4. People Reprise I: “Breathe it IN”/5. Good Damage

Elsa Gustafson (understudy Vincent) - 2025 LIU Rehearsal

4. People Reprise 1: “breathe it in”

The first transitional song.  I was trying to emulate Sweeney Todd’s ballads that appear throughout the show.

This one shows my absolute love of video game music.  This is 1000% modeled after “Lava Reef Zone Act 2” from Sonic & Knuckles.

I loved the slow twisted tension of that song so much and it’s what I wanted this to feel like immediately.  The broken drum part at the beginning finally gets busy until we shift into a pre-prise of the next song.

5. Good Damage

The phrase “good damage” comes from BoJack Horseman, which I still think is one of the best-written shows ever made. In the episode, Diane has a breaking point and says “…that means all the damage I got isn’t good damage.  It’s just damage. I’ve got nothing out of it and all those years I was miserable was for nothing.”   

I wanted this song to argue back.

Maybe damage only becomes meaningless if you decide it is. Maybe all damage can be good damage, depending on what you do with it.

Mikey Di Graci (Jo Roulin) & Grace McNally (Gabrielle) - 2025 LIU

The song started as a folk idea…very Joni Mitchell. Sparse. Intimate. After a number of different versions…it slowly grew into something closer to a Pearl Jam–style power ballad. Bigger. Louder. More insistent.

We hear the line “Life comes, life goes. It has highs and lows. Not rhythmic or in rhyme…but uncontrollable prose.” for the first time here. It’s plainspoken on purpose. This is the truth Vincent needs, but isn’t ready to accept yet.

I liked the idea of placing it directly in front of her and letting her refuse it. The audience hears it. The show hears it. Vincent doesn’t.  At least not yet.