Intro
Mark
We begin on Christmas Eve with me, Mark, and my roommate,
Roger.We live in an industrial loft on the corner of 11th
street andAvenue B, the top floor of what was once a
music publishing factory. Old rock and roll posters hang
on the walls. They have Roger's picture advertising gigs
at CBGB's and the Pyramid Club. We havean illegal wood
burning stove; it's exhaust pipe crawls up to askylight.
All of our electrical appliances are plugged into one
thick extension cord which snakes its way out a window.
Outside a small tent city has sprung up in the lot next
to our building. Inside we are freezing because we have
no heat.(He turns the camera to Roger) Smile!
Tune
Up # 1
Mark
December 24th, Nine PM
Eastern Standard Time
From here on in
I shoot without a script
See if anything comes of it
Instead of my old shit
First shot - Roger
Tuning the Fender guitar
He hasn't played in a year
Roger
This won't tune
Mark
So we hear
He's just coming back
From half a year of withdrawal
Roger
Are you talking to me?
Mark
Not at all
Are you ready? Hold that focus - steady
Tell the folks at home what you're doing Roger ...
Roger
I'm writing one great song --
Mark
The phone rings.
Roger
Saved!
Mark
We screen
Zoom in on the answering machine!
Voice
Mail # 1
Roger & Mark's Outgoing
Message
"Speak" ... ("Beeeep!")
Mom
That was a very loud beep
I don't even know if this is working
Mark - Mark - are you there
Are you screening your calls -It's mom
We wanted to call and say we love you
And we'll miss you tomorrow
Cindy and the kids are here - send their love
Oh, I hope you like the hot plate
Just don't leave it on dear
When you leave the house
Oh and Mark
We're sorry to hear that Maureen dumped you
I say c'est la vie
So let her be a lesbian
There are other fishies in the sea... Love Mom
Tune
Up # 2
Mark
Tell the folks at home what you're doing Roger
Roger
I'm writing one great song --
Mark
The phone rings.
Roger
Yesss!
Mark
We screen.
Roger & Mark's Answering
Machine
"Speak" ... ("Beeeep!")
Collins
"Chestnuts roasting ---"
Roger & Mark
Collins!
Collins
I'm downstairs
Mark
Hey!
Collins
Roger picked up the phone??
Mark
No, it's me.
Collins
Throw down the key.
Mark
A wild night is now pre-ordained
Collins
I may be detained.
Mark
What does he mean...?
(Phone rings again)
What do you mean - detained?
Benny
Ho ho ho.
Mark & Roger
Benny! Shit.
Benny
Dudes, I'm on my way
Mark & Roger
Great! Fuck
Benny
I need the rent
Mark
What rent?
Benny
This past year's rent which I let slide
Mark
Let slide? You said we were 'golden'
Roger
When you bought the building
Mark
When we were roommates
Roger
Remember - you lived here!?
Benny
How could I forget?
You, me, Collins and Maureen
How is the drama queen?
Mark
She's performing tonight
Benny
I know. Still her production manager?
Mark
Two days ago I was bumped
Benny
You still dating her?
Mark
Last month I was dumped
Roger
She's in love
Benny
She's got a new man?
Mark
Well - no
Benny
What's his name?
Both
Joanne
Benny
Rent, my amigos, is due
Or I will have to evict you
Be there in a few
Mark
The power blows ...
Rent
Mark
How do you document real life
When real life is getting more
Like fiction each day
Headlines - bread-lines
Blow my mind
And now this deadline
"Eviction - or pay"
Rent
Roger
How do you write a song
When the chords sound wrong
Though they once sounded right and rare
When the notes are sour
Where is the power
You once had to ignite the air
Mark
And we're hungry and frozen
Roger
Some life that we've chosen
Together
How we gonna pay
How we gonna pay
How we gonna pay
Last year's rent
Mark
We light candles
Roger
How do you start a fire
When there's nothing to burn
And it feels like something's stuck in your flue
Mark
How can you generate heat
When you can't feel your feet
Both
And they're turning blue!
