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Old Man and the Old Moon summary (too long, needs reworking)
The company of storytellers perform "Song from the Stone" to greet the audience. Matheson, the play's narrator, offers to the audience the tale of how the Moon got its light: there once was an Old Man whose job it was to fill the moon with liquid light. He lived a peaceful life with his wife, but they had lived so long they forgot why they needed to fill the moon, and even how they met. One day, the Old Woman hears a mysterious melody she associates with their past, and runs away to find its source. The Old Man elects to follow her ("The Rain Will Fall").

Learning she is heading westwards in a boat, the Old Man attempts to charter a boat at a local shop but lacks the money: the shop owner gives him the hat of his clerk Mickey, despite Mickey's protests that the hat belonged to his grandfather. The Old Man manages to board a nearby warship leaving port when he is mistaken for the legendary First Naval Lieutenant Pericles Llewellyn McWallander by the ship's quartermaster, due to the hat ("The Sailor's Anthem"). However, he learns the ship is actually headed south for war, and he schemes to try to get them to change course. He soon notices that, due to abandoning his duty, the moon is continuing to lose its light.

During dinner with the crew, Matheson tells a tale of Pericles Llewellyn McWallander, claiming he abandoned his duties to sail west in search of a mysterious city at the end of the world, and was last seen at the port of Malefria, before his crew allegedly mutinied and threw him overboard—which he proclaims is clearly wrong, since McWallander is clearly there with them. Seeing an opportunity, the Old Man proposes following him to the infamous city, but they are interrupted by the arrival of a rebel ship. They manage to fight off their opponents but their captain is killed in the skirmish ("The Rain Will Fall (Reprise)"). Matheson, the ship's first mate and now-captain, proposes either going to war and facing certain death, or returning home and being charged with desertion. The Old Man proposes a third option: they head west in search of the city. At first lying about what is there, the Old Man is struck by a strange memory and tells them that the city is filled with light. He rallies the crew, takes command of the ship from Matheson, and they sail westward ("Sail for Love"), but encounter several obstacles that cause the crew to lose faith in him, and grow concerned at the fact the moon is continuing to lose its light. Matheson warns the Old Man not to take the crew for granted, revealing he is fully aware that he is not really Pericles Llewellyn McWallander, but believes the Old Man knows more about the City of Light than he thinks.

Arriving in Malefria for rest, the Old Man encounters two men who recognize his hat, revealing they were part of McWallander's mutinous crew who threw him overboard. He manages to calm them down and learns they recently met his wife, who has continued sailing west. The Old Man forces the increasingly doubtful crew to re-board the ship, and ends up sailing them straight through a field of volcanoes, severely damaging the ship and leading the ship's cook to flee ("Sail for Love (Reprise)"). The crew finally confront him over his actions, whereupon Matheson finally reveals the Old Man is now McWallander: Matheson himself was McWallander's cabin boy and watched him sail out of Malefria as a child. Just as the crew is ready to throw him overboard, the moon finally loses all of its light and a sudden storm destroys the ship, sending everyone into the sea. As the Old Man sinks ("Just Like the Sea") he is swallowed by a giant fish.

Awakening in its stomach, he encounters a strange man named Perry, who claims to have been swallowed by the fish a long time ago and has given up hope of rescue ("Prison Fish Interlude #1"). The Old Man nonetheless schemes to find a way out and be reunited with his wife. Perry reveals he ended up in the fish while he was on a quest to find the city of the light, but was thrown overboard by his crew when they finally grew fed up with him, though he proposes the city is most likely underwater by now ("Prison Fish Interlude #2"). The Old Man finally realizes they can tear the fish apart from the inside by pulling at two ends of a particular bone, something he learned from his wife. Perry initially refuses to help, revealing to the stunned Old Man he is actually a ghost, and he has nothing to go home to if he leaves the fish due to his family being long-dead. Realizing Perry is, in fact, the real Pericles Llewellyn McWallander, the Old Man reveals he got his hat from Perry's grandson, and convinces Perry there are people still out there waiting for him. Perry elects to help the Old Man, but knowing he cannot really return home, just before they destroy the fish he gives the Old Man the hat and instructs him to bring it back to his grandson ("Prison Fish Interlude #3").

After destroying the fish, the Old Man awakens alone on a deserted island. He encounters a dog, also marooned on the island but able to survive due to knowing how to catch fish. The Old Man decides to not lose hope and he and the dog build a raft that they use to sail away. As they do so, they watch as the water around them dissolves into vapor, until they are left in a desert ("I Crash"). Continuing on but lacking drinking water, the Old Man passes out after drinking the moisture from a psychadelic weed. He and the dog are picked up in a hot air balloon flown by Solomon and Bartley Montgolfier, two scientists studying the change in weather since the moon ran out of light: he tells them of the city of the light and they elect to help him get there. On the way, they encounter the rest of the Old Man's former crew and pick them up, but the added weight causes the balloon to spin out of control. The Old Man leaps out in order to save weight.

He lands in what he realizes is the city of the light, unearthed due to the disappearance of the ocean, and his memories of the past finally come back: he was once a resident of the city, which tapped into a well spring of liquid light. But the residents' use of the light brought on a massive thunderstorm, which flooded the city. The Old Man saved a bucket of light but was nearly swept away himself, saved at the last second by a young woman. The two decided to keep it safe by hanging it in the sky from a lantern, which became the moon, and was able to calm the storm. The two decided to go exploring the world after saving the light, only to notice there was a leak in the lantern, and so they elected to stay so the Old Man could keep refilling it. The Old Man climbs the cliffs with a bucket of liquid light and refills the moon ("Bremen"). Realizing he has gone so far around the world he has made it back home, he goes to his house to find his wife waiting for them, and the two decide to go exploring as they pledged to years ago. Before they leave, the Old Man reunites with Llewellyn, who reveals the entire crew made it home safely as well. The Old Man convinces Llewellyn to take up his old duty of refilling the moon, but assures him it is alright for the moon to not always be full. He also gives Llewellyn the hat, telling him to return it to Mickey, before boarding a boat with the Old Woman and sailing off to parts unknown.