Act II, Scene 3
Act II, Scene 3
SETTING:
The big top. It has been decorated for DAVID and ANGELA'S wedding.
AT RISE:
The ceremony is beginning. The bleachers are filled with the people of the circus. Many of the performers are in costume. DAVID is waiting at the front with the PRIEST. One by one SUE, TERRI, and TONI walk up the aisle with MR. BEANS, MAN 1, and MAN 2 respectively. THEY sing as THEY walk up the aisle. THEY split to either side as THEY reach the front, where DAVID and the PRIEST are waiting. MR. BEANS is the best man and stands closest to DAVID. SUE stands closest on the other side. LAURA is sitting with TIM. FIRENELLI cannot be seen.
SUE
HERE I AM, ONE MORE TIME,
ALWAYS A BRIDESMAID.
WHO WOULD EVER THINK TO SEE ME?
WILL IT EVER EVER BE ME?
ALWAYS A BRIDESMAID,
NEVER A BRIDE.
TERRI
LOOK AT ME, HERE I AM,
AT LAST, A BRIDESMAID.
I'LL CATCH THE BOUQUET. MAYBE, WHO CAN SAY?
AT LAST, A BRIDESMAID.
(SHE drops HER flowers and picks them up, embarrassed. FIRENELLI enters, unobtrusively.)
TOMORROW A BRIDE.
TONI
I WONDER HOW I LOOK?
I WONDER IF HE SEES ME?
THERE'LL BE A MAN SOMEDAY TO MAKE IT RIGHT.
HE'LL WANT ME ALL MY LIFE, NOT JUST ONE NIGHT.
SOMETIME A BRIDESMAID
MAY BE A BRIDE.
(ANGELA starts up the aisle with MIKLOS. THEY are partway up the aisle when FIRENELLI intercepts THEM. HE is dressed in a tuxedo. HE takes ANGELA'S arm from MIKLOS and continues up the aisle with ANGELA. MIKLOS sits.)
CHORUS
BRIDESMAIDS, BRIDESMAIDS,
ALL IN A ROW,
STANDING JUST SO,
EVERYONE KNOWS THAT
WEDDINGS AREN'T OVER WHEN
THIS ONE IS PAST,
BRIDESMAIDS TURN BRIDE
AT LAST.
BRIDESMAIDS, BRIDESMAIDS,
PRETTY AND SHY,
WONDERING WHY
EVERYONE CRIES, FOR
WEDDINGS AREN'T OVER WHEN
THIS ONE IS PAST,
BRIDESMAIDS TURN BRIDE
AT LAST.
(ANGELA reaches the front. SHE parts from HER FATHER and joins DAVID. The PRIEST begins the ceremony.)
SUE
I WONDER HOW I'D LOOK
WALKING DOWN THE AISLE?
TERRI
I WONDER IF I'D CRY?
TONI
I KNOW THAT I'D SMILE.
(Trio, each GIRL repeats HER own verse.)
SUE
HERE I AM, ONE MORE TIME,
ALWAYS A BRIDESMAID.
WHO WOULD EVER
THINK TO SEE ME?
WILL IT EVER EVER BE ME?
TOMORROW A BRIDE.
TERRI
LOOK AT ME, HERE I AM,
AT LAST, A BRIDESMAID.
I'LL CATCH THE BOUQUET.
MAYBE, WHO CAN SAY?
AT LAST, A BRIDESMAID.
TOMORROW A BRIDE.
TONI
I WONDER HOW I LOOK?
I WONDER IF HE SEES ME?
THERE'LL BE A MAN SOMEDAY
TO MAKE IT RIGHT.
HE'LL WANT ME ALL MY LIFE,
NOT JUST ONE NIGHT.
TOMORROW A BRIDE.
(The ceremony continues. DAVID and ANGELA taking the rings, etc.)
CHORUS
BRIDESMAIDS, BRIDESMAIDS,
ALL IN A ROW,
STANDING JUST SO,
EVERYONE KNOWS THAT
WEDDINGS AREN'T OVER WHEN
THIS ONE IS PAST,
BRIDESMAIDS TURN BRIDE
AT LAST.
BRIDESMAIDS, BRIDESMAIDS,
PRETTY AND SHY,
WONDERING WHY
EVERYONE CRIES, FOR
WEDDINGS AREN'T OVER WHEN
THIS ONE IS PAST,
BRIDESMAIDS TURN BRIDE...
PRIEST
Ego conjungo vos in matrimonium: In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.
CHORUS
AT LAST.
(The PRIEST gestures to DAVID and ANGELA. DAVID lifts ANGELA'S veil and kisses her. THEY are covered under a shower of rice and cheers. A reception party begins immediately. There is music and constant motion as everyone moves to congratulate DAVID and ANGELA. As ANGELA is surrounded LAURA moves away, off by HERSELF, away from all the people.)
FIRENELLI
Champagne! Where is the champagne? We must have a toast! To David and Angela.
(FIRENELLI drinks a whole glass of champagne.)
Where is Laura?
(HE finds MR. BEANS instead.)