Mark
You light up a mean blaze
Roger
With posters -
Mark
And screenplays
Roger & Mark
How we gonna pay
How we gonna pay
How we gonna pay
Last year's rent
Joanne
(On phone)
Don't screen, Maureen
It's me - Joanne
Your substitute production manager
Hey hey hey! (Did you eat)
Don't change the subject Maureen
But darling - you haven't eaten all day
You won't throw up
You won't throw up
The digital delay --
-Didn't blow up (exactly)
There may have been one teeny tiny spark
You're not calling Mark
Collins
How do you stay on your feet
When on every street
It's 'trick or treat'
(And tonight it's 'trick')
'Welcome back to town'
I should lie down
Everything's brown
And uh - oh
I feel sick
Mark
Where is he?
Collins
Getting dizzy
mark & Roger
How we gonna pay
How we gonna pay
How we gonna pay
Last year's rent
Benny
(On cellular phone)
Allison baby - you sound sad
I don't believe those two after everything I've done
Ever since our wedding I'm dirt - They'll see
I can help them all out in the long run
Forces are gathering
Forces are gathering
Can't turn away
Forces are gathering
Collins
Ughhhhh-
Ughhhhh-
Ughhhhh- I can't think
Ughhhhh-
Ughhhhh-
Ughhhhh- I need a drink
Mark
"The music ignites the night with passionate fire"
Joanne
Maureen - I'm not a theatre person
Roger
"The narration crackles and pops with incendiary wit"
Joanne
Could never be a theatre person
Mark
Zoom in as they burn the past to the ground
Joanne
Hello?
Mark & Roger
And feel the heat of the future's glow
Joanne
Hello?
Mark
(On phone)
Hello? Maureen?
-Your equipment won't work?
Okay, all right, I'll go!
Mark & Half the Company
How do you leave the past behind
When it keeps finding ways to get to your heart
It reaches way down deep and tears you inside out
Till you're torn apart
Rent
Roger & Other Half of
Company
How can you connect in an age
Where strangers, landlords, lovers
Your own blood cells betray
All
What binds the fabric together
When the raging, shifting winds of change
Keep ripping away
Benny
Draw a line in the sand
And then make a stand
Roger
Use your camera to spar
Mark
Use your guitar
All
When they act tough - you call their bluff
Mark & Roger
We're not gonna pay
Mark & Roger w/ Half the
Company
We're not gonna pay
Mark & Roger w/ Other Half
of Company
We're not gonna pay
All
Last year's rent
This year's rent
Next year's rent
Rent rent rent rent rent
We're not gonna pay rent
Roger & Mark
'Cause everything is rent
You
Okay Honey?
A Homeless Man
Christmas bells are ringing
Christmas bells are ringing
Christmas bells are ringing
Somewhere else!
Not here
Angel
You okay honey?
Collins
I'm afraid so
Angel
They get any money?
Collins
No
Had none to get -
But they purloined my coat -
Well you missed a sleeve! - Thanks
Angel
Hell it's Christmas eve
I'm Angel
Collins
Angel..? Indeed
An angel of the first degree
Friends call me Collins - Tom Collins
Nice tree ...
Angel
Let's get a band-aid for your knee
I'll change, there's a "Life Support" meeting
at nine-thirty
Yes - this body provides a comfortable home
For the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
Collins
As does mine
Angel
We'll get along fine
Get you a coat, have a bite
Make a night - I'm flush
Collins
My friends are waiting --
Angel
You're cute when you blush
The more the merry - ho ho ho
And I do not take no
Tune
Up # 3
Mark
I don't suppose you'd like to see Maureen's
show in the lot tonight? Or come to dinner?
Roger
Zoom in on my empty wallet.
Mark
Touche. Take your AZT.
