CAROUSEL WIND OR WHY DON'T YOU SING

[To Find The Musical "Carousel Wind" Click on "Carousel Wind Act 1 Scene 1 to the right in the May 2012 section]

I was selling Magic Pens at a kiosk beside the Venetian Carousel at the Garden State Plaza and would often notice a girl in her early twenties being left by her parents on the same bench. She looked lonely sitting there watching the carousel — it made me wonder what was going through her mind day after day — so much so that I started writing a song about her. The main theme of song was to speculate on what she might be dreaming, that perhaps the wind generated by the carousel might carry her off with its phantom embraces. I suggested in the song that if you happened to see her at the mall to say hello to her, but hadn’t done so myself. So I said hello to her asked her why she sat at the same bench beside the carousel. She said that she liked to see the smiles on the faces of the children. The carousel was decorated with ornately framed vignettes of Venice, and each time it stopped a different scene would take the girl into a new dream world.

Some  of the action for Carousel Wind or Why Don't You Sing? takes place at Piazza Ducale – in Vigevano, Italy. The main characters are Joy, the girl with the chestnut brown hair and Enigma, her imaginary love interest, a mime artists whowears a striped shirt, a figment of imagination perhaps inspired by the gondolier depicted on the Carousel. The animation begins with the camera rolling forward inside the archways of the Piazza towards the façade that resembles a carousel. Right in front of the façade, with a similar silhouette, a Venetian carousel appears as if in a dream. Joy, with a forlorn expression, walks in and sits facing the carousel.

The camera angle then shifts to a low shot from her side and a little behind so that she is half the frame with her face prominent from the side, and the carousel is whirling by. She is looking up at the children, her hair is blowing from the carousel wind and light is flickering on her face, as if projected from the carousel. The wind is drawn in meandering shapes, much like the ornate frames of the Venetian vignettes. Her frown gradually becomes a wistful smile, as if she is hoping for something. Close-up of stirrups being a star, then a windmill, then a star drawn on the end of a telescope, then an eye then the telescope comes away from the face and it is Joy. Joy dreams of walking along the beach, looks through her spyglass at a mime who accosts wearing a squirting flower. They fool around (the mime picks up a shell and puts it to his ear and blows water out his mouth) and the mime squirts her; then offers the flower, which she attaches it to her round straw hat… She dreams of floating in a gondola with the mime underneath an arched bridge… As she dreams families with children walk by in the foreground without noticing the girl. In another dream Joy is at the top of an arched bridge overlooking a canal in Venice. She is wearing the straw hat with the squirting sunflower and looking down over the stone railing. In her hand is a flower and she is dropping petals into the water below. The petals drop like tears, from above there is a reflection of Enigma and as the petal hits the water it shatters the image… In the final scene the camera pans down to the empty bench at the carousel with the squirting sunflower on the floor. A broom sweeps it up and puts it into a wheeled dustbin. Where the flower was is a shadow. The camera pans out and reveals it is a shadow of Joy and Enigma embracing…

Synopsis in a Seashell

"Three people who shouldn't, couldn't, and wouldn't sing find happiness in the shadow of a Carousel"


































































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List of Songs in Carousel Wind

CAROUSEL WIND or
WHY DON'T YOU SING

By Stefan des Lauriers

The Songs

Act 1

Scene 1

 1 Hearts in Harmony

2 Maze of Metaphors: Mr. Poet (Joy and Enigma on Chorus)

3 Enigmo's Song

Scene 2

4 Soft Shoe: Granddad

5 Vision of Victory: Mr. Poet

Scene 3

6 Leading Man Gets Lost: (Mr. Poet or guest singer)

Scene 4

7 Philosopher and Clown: George Montagne

8 When The Silver Whistle Blows: George Montagne

Scene 5

9 Handful of Stars: Mr. Poet

10 Fill the World With Song: Joy

Act 2

Scene 1

11 Soliloquy of a Worm in A Candy Apple: Joy

12 Blue Whale Blues: (Could be anyone in the cast)

Scene 2

13 Wasn't There a Carousel 

14 Jet Fuel Folderol: Mr. Poet

Scene 3

15 Carousel Wind: Enigma

16 Toddling Astronaut: Todd

17 Imaginary Mountains: Joy

18 I Can't Help It But When I
'm Beside You I Am Beside Myself
19 Wind-up Monkey Dance: Enigma

20 Great Engineer: Joy

Scene 4

21 Lions Big Debut: Mr. Poet

2 2 Favorite Pony: (Reprise) Joy

23 Time to Say Good Night: Mr. Poet (and cast)
24 Why Don't You Sing?

CAROUSEL WIND Act 1 Scene 1

CAROUSEL WIND 

Act 1 Scene 1

The Characters:

Enigma, the Italian mime artist
Mr. Poet, the Troubled Troubadour, and Joy’s secret brother
Joy Montagne, Girl With Chestnut Hair

George Montagne, (Great Engineer)
Molly Montagne,
Granddad
Nanny
The "Director"

Starlet (who doesn't have any lines)
Laughing Lady
Fortune Teller
Ice Cream Man
Pretzel Man
Record Man
Window Shopper

©2006 by Stefan des Lauriers

Joy had a shadow that followed her around, even when the sun was not shining. The shadow was her younger brother, Mr. Poet, who would have been like any other kid, had he not taken a wrong turn down a steep hill in a peddle car. The accident caused a severe head injury that knocked out all the negativity, and left him with the mind that refused to grow up, and get a real job. Joy’s parents were ashamed of Mr. Poet’s lack-luster songwriting career, and in their minds the shame cast a shadow over the family. [That is why he seldom went home, and when he did he would hang around the beach to run into his sister Joy.] But this was not the case with Joy, who believed if she found herself under a dark cloud one should rise above the rain.

In the early morning when the sun rose above the Jersey Shore where her family had their summerhouse, Joy liked to walk along the beach by Carousel Square. It was a quaint arcade and amusement park built in a style after an Italian courtyard with repeated arched columns. Joy liked to look at the sunrise with Manhattan in the distance with the skyscrapers appearing like an enchanted island kingdom. As she walked along the edge of waves she would pick up the occasional shell and think of ideas for children's stories.

Two faint figures appeared from where the shoreline stretched into the Enchanted Skyline walking towards Joy. Two young men, one in a striped shirt and the other, her secret brother, with a guitar strapped around his neck and strumming stopped just before running into Joy. The three converged at a large conch shell on the shore. As the one in the striped shirt picked up the shell the guitarist started singing:

Mr. Poet:

How many hearts are slow on their feet
Waiting for love to pick up the beat
Since the first heart was stolen away
We've been yearning for love's harmony

Let's get together in a song
When our hearts are in harmony
There's no note you can sing wrong
When our hearts are in harmony

The singer's heart lives on in a song
And with the same breath you carry it on
Is love meant to last for an eternity
His song will be there a long time after he's gone

True love can lift all souls
From the dungeons to the towers
When other persons beating hearts
Are put in place of ours

A trumpet shell that washed ashore
Heralds our love with whispered roar

The whole universe wrapped up in a song 
It's a heartbeat away if we can just sing along

Enigmo:

Hello, my name is Enigmo. I am a mime artist from Italy

[The one in the striped shirt said to Joy. He put the shell to his ear and water squirted out his opposite ear. Joy laughed. Mr. Poet and Joy shared a knowing nod. Joy secretly mouthed the words: “Don’t let on that you are my brother.”]

Joy:

 
How did you do that? Have water squirt from your ear like that?

Enigmo:

I am Inigmo the mime from Italy. When I saw you coming I hooked up my squirting shell so it looks like I have a hole in my head. Usually I get unsuspecting girls to smell my flower and squirt them— so you are lucky — today I'm using a shell. You put it to your ear and eternity is hear

Joy:

My name is Joy. I've been collecting shells for years but never saw one like this around here. You're a long way from Italy.

Enigmo:

This is Mr. Poet. I just met him down the beach. Actually I'm here to star in a video for a song called "Leading Man Gets Lost." I play a promiscuous clown who breaks the heart of a young starlet. One of my props is a trick shell. The action takes place on the beach, and at the arcade with all the rides. Usually I use a squirting flower to win the hearts of girls. I get them to smell it and then squirt them, but it is just a fine spritz of perfume. An invisible bouqet of tiny balloons, or is that bubbles?

Joy:

We have a summer place here. My grandparents will be visiting us tomorrow. They are flying in from London.

Enigmo:

Didn't I see you on the carousel yesterday afternoon?