George! You must drink to David and Angela.
(FIRENELLI forces a glass on MR. BEANS and they drink together.)
David, it is a great day. The day you marry a Firenelli you become a Firenelli. Today, I am your Papa! Laura, you must come drink with us.
(FIRENELLI embraces DAVID.)
TERRI
Angela looks so pretty. I wish I was that pretty.
TONI
At your wedding you will be.
TERRI
Thank you!
(TONI is uncomfortable at having said anything nice to TERRI.)
TONI
But first you'll have to find a blind man to marry you.
FIRENELLI
Wait! I am not done yet. Laura? Tim? I drink to you, and I drink to Bobby. I am not the man I should be, but I am the Papa! To the Papa, and his family!
(HE drinks again.)
George. I have always thought you were the most funny clown in the circus. Every time I see you I laugh.
MR. BEANS
Do you? I laugh when I see you too.
FIRENELLI
Laugh!? Today, in marriage of the honor of my daughter, A... A...
MR. BEANS
Angela.
FIRENELLI
Angela! I am going to do a quadruple Ratini with two full twists.
MR. BEANS
What's a quadruple Ratini?
(FIRENELLI sways slightly.)
FIRENELLI
Watch. I am doing one now.
(Suddenly FIRENELLI and MR. BEANS spin drunkenly in each other's arms. SUE crosses to MR. BEANS.)
SUE
It's not fair.
MR. BEANS
What's not fair?
SUE
For Laura to leave you.
TERRI
What if he was sick?
MR. BEANS
I never get sick.
(FIRENELLI listens in.)
SUE
What if you had an accident?
MR. BEANS
I don't like accidents.
SUE
What if you broke your arm?
(MR. BEANS retreats. SUE and TONI follow.)
TONI
Maybe your leg.
FIRENELLI
Best of all, both arms and both legs!
MR. BEANS
No!
FIRENELLI
Come, let us get some more champagne.
MR. BEANS
The champagne is this way.
FIRENELLI
I am going that way. It is the ground that is going the other way. David! Angela! You are riding the elephant today.
MR. BEANS
We've got to get that sign onto the elephant.
FIRENELLI
Did you get the tin cans and the old pair of shoes?
MR. BEANS
Yes.
FIRENELLI
Good. We will tie them to the elephants tail.
MR. BEANS
What if the elephant has to... uh... you know?
FIRENELLI
That is what the tin cans are for.
(The CHORUS GIRLS escort MR. BEANS off. FIRENELLI is about to follow THEM off but HE is diverted when HE sees LAURA.)
Laura. No, don't run away from me. Sit. Please. Today, in honor of the marriage of my daughter A... Angela, I am a different man. I am not a monster. Sit. The floor is moving.
(THEY sit.)
Bobby was a perfect son. He was a good man. He was a good man?
LAURA
Yes.
FIRENELLI
I am a good man too. You know, it is not easy to have a son like Bobby, because when he dies what is there left in the world? You know this.
LAURA
I know.
FIRENELLI
Bobby loved you. He was a smart man. Books, poof! He was a genius in his heart. The papa does not always love the woman that his son chooses, but I loved you. I miss the days you came to see me.
LAURA
We saw you every day.
FIRENELLI
I miss all of them. I was a lucky man. You know, his mother gave Bobby his head, but his heart it came from me. My father taught me the trapeze. I have told you that. I don't need to tell you again. It makes you angry. It makes you afraid.
(There is a pause.)
Off season, you will let me come visit you? I will be a very ordinary grandpapa. I will bring my grandson a red painted fire truck and I will take him to the zoo. I will do with him the things that the trapeze never left time for me to do with Bobby.
(LAURA can't stand it any more. SHE leans over to embrace HIM.)
I have made my daughter happy, and I have made you happy. I am a very poor monster.
(FIRENELLI gets up. HE crosses unsteadily to DAVID and ANGELA. MIKLOS crosses to LAURA.)
MIKLOS
Laura?
(SHE looks at HIM, but SHE won't say anything, more out of fear of what might come of it than out of any remaining anger. SHE gets up and crosses quickly away from MIKLOS.)
(to Jaspar) Jaspar. What can I do?
(TERRI and TONI enter and intercept LAURA.)
TERRI
Laura!
TONI
Laura!
LAURA
What is it?
TERRI
It's your father.
TONI
Don't be upset. It's nothing.
LAURA
What's wrong?
TONI
Stay calm. He'll be all right.
TERRI
Of course he'll be all right. It's just that he's so afraid of hospitals.
LAURA
Hospitals?! Where is he?
(SUE leads on MR. BEANS. HE is bandaged six ways from Tuesday, including HIS mouth.)
Daddy?
MR. BEANS
Mmgmph.
(LAURA gets the picture.)
LAURA
What happened?
(The GIRLS reel off the following story at ninety miles a minute. MR. BEANS mimes to their story.)
SUE
First he fell off a ladder and broke his leg.
TERRI
That was after he caught his wrist in the popcorn machine.
TONI
It was a cotton candy machine.
