Breathe in, breathe out, move on
Escape to Margaritaville is a Jukebox Musical using songs written by Jimmy Buffett, with a book by Greg Garcia and Mike O’Malley. The show includes some of Buffet’s most popular songs, as well as “Three Chords,” an original song written for the show.The show takes place at the Margaritaville hotel and bar, a run down resort on an island in the Caribbean. Tully Mars is a part-time singer, fully content to live his life through a series of flings with tourists, until he meets Rachel, a career-focused tourist who changes his worldview.
The show premiered at the La Jolla Playhouse in 2017, and ran on Broadway at the Marquis Theatre in 2018, closing that same year. A non equity tour began its run in 2019.
Escape to Margaritaville contains examples of the following:
- Arc Words: Tully's motto, "Breathe in, breathe out, move on," which Rachel ends up adopting for herself as she learns to relax.
- Audience Participation: The song "Why Don't We Get Drunk," involves some audience participation, as JD promises Marley that he won't say the word "screw," but remarks that the 'tourists' might feel the urge to chime in and finish the lyric for him.
- Babies Ever After: Two of the shows couples end up with children by the end of the show. After a time skip, Tammy and Brick have a baby, who can be heard offstage, and at Tully and Rachel's wedding, Marley reveals that she had a child with JD.
- Big Finale Crowd Song: One Particular Harbor is the final song of the show, involving the entire cast as the guests at Tully and Rachel's wedding.
- Brick Joke:
- In the first scene, Tully tries to break off a fling with a tourist, trying to signal for Brick to call a shuttle to send that week's tourists home and end their conversation. Once she leaves, he tells Brick that he should have ended the conversation when she said "we should keep in touch". Later, when Tully is talking to Rachel at the end of her vacation, he tells her that they should keep in touch, cuing Brick to announce the shuttle to the ferry, ending their conversation prematurely.
- Early in the show, Tammy jokes that Rachel won't sleep with a man until she knows the name of his fourth grade teacher. Later in the show, she asks Tully the name of his fourth grade teacher, revealing her feelings for him.
- BSoD Song: Margaritaville starts as one of these, as Tully and Brick mourn the fact that Rachel and Tammy have left the island, and their relationships are seemingly over.
- The Casanova: Tully starts off as one of these, regularly having short-term relationships with women who visit Margaritaville, to the point that he can't keep their names straight.
- Cell Phones Are Useless: Margaritaville has no wifi, and the island doesn't get any cell reception, making the tourists' cell phones useless.
- Chekhov's Volcano: The volcano on the island is mentioned a few times, although Tully reassures Rachel and Tammy that it hasn't erupted since 1964, so they have no reason to be worried. Of course, it erupts at the end of Act I.
- Dance of Romance: "Son of a Son of a Sailor" has Tully and Rachel dancing, getting closer and closer as the song progresses, reflecting their becoming closer to one another.
- High-Powered Career Woman: Rachel is completely focused on her work as a scientist in order to create a clean energy source. She struggles to put away her job, even while on vacation on a tropical island.
- Jukebox Musical: Every song in the musical is taken from Jimmy Buffet's discography (with the exception of "Three Chords," which was written for the show).
- Love Confession: Tully confesses his feelings towards Rachel at Tammy's wedding, trying to convince her to give up her life and move to an island with him in the song "Tin Cup Chalice". She turns him down, unwilling to abandon her goals. Several years later, she gives her own confession, which he accepts.
- Sympathetic Adulterer: Tammy and Brick flirt during her stay at Margaritaville, even though she is engaged to Chadd. She's treated sympathetically for this, as Chadd is dismissive and rude towards her, shaming her for her weight. Additionally, she and Brick don't go any further than flirting.
- Wedding Finale: The show ends with the wedding between Rachel and Tully.
- Wrong-Name Outburst: In an early scene, Tully mistakenly calls a short term fling, Heather, by the name Jennifer. She doesn't seem to mind.
