CAROUSEL WIND Act 2 Scene 2

 
Carousel Wind Act 2 Scene 2

[Piazza Ducale – in Vigevano, Italy. It is a courtyard surrounded by arches. There is no carousel. It is early in the morning and no one is around. While she sings the Laughing Lady and Fortune Teller are secretly listening behind a pillar. During the last verse of the song the Laughing Lady appears with a broom and starts sweeping.]

Joy [looking around, then to herself]

Where is the carousel, there's supposed to be a carousel here. So many times I imagined it...in my dreams... I knew it was in a huge courtyard surrounded by arches... but in my dream it was on the shore... Wasn't there a Venetian Carousel somewhere in this square? Don't tell me they sent it back to Venice for repair. What happened to the carousel did it get swept away? And the mime with the invisible balloons that kept him on his toes, where did he go? Imagine how you'd feel if your favorite amusement ride, was suddenly washed out by a hurricane's  tide?

[sings] 

Wasn’t there a carousel here just the other day?

And a mime with golden grin and invisible bouquet

The funny way he held that nautical shell up to his ear

Please don’t tell me that he’s gone and disappeared

The moon tugs at the ocean washing shells up to the shore

It’s a grand cliché, an illusion —Nothing less and nothing more

He had all the girls waiting in line —laughing at his antics

How did I end up here on the other side of the Atlantic

Like that Carousel by the shore when it got taken for a ride

With a mighty hurricane it just went out with the tide

The moon tugs at the ocean washing shells up to the shore

It’s a grand cliché, an illusion —Nothing less and nothing more

We used to play on a shipwrecked carousel at low tides

I wanted to tell the mime of our travels on a cosmic ride

I recall his invisible bouquet and how my poor heart aches

As if there were prancing ponies in very wave that breaks

The moon tugs at the ocean washing shells up to the shore

It’s a grand cliché, an illusion —Nothing less and nothing more

Joy: [to Laughing Lady]

Excuse me. Isn't there supposed to be a Venetian carousel here, and a mime artist named Enigmo who performed for the people waiting in a line?

Laughing Lady: [laughing]

Enigmo? That heart-breaker? 

Half singing:

He had all the girls waiting in line

Laughing at his skits

You see his invisible bouquet

Is just a perfumed spritz...

 Don't tell me he broke your heart too?

Joy:

No, What happened to the Carousel?

Laughing Lady: [laughing]

It stopped working. They sent it back to Venice to be repaired. Now all of us are out of work. Why don't you ask the fortune-teller, [pointing to an archway where a fortune teller has set up a table with a crystal ball...]

Joy: [walks over to the fortune teller...]

Fortune Teller:

Sit down. [concentrating] I see a vision of you... 

I hear a song:

There was once a carousel

Swept up by a hurricane

It was so loud and frightening

As it roared by like a train

I imagine painted ponies

Advancing with the tide

The ocean is like a carousel

Prancing side to side

That musts be from your childhood  must concentrate
on hear and now...

You are on the top of an arched bridge...It is in Venice. You are wearing a round straw hat. In your hand there is a Daisey... You are tearing the petals off and dropping them in the still water. As the petals hit they send out ripples... The ripples make little scenes...The first scene is a clown with a huge shell in his ear... Then he disappears in a shell of his own design...

Joy:

Yes... Yes...

Fortune Teller:

You broke my concentration. If you want me to continue that will be five thousand Lira.

Joy: [handing her the money...] Here...

Fortune Teller:

The second ripple makes the picture of a mime standing alone by a carousel...He looks very sad... The next scene the mime has a handful of balloons and he gives them to a lady who is lifted to the sky...

Sings:

 There's a sad-eyed clown 
with white face like the moon


By the carousel on his toes with an imaginary balloon

“Watch for squirting flowers” this Laughing Lady laughs,

“The Comet Roller Coaster wasn’t made for quiet giraffes”

You see the girl with chestnut hair 
and wonder how to make her day


You could sweep her off her feet 
you know, with an invisible bouquet

Life is but a cosmic ride
 on a carousel through space


With planets in a pirouette 
making up the galaxy's face


Sometimes you wear a smile 
sometimes it's a frown


Always reaching for that golden ring 
as you go up and down

You see the girl with chestnut hair 
and wonder how to make her day


You could sweep her off her feet 
you know, with an invisible bouquet

And there it is beyond your reach 
that golden halo prize


Well isn't one man's sunset 
just another man's sunrise?

