Line #84 Theatre/TuckEverlasting


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/81dhbjy9xl_sy355.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350: Does the story end, or never end? Does it fade...or is it everlasting?]]
3	->''"Don't be afraid of death, Winnie. Be afraid of not being truly alive. You don't need to live forever. You just need to live."''
4	-->--'''Angus Tuck''', "The Wheel"
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6	Tuck Everlasting is a musical written by Chris Miller, based on the [[Literature/TuckEverlasting 1975 novel of the same name]]. It opened at Broadhurst Theatre on April 26, 2016. Despite having positive reviews, the show closed on May 29, 2016, after only 39 shows. Nevertheless, the show has a relatively large fandom for its short run, as well as several award nominations.
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8	The story takes place in Treegap, New Hampshire, in 1893. 11-year-old Winnie Foster, tired of sitting at home all day, decides to run away from her [[MyBelovedSmother overprotective mother and grandmother]] and explore the woods, where she meets a family of immortals. Each of the members of the Tuck family has a different perspective about their immortality. The youngest, Jesse, [[LivingForeverIsAwesome loves the adventures his immortality enables him to have]] but wants a companion; his brother Miles is [[WhoWantsToLiveForever miserable because of what his immortality cost him]]; their mother Mae finds joy in reminiscing but struggles to be happy in the present; and their father Angus is content enough but simply wishes to return to the normal cycle of life. Winnie must decide whether or not to join the Tucks in their immortality. Meanwhile, [[NoNameGiven The Man in the Yellow Suit]] is near to discovering the secret of said immortality, which [[ImmortalitySeeker he has dedicating his life to finding]] for [[ImmortalityImmorality his own gain]].
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10	----
11	!!The musical provides examples of:
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14	* AdaptationExpansion: Many key elements of the plot did not exist in the original book, such as the traveling fair.
15	* AgeLift: A very minor one. Winnie is 11 instead of 10, most likely to fit in the rhyme scheme of "Good Girl Winnie Foster."
16	* TheApprentice: Hugo to the Constable, who views him as a BumblingSidekick.
17	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Winnie decides not to drink from the spring to join Jesse in immortality. The Tucks discover her gravestone and know she lived a happy, normal life. Jesse takes her frog along with him as a traveling companion.]]
18	* BrightIsNotGood: Yellow is normally [[GoodColorsEvilColors a color with good-guy associations]]. The Man in the Yellow Suit, however...
19	* ChekhovsBoomerang: A toad Winnie finds inspires her to run away into Treegap Wood, which leads to her meeting the Tucks. Later, she re-encounters the toad and [[spoiler: pours the vial of spring water on it, making it immortal instead of her]].
20	* ChekhovsGun: Literally. Jesse's gun shows up when Winnie first arrives at the Tucks' house, and later is used by [[spoiler: Mae in a MamaBear moment]] to [[spoiler: [[PistolWhipping pistol whip]] the Man in the Yellow Suit who is holding Winnie hostage, killing him.]]
21	* CluelessDetective: The Constable and Hugo only find Winnie after the danger has subsided, and believe the lies they are told about what happened while she was gone.
22	* CompleteImmortality: The Tucks.
23	** They also [[NighInvulnerable can't be hurt]].
24	-->'''Jesse''': "Ma, where's my rifle? [[SelfMutilationDemonstration Winnie can shoot me]]!"
25	* DarkReprise: The song was already somber on its own, but "The Wheel (Reprise)" is a lot sadder as the Tucks visit [[spoiler: Winnie's grave years later.]]
26	* DeathSeeker: It is implied that Miles is this.
27	-->'''Jesse''': ''I survived a free-fall, he survived [[CrypticBackgroundReference much worse]]!''
28	-->'''Miles''': ''Shut up Jesse!''
29	--> --"The Story of the Tucks"
30	* EvilIsHammy: The Man in the Yellow Suit ''makes a living'' being hammy.
31	** His VillainSong, "Everything's Golden," is of course a reference to his [[VillainousFashionSense signature yellow getup]].
32	* EvilOldFolks: The Man in the Yellow Suit, who has been searching for the spring since his youth and is now in his sixties.
33	* ExpositionOfImmortality: The prologue takes place in 1808, when the Tucks drink from [[ImmortalityInducer a spring]] in Treegap Wood. After a TimeSkip, we see that they have not aged.
34	* FantasyKeepsake: After [[spoiler: the Tucks see Winnie's gravestone]] Jesse picks up the toad that had led her to him and [[spoiler: she had poured the vial of immortality water he gave her to drink at seventeen on]] and puts it in his knapsack to bring with him on future adventures.
35	* FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling: Jesse is fun, adventurous, and impulsive, while Miles is serious, laidback, and respectful.
36	-->'''Miles''': I see you're still playing in trees.
37	-->'''Jesse''': I see you still [[TheStoic can't take a joke]].
38	* FriendlessBackground: Winnie and Jesse
39	-->'''Winnie''': ''[I'd] ask a friend to play/if I had one to let in.''
40	--> --"Good Girl Winnie Foster"
41	-->'''Jesse''': ''But because of my predicament... I'm a one man operation.''
42	--> --"Partner in Crime"
43	* FriendshipSong: "Partner In Crime," sung by Winnie and Jesse at the fair.
44	* HeKnowsTooMuch: Well, she-- when Mae and Miles find out Winnie knows that there's a special spring, they kidnap her and bring her back to their house so they can explain in full.
