Blood Runs Cold

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Blood Runs Cold is a horror comedy musical with music and lyrics by Cassandra Quinn and a book by Julia Stafford & Tess Lyons. The show ran from June 10 to August 14, 2022 at the Fourth Wall Theater in Virginia. A cast album was released on August 29, 2022.

Synopsis

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Act One

Nora is an incredibly boring woman, having few hobbies and a lack of conversation skills, (“Boring”). At work, Nora’s coworker and neighbor, Melanie, tries to hold a conversation, but their conversation is so dry that she quickly gives up and finds another group of coworkers to talk to.

Nora spends her evening doing very little - watching tv, scrolling social media, and staring into space. A mysterious stranger knocks on her door, leaving a book on Nora’s doorstep. Nora recognizes the book as the diary of her wife, Iris, who passed away about a year ago. She sets the diary on a table, and leaves the room to make dinner. With no one in the room, the diary opens on its own. Over the next few days, strange and unexplainable things start to happen around Nora, much to the interest of her coworkers.

At Nora’s house, the diary once again opens on its own. As Nora approaches it, the ghost of Iris appears, revealing that she was causing the supernatural events in an attempt to communicate with her. Iris reminisces about their time together, and tells Nora that her diary contains a ritual that can bring her back to life (“From Beyond”).

Back at Nora’s office, Iris observes Nora’s coworkers, revealing that the ritual requires Nora to sacrifice someone in her place. She lists different people in the room, listing different reasons that Nora should pick them for her to possess (“All I Ask of You”). Paralyzed at the decision she is being asked to make, Nora resolves that the best way to move forward is to ignore Iris completely, neither going along with the ritual nor banishing her. However, her strange behavior the past few days has caught the attention of her coworkers, Adrian, Sam, and Taylor, who are unable to see Iris. The three speculate and gossip about Nora’s newfound character (“Something’s Up with Nora”).

Nora continues to ignore Iris, who gets more and more aggressive in her haunting, claiming that Nora is betraying her by ignoring her (“Blood Runs Cold”). Suddenly, Iris stops and quietly walks out of the house. The ground starts to shake, birds fall from the trees outside, and everything goes black.

Nora wakes up in an endless void, a space outside of time and space. Around her, unseen voices begin to comment on the story so far, lamenting that Nora has failed to be an interesting protagonist, ignoring Nora’s attempts to interject into the conversation. They say that they hoped that throwing her into a horror story would bring out some interesting element of her personality, but it didn’t. They begin to discuss who else in the story would make a more interesting protagonist (“The Voices from Beyond”).

Suddenly back in her house, Nora watches as every trace of Iris is erased from existence (“The Story Resets”) and Nora is reset back to her original, uninteresting self (“Boring (Reprise)”). Nora rushes to her office to see if a picture of Iris is still on her desk, arriving just in time to witness the mysterious stranger handing Melanie Iris’ diary.

Act Two

Adrian, Taylor, and Sam gossip about Melanie’s changed behavior after being given Iris’ diary (“Something’s Up With Melanie”). Nora watches as Iris repeats her exact story from before, telling Melanie that her diary contains a ritual that can bring her back to life (“From Beyond/All I Ask of You”).

Nora tries to continue her usual evening routine, but can’t focus knowing that Melanie is being subjected to the same haunting she experienced earlier. She struggles to decide whether to get involved and risk getting hurt, or stay out of Melanie’s story and let her suffer (“Comfort Zone”)

Melanie, followed by the spirit of Iris, approaches Adrian and attempts to convince him to come over to her house later (“Are You Free Tonight”). Nora attempts to intervene, but Iris holds her back for the duration of the conversation. Finally pushing past Iris, Nora injects herself into the conversation, boring Adrian enough that he leaves. Frustrated, Melanie brushes her off before Nora can warn her about the Voices from Beyond. Both Melanie and Nora reflect on what it is that they want, Melanie wants to complete the ritual, while Nora wants to save Melanie (“Whatever it Takes”).

At home, Nora hears sirens going past her house, and realizes that she has to act now before anyone else gets hurt. She resolves to stop Melanie and Iris, preparing for action (“Someone has to Try”).

Melanie has Taylor tied up in her basement, and begins the ritual, reading ancient texts from the diary (“The Ritual”) when she is interrupted by Nora, who entered through the unlocked front door. Nora takes the diary from Melanie and destroys it, permanently banishing Iris and ending the story. Melanie thanks Nora, and the three stand around awkwardly, noting how anticlimactically their story ended. The lights suddenly go out, and the Voices from Beyond begin to discuss the story once again. They note how her personality and motivations have developed over the past few days (“The Voices Return”). Realizing what they are planning, Nora begs them to leave her and her friends alone.

Nora is suddenly back home on her couch again. The mysterious stranger leaves Iris’ diary on her front porch. The story has begun once again, and Nora, with her newly found confidence, is trapped as the protagonist once again. Nora calls out to The Voices From Beyond as the diary opens once again (“The Story Resets/Finale”).

Original Principal Cast

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Character	Fourth Wall Theater
Nora	Devon Roland
Iris	Lydia Ann Burke
Adrian	Grayson MacDonald
Taylor	Juniper Shannon
Sam	Anjali Willis
Mysterious Figure	Jeremy A. Harmon

Musical Numbers

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Reception

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References

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