Full Synopsis

Full Synopsis

Musicians enter, take positions and tune up.The music begins. Monday, Dierdre and Leroy enter through the audience arguing. The musicians are distracted, stop and begin arguing with the actors. Monday describes the the music as junk, saying that it is misleading the audience. The music has nothing to do with "salvation," and that's what the play is called. The band tries to have Monday sit down, but he refuses. He calls upon the audience and asks them if they know what "salvation" means. After scolding the musicians, Monday calls on the cast to give testimony for Jesus ("Salvation").

They all come forward and begin tearing at Monday's clothes, until he is left in red bikini underwear. Marc brings him a robe and transforms him into a "Savior-like" figure. Monday picks up an aerosol can and sprays each of them. Betty Lou steps forward, proclaiming her sins. She tells him that she wants Jesus in the morning and evening but, unfortunately, wants everyone else for the rest of the time ("In Between").

Betty Lou leaves, and Leroy comes forward and asks to be forgiven for "spilling his seed" over and over. If he is forgiven this time, he promises never to do it again ("1001"). Monday forgives Leroy, but no sooner is Leroy saying his five Hail Marys, than Farley bursts forward, declaring the whole thing to be a complete sham! Monday is declaring sex to be a sin, which Farley fights him on ("Honest Confession Is Good for the Soul").

Boo also argues with Monday, wondering how things can be sinful when they make her feel so good. Farley sees this as an honest confession, but Monday asks him to sit down and keep quiet. Monday then asks the group: What is the purpose of Sundays? He asks them to review the days of the week, starting with Monday, so that they can save their favorite day for last. Nobody has much to say about the days of the week, other than that they work and then get paid on Friday. They all agree that Saturday is "the day you throw it all away." Farley steps forward to talk about Sunday – it's the perfect day to have a great time ("Ballin'")!

The cast goes crazy, undressing in the process. Monday flees to the pool of holy water and sprinkles some on the audience. He then pulls a screen onstage to cover the actors and their antics. Acting drastically, Monday gives the group a list of sex rules by which they must live. After he finishes, Dierdre tells of how she fought off the advances of a man for quite some time. Unfortunately, he was killed in Vietmam, and she never was able to be with him in the way that she always wanted ("Let the Moment Slip By").

Monday doesn't want to hear this story so he commands Boo to begin a new game. Boo responds that her name isn't Boo, today... it's Gina ("Gina"). Marc and Farley try to have sex with her.

After this, Monday comes forward and encourages the audience to applaud even louder... then softer... in a certain rhythm, but Farley is attempting to distract them. Monday finally loses his temper and explodes at Farley. Once again, the cast wonders why it is that they can't have sex unless they are married ("If You Let Me Make Love to You, Why Can't I Touch You?"). Farley tries to convince Monday that sex is good, but Monday is having none of it. Soon, the entire cast is getting tired of listening to what Monday has to say. To halt the uprising, Monday teaches the group a game called "Band." He makes Leroy the leader and has him assign each person an instrument. They play a tune that resembles Salvation Army music, but Leroy wants to do a song with genuine soul ("There Ain't No Flies on Jesus").

The cast seems back on track, and Monday offers them the chance to confess. Ranee is ready and confesses that she aborted the child of a man who came into her life, then left her ("Deadalus").

Betty Lou and Marc tell the story of a husband who puts God above all else. He refuses to do anything on Sunday, aside from worshiping the Lord, putting a strain on his marriage. Betty Lou and Marc find this behavior senseless ("Deuteronomy XVII Verse 2"). Farley takes Marc and turns him to Leroy, who comforts him ("For Ever / Footloose Youth and Fancy Free").

Monday then asks the audience to contribute to the church. The cast goes throughout the audience taking up a collection. When the cast returns to the stage with the collection, Monday puts all of the money in his pocket. Farley questions him on this, and Monday agrees to share it with everyone, celebrating the ecumenical movement of the church ("Schwartz"). One by one, the cast members leave the stage as Monday tells them that their native religion is meaningless under the guidelines of the ecumenical movement. Eventually, Monday is left on the stage, alone, after he has offended everyone and their individual faiths.

Elsewhere, the cast is "smoking" from a giant Coke bottle, doing drugs and getting stoned ("Let's Get Lost in Now"). Farley once again confronts Monday, saying that he has presented God to them in so many ways – why can't he just make up his mind? Monday informs them that God is actually a verb ("Back to Genesis"). He reminds them that if they all go back to the beginning of simplicity, they will find the true meaning of God. The cast has an epiphany as the curtain falls ("Tomorrow Is the First Day of the Rest of My Life").