Celestival Synopsis

 
 

Madame Mula welcomes folks as they enter Celestival, a magical festival dedicated to celebrating the stars and their mysterious powers. She reminds them that tonight is a special night because Theila is returning after 50 years! Celestival is bursting with excitement: carnival games, street food, freakshows, performers’ tents, and the old House of Mirrors, the least popular attraction at Celestival. Enter Yuka: a seemingly normal festival-goer, but is actually insanely bored with the hopelessness of life.
 

Yuka enters Joy’s tent. Joy is a delightful clown who's always on the verge of a mental breakdown.  She's also highly empathetic, and reflects the emotions of those around her. So, if her audience is laughing, she is too. But, if someone's crying, Joy can't stop her own tears from falling as well. Yuka, out of a strange impulse, walks on stage  and takes a huge bite out of one of Joy’s juggling apples. The crowd is shocked: who does that? Joy breaks down onstage, and Iris, the youngest Celestival employee, is forced onstage 3 hours earlier than planned. Iris attempts to entertain the audience with her sweet love song and even sweeter voice. Almost fairytale-like, it’s love at first sight when Iris lays eyes on Yuka. At the end of her act, she and Yuka share a romantic moment, and Iris suddenly leaves to tell Madame Mula, the owner and mother-figure of Celestival, that she has fallen in love for the first time. Yuka follows Iris backstage to try to return her necklace, but walks in on Soleia performing a complicated spell. Soleia is standing in the middle of a demon summoning circle and Joy, her best friend is right by her side. Soleia attempts to bring her parents back from the dead (yet again) and fails (yet again). Suddenly spotting the intruder, Soleia impulsively poofs Yuka into the House of Mirrors. 
 

In the House of Mirrors, Yuka notices a mysterious voice calling for help. Yuka, finding there’s nothing better to do, ventures further into the House of Mirrors. Here she meets Pandora. Pandora at first tries to lure Yuka into performing the switchual, but Yuka is too smart. They ask what she's really up to, and Pandora surrenders, telling all. Yuka asks her to enjoy Celestival together; maybe Pandora can enjoy life through a mirror. Yuka takes her around the fair and they both end up enjoying life, which hasn’t happened in a VERY long time.
 

Iris tells Madame Mula that she’s fallen in love and wants to leave Celestival. Mula is taken aback but doesn’t stop her. Instead, Mula is inspired by it, but would never reveal her true feelings to Iris: she wants to leave this wretched business life and start again. Iris sees Yuka talking to a hand-held mirror. Yuka is playing games with it, dancing, and even sharing cotton candy! Iris then remembers what Madame Mula always told her: stay out of the House of Mirrors, child. There is a spirit that roams among the realm of mirrors that is very dangerous. She’s out to kill. Iris decides the only thing to do to save her love is to attack the spirit at its source. She runs bravely into the House of Mirrors and starts smashing glass left and right. She shatters mirrors like there’s no tomorrow. Blood covers her hands and arms, and glass sparkles across the floor. She looks into the last mirror, tired and broken. She lifts her fist to shatter the final source of evil. And, staring into her reflection she asks, Why? Why go through this pain for someone who’s done nothing for me in return? Why fight for this one-sided love? She realizes that she doesn’t need Yuka to be happy. She only needs to love herself. 
 

Yuka and Pandora go to Shrew peak and are seen standing in the middle of an intricate star-shaped-circle. Yuka has agreed to perform the switchual. Both are a little unsure, but Pandora is desperate. After all, Theila won’t return for another 50 years, and by then it will be too late. Meanwhile, Soleia notices the strange aura coming from the woods and decides to check out the commotion. She hides as she watches Yuka and Pandora grasp hands just as Theila is over head. Without time to think twice, they commence the switchual.

