History Theatre / TheYellowWallpaper

! ''The Yellow Wallpaper'' contains examples of:

* AdaptationDistillation: The adaptation reduces the time scope of the musical and John's role quite a bit. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] because the musical is only 10 minutes long.

* AdaptationalHeroism: [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]]: John was more cold in the book, in a way that might make it seem as though he's controlling Charlotte rather than helping her get better. This was largely cut.

* BabiesMakeEverythingBetter: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]]. Charlotte suffers from post-partum depression, which causes John to order her to bedrest in the first place.

* DoubleMeaning: In Long Yellow Night, Charlotte wonders if she can call the pattern of the wallpaper a pattern at all. This doubles as both a CallBack to The Wallpaper Song and her thinking the pattern is created of a woman in the wallpaper.

* TheFourChordsOfPop: Unusual for such a dissonant soundtrack, but they show up in Long Yellow Night, though moved around a bit. It's shifted to IV, I, V, vi[[note]] or VI, III, VII, i in the key of E flat minor[[/note]] as opposed to I, V, vi, IV.
* HystericalWoman: [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed]], John says her condition is hysteria when she starts off sane, but as she gets worse and worse, John claims she's getting better.

** John's chord, first played in John Knows Best, plays whenever John talks.

* MadnessMantra: At the end of The Wallpaper Song, Charlotte repeats, over and over, "[[ParanoiaFuel what is the paper hiding?]]"

* PatterSong: A Long Yellow Night is definitely this, with its fast (almost 300 beats per minute) tempo and quick and dense wording.
* PunctuatedForEmphasis: On the last day of Seven Days, Charlotte, instead of belting "''___ day!!''", she just says "One. Day."
* RepriseMedley: Seven Days reprises John Knows Best, The Wallpaper Song, and Long Yellow Night.
* RhymesOnADime: Largely [[AvertedTrope averted]]. Charlotte almost never rhymes, and when she does, it's broken up between multiple lyrics.
* SanitySlippageSong: A Long Yellow Night and Seven Days depict her downward spiral in her time trapped in the room.
* TheSomethingSong: The Wallpaper Song.

* UncommonTime: A Long Yellow Night is in 5/8 time.

--> '''Charlotte:''' Don't those look like eyes?

-> What is the paper hiding?

* {{Motif}}:
** The yellow wallpaper motif, a series of descending, dissonant notes that clash with each other, and usually the key they're in.
** The garden motif, an inverse of the yellow wallpaper motif and representative of her longing for the garden.
** John's chord, first played in John Knows Best, plays whenever John talks.

* TheFourChordsOfPop: Unusual for such a dissonant soundtrack, but they show up in Long Yellow Night, though moved around a bit. It's shifted to IV, I, V, vi (or VI, III, VII, i in the key of E flat minor) as opposed to I, V, vi, IV.

* DoubleMeaning: In The Wallpaper Song, Charlotte wonders if she can call the pattern of the wallpaper a pattern at all. This doubles as both a CallBack to The Wallpaper Song and her thinking the pattern is created of a woman in the wallpaper.

* DissonantSerenity: After the dissonant blur of notes that ended Seven Days, one of the most tense numbers of the show, Finale starts, and everything is eerily calm. There's soft piano accompaniment as Charlotte stands, beaming, in the center of the room, which is now covered in yellow wallpaper.

* AuthorAvatar: Charlotte is a stand-in for author Charlotte Perkins Gilman.
** Gilman went through a similar experience, being told by a doctor to cure her depression by living as domestic a life as possible by avoiding creative endeavors that may be "exhausting" for a frail woman.
** The ending has [[AuthorAvatar Charlotte]] commit suicide as a result of the wallpaper. Charlotte Perkins Gilman, author of the original short story, also committed suicide.