The Story of Isaac

Original by Leonard Cohen as rearranged by Judy Collins.

The Argument: Gloria Jr. has been brought before Tempest, who is fascinated by her and asks her to describe her life.  She has been ordered by Cookie to assassinate him with a dagger concealed about her person.  She sings of her near murder by and the death of her robot father.

(Stage Directions)

Gloria Jr: The door it opened slowly,
my father he came in,was nine years old.
And he stood so tall above me,
his red eyes they were shining
and his voice was very cold.
He said, “I’ve had my orders
and you know I’ve been programmed,
I must do what I’ve been told.”
So we started up the mountain,
I was running, he was walking,
and his axe was made of gold.

The Gypsy Wife

“The Gypsy Wife“

By Leonard Cohen

The Argument: Tempest is ruminating on whether his wife Miranda is being unfaithful to him.

(The song is to be arranged as a Heavy Metal ballad.  Tempest stands on the ship overlooking Miranda and Cookie on the planet acting out his wild fantasies.  (Not like that.  Unless the director and actors are into that kind of thing.  Wait, no, this is a family musical.  Lots of murder, death, slaughter but no sex dagnabbit!))

Tempest: And where, where, where is my Gypsy wife tonight?
I’ve heard all the wild reports, they can’t be right
But whose head is this she’s dancing with on the threshing floor?
Whose darkness deepens in her arms just a little more

And where, where is my Gypsy wife tonight?
Where, where is my Gypsy wife tonight?

Ahh, the silver knives are flashing in that tired old cafe
A ghost climbs on the table in bridal negligee
She says, “My body is the light, My body is the way”
I raise my arm against it all and I catch the bride’s bouquet

So where, where is my Gypsy wife tonight?
Where, where is my Gypsy wife tonight?

It’s too early for the rainbow, too early for the dove
These are your final days, this is the darkness, this is the flood
And there is no man, there is no woman, can’t be touched
But you who come between them, you will surely be judged

So where, where is my Gypsy wife tonight?
Where, where is my Gypsy wife tonight?

After the Goldrush

“After the Goldrush“

Original by Neil Young

The Argument: Opening of Act III bar the Narration and “Fly Like an Eagle” riff.

(Lights come up on Gloria Jr sitting at a piano with various Denebian Slime Devils in Hippie attire scattered around listening.)

Gloria Jr: Well, I dreamed I saw the knights
In armor coming,
Saying something about a queen.
There were peasants singing and
Drummers drumming
And the archer split the tree.
There was a fanfare blowing
To the sun
That was floating on the breeze.
Look at Mother Nature on the run
In the world of La’Boheme.
Look at Mother Nature on the run
In the world of La’Boheme.

I was lying in a burned out basement
With the full moon in my eyes.
I was hoping for replacement
When the sun burst thru the sky.
There was a band playing in my head
And I felt like getting high.
I was thinking about what a
Friend had said
I was hoping it was a lie.
Thinking about what a
Friend had said
I was hoping it was a lie.

Well, I dreamed I saw the silver
Space ships flying
In the yellow haze of the sun,
There were children crying
And colors flying
All around the chosen ones.
All in a dream, all in a dream
The loading had begun.
They were flying Mother Nature’s
Silver seed to a new home in the sun.
Flying Mother Nature’s
Silver seed to a new home.

Walk on the Ocean

original by Toad the Wet Sprocket

The Argument: Captain Tempest requests a mission report from the two new crew members picked up from La’Bohemia.  They turn out to be Flowerboy and Gloria Jr.  Flowerboy pulls out an acoustic guitar and proceeds to sing.

Flowerboy: We spotted the Plot Hole high above the planet
Why were we coming, so far away
And somebody told us that this is the place
Where time is distorted, and nothing is safe

All: Switch on the warp drive
Swoop through the sky
Space becomes fluid
Stars become lines

Random Update

For lack of anything better to post, bastardizing “Black Hole Sun” is a pain in the butt.  I think I may try something else.

Iron Man

“Iron Man“

Original by Black Sabbath

The Argument: The Narrator has just explained the events of the preceding play.  He explains that in the ruins of D’ylliria a familiar power is still in existence…  One which now appears on the video screen and sings!

P: I am PROSPERO!

Chorus Member: Has he lost his mind?
Can he see or is he blind?
Has he ceased to be
Or has death just set him free?

Is he alive or dead?
Has he thoughts without a head?
With no body there
Why should he even care?

He was turned to thought
In X Factor he was caught
When he traveled space
To preserve the human race.

Major Tom

“Major Tom“  Original by Peter Schilling, better known, perhaps, as adapted by Shiny Toy Guns.  (Who appear in this video to have abducted Lady Gaga’s stylist.)   See here for Schilling’s original German.

The Argument: The crew fires up the warp drive for the return journey to Earth.

Gloria Jr:  The warp drive is checked.  Impulse on and
hyperspace beckons.  All is clear.
Experts check the flux. The ship is ready.
Mission is complete.
The job is done.

Now relativity, will be our motion.
One point is many, far is close
each white dot’s a world it makes me dizzy…
Tempest:  Send me up a drink.

Gloria Jr: jokes Captain Tom.
The warp comes on

Chhh-cha-Changes!

Since my primary computer has committed suicide and I can no longer work on the Richard III play or my coding project, I’m dusting off this blog for at least two weeks or so.

I’ve made a major change.  Instead of Gloria Jr. being raised by hippies, whe is now being raised by Denebian Slime Devils.  Who are also hippies in addition to being Luddites.  There’s something surreally brilliant about having a chorus of singing, dancing monsters (who look like they are from the Aliens franchise) dressed in flowers and suchlike as sympathetic protagonists.

Secondly, I’ve scratched Tori Amos in favor of Neil Young.   “After the Goldrush“ will be a song about Tempest’s ecological destructiveness.  Flowerboy will sing “Heart of Gold“ about his loneliness.  I hate to nix Tori like this but I think it simplifies the amount of lyrical hacking I’m going to have to do by a considerable.  Young’s music is also just as beautiful.

The synopsis and song list have been adjusted accordingly.

Note on Song Video Links

About half to two thirds of my original YouTube song links have been taken down in the last year for copyright violations.  I am not going to make any attempt to remap them.  I certainly am not mad enough to try and host video or audio here on the site since that is a clear copyright infringement and I have no money.  You don’t pays your money and you take your chances.  If you’re really interested in listening to a song you don’t know there are plenty of legal and extralegal ways of doing so. 

Most of the really obscure songs are still there.  (Such as the Wagner Opera.)

-The Management

Space Oddity

“Space Oddity” Original by David Bowie

The Argument: The Captain, Miranda, Ariel, Cookie and the Navigation Officer get on a shuttlecraft to skim the surface of La’Bohemia.  The ship communicates with them but something goes wrong.

Gloria: Bridge control to Captain Tom
Bridge control to Captain Tom
Ready impulse drive and turn deflectors on
(Ten) Bridge control (Nine) to Captain Tom (Eight)
(Seven, six) Commencing countdown (Five), nacelles on (Four)
(Three, two) Check ignition (One) and may the (Blastoff) Force be with you

This is Bridge control to Captain Tom, you need to bank to port
Cause the black hole is pulling from over there
Now it’s time to enter orbit if you dare