Harly

Harly is a musical dedicated to the love of motorcycling and the lure of the road. The rock score is performed by a band of four who double as various other characters. It’s an unsentimental look at a fascinating culture. The musical opens when Harly, 17, a tomboy and tough as nails, learns her mother has been killed in a car crash. Her father had abandoned the family, so her options are to go live with her aunt and uncle in New York, which she hates, or be put into a foster home. Harly chooses her own path which is to pack her bags and go looking for Will Patterson, her long lost father. She locates his former girlfriend, Jenna, a mechanic in a bad relationship who is drifting towards prostitution.

Harly quizzes Jenna about her father and his whereabouts, offering whatever money she has if Jenna can find him. The two of them steal Jenna’s boyfriend’s motorcycle and head out on the open road. Eventually they wind up at Strablers, a roadhouse in North Dakota where bikers hang out. While Harly waits for her father to show up, she meets Jimmy, a young bartender and a biker with a reputation for transitory relationships. They form an untrusting relationship.

Harly’s father arrives with his friend Topeka Joe. (Iron) Will Patterson is an imposing roughneck but has a strong moral code. He recognizes Jenna and they renew an old affair, ignoring Harly. Finally, Harly reveals that she’s Will’s daughter but they still fail to connect. Frustrated and angry, Harly threatens to shoot him.

In Act II, Harly and Will form a grudging relationship. Will doesn’t know what to do with a daughter and Harly is more interested in Jimmy than her father. It turns out Will has been invited into a scheme to rob the local posse by Topeka Joe. Will decides to join in the robbery to buy Harly off. Will and Topeka Joe are captured by the posse and Joe’s body is found. Jimmy and the bikers ride up to the posse’s compound to bargain for Will’s life. Thanks to Harly’s unexpected pleading, Will is released, but can’t refrain from slugging the posse leader and is shot dead. In the end there’s a biker funeral for Will and Harly decides to ride with Jimmy and the gang having finally found a real home.