Close on Roger
His girlfriend April
Left a note saying "We've got AIDS"
Before slitting her wrists in the bathroom
One
Song Glory
Roger
I'm writing one great song before I...
One song
Glory
One song
Before I go
Glory
One song to leave behind
Find one song
One last refrain
Glory
From the pretty boy front man
Who wasted opportunity
One song
He had the world at his feet
Glory
In the eyes of a young girl
A young girl
Find glory
Beyond the cheap colored lights
One song
Before the sun sets
Glory - on another empty life
Time flies - time dies
Glory - One blaze of glory
One blaze of glory - glory
Find
Glory
In a song that rings true
Truth like a blazing fire
An eternal flame
Find
One song
A song about love
Glory
From the soul of a young man
A young man
Find
The one song
Before the virus takes hold
Glory
Like a sunset
One song
To redeem this empty life
Time flies
And then - no need to endure anymore
Time dies
(A knock on the door)
The door
Light
My Candle
Roger
What'd you forget?
Mimi
Got a light?
Roger
I know you? -- You're --
You're shivering
Mimi
It's nothing
They turned off my heat
And I'm just a little
Weak on my feet
Would you light my candle?
What are you staring at?
Roger
Nothing
Your hair in the moonlight
You look familiar
Can you make it?
Mimi
Just haven't eaten much today
At least the room stopped spinning.
Anyway. What?
Roger
Nothing Your smile reminded me of -
Mimi
I always remind people of - who is she?
Roger
She died. Her name was April
Mimi
It's out again
Sorry about your friend
Would you light my candle?
Roger
Well -
Mimi
Yeah. Ow
Roger
Oh, the wax - it's
Mimi
Dripping! I like it - between my --
Roger
Fingers. I figured...
Oh, well. Goodnight.
(Mimi exits; then knocks again)
It blew out again?
Mimi
No - I think that I dropped my stash
Roger
I know I've seen you out and about
When I used to go out
Your candle's out
Mimi
I'm illin' -
I had it when I walked in the door
It was pure -
Is it on the floor?
Roger
The floor?
Mimi
They say I have the best ass below 14th street
Is it true?
Roger
What?
Mimi
you're staring again.
Roger
Oh no. I mean you do -- have a nice --
I mean -- You look familiar
Mimi
Like your dead girlfriend?
Roger
Only when you smile.
But I'm sure I've seen you somewhere else --
Mimi
Do you go to the cat scratch club
That's where I work - I dance - help me look
Roger
Yes!
They used to tie you up -
Mimi
It's a living
Roger
I didn't recognize you
Without the handcuffs
Mimi
We could light the candle
Oh won't you light the candle
Roger
Why don't you forget that stuff
You look like you're sixteen
Mimi
I'm nineteen - but I'm old for my age
I'm just born to be bad
Roger
I once was born to be bad
I used to shiver like that
Mimi
I have no heat - I told you
Roger
I used to sweat
Mimi
I got a cold
Roger
Uh huh
I used to be a junkie
Mimi
But now and then I like to --
Roger
Uh huh
Mimi
Feel good
Roger
Here it -- um --
Mimi
What's that?
Roger
Candy bar wrapper
Mimi
We could light the candle What'd you do with my candle?
Roger
That was my last match
Mimi
Our eyes'll adjust, thank God for the moon
Roger
Maybe it's not the moon at all
I hear Spike Lee's shooting down the street
Mimi
Bah humbug ... Bah humbug
Roger
Cold hands
Mimi
Yours too.
Big. Like my father's
You wanna dance?
Roger
With you?
Mimi
No - with my father
Roger
I'm Roger
Mimi
They call me
They call me Mimi
Voice
Mail # 2
Mr. Jefferson
Well, Joanne - We're off
I tried you at the office
And they said you're stage managing or something
Mrs. Jefferson
Remind her that those unwed mothers in Harlem
Need her legal help too
Mr. Jefferson
Call Daisy for our itinerary or Alfred at Pound Ridge
Or Eileen at the state department in a pinch
We'll be at the spa for new year's
Unless the senator changes his mind
Mrs. Jefferson
The hearings
Mr. Jefferson
Oh yes - Kitten
Mummy's confirmation hearing begins on the tenth
We'll need you - alone - by the sixth
Mrs. Jefferson
Harold!
