(Note: all are live recordings of community theater productions.)
From my first musical, Best Laid Plans, Warren and Steve convince their friend Bill to come with them to dinner at the home of Van Dyke Winery owner Henry Van Dyke, father of Warren’s girlfriend Pamela, in the song: “Saturday Night” .
In the following dinner scene from Best Laid Plans, Warren's friend Steve, interested in Pamela's sister Laura (he knows she's a recent runaway bride, but doesn't yet know why: her straight but secretly transvestite fiancee showed up at the wedding in a dress), attempts to impress Mrs. Van Dyke by telling her he just loves her dress. This sets off the sensitized Henry Van Dyke, then Mrs. Van Dyke, then Laura in, "He Said It". The scene ends when the cook inadvertently causes the butler a great deal of pain, which he handles with a stiff upper lip.
In the ensemble song "Serving Beer" from my second musical The Campaign, we see tabloid reporter Rebecca Tongue-Smith, accompanied by the Tabloid Girls: Tanya, Becky, and Cassandra, reporting on a Mason campaign event. Present are candidate Richard Mason, his fiancee Cathy, his sister Annabel, and Annabel’s amorous, cat-toting French butler Francois. Mid-way through, Robert Clairmont arrives to make a surprise announcement of his candidacy. His team: campaign manager and shoe salesman Sonny Babcock, ex-Navy friends of Bob’s: hypochondriac Fred, animal-phobic Book, Book’s wife Sophie, and the playful ghost of another Navy friend lost overboard at sea Pig.
In this scene we see Robert and Cathy wanting to reconnect, but afraid, in "I Don’t Know What To Do."
After speaking with campaign manager Sonny Babcock, Cathy believes now that despite all that has happened Robert does love her, and shows her happiness in "He Loves Me".
From The Accidental President (book and lyrics by Allan Provost, music by me John Dusenberry), a scene on a hot summer evening with President Millard Fillmore, his wife Abigail, and their children Powers and Mary singing about the current times in: "The Age of Invention."
In this scene we see Millard Fillmore not heeding Abigail's warning that he will lose re-election if he signs the Fugitive Slave Act.
After losing re-election, Millard and Abigail find themselves happy and content to have reached "Love’s Golden Age".
Millard, after Abigail has died, singing "How Lonesome This World Is".
Music by John Dusenberry 