The musical opens with a busy street scene, early morning; Market traders setting up their stalls, with their goods carefully covered from sight. Passers-by gather round gossiping, children bowling hoops, playing hop-scotch, etc. [Song: “MARKET DAY”].
The self - important Mayor, together with his cronies on the Town Council, appear to declare the Market open. The Mayor’s wife Eulalie gives him a hard time about his neglect of her interests. The citizens too are rude about his habits in the tavern, which persuades him and the council to leave the opening to an “underling” and depart for their civic (freebie) breakfast.
The “underling” – the Town Crier – declares the Market open, but when the traders reveal their wares, they find to their horror they’ve all been nibbled at by the rats that are plaguing Hamelin. Talk of the devil, the rats appear, and the crowd scatters. [Song: “RAT PACK”]. The rats, flushed with success, reveal their plans to take over first Hamelin, then the world, then exit.
[Reprise: “RAT PACK”].
The young Hamelin children enter, playing games – all except the lame Young Hans who can’t keep up, but is befriended and helped by young Heidi. They rebel against playing the game - “grown-ups”. [Song: “GROWN-UPS”.] Their parents enter and gather them up, still scared of the rats. When the Town Crier reveals the sumptuous civil breakfast the Mayor and Corporation have just had, ignoring the rat peril, the citizens decide to revolt. [Song: ”PEOPLE POWER”.]
Next we see the Council Chamber, where the Mayor and Corporation are sleeping off the heavy breakfast. The citizens invade the Chamber and demand action. The Mayor and Corporation panic, not knowing what to do, thinking they’ll be booted out of office, when there is a knock on the door and the Pied Piper enters. [Song: “TROUBLE-SHOOTER”.] He promises to get rid of the rats and the Mayor promises a reward of a thousand guilders. The Pied Piper invites everyone to step into the street with him. [Reprise: “TROUBLE-SHOOTER”.]
Outside in the street, the rats march boldly on, but are bedazzled by the Pied Piper, who then plays his pipe and leads them into the river, where they all drown. The Mayor declares that there will be a big party to celebrate. [Song: “CELEBRATION”.]
We switch to a scene of an Old Rat telling a group of young rats about the Rat Wars, how he/she was the only survivor from Hamelin and the incredible music that came from the Pied Piper.
[Song: “SWEET, SWEET MUSIC”] with a short Reprise of it to end the scene.
Back to the Council Chamber, where the Mayor and Corporation have giant headaches and hangovers after the previous night’s celebrations. The Pied Piper turns up to claim his fee of a thousand guilders, but the Mayor reneges on the deal and offers him fifty. The Piper demands the full amount, or he will pipe in a different fashion. The Mayor & Corporation order him out of town. [Song: “GET OUT OF TOWN”.]
Outside in the street all the citizens and children gather, curious. The Mayor declares the Piper to be a charlatan who is leaving town whereupon, the Piper pipes the children away and up into the mountain. Hans explains to his mother the beauty of the music and what it meant to them, how he desperately wanted to join them, but couldn’t keep up, and how everything will be so dull now.
[Song: “WITHOUT OUR CHILDREN”].
During this song the Mayor stands alone, a broken pathetic figure. He tries to convince the people of Hamelin that this was not his fault. The people firmly reject his pleas and tell him to leave the town [Reprise: “GET OUT OF TOWN”]
The musical ends with an upbeat song for the cast walk-down (bows). [Reprise: CELEBRATION]
Click the "Script & Songs" heading to read the script, look at the score and listen to the songs.