Joy:

Yes, I was there. When I come down to the shore I stop by the merry-go-round in the arcade. I live a block away from a carousel in Paramus. It's at the Garden State Plaza. Often I go there and sit on the bench to watch the children smile. I write children's stories, well— think up stories sitting by the bench beside the Carousel. The carousel has pictures of Venice all over it. To me it is a magical place. I'm thinking of writing a story called "Her Majesty's Magical Merry-Go-Round.

Mr. Poet:

Nice alliteration.

Joy:

The story has a young princess sitting beside a magical merry-go-round. There are murals painted on the top of the merry-go-round; scenes of whimsical places. Every time the carousel stops, actually it's a carousel; a picture of a different realm appears. Whenever the princess gets on — that's the world she travels to.

Mr. Poet:

That's like a giant Carousel, you know, those slide projectors

Enigmo:

There's a Venetian Carousel in my hometown in Italy. It's at the Piazza Ducale – in Vigevano (Pavia). That's where I do my mime routine. Entertaining the people who stand in line.

Joy:

So we have something in common. A Venetian Carousel. Why don't you show me one of your skits?

Enigma:

I'll do the invisible maze. But I must warn you if I do it here the maze will not be invisible...

Joy:

I know. Because you will leave footprints in the sand.

[Enigma does his mime and the background noises become silent. When he finishes there is the faint sound of a bell and the sound of a carousel.]

Mr. Poet: [Sings while walking in the invisible maze strumming his guitar in a mock trance.]

I saw the ghost of Michelangelo
It was in a maze of metaphors
Or was it the moon in cameo appearance
That made an image of that old chiseler

Joy, Enigmo: [in harmony]

O why are you so troubled my young troubadour
Meandering in a maze of metaphors

Mr. Poet:

The artist stood by his "Window to the Soul"
It was painted with colors that never dry
His brush was dipped in a black hole
And a star burst in the gleam of an eye

Joy, Enigmo [in harmony]

O why are you so troubled my young troubadour
Meandering in a maze of metaphors

Mr. Poet:

I saw chameleons square dancing in delight
On a chessboard stretching to infinity
It rained crystal balls as two white cranes
Were faced with endless possibilities

Joy, Enigma: [in harmony]

O why are you so troubled my young troubadour
Meandering in a maze of metaphors

Mr. Poet:

Old Father Time with a beard of indigo
Was turning an hourglass of sand
Inside the glass an ant chased a grain of rice
And made the cosmic order get out of hand

Joy, Enigmo [in harmony]

O why are you so troubled my young troubadour
Meandering in a maze of metaphors

Mr. Poet:

With an ant up my sleeve I built castles in quicksand
Having time and broken glass on my hands
Then I had a sinking feeling that I was in a hole
It was an impression that mirrored my soul

Joy, Enigmo: [in harmony]

O why are you so troubled my young troubadour
Meandering in a maze of metaphors

Mr. Poet:

Sculpturing sand; the sun upon the bay
Became a wand of sparkling rays
I looked at wrinkled fingers speckled with golden sand
The universe was in the palm of my hand

Joy:

You could have ended it with
"All I need," I mimed
"Is the perfect metaphor
Something like a clown
With a seashell on the shore"

Mr. Poet:

The universal metaphor...
That's what I'm looking for
You may think it's a trumpet shell
Because it resembles the shape of a galaxy...
Since the dawn of time people have longed
To be remembered in art
A man and woman in love
Are the perfect metaphor
That is what resembles the universe
Not an empty shell...

Joy:

To me the universal metaphor is a star. When I was a child a mystical drifter's wagon parked by our school and a man in a top hat with a mustache like handlebars charged us each a nickel to see the star in his magic telescope. I paid my nickel and saw the outline of a star drawn on the glass at the far end of a cheap imitation telescope. I thought that hope was the star at the end of the telescope. Hope makes the stars appear brighter than they really are

Enigmo:

To me the Universal Metaphor are the Fibonacci numbers in a Nautical Shell... It sounds like you have an interesting story.

Joy:

I did write a story about it. It's called the "The Magic Telescope" It is set in the Sixties when the gas stations had that "Put a Tiger in your Tank" advertising campaign. I include my brother in the story; he was a budding kleptomaniac. He'd pilfer people's tiger tails and surreptitiously stuff them into the gas-caps of the police cars. That really frightened the mystical drifters. In my story, I ended up with the telescope and whenever I let someone look through it they'd smile. That was before my brother's accident.

Enigmo

Was the story published?