If you get dizzy as a pinwheel from all the ups and downs

Imagine a love that’s real smiling through a painted frown

You see the girl with chestnut hair 
and wonder how to make her day


You could sweep her off her feet 
you know, with an invisible bouquet

Joy:

That must be Enigmo. Can you see where he is now?

Fortune Teller: [angrily at first, then regaining her composure, so as to get more money.]

Enigmo! That heart breaker... Let me concentrate... Yes I see... That will be five thousand more Lira...

Joy: [handing her a bill]

Fortune Teller:

The last petal has fallen. I don't know if it's a 'he loves me' or 'he loves me not...' But I see something. It is the Leaning Tower...You must go to the Leaning Tower and tell me what you see..

Joy:

Can't you see anymore?

Fortune Teller:

A daisey only has so many petals... I'll be here when you come back...

[Lights fade then come back on, signifying the passage of two days...lights stay off long enough for quick costume change...]

Fortune Teller:

Well what did you see?

Joy:

Fortune Teller:

I have the feeling that you are a true seer. Have you ever looked in a crystal ball?

Joy:

No, but I have a magic telescope that makes people smile [She shows it the fortune teller]

Fortune Teller:

I have to be truthful to you. Enigmo came back from America with broken heart. All the girls here wanted him, but he would have nothing to do with us. He left last week to go back to America. Said he was looking for joy. He sang a funny song called "Thinking of Jumping For Joy"

Joy:

That's me, I'm Joy...

["Director" bursting on stage. Everyone looks at him as if he is not supposed to be there.]

This is a disgrace to Italy. Italy is a magnificent country with wonderful people. The operas! The scenery there is incredible. And the characters in this scene are an insult. Why set the action in a foreign country when you can't do it justice? You should have had Joy returning to America and telling the story to her mother. "I went to Italy but couldn't find my sweetheart." That would be real; with a chance to do some real acting. This all reminds me of Crystal Beach. It is so contrived. This whole musical is just a vehicle for Stefan to subject us all to his songs...

Mr. Poet: [walking onstage from the wings]

You just play the director, you're not the director of the play. This appears to be an intrusion... I must do something to save the day...

(sings)

I asked the fortune teller in the grey checkered shawl

I built myself an airplane is it in your boule de crystale?
I need some jet fuel money to make it to Montreal
Do you foresee a wind shear or a nice windfall?

My plane's on the runway the tower's not enthralled
Got clearance to taxi but this baby doesn't crawL

Once I get her airborne I'll never let her stall

If I could get some jet fuel I'd rise above it all

Mr. Revolving Doorman let me make a real close call
He hands me an autographed copy of a knuckleball
Try to read the signature can't make out the scrawl
Hails a yellow cab it was signed by A Wharhol

I sashay in the taxi the driver from Nepal
Said that in his other life he chauffeured for Chagall
We tuned in the game the traffic Neanderthal
Too bad we couldn't see the bench clearing brawl

My ride's on the launch pad this rockets pretty tall
To get you to the top they drive you up the wall
I barely heard 'ignition' in that apprehensive drawl
A rocker's worst perdition is to have his ears mothballed

Like forgotten Spaceman drinking Tang and Geritol
I never think about it what comes before a fall
I used to mix my metaphors and splash them on the wall
Now I just extend them with some jet stream aerosol    Mr. Poet

I went to see my brother he scratched on the eight ball
When asked for jet fuel money he said, "You've got some gall
The way I made my fortune the way I lost it all
Was to start by robbing Robert then rob Bert and Pete and Paul"

This pilot's not the kind to abandon protocol
I'm talking of pure octane not drugs and alcohol
I go easy on the intake and watch the cholesterol
I can't talk of my condition without sounding quite banal

Mr. Poet your writing's on the ball
You know it's so exciting to rise above it all

The captain had us sweating he tried to scare us all
"I forgot the parachutes so take these parasols"
The puffed up Auto Pilot — he loved a living doll
When she burst his bubble that old windbag went AWOL

Like frogs on the freeway each hop has gotta haul
Far too few will stop for you when headed for the mall
You can be the steamroller that paves the urban sprawl
Or be the rare flower that withstands a mighty squall

Approaching the millennium which one I don't recall
I added on this envoy to this folderol
At last I tipped the cabby not enough for Taj Mahal
He just coined the phrase "Mr. Poet ya left out 'small'"