, breaking into speakeasies to preach to the nightclub dwellers.
We next see a frustrated Amelia doing take after take of her newsreel-filmed goodbye to G.P. (now her husband) until the photographers can get it right. (Adventure, Spectacle, Mystery Reprise) But upon Amelia’s triumphant return, all the reporters can ask is: what’s next? She vows that she will fly around the world.
“What’s next? What’s next?” Agatha asks herself as she worries out loud how she can top herself after writing seven successful books. She unburdens herself to Nancy Neele, a weekend guest who has become Archie’s golfing partner. All three sit down to tea, although Agatha is fluttery and distracted; she leaps up when she is struck by an idea for a plot, and hurries into the house. Archie reassures Nancy that Agatha knows nothing of their affair.
Minnie marches Aimee down the hallway of the bustling Angelus Temple, the seat of Aimee’s evangelical empire. Business is booming, but Aimee is stretched to the breaking point. She dashes away to the quiet of the radio room, where her wise-cracking engineer Kenneth tries to take her mind off things. She clings to him, needing some escape. He backs away; she is crestfallen, realizing how she misinterpreted the feeling between them.
Agatha joins her mother, Clara (played by Amelia), for tea. Clara exclaims that Agatha must be so excited to travel abroad with Archie; Agatha, tense and withdrawn, says dully that Archie has cancelled the trip. Clara can sense that something is wrong, but Agatha guards her secrets.
Amelia is railing at her mother, who has given yet another damaging interview, criticizing Amelia in the papers. Her mother flatly remarks that Amelia isn’t herself.
She sings to Amelia, wondering if she’s doing the right thing. She worries – All Mothers Do. Amelia won’t listen; turning away, she becomes Clara, Agatha’s mother, who implores Agatha to confide in her. Agatha won’t listen, and turns away, becoming Minnie, Aimee’s mother. Together the three mothers sing to their daughters, worrying that they cannot protect them anymore. At the end of the song, Clara fades away, as Agatha receives word of her mother’s death.
Agatha, having to clear out the house and pack away all her mother’s things, is gradually losing her grip. Archie is sympathetic but finally snaps as Agatha is swallowed up by her depression.
Meanwhile, an overworked Aimee has a breakdown of her own during a radio broadcast. She dashes out of the studio, heading for the beach, trying to clear her head.
Amelia’s round-the-world flight has gotten off to a bad start as she botches the takeoff, wrecking her plane. She fights with G.P., who tells her that her navigator no longer has faith in her, and has quit. He tries to make her see that the flight has to be cancelled – even though will ruin them financially. She will not admit defeat; she decides to reverse the direction of the flight – a much more difficult endeavor – and says she will hire Fred Noonan as her navigator. G.P. is worried – Noonan is a drinker – but Amelia is unyielding. She calls in the reporters.
In the midst of this, Agatha finds a letter from Archie; he admits to his affair with Nancy. They are staying with friends for the weekend – he cautions Agatha not to try to find him or make a scene. An enraged Agatha heads for her car.
Amelia’s flight has just started, but already there is trouble. The plane is overloaded; difficult decisions have to be made. The radio antenna – life rafts – parachutes – all of them are extra weight. Amelia has confidence they won’t be needed – Leave It Behind.
Aimee is at the beach, swimming to calm herself down. She only becomes more and more agitated. Agatha is driving through the night, pursuing Archie, seething. Amelia is heading for a rendezvous with the U.S.S. Itasca on the last leg of her flight, but it is nowhere to be seen. Aimee disappears into the water; Agatha disappears down the deserted road; and Amelia disappears into thin air.As Act Two begins, Agatha is back at her typewriter. She begins typing out Amelia’s saga again, only to rip the paper from the machine in frustration. We learn that the three of them have been playing and replaying each others’ life stories, as Agatha rewrote and reworked their plots – only to come to the same end every time – vanishing, and arriving in the Vanishing Point together.
Aimee has had enough – she wants to play the game her way. She begins to re-play a scene where Kenneth raises the fantasy of running off to Mexico together. Only this time, Aimee takes his keys (and her mother’s purse) and drives off – she’s now a Lady on the Lam. She dreams of escaping to a deserted beach, and stopping for a day of blessed relaxation, before resuming a thrilling fugitive’s life on the road – no responsibility, nothing to tie her down.
Agatha is thunderstruck – of course! She never imagined that they could simply make wildly different choices in the maze they’ve found themselves trapped in. She fantasizes inviting Archie and Nancy for Afternoon Tea – tea brewed with a lovely mixture of poisons, of course.