Joy:

No

Enigmo:

Maybe because of the "budding kleptomaniac"

Mr. Poet:

I envision the image of Enigmo on the shore lying in the sand making a human starfish. A single moonbeam lights upon him like a cosmic telescope.

Mr. Poet: sings

I used to think love

Was just a Laff in the dark

Until I got stuck in a maze of mirrors

In life‘s amusement park

Enigmo was a mime artist
Lost in a maze of heart
He never knew which way to go
To the finish or the start.
Deep within a see through maze
His hands defined the space
And there's just so much of it
Between love and death’s embrace.

Enigmo: sings

When a star hits the moon
Its mark can't be erased
If it weren't all those falling stars
The moon would have no face

Mr. Poet: sings 

 

Enigmo was a shooting star
Caught between now and never—
On one hand there was blinding light
The other cast shadows forever.
His tears were either black or white
Depending on which way he faced
But then don’t tears of joy and sorrow
all share the same salty taste.

Enigmo: sings

When a star hits the moon

Its mark can't be erased
If it weren't all those falling stars

The moon would have no face

Mr. Poet: sings

Enigmo was physical eloquence
Depicted in black and white
His stage a crater on the moon
Where the dark side meets the light.
His head in a tower of ivory
Ebony dungeons hold him down
We find him stuck forever 
Between phases of smiles and frowns.

Enigmo: sings

When a star hits the moon
Its mark can't be erased
If it weren't all those falling stars
The moon would have no face

Enigmo:

And I envision Mr. Poet here becoming a star. It was all I could do to convince him to sing a few songs. Why carry a guitar if you’re not going to use it? He's burnt out before he even he becomes a star. You can't give up on music just because you can't make a living at it.

Joy:

My grandfather was a Vaudeville entertainer. He never gave up. He did a routine about an "Over the Hill Mountain Climber," about returning to the scene of the climb.

Mr. Poet: (singing)

To my friends who left their names on the wall of the cabaret...

[he stops singing]

Mr. Poet:

I don't feel like playing that one...

We could all be poets on a quest
For the perfect rhyme
Architects have the golden mean
Healers search for the fountain of youth 
and preachers seek the way of truth
Alchemists dream of the philosopher's stone

Joy:

And dogs like to gnaw on mighty bones...

Mr. Poet:

You know what would be fun? To dig out huge dinosaur footsteps along the beach...

Joy: [gets up to leave]

I must go now. Time to be getting home. We have to go to the airport.

Enigmo:

I'd like to see you again

Joy:

I'll meet you in two days. Friday at noon, by the carousel. The same carousel I was on yesterday afternoon.

CAROUSEL WIND Act 1 Scene 2

 

Act 1 Scene 2  
         

[Joy is at a summerhouse with her parents and her grandfather, an ex Vaudeville performer. They have a beach house on the Jersey Shore near the Amusement Park where everything occurs. Most of the action takes place in the backyard, which is inundated with dandelions. They are having afternoon tea.]

Molly:

We've got to do something about all these dandelions. Frank, [pointing to the neighbor's yard] next door keeps his lawn immaculate. I feel guilty when the wind blows the seeds that way.

Granddad: [wearing a fedora]

It's like an invasion of paratroopers.

Nanny:

Now don't get started on the war...[to Molly changing the subject]
I see you've kept up the tradition of Afternoon Tea. Do you do that everyday, or is this just for our benefit?

Molly:

I try to have it every day. Even when I'm at the train store I take a tea break at four. And Sundays we always have roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, with upside down peach cake for desert.

Joy:

Granddad, can you show me one of your Vaudeville routines?

Nanny:

Don't get him started he'll never stop. [To Granddad]
And you know what your doctor said.

Granddad:

How about L'esprit de l'escalier?

Molly

That’s too long… Why don't you do the Little Soft Shoe?

Granddad:

This one is set in an English Park, Nanny could you do the bit with the copper?

[sings:]

When I was so young—
Around thirty two
The times were so tough
And we had to make do
I always pulled through
With a little soft shoe

A bench for a bed
All drenched in dew
My only cover
Was yesterday's news
I always woke up
With a little soft shoe

Nanny: [nudging him with a baking roller she brought out from the kitchen]

From the man in blue...

