The Good Witch of Winchester

It's the final day of shooting for Hanover Street in London. Columbia Pictures has just received a last-minute telegram from Warner Brothers Studios and Rosalind is summoned to the production office to hear the message. Warner Brothers is starting production on the afor-agreed upon production of Amadeus that she is contractually obligated to fulfill. Shooting will begin in Austria very soon with her correspondence friend Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It will tell the story of his life and his musical career and she will play his wife Constanza. She will have to arrive in Austria no later than in a half a week from today. And the sooner she arrives the sooner production shall begin. Christopher Plummer hears this and a dark cloud crosses his face..... : Of all women, why can't Rosalind be like every other woman who wants to settle down and have a family and a personal life instead of being different and tracing around all over Europe and making everyone crazy? This is not fair to any of us along the way... But this also makes Rosalind unlike any other woman he had ever known before. Unique in her stubbornness and unwillingness to limit herself. She's different and perhaps she always will be...... What shall this world do to her? What shall she do to this world? When will she be done with all of this? Does she even know or possibly have a clear idea of what she's doing? What she's committing herself to? What she's committing all of us to? How much of this world is this naive little girl actually familiar with? Well she's definitely expanding her horizons.... But where exactly does she think she is going? Life is just one adventure after another for her. But now it begins to scare me and I don't want to think about being parted from her.................. A production assistant enters the room and walks up to deliver Rosalind a cable letter. Another message today! Apparently it's from Universal Pictures addressed to her: Dear Miss Rosalind Anne Brighton Winchester, A Foreign Diplomat and dignitary from France by the name of Christopher Reeve has arrived in the United States and it is our understanding through him that you contracted to do a motion picture with him. And it is urgently requested that you start production right away. We already have the script in hand delivered by Mr. Reeve and the scenes will be shot at Mackinac Island in Michigan. We await your Urgent Response as our Universal Pictures production crew is already on location and it is costing a considerable amount of money to set up here without your presence and active participation on set. So Miss Winchester, if you can manage to meet us at our Universal Pictures onset location, we would be eternally grateful for your expedience and we would love working with you in the next few days or weeks. Respectfully yours, Universal Pictures Lord Alexander has anxiously noticed this and approaches her to inquire as to what is going on. She hands him the bulletin. Well Rosalind ... I admit I am taken aback and a little disappointed for the this new turn of events.... but I understand you are quite young and made prior commitments to various people at various times. And I know you feel you have to honor and uphold those commitments and follow through with your word..... ( he falters) But may I ask if it would it be too much if I could accompany you to Michigan Rosalind? It's far away and you have never been there before and I could arrange for our transportation and hotels and anything else along the way. It could be dangerous for a young proper lady such as yourself to travel alone. Rosalind looks at her Austrian friend in surprise. Oh Alexander, that is wonderfully decent and generous of you.... I don't know what to say...... Say you accept my decent and generous offer then. And I shall most gladly accompany you to Mackinac Island. (Rosalind looks at Sir Alexander and while she's slightly taken aback herself, she's not ready to recognize any romantic intentions from him but decides to shake off her qualms and put her best and most professional foot forward.) Oh Alexander, you're my good friend.... Of course, of course, I accept. And thank you so much! Sir smiles, anxiety dissipating and breathing in deeply again, and then relief crossing his handsome face... He wasn't going to go press her about accompanying her to Austria, for fear she would think he was stalker, but at least she would be in his homeland. And she would certainly be with him the entire time in Michigan at Mackinac Island. So I think I shall call Universal Pictures immediately to start making arrangements and let them know that we are on our way... So Rosalind looks about her at Columbia Pictures and has a little dizzy spell. For a long moment, she is completely overwhelmed and entirely distraught with where her life is going ......... This is turning into Madness. She will have to be in two places at once! And play the love interests of two or three men. How will she ever get away with this? how will any of her friends forgive her? So now, as the world is spinning under her feet in this moment that seems Frozen in time and Lasting forever........ she raises her eyes to look at him and finds that he is gazing at her. Woozy and disoriented, she can barely stand on her own and gives herself a few minutes of just sitting there. She wonders if Alexander can see the shock and nervousness reeling around in her head, for the world is still spinning in this very moment which will be destined to change her career. And ULTIMATELY, while unbeknownst to her, the Rest of her Life. (Scene fades out into black.) Intermission with Musical transition 🎶 Next scene opens with her, full of fragile emotions and misgivings, with the newness and unsureness of it all, on a plane sitting beside Sir Christopher Plummer flying to Manitowoc Island in Michigan. She wonders to herself how she came to be here, traveling with an aristocrat instead of with Arthur or Walter who brought her to California. Sir kisses her hand as he senses her nerves and intrepidation. "This young girl," he thought, "knows nothing of the world and is embarking on this Great Adventure. She should be here with her parents instead of myself. I see her saying a prayer every day. I think I am responsible for her now. And I simply couldn't have let her go alone tracing around the world without an adult chaperone or caregiver. It's simply unthinkable as she is obviously so very young and inexperienced. And in the last day and few hours since departing Columbia Pictures, she has the look of such a terrified rabbit. God, please tell me I'm doing the right thing here. And that you are with me."