The Nightmare Before Christmas

"Halloween Town" is a dream world filled with citizens such as deformed monsters, ghosts, ghouls, goblins, vampires, werewolves and witches. Jack Skellington ("The Pumpkin King") leads them in a frightful celebration every Halloween ("This is Halloween"), but he has grown tired of the same routine year after year ("Jack's Lament"). Wandering in the forest outside the town center, he accidentally opens a portal to "Christmas Town" ("What's This?"). Impressed by the feeling and style of Christmas, Jack presents his findings and his (somewhat limited) understanding of the holiday to the Halloween Town residents. They fail to grasp his meaning and compare everything he says to their idea of Halloween. He reluctantly decides to play along and announces that they will take over Christmas ("Town Meeting Song").Jack's obsession with Christmas leads him to usurp the role of Santa Claus ("Jack's Obsession"). Sally, a rag doll woman who is created by the town's mad scientist, Dr. Finklestein, begins to feel a romantic attraction towards Jack. However, she receives a premonition that his plans will end in disaster and attempts in vain to warn him, however every attempt is thwarted by her master. Jack assigns every resident in Halloween Town a task to help with Christmas ("Making Christmas"). Jack assigns Lock, Shock and Barrel, a trio of mischievous children, to abduct Santa and bring him back to Halloween Town ("Kidnap the Sandy Claws"). Against Jack's wishes and largely for their amusement, the trio deliver Santa to Oogie Boogie, a gambling-addict bogeyman who plots to play a game with Santa's life at stake ("Oogie Boogie's Song").Christmas Eve arrives and Sally attempts to stop Jack, but he embarks into the sky on a coffin-like sleigh pulled by skeletal reindeer, guided by the glowing nose of his ghost dog Zero, much to Sally's dismay ("Sally's Song"). He begins to deliver presents to children around the world, but the gifts (shrunken heads, Christmas tree-eating snakes, etc.) only terrify the recipients. Jack is believed to be an impostor attempting to imitate Santa, and the military goes on alert to blast him out of the sky. The sleigh is shot down and he is presumed dead by Halloween Town's citizens, but in fact he has survived the crash. Although he is depressed by the failure of his plan, he quickly regains his old spirit and appreciation for former role as the Pumpkin King, having come up with new ideas for next Halloween ("Poor Jack"). He then rushes back home to rescue Santa and put things right.Meanwhile, Sally attempts to free Santa, but is captured by Oogie. Jack slips into the lair and frees them, then defeats Oogie by unraveling his outer covering to spill out all the bugs that comprise him. With Oogie gone, Santa reprimands Jack before setting off to deliver the right presents to the world's children. He makes snow fall over Halloween Town to show that there are no hard feelings between himself and Jack; the townspeople are confused by the snow at first, but soon begin to play happily in it. Jack reveals that he is attracted to Sally just as she is to him, and they kiss under the full moon in the cemetery ("Finale/Reprise").