Granddad: [sings]

When silver falls
Through the lining
And you've lost your only
Patch of blue
Then you can be sure
That something shining
Is bound to make
A breakthrough

I was a bum
But a gentleman too
I always managed
To pay for my stew
The best way to make it is
With a little soft shoe

When silver falls
Through the lining
And you've lost your only
Patch of blue
Then you can be sure
That something shining
Is bound to make
A breakthrough

I was a bum
But a gentleman too
I always managed
To pay for my stew
The best way to fake it is
With a little soft shoe

[More applause from family]

George:

How about that train dance? I'll put a plank down over the grass.

[He gets a plank from a pile beside the house]

Molly:

You and your trains!

Granddad:

Just this last one. [Granddad starts off slowly shuffling his feet, wearing brown brogues. His hands move like pistons starting slowly then picking up speed. He tilts his head back and whistles like a train. The dance is slow in duration.]

[Applause]

Nanny:

That's enough for today. [She takes Granddad inside. The lights turn orange and dim suggesting it is evening.]

Nanny: [from inside] Call the Doctor! Granddad is having a stroke! 

[A stretcher is taken in and two EMT's carry Granddad out. Flashing lights suggest an ambulance. Stage lights darken and a split scene appears. In the foreground is a campfire on the beach, with Enigma and Mr. Poet, in the background while the song "Vision of Victory" is being sung the Montagne family are at a hospital bedside as Grandad is passing away.]

Mr. Poet: [sitting across from Enigma with guitar]

One morning I stepped out the back door and saw the light that had not yet graced the earth glowing in the wings of geese. I thought "The least I can do is rise with the geese."

This is about returning to the scene of the climb. "When I could climb the mountain I didn't—now that I can't I'm gonna." "I heard the cries that came from below." Were the cries from within me, or from people who were just down in the valley?

In the clear cold air of reality the mountain seems closer than it actually is. Close to the foothills you realize what the summit stands for. You see the mountain for the transparent thing it is — And everything it isn't. 

I once heard the saying: 'A friend is like a mountain seen best from far away.' Then I happened on a poster of a peak with the caption: ''It's not the mountain that's stopping you; It's the pebble in your shoe.' So I shook out the pebble and headed for the blue. 

After you've reached the peak you have to challenge your personal best. "I don't think I'll ever rest until I've reached my Everest." I'm not putting a human face on an impossible dream; I'm putting a Godly face on a possible dream. 

[Sings]

I went to the mountain and was on the incline
Everything above the clouds was mine
With the summit in sight a few steps to go
I heard the cries that came from below

I think I'm gonna make it I'm gonna make it
Up to you I've made it to the mountain
This time I'll see it through

Stayed in the valley put off the climb
Mountain remained in back of my mind
The valley grew quiet as time slipped away
Kept telling myself I'll make it some day

I think I'm gonna make it I'm gonna make it
Up to you I've made it to the mountain
This time I'll see it through

My dreams are filled with rocks and snow
Triumphant air is thin you go as high as you can go
And then your climb begins

I'm gonna make it I've crossed the abyss
What is this mountain does it really exist
The impossible pile of rocks that I face
Is just an old friend I forgot to embrace

[The next day in the backyard of the summerhouse, Joy is with her mother at the table drinking tea]

Molly Montagne [to Joy taking a poem from her puzzle box]

I keep my favorite poems in here.
I have one that is just four lines,
It explains that going to the source of a river,
One that begins on a mountain,
Is like returning to your maker.
Your granddad liked it:

Water falls with such a force
The stream carves out a groove
The sweeter song is near the source
Where stones begin to move

Joy:

Do you have an extra puzzle box? I'm going to start collecting poems.

Molly:

Yes, My "English Country Garden" is missing a few pieces. I'll go in and get it. [She comes out and hands Joy the box. Then leaves Joy alone. As she tells her story shadows are cast on the background behind her. The shadows are that of a carousel...]

To find a silver lining in London, sometimes you have to create it yourself. That's why my Granddad used to say: "Here's the broom go sweep the fog away."

CAROUSEL WIND Act 1 Scene 3

Act 1 Scene 3

[The scene of opens with Enigmo waiting by the carousel for Joy, who does not make it to her rendezvous because of the death in her family. He looks at his watch and looks around agitated. Enigmo, who has never been stood up before is heartbroken and now must act the part of someone who is always breaking young girls hearts. The story of "Leading Man Gets Lost" is in reality the exact opposite of what is happening to him. The music video is shot in black and white and may be projected on the background as Enigmo does some mime.]

The Director: [explaining his vision to Enigmo and the starlet, stage hands may be used as extras.]