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~   End of Act I   ~

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Theila the comet has passed over Celestival now and a new day begins. However, Iris and Joy cannot find Madame Mula who has opened the Celestival for the last 50 years. Soleia is also missing which only triggers more panic for the girls. Joy decides to wing the opening ceremony, and performs a comedy act entirely off the top of her head. Iris sees Joy struggling to keep going when the audience becomes uninterested, so Iris does the only thing she can think of: she brings out the jazz version of her song. Instead of the regular lyrics however, Iris decides to change them to make a love song to herself as a way to express her growth from her night in the House of Mirrors. The crowd loves it, and Iris has never been more honest in her singing. Joy and Iris then get back to searching the grounds for each of the missing girls, but end up finding something more shocking: Mula with a briefcase in the attic of her office. 

 

Mula shares with the girls that she has been unhappy with her life. Mula still appreciates the family brought together from Celestival, but her obsession with money has taken its toll on her spirit. The business life was never for her, so she decides to leave Celestival for good. Iris and Joy are a bit saddened, but understand Mula’s decision. Mula kisses the girls goodbye on their foreheads, and sets off on her journey to find a new happy ending.

 

The quiet atmosphere is suddenly destroyed when a large crash is heard from the Soleia’s tent. Sparks shower from the sky as the girls enter the tent, following the noise. Inside, they witness Yuka’s body in a cage, Pandora’s spirit inside Yuka’s body, and Soleia hovering vengefully above it all. Soleia spits out insulting names while Pandora (inside of Yuka’s body) tries to explain that she has done nothing wrong. Soleia then reveals that her powers were given to her by a voice in the house of mirrors. The voice cannot belong to anyone but Pandora herself. Soleia then moves on to explain the terrors that the cursed powers have given her. She states that her parents are dead because she accidentally killed them using the magic Pandora transferred to her all those years ago. Pandora slowly starts to recall her interaction with a little girl when she was fearful that she might not find someone in time for Theila's return. The switchual only gave a drop of the powers Pandora had from herself, but it was just enough to do irreversible damage in Soleia’s life. Soleia, overflowing with rage, launches towards Yuka to repay the favor of ruining her family, when a shout is heard from a familiar voice that stops Soleia dead in her tracks. 

 

Joy, worried for her best friend, starts reasoning with her that by hurting Pandora (inside Yuka’s body), she will only enforce the monstrous idea Soleia has run from all her life. Soleia never wanted to be seen as a murderer, and regretted her actions every day of her life since her parents’ death. Soleia slowly fades back into the reality of the scene, and realizes that Joy is right. She also notices that Joy is not vengeful, or regretful, or anything like her feelings from before. Joy is expressing her own feelings for the first time in her life. Joy and Soleia walk away from the scene, hand in hand, and ready to make Celestival a new, wonderful place. 

 

Pandora on the other hand, crawls out of her cage with a familiar feeling of loneliness that she has felt for the last 50 years. Her hands, her body, her mind-- are nothing like her. She realizes that the switchual was a move made out of pure greed for life, and fear of the inevitable. The only person she ever really cared about is gone because of her own hand. To top it all off, Pandora feels more regret than ever for taking Yuka’s life when she should have accepted her own fate. She is left to reflect on herself with a feeling of dissatisfaction and grief. 

 

One year later, the Celestival opens for the public with a new and exciting take on how guests can experience the best day of their lives. Soleia and Joy sing their own version of the opening while crowds of people flood into the magical grounds of the festival. Iris has been traveling the world and singing for everyone she can, from a village’s baby shower to a King and Queen's wedding. Mula has already embarked on many adventures following her resignation from Celestival, and is now sailing across the Atlantic on her trusty ship, Celestia. She was recently captured by Pirates on her way through the South China Sea, but don’t worry, she’s tougher than she looks. Joy still tells her cheesy jokes and Soleia continues to entertain guests with her magic tricks, despite her real magic fading after battling Pandora. Celetival couldn’t be better, and with the renovation of the House of Mirrors, rumors started spreading that a female ghost haunts the 2nd floor, and will guide you out if you are lost. With so much excitement and enjoyment in Celstival, it seems like even the stars are smiling down at the wonderful place.

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~   The End   ~