In the afterlife, present day, five prominent men from the 1500’s are called to a nondescript location by the powers that be. As Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Niccolo Machievelli, Ferdinand Magellan and Copernicus wait to find out why they have been summoned by the primal energy of the universe, they reminisce (Age Of Perfection).
The primal force drops a missive from an unknown dimension into the hands of Michelangelo. He reads:
I am giving you boys an assignment. A young man on earth, Benjamin Case, is about to make a decision that is another example of a human being serving his own pride and not even realizing it. This practice has reached epidemic proportions. And I’m sick of it! Go to earth and help him. And don’t ask me if you’re going to get your wings if things work out. Just go!
With that outburst by Sir Primal, no questions are entertained. The Renaissance Boys are whisked off to earth.
In a garden outside the most enchanting home in Forresttown, Ben Case must make a choice. He must either take the reigns of his deceased father’s business, a business that is the central support for all that is Forresttown or choose to follow an unknown course because his gut tells him to. The Renaissance Boys arrive unseen as Ben pulls a loose stone from the garden wall and removes an overstuffed notebook hidden there. The book is a collection of his thoughts and ideas written over the last ten years. The cover reads, “Michelangelo’s Reach.” Ben ponders the fork in his road but shedding his princely robes for the unknown is something he is not prepared to do (Someone Else Will Have To Dream).
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Inside Ben’s house, it seems as if half the town is gathered to celebrate Ben’s twenty-fifth birthday. It is a little more than a year since his father’s death and Ben stands before his guests and announces he is ready to take his father’s place. He toasts his father, his mother Katharine, his fiancé Susan, his best friend Dennis Talbot and all of Forresttown (Raise A Glass). Conspicuously missing from Ben’s acknowledgments is Mr. Talbot, Dennis’ father, who has been serving as the company’s interim CEO. Ben’s mother makes Ben aware of his omission but then Ben’s toast to Mr. Talbot appears insincere when Michelangelo who is trying to grab a cocktail distracts Ben. Ben stammers as he watches Michelangelo drop a glass. The guests react to the glass breaking but no one sees Michelangelo or his four friends. With the Renaissance Five standing together and looking at him, Ben collapses and has to be helped to his room.
Inside his room, Ben composes himself and assures Susan and Dennis that he is fine and will meet them in the morning, his first day at the head of the company. Ben shuts his bedroom door and turns to find The Boys sitting around his room. As it is with experiences of this sort the subject being visited goes through a host of emotions and ends up where Ben ends up—you either believe that people who are dead 450 years are actually sitting in your room or you believe you are on the verge of a nervous breakdown. On the verge of a nervous breakdown, Ben is attended to by Magellan and Michelangelo. The Boys start to question Ben’s choice to give up his dreams. Ben asks, “What’s it to you guys?” Individually, the Boys have also been pondering this question. All except Leonardo da Vinci who is completely disinterested. The other four believe that the answer lies in the connection between them—the connection between present day and the Renaissance—and the connection to all the history that has gone before. As Machievelli says, “You can’t drop the ball. If no one follows his dreams,” ‘or no one explores,’ interrupts Magellan, “someone like you is going to make the wrong choice and break the back of man’s evolution and we’ll slip back into another Middle Age!” The Boys take Ben on a trip down memory lane, on a timeline through—(AD: The First 1500 Years). Ben is fascinated by history but finds nothing in the trip that says he is the dreamer. Ben asks the Boys directly, “Am I the One?” The Boys have to admit—they don’t know.
In the morning, Ben wakes up alone and heads to work. He arrives at the gates of KREME DE CREAM, the ice cream factory that the town of Forresttown, is built around. Ben is welcomed with open arms by the factory’s family of workers (That’s Kreme de Cream).