Take strychnine in your oolong
And the seizures won’t last too long
And of course lapsang souchong
Can disguise a bitter taste.
Sip belladonna with Darjeeling
And soon you’ve lost all feeling
And you’re staring at the ceiling.
Ha, ha! Your tea was laced.
Now that Aimee and Agatha have each found a scene to replay, it’s Amelia’s turn. She revisits her choice to set off on her round-the-world flight, but pushes stubbornly onward, not changing anything. Agatha asks, “When were you going to do something different?” “This is different,” Amelia replies through gritted teeth. “This time I’m going to make it!” Aimee tries to intervene. “That’s not how it works.” Amelia is ready to snap. “How does it work?” She finally vents about all the conflicting forces that have brought her to this point. (Vanity and Gravity.)
Seeing Amelia drained and dejected, Aimee responds gently, singing a lullaby of sorts, asking the question that they’ve been asked time and time again: How Do You Do It?
How do you do it? Do what you do?
What are you thinking? What makes you you?
The one thing that makes you, breaks you, too.
Got to get to it and do what you do...
Aimee’s healing touch has filled Amelia with new resolve. She revisits her favorite moment – the time she flew her new plane, with no other responsibilities or demands other than just flying.
Keep it level, pull back slowly
Then climb ... climb ... climb...!
The other two climb aboard, and Amelia pilots them into the sky: a perfect flight. They soar above the world, on a journey to every fantastical destination they’ve ever imagined: Atlantis ... Avalon ... the Amazon. (Point A.)
Stepping back onto terra firma after their flight, Agatha comes to a simple and sobering realization: she must leave Archie. The choice is up to her. (The Solution.) The three realize that this basic truth applies to all of them. They find themselves transported back to their lives ... facing crowds of reporters clamoring for an answer to an obvious question: Where have you been??!
They regroup at the Vanishing Point. What will they tell everyone? They hadn’t considered this.
Agatha is in her element: she concocts a convincing “alibi” for each of them to use: kidnapping! Amnesia! A secret spy mission! (Red Herrings)
With their cover stories in place, the trio return to the world. Agatha is ready to face Archie; Aimee basks in the adoration of her congregation; and Amelia gets the ticker-tape parade of a lifetime. When someone asks her, “What’s next?” she replies that she’s through with flying – at last she has years and years to catch up on all the things she’s never had time to do.
We flash forward to 1958: it’s thirty years since Amelia crossed the Atlantic as a passenger on the Friendship flight. She is promoting her recently completed autobiography -- giving a lecture about the golden age of flight, when every takeoff was a test of courage. Now commercial aviation is well established: flying is safe, comfortable and routine.
After the lecture, Amelia packs up her things. One woman waits for her: Agatha. Amelia is caught by surprise – she had thought their adventures together in the Vanishing Point were simply a dream. Agatha examines Amelia’s autobiography. She wonders aloud ... some of her books, when they’re finished, go on a shelf and she never thinks about them again ... while with others, she always imagines different endings ... better endings.
At that, Amelia is moved: she realizes that the time she was most truly her essential self was when she was flying. (When I Am the Wind)
When I fly
I don’t care how much it costs.
I don’t care if my picture will be in the paper.
There’s nothing I want,
Nothing I need.
That’s when I am the wind.
Oh, when I fly,
I don’t care where I go.
There is no end in sight
When I am the wind.
Every part of me is working.
I feel nothing – and everything.
I move in all directions,
I forget about my senses,
A minute is forever.
It’s clear,
And I can finally see
When I am the wind.
All the heroes,
The saints and the seers,
The explorers and the creators,
Have this extraordinary passion.
We do not know what we’ll discover.
We can’t say where we’re going,
Or explain completely where we’ve been.
But our adventures give the world
Something to dream about,
Something to believe in.
And if one day
Someone looks to the stars
And wonders what she sees,
She’ll feel the breeze.
That’s when I am the wind.
The wind...
They are suddenly back in the Vanishing Point together: Aimee is with them. Agatha goes to the typewriter, and writes a new ending for Amelia.
“Amelia Earhart was never found ... I do not say she was lost, because she knew exactly where she was going ...”
They bid each other farewell (Finale) A flash of lights: Aimee and Agatha are home. Amelia has vanished ...
Our adventures give the world
Something to dream about,
Something to believe in.
Believe in...
Adventure ...
Spectacle...
... mystery.