The film opens with an old time camera crew cranking a camera, shot from behind with the motion of the cranking suggestive of clouds being reeled in. It is in black and white. The camera pans from a close-up of a carousel then swings to the ocean with the motion of the prancing horses echoed in the motion of the prancing waves -- as if everything is one big merry-go-round. A single spotlight from directly overhead reveals a trumpet shell, which has washed ashore. A clown picks it up and puts it to his ear, and water squirts out his mouth. This is a real clown. I'm not sure if I want to have the waves dancing or prancing — so I'll have the word "dancing" written in the sand and the waves wash upon it, and the faint outline of "prancing" is what remains.

Next scene is that of the clown and starlet almost kissing, and the clown points to his heart where there is a squirting flower. The starlet moves her face down to smell the flower and gets squirted. But don't worry, it won't be water it will be filled with champagne. [Starlet laughs and fakes a blush] Maybe I'll have Enigmo handing out balloons by the carousel, and when he gives a bouquet to the starlet she floats away. Perhaps the balloons will be invisible to suggest the fickle heart of the clown.

Our first shot will be of Enigmo and the Starlet by the merry go-round. The starlet looks adoringly at Enigmo but the clown is haughty and aloof; he has a cocky indifference. Take your positions, roll...[they act, but Enigmo has a troubled look on his face, as if he's been hurt.] Cut! That was no Rudolph Valentino, that was the exact opposite of what I wanted. Enigmo, are you ready for your close-up? [Enigmo nods, and they shoot the scene again.] Roll... Cut. That was better.

The next scenes are that of the starlet running through the empty amusement park at midnight during a thunderstorm. The Lightning will flash in front of "The Comet" the "Magic Palace" and the "Laff in the Dark." She will be wearing a white dress with black polka dots. At last she finds Enigma asleep on the Carousel, with whiskers showing through his white face, and accuses him of being on an "escapade." Out of nowhere there appears a photographer with a huge flash attachment, which is brighter than the lightning. Then you see a picture on the front page of the papers, Enigmo looking like he's about to fall off a painted pony.

Finally, there is a shot of a single tear falling from the eye of a clown, that turns into quite a flow. There's a close-up of the squirting flower, which he then presents to the starlet and all is forgiven, as they embrace. Through the embrace the credits roll, as the matinee exits into the blinding light of the real world...Oh I left out one thing — the caption on the front page reads: "Leading Man Gets Lost"

Enigmo [sings]

Clouds roll in the scene begins
With a sleepy lion's roar
Our spotlight finds a clown
Up to nothing and nothing more
Rushes of the moon lit waves
Rewriting the lines of shore
Clown had never been so close
To being this close before

Starlet, Director and film crew [sing in harmony]

He played the part a time or two
The clown who missed his rendezvous
But there is nothing up his sleeve
And love becomes what you believe

Enigmo [sings]

Starlet searching mad as hell
Raging storm soaks her dress
She finds him on the carousel
With his white face all a mess
And the shadow on his cheeks
Breaks through the masquerade
"I see your face is all in streaks
Were you on an escapade"

Starlet, Director and film crew [sing in harmony]

He played the part a time or two
The clown who missed his rendezvous
But there is nothing up his sleeve
And love becomes what you believe

Director [sings]

I can see it in all the papers
"Leading man gets lost"
But then isn't all publicity
Cheap at any cost

Enigmo [sings]

Silver teardrop turns to a shower
Words are whispered in her hair
Close up of his squirting flower
He gives it to her
And proves that he still cares
The matinee's getting restless
They've been through this before
Credits fall through their embrace
Bright lights are out the door

CAROUSEL WIND Act 1 Scene 4

[On a passenger train Train, from the Jersey shore to Newark, George Montagne is sitting facing Enigmo, dressed as an engineer. It is early in the morning.]

Enigmo: [with a wry humor]

Shouldn't you be in the engine running this train?

George Montagne: Ha Ha Ha. That's very funny. These are my "work" clothes. I own a store called Union Station. We sell everything related to trains –— mostly model trains, but I also specialize in selling rare song sheets of train songs. People frame them and hang them on the wall... And you are one to talk, you look like you stepped off a gondola and were left stranded on a pole.

Enigmo:

This is my sad-eyed clown outfit. Usually I play a sad eyed clown, but today I am one in reality.

George Montagne:

How so?

Enigma:

For the first time in my life, I was stood up by a girl. I always play the part of a heart-breaker, now it is my turn to be heartbroken.