- ALWAYS SOFT
- ALWAYS SMOOTH
- YET NEVER DRIPS DOWN
- OFF YOUR SPOON
- THAT’S KREME DE CREAM
- THE CREAM OF THE CROP OF ICE CREAM
- THE CREAM AT THE TOP
- THAT’S KREME DE CREAM
But the fanfare sounding Ben’s triumph also signals the demotion of the acting CEO, Mr. Talbot.
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At the end of the day, Ben, Susan and Dennis sit in Pistachio Park in the shadow of a giant statue of Ben’s father in stirring position, ladle and bowl in hand. Ben expresses his concerns that the people of the town will not take him seriously until he makes his own contribution. He’s just a prince in the shadow of a king. Dennis replies, “It’s your first day. You’ll shake up the world by next week at the latest.” Dennis then bids farewell, leaving Ben and Susan to think about their future together (Are You A Jackie O).
Ben leaves Susan and bumps into Ferdinand Magellan. Magellan attempts to sway Ben and encourage him to cultivate a taste for exploration. Ben learns about faith and courage as he is taken on a harrowing journey. He stands beside Magellan on the deck of the Trinidad as they circumnavigate the globe for the first time (Beyond The Seas).
Ben feels exhilarated by the idea of exploring new worlds but since all the oceans have been crossed, he correlates exploration with the modern term, “thinking outside the box.” Magellan doesn’t know what the box is. And neither does Ben but that doesn’t stop Ben from trying to think outside it, in order to come up with the “thing” that will garner him the respect of all of Forresttown.
In the library of his home, Ben is working feverishly on his new project. The Boys like the passion they’re seeing but differ on whether they think Ben’s pride is getting the better of him. All have an opinion but Leonardo, who couldn’t care less. Suddenly, Ben throws a fit when he realizes that what he’s been working on, isn’t working. During his histrionics, Polly Boots, the feisty housekeeper of the Case home, enters. She tells Ben he’s getting quite moody and then walks out the door. Polly’s comment gives Ben an idea. His confidence swells again. He goes back to work, invigorated. Then Polly reenters and asks Ben, “How long are your friends going to stay?” Up until now, only Ben has been able to see the Renaissance Boys. Ben’s pride takes a bit of a hit knowing someone else can see his Boys. Meanwhile, Polly catches the eye of Copernicus. She exits, blushing. Copernicus is smitten.
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Two days later, Ben addresses the heads of the five ice cream divisions. He presents his idea for increasing sales and exploring new markets—a new line of ice cream called Frozen Moods. The line includes flavors like Cloudy Day (Double chocolate with grey colored marshmallow), Broken Hearts N’ Cream (Heart shaped M&M’s split in half in Old Homestyle Vanilla), Lonesome Cream Blues N’Berry (Butter cream with blueberry sherbet spots) and Sentimental Journey (Vanilla Fudge with peanut brittle bits). Ben’s presentation is criticized by the division chiefs with Talbot the most vicious. Dennis brokers a compromise. He pushes for a limited testing of the new line.
This is a musical scene, a montage that follows the fate of Ben’s idea (Frozen Moods—the food that soothes). At first, the new products are a sensation. Ben is high. The town is high. Talbot is low. Feeling invincible, Ben moves to increase the distribution of Frozen Moods. Dennis warns Ben to manage for the long haul. These flavors are niche items. Their novelty is part of their strength. Ben explodes, blaming Dennis for talking him into a small testing instead of a major launch. He claims Frozen Moods is the future of Kreme de Cream. Ben begins implementing expansion plans. And then sales taper off and then plunge. Ben is low. The town is low. Talbot is high.
Ben is depressed over this apparent failure. He blames Dennis for slowing him down, stopping him from striking while the iron was hot. And Ben blames Dennis’ father, Talbot, claiming that he is conspiring against him. When Susan confronts Ben over his treatment of Dennis, a friend who would do anything for him, Ben accuses Susan of being more concerned about Dennis than about him. Susan has heard enough and storms off.
