Full Synopsis

Act One

Tom Morgan, First Mate on the schooner, Hispaniola, has just completed writing about his recent adventure to Treasure Island. He begins to tell the tale and is joined by a chorus of Pirates. The prize that was being sought was a treasure of pieces of eight, which are old Spanish silver coins. The pirates and Tom tell us of the great value of this treasure and what lengths people would go to for such a fortune ("Pieces of Eight").

Tom continues to narrate as he crosses toward the Admiral Benbow Inn near the docks in Bristol, England. Tom has spent much time there and is friends with the owners, the Hawkins. They have a young son, Jim, of whom Tom is very fondf. Billy Bones, a man who has been staying at the inn for two months now, is sitting there, drunk on rum and singing an old sailing song. Mrs. Hawkins, the innkeeper's wife, and her son, Jim, are locking up for the night. Jim tries to help Bones to his room. Bones starts on about the men who want to give him the Black Spot and thinks that he sees a man with one leg. Jim does not understand him and gets him upstairs. Tom knocks outside and Meg, an assistant at the inn, lets him in. They are all happy to see him and they inform him of the sad news that Mr. Hawkins passed away a month prior. Jim tells Tom how he dreams of being out to sea. Tom encourages him, proud of his aspirations ("Away to Sea"). Tom and Mrs. Hawkins retire for the night, and Jim and Meg finish closing up as another knock is heard at the door. It is Mr. Pew, a large, menacing blind man with a stick and a black cloak. He tells Jim that he is there to see Billy Bones. Jim tries to stall him, but Bones appears, saying that it is one of the men about whom he had told Jim. Pew says that they have been looking for Bones for two years, that he has something that they want. With that, he goes to shake Bones' hand and slips a piece of paper into it. Pew cackles with laughter and exits. Meg screams and runs for Mrs. Hawkins and Tom as Bones holds up the paper, which has a black spot on it. He calls it the Black Spot of Doom and tells them that once you get the black spot, your life is over – you don't stand a chance ("The Black Spot").

Bones sends Jim to his room to fetch his sea chest. Tom suddenly recognizes Bones as having been one of Captain Flint's buccaneers. Bones opens the chest and pulls out a map. He explains that he was First Mate to Captain Flint, who was the bloodthirstiest buccaneer ever to sail the sea. He had plundered and looted French and Spanish ships. He then buried all of the treasure on Skeleton Island, a remote island in the Caribbean Sea, off of the coast of Caracas. This map he has shows exactly where the treasure is! Flint had given him the map when he died, and the others have been hunting him ever since. He gives the map to Jim and tells him to find the treasure, which will make him rich! He says that it is his thank you for the kindnesses that Jim and Mrs. Hawkins have shown him. This is the only map except for a copy that he made, which does not show where the treasure is hidden. He leaves this copy in the chest as Pew and his henchmen burst in with guns and knives. They kill Bones and take the fake map.

The next morning, Tom tells his captain, Captain Smollett, about the treasure and brings him to meet Jim and his mother. Smollett asks if Jim wants to sail with him to find the treasure – if so, they can all share it. Mrs. Hawkins insists that her son may not go out to sea. Jim pleads with her, saying that now that his father is dead, they could use the fortune – they could close the inn and not have to work anymore. His mother tells him that there is nothing wrong with working and that it is better than searching for a hidden treasure on an island ("Where Your Treasure Lies"). Eventually, Mrs. Hawkins gives her consent... with one condition: She is going to disguise Meg as a boy and send her along to keep an eye on Jim.

Two days later, Mrs. Hawkins brings Jim and Meg, who is now disguised as Sam, to the ship and bids them farewell. The women are all there, saying goodbye to the sailors as they pull away from the dock. The men on the ship show Sam and Jim the ropes and teach them their songs and dances ("Bosun's Pipe Down, Sailing Scene, Sea Chanteys, Jimmy-Jim-Jim"). Jim is introduced to the whole crew, most notably the new cook, whom they call Barbecue, though his real name is Long John Silver. He enters carrying a parrot and has a wooden peg for a leg. As soon as Jim meets him, he is suspicious, remembering Bones talking about a man with one leg. Jim sits with him as Long John tells him all about himself ("Long John Silver").

