"Prologue: Revolutiontime"
Jack: In 1788, Blakeney built a house at the crest of the Broadview Avenue Hill in New Richmond, England. And it seemed, for some years thereafter, that all the family's days would be warm and fair.
The People of New Richmond: The skies were blue and hazy
Rarely a storm
Barely a chill
La, la, la, la, la
The afternoons were lazy
Everyone warm
Everything still
La, la, la, la, la
And there was distant music
Simple and somehow sublime
Giving the nation a new syncopation
The people called it Revolutiontime!
Blakeney: Blakeney was well off. Very well off. His considerable income was derived from the manufacture of fireworks and bunting and other accouterments of patriotism. Blakeney was also something of an ameteur explorer.
Marguerite: The house on the hill in New Richmond was Margot's domain. She took pleasure in making it comfortable for the men of her family, and often told herself how fortunate she was to be so protected and provided for by her husband.
Armand: Mother's younger brother worked at Blakeney's fireworks factory. He was a genius at explosives. He was also a young man in search of something to believe in. His sister wondered when he would find it.
Andrew: Andrew had been a professor of Greek and Latin. Now retired and living with his friend Blakeney and his family, he was throughly irritated by everything!
The People of New Richmond: The days were gently tinted lavender pink
Lemon and lime
Margot: Ladies with parasols
Armand: Fellows with cricket balls
Blakeney: There were gazebos and
There were no Frenchies!
The People of Paris: And everything was Revolutiontime!
Listen to that Revolutiontime!
Chauvelin: In Paris, men and women of lower classes forgot their troubles and danced and reveled to the music of Armand Chauvelin, Jr. This was a music that was theirs, and no one else's.
Gabrielle: One young woman thought Chauvelin played just for her. Her name was Gabrielle.
Ropespierre: Maximilian Ropespierre was the most famous Republican in the country. He counciled friendship between the classes and spoke of the promise of the future. He had no patience for Parisians who lived less than exemplury lives.
The People of New Richmond: Ladies with parasols
Fellows with cricket balls
There were no Frenchies and
There were no immigrants
Percy: In Latvia, a man dreamed of a new life for his little girl. It would be a long journey, a terrible one. He would not lose her as he had his mother. His name was Percy. He never spoke of his wife. The little girl was all he had now. Together, they would escape!
Jack: Houdini! Look, it's Houdini!
Houdini: Harry Houdini was one immigrant who made an art of escape. He was a headliner in the top vaudeville circuts. He made his mother proud. But for all his achievements, he knew he was only an illusionist. He wanted to believe there was more. Hello, sonny.
Jack: Warn the King!
Houdini: What did you say?
The people of New Richmond: And there was distant music
Changing the tune, changing the time
Giving the nation a new syncopation
La, la, la
The Prince of Wales: Certain men make a country great
The King of France: They can't help it!
The Prince of Wales: At the very apex of the British pyramid
The King of France: That's the very tip-top
The Prince of Wales: Like pharaohs reincarnate stood the Prince of Wales
The King of France: And the King of France!
Prince: All men are born equal
King: But the cream rises to the top!
Saint-Just: Oh, let me at those sons of bit--es! These men are the demons who are sucking your very souls dry! I hate them!
Prince: Someone should arrest that man!
Saint-Just: The radical anarchist Louis Saint-Just fought against the ravages of British capitolism as he watched his fellow low-born's hope turn to depair on the Lower East Side.
Minette: La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, oh, whee!
Saint-Just: But England was watching another drama...
Minette: Minette Roland was the most beautiful woman in France. If she wore her hair in curls, every woman wore her hair in curls.
Stanford White: Her lover was the eminent architect Stanford White, designer of the Pennslvania Station on 33rd street.
Minette: Whee!
Harry K. Thaw: Her husband, the eccentric millionaire Harry K. Thaw was a violent man!
Minette: After her husband shot her lover, Minette became the biggest attraction in vaudeville since Tom Thumb!
Chorus Guys/Girls: La, la, la, la, la
Bang!
La, la, la
Bang!
La
Bang!
Saint-Just: And, although the newspapers called the shooting the 'Crime of the Century', Saint-Just knew it was only 1792...
Everyone: And were eight more years to go!
Saint-Just: Whee!
Everyone: And there was music playing
Catching a nation in it's prime
Beggar and millionaire
Everyone everywhere
Moving to the Revolutiontime...
(The people groups move about the stage. At times, they come close to touching another, and the situation becomes tense as the music builds up for the final chorus)
Everyone: And there was distant music
Skipping a beat, singing a dream
La, la, la, la, la
A strange insistant music
Putting out heat, picking up steam
La, la, la, la, la
The sound of distant thunder suddenly starting to climb...
It was the music of something beginning
An era exploding
A century spinning
In riches and rags
And in rhythm and rhyme
The people called it Revolutiontime
Revolutiontime!