Back home, Ben asks the Renaissance Boys for advice on how to patch things up with Susan. These brilliant men know many things but unfortunately, they can’t help Ben with this problem. After all, love isn’t a matter of mathematics. Machiavelli takes the lead in a lament about the study of love (The Science Of The Heart). After the song, Copernicus exits, to see what Polly is doing.
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Talbot is ready to make his move to oust Ben and resume his role as CEO. He summons his son Dennis to his office. He tells his son that substantial losses were incurred as a result of the Frozen Moods line and Ben’s folly. Dennis defends Ben but his father accuses him of being more concerned about his friend than about the possible destruction of Forresttown. Talbot backs this up by claiming that the distributors are starting to complain about being forced to carry Ben’s new ice cream, calling it esoteric nonsense. Dennis has not heard this before. He knows that the distributors are the backbone of the business. Without them, there is no Kreme de Cream. A town meeting is about to begin to deal with the issue of Ben’s tenure as head of the company. Talbot and son head to the meeting.
The Renaissance Boys meet to assess Ben’s situation. They decide that Michelangelo should talk to Ben and get him to shape up. Leonardo shows curiosity for the first time, questioning whether it is possible to bolster someone’s confidence without awakening his or her pride. Then Ben enters, and Magellan, Copernicus, Machiavelli, and Leonardo rush out like children leaving a friend behind to take the rap. Alone with Michelangelo, Ben lets down his guard and shows his insecurity and admits that he doesn’t know what went wrong. Michelangelo replies, “You went wrong.” Michelangelo tries every way he can think of to explain the difference between confidence and the sin of pride. The message he attempts to convey is that confidence is “feeling you are the right person in the right spot to contribute in the way you are meant to contribute.” And the sin of pride is “the need to validate yourself as someone special or someone who knows better than others.” Unfortunately, if someone doesn’t want to believe they are acting out of pride, no explanation will help. Michelangelo fails.
The town of factory workers gathers in the center of town. Talbot is at the podium. He incites the crowd by frightening them with talk of their ultimate demise, “A self-serving destructive CEO will kill this town.” When Talbot announces that there is a problem brewing with the vendors, there is a hushed reverence in the way the workers take in the news. Everyone stops eating ice cream. Then, Talbot uses Ben’s father’s reputation as a great guy against him and stirs the emotions of the factory workers (You’ve Got To Be A Good Person).
At the Case home, Michelangelo is desperate to help Ben out of his despair. So he does the only thing he believes he can do to bolster Ben’s confidence. He lies. He tells Ben what he wants to hear—“You are The One, Ben. You could change the world!”
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As the whole town rises up against him, Ben sinfully declares, “I am The One. I knew it!”
Talbot
(Spiked with sarcasm)
IT TAKES MORE THAN LINEAGE
A LINE OF DESCENT
TO MAKE A GOOD ICE CREAM MAN IT TAKES SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE
AND PLANNING WITH CARE
SO YOU’RE FREEZERS DON’T EMPTY OR HOLD TOO MUCH TO SPARE
BUT THERE’S SOMETHING ELSE
WE MUST NOT OVERLOOK
YOU’VE GOT TO BE A GOOD PERSON
TO MAKE GOOD ICE CREAM
IT’S MORE THAN THE
INGREDIENTS INSIDE
IT’S A TENDER HEART THAT BLENDS
THE BEST CONSISTENCY
TO RECEIVE THE CHIPS PLACED THERE
BY A LOVING EMPLOYEE
AND NOWHERE DO EMPLOYEES
HANDLE ICE CREAM WITH SUCH CARE
AS IN FORRESTTOWN
OUR CREAM IS JUST A CUT ABOVE
IN FORRESTTOWN
WHERE EVERY PINT
HOLDS TWO CUPS OF LOVE
THE TOWN BIRD OF FORRESTTOWN
HAS ALWAYS BEEN A DOVE
We’re very gentle folk.
IN FORRESTTOWN
WHERE EVERY PINT
HOLDS TWO CUPS OF LOVE