45	** Jesse had just asked of them, "[[ImTakingHerHomeWithMe can we keep her?]]" Well, he got what he wished for
46	* HostageForMacGuffin: The Man in the Yellow Suit holds Winnie hostage twice, the second more literal than the first.
47	** He gets the Fosters to sell Treegap Wood to him in exchange for him bringing Winnie back.
48	** He grabs and threatens to shoot Winnie to get the Tucks to show him the location of the spring.
49	* HotOnHisOwnTrail: In "Hugo's First Case (Part 2)," Hugo thinks his footprints are those of a suspect before realizing they're his.
50	* HowDadMetMom - "My Most Beautiful Day"
51	* IAmSong - "Good Girl Winnie Foster"
52	* LiteralMinded: A number of the Constable and Hugo's comedic moments rely on this:
53	** Hugo takes the phrase "leave no stone unturned" to mean that he should start looking under rocks for clues.
54	** When Hugo says the Man in the Yellow Suit is "fabricating," the Constable thinks he means "[[AccidentalPun fabric hating]]," which clearly can't be the case since he bought the suit.
55	* MagicRealism: Treegap is a normal in every way except the Tucks and the magic spring they stumbled upon.
56	* MayflyDecemberFriendship: Winnie and Jesse
57	** Jesse wants Winnie to drink from the spring when she's [[Bittersweet17 seventeen like him]] so they can [[EternalLove be married "partners in crime" forever]]. In the end, [[spoiler: Winnie does not.]]
58	* MeaningfulEcho: In the finale, Jesse sings lines from "The Wheel," a song originally sung by Angus about the circle of life, as he accepts that [[spoiler: Winnie is dead, and they will not be immortal partners in crime [[FondMemoriesThatCouldHaveBeen like he had wanted]]]].
59	* MelancholyMusicalNumber: Miles sings "Time," a TroubledBackstoryFlashback about his wife and son Thomas who [[spoiler: abandoned him after his wife noticed Miles wasn't aging and suspected him of making a DealWithTheDevil. Thomas grew up while Miles [[OutlivingOnesOffspring remained in his 20s]]. ]]
60	** He is prompted to talk about Thomas, which he never does, when he sees Winnie [[ClothingSwitch wearing some of Thomas' old clothes]].
61	** In the musical, Miles only has a son, whereas in the original he also had [[AdaptedOut a daughter]].
62	* MyBelovedSmother: Winnie's mother, partially because...
63	* MyParentsAreDead: The Tucks are mourning the death of [[PosthumousCharacter Winnie's father]] at the beginning of the show.
64	* NostalgicMusicBox: Mae has a music box that Winnie and The Man in the Yellow Suit's grandmothers know the tune to. When Winnie and Mae [[spoiler: part ways, Mae gives Winnie the music box to remember them by. Its melody is heard in The Story of Winnie Foster towards the end of Winnie's life]].
65	* OpeningBallet: Inverted; the show ''ends'' with a ballet, showing [[WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue how the rest of the Winnie's life plays out]].
66	* OpeningChorus: "Live Like This," which also serves as an IWantSong.
67	* PersonWithTheClothing: The Man in the Yellow Suit
68	* PhilosophicalChoiceEndings: The core decision of the show: should Winnie drink from the spring and become immortal, or live out a normal human life?
69	* PluckyComicRelief: Hugo, and by extension the Constable.
70	* PluckyGirl: Winnie Foster
71	* QuarrelingSong: In "The Story of the Tucks," Mae, Miles, and Jesse each try to tell their version of the story behind their immortality.
72	* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: All of the Tucks. Jesse is 102 but looks 17, and Miles is 107 but looks 22. Angus and Mae's ages are unknown, but it can be assumed they are at least 125.
73	* RepulsiveRingmaster: The Man in the Yellow Suit runs a traveling fair as a front for his search for immortality.
74	* RunningGag: Many characters make fun of the Man in the Yellow Suit's outfit.
75	* SecretTest: A minor one, played comedically:
76	--> '''Constable''': This being your first missing person's case, I recommend you keep your eyes open and your mouth closed. Shall we practice?
77	--> '''Hugo''': No I think I got it.
78	-->'''Constable''': That was a test, you just failed it.
79	* ScatterbrainedSenior: Winnie's grandmother.
80	* StumbledIntoThePlot: Winnie follows a toad into the wood, where she meets Jesse and gets herself involved by trying to drink from the spring.
81	* SummonBackupDancers: The ensemble serves this purpose.
82	* TheVillainSucksSong: "You Can't Trust a Man" sung by the Constable and Hugo, in which they cite reasons he's ObviouslyEvil.
83	* TitleTheAdaptation/AllMusicalsAreAdaptations: Tuck Everlasting: The Musical
84	* WhoWantsToLiveForever: The Tucks feel this way about immortality. Jesse seems to avert this [[spoiler:at first, but it's revealed that even he feels like he's "doing a life sentence”.]]
85	* WorkInfoTitle: Three songs titles begin with "[[TheLegendOfX The Story of]] _____." See [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming/Music Idiosyncratic Episode Naming]].
86	** "The Story of the Tucks"
87	** "The Story of the Man in the Yellow Suit"
88	** "The Story of Winnie Foster"
89	*** This is also an AgeProgressionSong and instrumental RepriseMedley

Context Theatre / TuckEverlasting