#kfdsongs

[liljakonvalj]

I thought I'd start out with a brief summarization if the story. I plan to use this as a index of kind as well. (This is basically translated from the lyrics booklet because I'm not good at summarising).

Just a few notices: I've never actually seen this musical, despite having been in love with it for over 10 years, so if i get anything wrong please tell me :)

This will be based on the swedish version, and based around the official CD recording. Some songs are called different names in the CD and the musical, but I'll use the CD names here in the index and specify for each song if it does have a different name in the musical.

I'll use both the little booklet that came with the CDs and a booklet with the lyrics for audiences that was printed for the show when it was put up in Stockholm 1998.

Story act 1

We are in the 19th century and Nils has been spending the last 25 years struggling with removing rocks from his farm, Korpamoen in Småland, when one day a rock falls on him, shattering his hip and leg. He can no longer farm the land and his eldest son, Karl Oskar, who is barely of age, convinces him to sell him the farm. Karl Oskar knows having a farm is not a one man job and sets out to meet the person he has in mind (Prolog).

Kristina from Duvemåla sits on her swing and dreams of her beau, Karl Oskar. She sing about the road she knows him to walk towards her and their meeting place (Duvemåla hage). When Karl Oskar comes he tells her of his new investment and proposes to her. They wed at Duvemåla (Min lust till dig).

Karl Oskar's younger brother - Robert the dreamer - is sent off by his parents to serve as a farmhand at another, bigger, farm. During his walk to his new employer and home he stops by a brook and thinks that as the brook long for the ocean he longs for freedom in the New World (Ut mot ett hav).

The first two years go well for Kristina and Karl Oskar. But during the third year all crop is drowned in rain and the fourth year's crop is ruined by drought. It's hard to feed the growing family and Karl Oskar longs for a nation where wheat rises high on the fields, not like it is at home where he constantly has to struggle (Missväxt).

Robert comes to Karl Oskar and Kristina. His master has given him a hard beating and he wants to get his inheritance so he can leave for North America. Karl Oskar is happy to announce he too have gone with similar thoughts, but Kristina stops their plans (Nej).

Kristina's uncle Danjel holds a forbidden prayer congregation in his house (Lilla skara). They are found out by the authorities who forbid them from meeting anymore, and they forbid Danjel from preaching (Aldrig).

Food is scarce and everyone is hungry. Kristina has birthed a new baby and gathers ingredients for "christeningporridge". The eldest daughter Anna discover the porridge, however, and cannot resist eating it. Starved as she is her stomach cannot handle the abundance of food as it bloats her stomach and she dies. Kristina despairs- she cannot keep her children safe even on dry land, maybe her husband is right in that they'll fare better crossing the ocean? (Kom till mig alla)

Kristina is terrified of the journey, she's never even seen the sea before, but Karl Oskar only sees possibilities. Joining them is Danjel, his family, Ulrika the local prostitute, her illegimate daughter Elin and Arvid the farmhand (Vi öppnar alla grindar).

The trip is terrible (Bönder på havet). Kristina discover she has lice and wrongfully accuses Ulrika as the one to blame (Löss). There are horrible storms and Kristina gets very sick with scurvy. Karl Oskar despairs at her bedside, afraid of losing her (Stanna, Begravning till Sjöss).

At last the emigrants reach New York. There they see people in beautiful clothes who pays them no mind (A Sunday in Battery Park). They are given an apple and Kristina remineses over the apples at home (Hemma).

The journey continues by boat and train by many days and nights (Från New York till Stillwater). One rainy night they are left at a dock with nowhere to go, but the baptist pastor Jackson shows up and invites them all to his house. The women are amazed of how well he takes care of them, as well as a woman might (Tänk att män som han kan finnas).

They reach the lake Ki-Chi-Saga where Karl Oskar and Kristina intend to build their new home (Kamfer och lavendel). But Robert and Arvid wants to travel to California and the gold fields to find their fortune, despite Karl Oskar's reservations (Drömmen om guld). Kristina gives birth once more and tells her baby of how it won't get to experience her homeland (Min astrakan).

Act 2

Kristina seems to be alone in being homesick (Överheten) but Karl Oskar sees how she feels and show her Anna's shoes and they remind them both why they left Sweden (Ljusa kvällar om våren).

It's Christmas and Karl Oskar and the children surprise Kristina with a new iron cast stove (Präriens drottning). Guests arrive to celebrate the holiday but the party ends with a row between Karl Oskar and the trapper Nöjd about who really is the owner of the lands (Vildgräs).

Robert returns from the gold fields a broken man and tells Kristina of how he has come to grips with his destiny (Jag har förlikat mig till slut) and how he lost Arvid (Guldet blev till sand). The money Robert gave Karl Oskar turn out to be counterfeit and he becomes furious with his brother (Wild cat money). Hurt by his brothers words and sickly Robert leaves. He stops by a brook and lie down to die (Ut mot ett hav).

Ulrika has had many suitors (Vill du inte gifta dej med mej). But she tells Kristina (Ett Herrans underverk) that she has decided upon the pastor Jackson and that she'll become a baptist like him (Down to the sacred wave).

Kristina suffers a miscarriage and the doctor says if she falls pregnant again she'll die (Missfall). For the first time in her life Kristina feels her faith crumble with doubt. How can God take away her child, her native land and now her husband (Du måste finnas)? After some time (Skördefest) she overcomes her doubts and resolves to put her life in God's hands (Här har du mig igen). She falls pregnant once more (Red Iron/Kära Herre, hjälp mig trösta). The other settlers flee for their lives from the war that breaks loose (Var hör vi hemma?) But Karl Oskar and Kristina remain. They've sent for apple seeds from back home. During its fourth year the flowers manages to survive the frost and just as the fruit becomes ripe Kristina dies (I gott bevar).