Full Synopsis

Act One

Hi. I'm Ellie. What I'm doing here is writing down my story...my true story...in the form a musical synopsis. At the top of act one, I enter and speak directly to the audience, a theatrical device known as (surprise!) "direct address" ("Prologue"). It's a Friday morning in April and tonight is the Hunt, a major scavenger hunt in my school that happens once a year. My mom, Katherine, is getting married tomorrow (gross) and she's designing and catering her own wedding (boring), and she wishes I wasn’t so mouthy (whatever). We meet my best friends Gretchen and Hannah, my super annoying little brother, Fletcher, my mom's fiancé Mike, and her assistant Torrey ("Just One Day").

Because Fletcher has no respect for my stuff, he starts to mess with this amazing hourglass my dad gave me before he died. I yell at Fletcher. My mom yells at me. I ask her if I can do the Hunt. She Says no. We get into an insane fight about how she doesn’t understand me and I don't understand her. I'm holding my hourglass, which she yells at me to put down. She tries to grab it but we drop the hourglass and it breaks ("The Hourglass"). One second we are in a fight, the next second I'm in her body and she's in mine! I start to freak out. She tries to calm me down. Somehow the hourglass was magical. I remember that my dad gave her a matching one...which she stupidly sold the to a secondhand shop! We're trying to handle being in the wrong body while making a plan and simultaneously managing the journalist who has just arrived to write a cover story on my mom for Weddings Magazine. We agree to improvise the morning in each other's bodies, meet at a mandatory parent teacher conference (oops), and then go to the secondhand shop to get the other hourglass...after which we can switch back. My mom (in my body) starts to lecture me on all the stuff she wants me (in her body) to do (which, for the record, is not hard). She thinks she can be me and handle a day at my school, but she has no freakin' idea (“I Got This”).

At school, my mom meets Adam, the Listmaster for the Hunt (and a boy I have a major crush on) who totally loves my mom’s sandwiches. She also meets Savannah, our school’s smartest, prettiest and meanest girl. At home in the kitchen, I don’t want my mom to seem so boring, so I tell the journalist that her cooking is legendary (“What You Got”). But by accident, ( I swear!) I kind of…smash the wedding cake. In biology lab, my friends pressure my mom (in my body) not to quit the Hunt, Savannah hassles her, and Adam sits right next to her while everyone dissects frogs (“Oh, Biology”). Mike brings the pastor home to discuss the wedding (which, for the record, ugh), but I try to be nice while Mike shares what he’s written (“Vows”). At school, y mom unfortunately discovers my tattoo, while I find her cigarettes in the kitchen cupboard! A chorus of parents and kids join the battle over the secrets we keep from each other (“Busted”).

On the way to the dreaded conference at school, I run into Adam. It is insane to get to talk to him when he doesn’t even know it’s me! In the counselor’s office, my mom and I (obviously in the wrong bodies) fight about whose fault it is that I’m doing so crappy in school. Señor O’Brien and Dr. Ehrin think it’s me, but Mrs. Luckenbill wants to give me a break. My mom realizes that I’ve been pretty messed up since my dad died, a fact that I’ve kept secret (“Somebody Has Got To Take the Blame).

In the hallway, she’s still mad that I’ve ditched class so much, but Ms. Meyers comes around the corner ant yells at my mom (in my body) to get to gym class. I tell her she can’t ditch (sweet, sweet revenge!).

I pick up Fletcher then head over to the secondhand shop, but it’s gone out of business. Everything has been sold off to the other shops. I start to panic, but then I think of dreamy Adam and I’m like, wait, let’s put the hourglass on the list for the Hunt so everyone will look for it (brilliant!). I call my mom in gym (ha ha!) to have her get the hourglass on the list. But instead she tries to ally with Savannah (seriously, who does that?!?) and manages to alienate my best friends, Adam, and the whole class (“Watch Your Back”).

On the way home, I decide to tell Fletcher how things really are. He gets kind of teary, but someday he’ll thank me (“Parents Lie”) Me and my mom arrive late to the rehearsal dinner where everyone’s freaking out. When I tell Torrey to relax, she snaps and quits. I find out how bad my mom made my life at school, so I tell Mike I’m rethinking the wedding and he storms out. Me and my mom start fighting same as ever, only in the wrong bodies (“Just One Day – Reprise”), until we realize that my brother has run away!

Act Two

At the top of Act Two, all the guests are looking for Fletcher. Me and my mom try to hold it together even though we are both losing it and blaming ourselves. I hate that everyone keeps asking me what to do, and my mom hates being ignored (“Not Myself Today”). What we don’t know is that Fletcher is totally fine, sitting with his puppets and waiting for a bus. Adam comes along and is basically the nicest, sweetest, coolest guy ever, listening to Fletcher’s dumb jokes and trying to cheer him up with some philosophy (“Women and Sandwiches”).

Back at home, the police arrive and interrogate my mom, which makes her get super testy (welcome to my world), but we both try to get the officers to step up their game (“Bring My Baby (Brother) Home”). While we all get worked up, Adam arrives with Fletcher. When everyone else heads into the kitchen, Adam asks me (in my mom’s body) if he could ask me (Ellie) out. I try not to have a heart attack and tell him okay. Then I ask if he could put the hourglass on the list, which would be worth a lot of sandwiches. Gretchen and Hannah come over, I help us all make up, and convince my mom (in my body) to rejoin the team and do the Hunt.

All around the city, Adam gives clues and reminds everyone why it’s important to do the Hunt in the first place. God that guy is adorable! I stay home and try to save the Weddings Magazine story for my mom. Since I ruined the cake, Mike comes up with the genius idea of making seven-layer bars instead. I convince Torrey not to quit and the journalist to stay, and we all start baking (“Go”). Fletcher sugar crashes in my lap, and I realize I’ve been pretty mean to Mike when he’s actually an okay guy. I apologize for my behavior (in my mom’s body) today and my behavior (in my own body) before that. He tells my mom not to be so hard on me…and says that he loves me. My mind is blown. As he sleeps, I tell my little brother that things in our family will probably be okay and that I love him (“After All This And Everything”).

Out with my best friends on the Hunt, my mom (in my body) actually starts to loosen up and have fun. They find everything – including the hourglass! – and catch up to Savannah, but she has the nerve to snatch the hourglass away. In that moment, my mom decides that she’s not going to let the pain of the past hold me back, or her back (you get the idea), and basically crushes Savannah – it’s awesome! (“No More Fear”).

The next morning, the wedding is about to start. I’m in my mom’s wedding dress, freaking out, when my mom (in my body) finally gets home. We grab her hourglass exactly as we did mine 24 hours before (The Other Hourglass)… but nothing happens. No magic. It hits both of us that we could actually have to live this way for the rest of our lives. I get really scared, but my mom holds it together…and decides to cancel the wedding. So me and my mom walk down the aisle together, which is beyond weird. We get up to Mike and I just blurt out that wer can’t get married. The guests are all like whoa. I explain that Mike is a great guy that is great for our family, and I actually love him, but I cannot marry him. My mom notices the hourglass glowing. Somehow, what I said triggered the magic. She tells me that she loves me exactly the way I am – I say I love her exactly the way she is – and then… we switch back. Whew!!! Now that we’re in the right bodies, my mom calls the wedding back on and marries Mike and everything is amazeballs (“Today and Ev’ry Day”). As we all celebrate, I tell the audience that I never expected them to believe me. But everything I told them – and you – is one-hundred-percent true.