TERRI
That was his foot.
SUE
Poor George. Popped, buttered, and salted.
TERRI
After he got loose from the popcorn machine and the cotton candy machine he tried to run for help.
SUE
With a pink foot.
TONI
Next thing we know he was in the bears' cage.
SUE
Lucky thing bears like cotton candy more than they like clown.
SUE
After the bears there was the cannon.
TONI
Then the train.
TERRI
And the calliope.
TONI
And the high wire.
SUE
And the seals.
TERRI
And the tuba.
TONI
And the high dive.
SUE
He doesn't usually get into so much trouble before lunch. He needs a keeper.
(LAURA can't help laughing. MR. BEANS laughs with her. SHE hugs HIM.)
LAURA
He doesn't need a keeper. He needs an audience.
MR. BEANS
Whnught?
TERRI
How can you laugh? Look at him.
(LAURA laughs harder.)
LAURA
Let me help you out of this.
(SHE starts to undo HIS bandages.)
MR. BEANS
Nuehoow!
LAURA
It won't work Daddy.
MR. BEANS
Mdlg ajfsj?
LAURA
I am not staying to play nurse maid for my poor, clumsy, deceitful, funny father. It won't work.
(SHE pulls the bandage off of HIS mouth.)
MR. BEANS
It won't?
LAURA
No.
TERRI
Damn!
(MIKLOS crosses to DAVID and ANGELA.)
MIKLOS
Angela! Give me a kiss! Pardon me David. You laugh. Sixty years ago, if I kissed a man's wife he would worry. Now, I kiss a girl, I worry my teeth will fall out.
(MIKLOS gives ANGELA a kiss.)
What is this? Everyone is standing. We have music. Who can stand when there is music? Dance!
(HE dances alone.)
Come on now. Are you going to let an old man show you up? Allez! Allez! Come on boys! Kom mit! Kom mit! Come on David, Angela! Allez! Allez!
(MIKLOS dances alone to a Magyar gypsy dance. Everybody moves aside to give HIM room. HE dances very slowly, and sadly at first, but the music picks up and HE dances exuberantly. The others join in the dance. It becomes a Magyar gypsy circus dance. LAURA comes closer to watch. SHE is drawn into the dance. SHE moves in and out of the dance, drawn to it, but afraid to give in to it entirely. SHE withdraws. MIKLOS is quickly outstripped by the fantastic acrobatics of the performers. The dance reaches a wild crescendo, ending in a burst of bodies flipping, twisting, and soaring about the stage.)
MIKLOS
Yes. That was very nice. Sometime I will teach you how to really dance. I... What?...
(MIKLOS slumps to the ground. HE is quickly surrounded and guided to a seat on the bleachers. LAURA is at the back of the group.)
MR. BEANS
Miklos!
SUE
What's wrong?
FIRENELLI
Miklos, are you all right?
(EVERYONE has crowded around MIKLOS. HE tries to sit up.)
SUE
Don't try to get up.
(HE looks up weakly at everybody gathered around HIM. LAURA pushes HER way to MIKLOS.)
MIKLOS
I hope somebody charged admission. Let me up. I am all right.
LAURA
No you aren't.
MIKLOS
What? I should know if I am all right.
LAURA
You're going to bed.
(MIKLOS struggles to get up.)
MIKLOS
I am going to dance.
(HE collapses again.)
Don't stop the party.
(LAURA motions to FIRENELLI and DAVID.)
LAURA
Lie down! Somebody call a doctor.
MIKLOS
No doctor.
LAURA
Call a doctor!
MIKLOS
If you call a doctor I will get up and dance and die before he gets here.
(DAVID and FIRENELLI are holding HIM gently down.)
If you hold me down so I can't get up I will dance in my head and die anyway. No doctor.
LAURA
Why not?
MIKLOS
I will not die in a hospital.
LAURA
You're not going to die.
MIKLOS
We are all going to die.
LAURA
You can't die.
MIKLOS
No doctor?
LAURA
No doctor.
MIKLOS
All right, I won't die yet.
LAURA
But we're going to take you to your room so you can get some sleep.
(DAVID and FIRENELLI pick MIKLOS up.)
MIKLOS
Sleep? Who can sleep when there is music?
(DAVID, FIRENELLI, and LAURA exit with MIKLOS. The music is sad again. The lights dim. The party is over. BLACKOUT.)
End of Scene 3
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Sawdust In My Shoes... Home, Title Page, Cast of Characters, Songs
Act I ---- Scene... One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine
Act II --- Scene... One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six
circus, Ringling Brothers, Cirque du Soleil, trapeze, lion, parade, clown, high wire, accident, death, mother, father, grandfather, marriage, love, chorus girl, musical, Broadway, show
© 1982 and 1985 by Gregg Butterfield and Michael J. Pickering.
All rights reserved. Permission is granted to make one printed copy for personal/non-commercial use only. Any reproduction of this material must include this copyright notice. Written permission from the authors is required for further reproduction, by any method. Written permission from the authors is required to perform this work or any portion thereof.