Over the first part of the journey, Long John befriends Jim. Jim adjusts well, but Sam does not, which has a few people suspicious. As they reach the Caribbean, there is a brief conversation between Long John and Johnson, one of the men on the crew. Long John asks Johnson how his "fishing" is going, and he replies that he has three more crew joining them. Johnson asks Long John how he is doing with getting information out of the boy, and he responds that he is not getting much. Sam is working as the Captain's personal cabin boy. The Captain comes out to take a bath and have Sam scrub his back, which throws Sam into a real frenzy. Long John comments on how afraid Sam is of the Captain, and then the men all sing about how tight of a ship he runs ("Ship Shape").

The night before the ship reaches the island, most of the men have turned in. Jim goes to get himself an apple and has to climb into the barrel to get it. While he does this, the men, including Long John and Johnson, convene and discuss their plans for mutiny. Jim, unseen by them, overhears the entire meeting. They have eleven men recruited for this plan. Long John had sent the men to get the map and kill Bones, and he knows that the map they have is a fake. He is not sure if Tom or Jim has the real one. The final plan is to let the men go find the treasure, follow them, take over and leave them on the island. The ship approaches the island as Long John makes one last try to get information out of Jim. Jim informs Tom, the Captain and the rest of the crew of the plans that he has heard.

Act Two

The men are on the island, hunting for the treasure ("Run Jim Run"). The Captains knows of the plan and instructs the men to continue as if they know nothing. He leaves Jim and Sam with weapons at a guard point. They hear some unfamiliar sounds and set out to find from where they are coming ("What Ever It Is"). Ben Gunn appears, telling the boys that he was marooned and has been on the island without talking to another living soul for three years. He tells the boys that he had been with Long John Silver three years ago, hunting for the treasure that they knew was there. He had fallen into a cave and broke his leg, and Long John, having only one leg, could not help. He promised Gunn that he would return but never did. He tells the boys about all of the things that he has missed, especially his favorite food, cheese ("Cheese Cheese").

They hear a canon fire and realize that the mutiny has begun. Gunn offers to take them to his cave to hide. Sam wants to go, but Jim insists that he go down and fight. Frustrated and scared for his life, Meg reveals to Gunn that she is a woman and is there to care for Jim. Gunn says he will take them to his cave, where he has a boat that he made himself. He says that after nightfall, they will row out and recapture the ship themselves, taking it to a hidden cove that he knows. The mutineers are hunting down the boys but unsuccessfully. The battle begins and carries on through the night. The Captain, Tom and their men are successful in fighting off the mutineers. Gunn, Jim and Meg successfully recapture the ship and anchor it in the cove. Jim wants to go back and find the Captain and Tom to let them know what has happened, but Jim gets lost on his way and decides to wait until morning to continue. He is scared and alone and regrets his decision to take this voyage ("Jim's Soliloquy"). Suddenly, Long John and his men find Jim and surround him to take away the map. They take him with them on their search for the treasure.

The next morning, Gunn and the Captain and his men have met up. Gunn went to look for Jim, worrying that he would be lost in the fog, leaving Meg in the cave. They realize that Jim has been captured and that Long John must therefore have the map, too. They try to remember where the map showed the treasure was hidden and realize that this spot is the exact place. As they realize this, Long John and his men appear with a bound Jim. He has lied to them, saying that he sent the ship adrift. The men want to kill Jim, but Long John won't allow it. They get together for a meeting, wanting to try to overthrow Long John, while Long John tries to form an alliance with Jim to save himself, an alliance to which Jim agrees. Long John convinces the men that Jim was lying and that they need to keep him as a hostage. Long John tries to set him free, but Jim will not go. Since he made a deal with Long John, he insists that he stay as a "hostage."

The men find the treasure chest and open it, only to find rocks, bones and the skull of Flint – no fortune at all. As this happens, from within the cave, Gunn begins calling out and then appears dressed as a ghost... the ghost of Flint. All of the men run away in fear except for Long John, who is holding on to Jim. Gunn throws off his disguise and reveals himself to Long John. The Captain, Meg, Tom, Jim and the rest are all reunited. Gunn reveals that the treasure is actually in the cave and that the map was another decoy. Long John left Gunn in the cave to die but if he would have come back, he would have discovered the treasure.

The group all goes back to the boat. The Captain arrests and chains up Long John, leaving his men on the island. They sail to Savannah to get a new crew. The morning that they set off for Bristol, they discover that both a few sacks of silver and Long John were missing. They suspect that Jim set him free, although they never confirm this. They arrive back in Bristol, where Mrs. Hawkins greets them. Meg appears on the gangway with Gunn, her new husband. Jim assures his mother that he has had enough of the sea. He bids goodbye to his crew and leaves with his mother, happy to be home and, now, rich.