George Montagne:

You shouldn't let one girl get you down. There are more trains in the station. If I were in your shoes I'd forget about her. Supposing we were to change places for a moment. If I were in your shoes and you were in mine. You'd see the world in a different way. Sort of like story behind the Philosopher and the Clown, where two characters change roles.

Enigmo:

Why do I have the feeling you're gonna burst out in song.

George Montagne:

It happened at a train station when a clown was given the 'red light.'

That's circus parlance for being kicked out of your job. when a circus train stopped at a red light, you might get the boot. That was the precursor to today's 'pink slip.'

(Sings)

A philosopher was sitting by an old railway shack
Watching the moon as it trickled down the sky
Circus train came and stopped in its tracks
A clown stepped down with a tear in his eye

What's happened to my world
Things are all upside down
When clowns are philosophers
And philosophers clowns

The ringmaster looked in the philosopher's eye
Said "I need a new clown to get me some laughs
We travel a lot come on give it a try"
Philosopher was put in the car with giraffes

What's happened to my world
Things are all upside down
When clowns are philosophers
And philosophers clowns

The philosopher's writings were left there behind
As the train disappeared in smoke down the line
The clown found the writings to be pretty abstruse
Such as "Reason for being defied being defined"

What's happened to my world
Things are all upside down
When clowns are philosophers
And philosophers clowns

The philosopher soon helped raise the tent
And worked hand in trunk with a wise elephant
Then he made up his face and jumped in the ring
Amazed at the wonderful joy laughter brings

What's happened to my world
Things are all upside down
When clowns are philosophers
And philosophers clowns

Meanwhile the clown said "I think what I think"
And "Man only thinks to avoid the big void"
The literary world embraced his thin book
Entitled "Thinking of Jumping for Joy"

Enigmo:

I don't get it. How does that relate to me?

Great Engineer:

The way I see it, is this: The purpose of life is joy.

Enigmo:

Isn't the purpose of life — life?

George Montagne:

I guess you could say that, procreation is the ultimate joy. You could say that I'm pro-creation. But it is more than that. It is creating a family. When you come to the end of your life you want to look back and see that it has all been worth the trip. All that remains is the family you created. Imagine you're a clown at the end of your life, you may have made the world laugh, but what do you think of when the Grand Equestrian Director blows the silver whistle for the last time...[sings]

The dice game is endless
We're on the home run
This train's on a trestle
The trip's just begun
From the first engine
To the caboose
I'm like a cannon
On the loose
Cause I'm just an old clown
On life's circus train
Longing for the whistle to blow
To be on sawdust again
With the elephants all in a row
When the silver whistle blows

Into life's Grand Ballroom
I waltzed from the street
Tattered clown and a broom
Swept them off their feet
In London royalty
Rolled on the floor
But the laughter of children
That's what I live for
From the man on trapeze
To the web-sitter below
It's all the same you know
For us troopers on the go
The dice ain't ours to throw
When the silver whistle blows

I've got my own stateroom
That's a coup for a clown
With pictures of farms
Like in my home town
Country folk fit in the regime
They know it's no picnic
And can hang onto a dream

I recall in clown alley
My nose almost melt
I ran with my bucket
'A fire' someone yelled
Through all the confusion
And painful screams
A doll in the ashes
Was the worst thing I've seen
'The dice may be loaded
The deck may be stacked
But for hope
I've never lacked'
It's there in my heart
And God only knows
When the silver whistle blows

The Greatest Show
That's the world's spotlight
In a make-up mirror
I recall my first night
I winked there to Willy
He had this to say
'You can skip cherry pie
You're no First of May'
I tip my Dollar Derby
To everyone on this train
They'll stream through the gates
Come that final refrain
They'll be there on their toes
When the silver whistle blows

Through wintertime
I'll be painting the wagons
Putting gold leaf
On the old calliope
You'll never see
These ragged shoes a dragging'
Cause I can't stand
To be at liberty

Now I'm on the caboose
Looking all the way back
To that kid from Kansas
From a railway shack
For my last curtain call
With a roll of the drum
I'll remove my sad face
And embrace my dear mom
Life down here
Is a dog and pony show
Compared to that 'big lot'
Where all good Joeys go
Save some straw in the first row
When the silver whistle blows

Enigmo:

Now you've gone and made me homesick, I'm gonna fly back to Italy.

[The train stops and they both get off, walking opposite directions]