Mr. Jefferson
You hear that?
It's three weeks away
And she's already nervous
Mrs. Jefferson
I am not!
Mr. Jefferson
For Mummy's sake, Kitten
No Doc Martens this time and wear a dress ...
Oh, and Kitten - have a merry
Mrs. Jefferson
And a bra!!
Today
For You
Mark & Collins
Bustelo - Marlboro
Banana by the bunch
A box of Captain Crunch will taste so good
Collins
And firewood
Mark
Look - it's Santa Claus
Collins
Hold your applause
Roger
Oh hi
Collins
'Oh hi" after seven months?
Roger
Sorry
Collins
This boy could use some Stoli
Collins, Mark & Roger
Oh holy night
Roger
You struck gold at MIT?
Collins
They expelled me for my theory of Actual Reality
Which I'll soon impart
To the couch potatoes at New York University
Still haven't left the house?
Roger
I was waiting for you don't you know
Collins
Well, tonight's the night
Come to the Life Cafe after Maureen's show
Roger
No flow
Collins
Gentlemen, our benefactor on this Christmas eve
Whose charity is only matched by talent, I believe
A new member of the Alphabet City avant-garde
Angel Dumott Schunard!
Angel
Today for you - tomorrow for me
Today for you - tomorrow for me
Collins
And you should hear her beat!
Mark
You earned this on the street?
Angel
It was my lucky day today on Avenue A
When a lady in a limousine drove my way
She said, "Dahling - be a dear - haven't slept in a
year
I need your help to make my neighbor's yappy dog
disappear"
"This Akita-Evita just won't shut up
I believe if you play non-stop that pup
Will breathe its very last high-strung breath
I'm certain that cur will bark itself to death"
Today for you - tomorrow for me
Today for you - tomorrow for me
We agreed on a fee - A thousand dollar guarantee
Tax-free - and a bonus if I trim her tree
Now who could foretell that it would go so well
But sure as I am here that dog is now in doggy hell
After an hour - Evita - in all her glory
On the window ledge of that 23rd story
Like Thelma & Louise did when they got the blues
Swan dove into the courtyard of the Gracie Mews
Today for you - tomorrow for me
Today for you - tomorrow for me
Then back to the street where I met my sweet
Where he was moaning and groaning on the cold concrete
The nurse took him home for some mercurochrome
And I dressed his wounds and got him back on his feet
Sing it
Today for you - tomorrow for me
Today for you - tomorrow for me
Today for you - tomorrow for me
Today for you - tomorrow for me
You'll
See
Benny
Hey you bum - yeah, you, move over
Get your ass off that range rover
Mark
That attitude toward the homeless is just what
Maureen is protesting tonight.
Close up: Benjamin Coffin the third. Our ex-
roommate who married Alison Grey, of the Westport
Greys - then bought the building, in hopes of starting
a cyber-studio.
Benny
Maureen is protesting
Losing her performance space
Not my attitude
Roger
What happened to Benny
What happened to his heart
And the ideals he once pursued
Benny
The owner of that lot next door
Has a right to do with it as he pleases
Collins
Happy birthday, Jesus!
Benny
The rent
Mark
You're wasting your time
Roger
We're broke
Mark
And you broke your word - this is absurd
Benny
There is one way you won't have to pay
Roger
I knew it!
Benny
Next door, the home of Cyberarts, you see
And now that the block is re-zoned
Our dream can become a reality
You'll see boys
You'll see boys
A state of the art, digital, virtual interactive studio
I'll forego your rent and on paper guarantee
That you can stay here for free
If you do me one small favor
Mark
What?
