Broadway Belongs to Me! (audio story)

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Broadway Belongs to Me! was the first story in the audio anthology Purity Unleashed, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Matthew Sweet and featured Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor and Bonnie Langford as Melanie Bush.

Publisher's summary[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Doctor and Mel begin their search for Hebe in 1930s New York, where history is taking a dark turn all of its own. On Broadway, they discover a genuine aberration of the timestreams: Behold America! - a hot shoe show set in a future Fascist United States. Starring Melanie Bush. Opening tonight...

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

Part one[[edit] | [edit source]]

Looking for temporal distortion in the hopes of finding Hebe, the Doctor and Mel run several discreet tests in New York City and overhear Karel Lombard espousing Nazi propaganda in advance of the German American Bund's rally at Madison Square Garden. They learn of and view Behold America!, a nationalist musical comedy at the Rivoli Theater which stars a double of Mel. The Doctor feels a temporal twinge and, going to leave, he and Mel encounter another Doctor, explaining the Doctor's headache.

The other Doctor warns the Doctor and Mel to leave the theatre and return in an hour to collect his coat and tip the cloakroom lady. After doing so, they travel back in time and Mel joins the show by approaching Julian Arnstein in Times Square, rehearsing for five weeks with psionic relays in her shoes to assist in her dancing. Frances Drouet suspects that Julian has lied about his past, so the Doctor and Mel look around with what Mel christens an anachronometer and discover that Lydia Putti is an alien with two mouths. When Mel goes on stage, Lydia pushes her into a stage flat and is hit by a weight.

Part two[[edit] | [edit source]]

Lydia says that the show will have to be cancelled due to her leg injury, but Julian instead gives her role to Mel and hires the Doctor as choreographer to ensure that the performance goes ahead. When Julian introduces the six investors but names only five of them, Mel realises that the sixth is Karel Lombard, whom Billy photographs shaking the Doctor's hand at Julian's order. Lydia attacks and detains the Doctor during the performance so that she and Julian can force Mel to complete the performance rather than spoil it as has been her plan, but he escapes and attempts to evacuate the theatre without success.

Julian reveals that he, the crew and the audience belong to the Alliance of Retribution, a group of forgettable opponents of the Doctor who plan to spread the photograph of the Doctor with Lombard and the other fascists to discredit him. They build up psionic energy to torture the Doctor and kill Mel, but the Doctor uses his and his past self's cat badges to damage the Alliance's spaceship and force them to leave as quickly as possible. The temporal backblast also renders the incriminating photograph blank. The Doctor and Mel go for dinner before they continue their search for Hebe and learn that a group of people intend to drown out the Madison Square Garden rally with The Star-Spangled Banner and show tunes.

Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

Uncredited cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

Crew[[edit] | [edit source]]

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

Footnotes[[edit] | [edit source]]

External links[[edit] | [edit source]]