Benny
Convince Maureen to cancel her protest
Mark
Why not just get an injunction or call the cops
Benny
I did, and they're on stand by
But my investors would rather
I handle this quietly
Roger
You can't quietly wipe out an entire tent city
Then watch 'It's a Wonderful Life' on TV!
Benny You want to
produce films and write songs?
You need somewhere to do it!
It's what we used to dream about
Think twice before you pooh-pooh it
You'll see boys
You'll see boys
You'll see - the beauty of a studio
That lets us do our work and get paid
With condos on the top
Whose rent keeps open our shop
Just stop the protest
And you'll have it made
You'll see - or you'll pack
Angel
That boy could use some prozac
Roger
Or heavy drugs
Mark
Or group hugs
Collins
Which reminds me -
We have a detour to make tonight
Anyone who wants to can come along
Angel
Life support's a group for people coping with life
You don't have to stay too long
Mark
First I've got a protest to save
Angel
Roger?
Roger
I'm not much company you'll find
Mark
Behave!
Angel
He'll catch up later - He's just go other things on his
mind
You'll see boys
Mark & Collins
We'll see boys
Roger
Let it be boys!
Collins
I like boys
Angel
Boys like me
All
We'll see.
Tango:
Maureen
Joanne
Mark?
Mark
Hi.
Joanne
I told her not to call you
Mark
That's Maureen
But can I help since I'm here
Joanne
I hired an engineer ...
Mark
Great! Well, nice to have met you
Joanne
Wait!
She's three hours late
The samples won't delay
But the cable -
Mark
There's another way
Say something - anything
Joanne
Test - one, two three --
Mark
Anything but that
Joanne
This is weird
Mark
It's weird
Joanne
Very weird
Mark
Fuckin' weird
Joanne
I'm so mad
That I don't know what to do
Fighting with microphones
Freezing down to my bones
And to top it all off
I'm with you
Mark
Feel like going insane?
Got a fire in your brain?
And you're thinking of drinking gasoline?
Joanne
As a matter of fact --
Mark
Honey, I know this act
It's called the 'Tango Maureen'
The Tango Maureen
It's a dark, dizzy merry-go-round
As she keeps you dangling
Joanne
You're wrong
Mark
Your heart she is mangling
Joanne
It's different with me
Mark
And you toss and you turn
'Cause her cold eyes can burn
Yet you yearn and you churn and rebound
Joanne
I think I know what you mean
Both
The Tango Maureen
Mark
Has she ever pouted her lips
And called you 'Pookie'
Joanne
Never
Mark
Have you ever doubted a kiss or two?
Joanne
This is spooky
Did you swoon when she walked through the door?
Mark
Every time - so be cautious
Joanne
Did she moon over other boys --?
Mark
More than moon --
Joanne I'm getting
nauseous
(They dance)
Mark It's hard to do
this backwards.
Joanne
You should try it in heels!
She cheated
Mark
She cheated
Joanne
Maureen cheated
Mark
Fuckin' cheated
Joanne
I'm defeated
I should give up right now
Mark
Gotta look on the bright side
With all of your might
Joanne
I'd fall for her still anyhow
Both
When you're dancing her dance
You don't stand a chance
Her grip of romance
Make you fall
Mark
So you think, 'Might as well'
Joanne
"Dance a tango to hell"
Both
'At least I'll have tangoed at all'
The Tango Maureen
Gotta dance till your diva is through
You pretend to believe her
Cause in the end - you can't leave her
But the end it will come
Still you have to play dumb
Till you're glum and you bum
And turn blue
Mark
Why do we love when she's mean?
Joanne
And she can be so obscene
Mark
Try the mike
Joanne
My Maureen (een, een, een...)
Mark
Patched
Joanne
Thanks
Mark
You know - I feel great now!
Joanne
I feel lousy
Both
The Tango: Maureen!
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