Live from Lincoln Center

Billy Bigelow:
[of Dr. Seldon] Say, he looks an awful lot like that fellow on the ladder.

Heavenly Friend:
Yes, a lot of these country doctors and ministers do.

Billy Bigelow:
[pulls Julie's shawl up on her] I love you, Julie! Know I loved you! [Julie smiles feeling Billy]

Billy Bigelow:
You're a funny kid. Don't remember ever meeting a girl like you. You... you trying to get me to marry you?

Julie Jordan:
No.

Billy Bigelow:
Then what's putting it into my head?

Billy Bigelow:
Does he have to be killed?

Jigger Craigin:
No, he doesn't have to be. He can give up the money without being killed. But these New Englanders are funny. They'd rather be killed. Well?

Billy Bigelow:
I won't do it! It's dirty!

Billy Bigelow:
You got something to tell me, make it quick.

Julie Jordan:
I can't tell it so quick. Why don't you drink your coffee and by the time you drink it, I'll have told you?

Billy Bigelow:
Well?

Julie Jordan:
Well, yesterday my head ached and asked me If I were sick, but it weren't nothing like that. Heh. It's awful hard to tell you. I ain't a bit ashamed because it's perfectly natural when two people live together and... I'm gonna have a baby.

Billy Bigelow:
You...

Julie Jordan:
Mm-hmm.

Billy Bigelow:
A baby?

Julie Jordan:
Yeah.

Billy Bigelow:
[laughs, picks Julie up and spins her around] Oh... [suddenly concerned about spinning her]

Jigger Craigin:
Where you going?

Billy Bigelow:
Hey, Jigger! Julie's gonna have a baby!

Jigger Craigin:
Yeah, what about it?

Billy Bigelow:
Nothing.

Jigger Craigin:
[sighs] My mother had a baby once.

Billy Bigelow:
Say, why am I carrying on like this? My kid ain't even been born yet.

Billy Bigelow:
Wait a minute! Could it be? What the hell? What if he is a girl? Bill? Oh, Bill!

Cousin Nettie:
I dunno as I should have eaten them last 4 dozen clams!

Jigger Craigin:
[picks Carrie up over his shoulder] This how firemen carry people.

Carrie Pipperidge:
Is it?

Jigger Craigin:
See how helpless you can make a fella if he gets fresh with you?

Carrie Pipperidge:
Mr. Craig... [sees Enoch] hello, Enoch! This is the way firemen carry people.

Mr. Enoch Snow:
Where's the fire?

Carrie Pipperidge:
He was just showing me how to defend myself.

Mr. Enoch Snow:
It didn't look like you'd learned very much by the time I came!

Carrie Pipperidge:
Enoch, say you forgive me. Say something sweet to me, Enoch. Something soft and sweet. Well, say something soft and sweet!

Mr. Enoch Snow:
Boston cream pie!

Julie Jordan:
[crying after Billy dies, still cradling him] Sleep, Billy. Sleep like a good boy. I knew why you hit me. You were quick-tempered and unhappy. That don't excuse it. But I guess I always knew everything you were thinking. But you didn't always know what I was thinking. One thing I never told you, because I was scared you'd laugh at me. But I'll tell you now. I love you. I love you. I was always so ashamed to say it out loud. But there, I said it. Didn't I? I said it. [kisses Billy's cheek, takes off shawl and puts it on Billy] What am I gonna do now?

Cousin Nettie:
You're gonna stay on here with me. So I can be with you when you have the baby. Main thing is to keep on living. Keep on caring about what's going to happen. Remember that song you used to sing as a girl? Do you remember the words? Because if you do, sing 'em now. See if you know what they mean.

Julie Jordan:
[singing] When you walk through a storm keep your chin up high and don't be afraid... of... the... dark...

Cousin Nettie:
[touches Julie's head compassionately and sings for Julie] When you walk through a storm keep your chin up high and don't be afraid of the dark. At the end of the storm is golden sky and the sweet silver song of a lark. [extends hand to Julie, helps her up, and embraces her] Walk on through the rain, tho' your dreams be tossed and blown. Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart and you'll never walk alone, you'll never walk alone. [kisses Julie's head]

Heavenly Friend:
This way, Billy!

Billy Bigelow:
Hey, what's all this? Who are you?

The Starkeeper:
Nevermind who I am, Bigelow.

Billy Bigelow:
Where am I?

The Starkeeper:
You're in the back yard of heaven. There are the gates over there.

Billy Bigelow:
The Pearly Gates!

The Starkeeper:
Nope. The Pearly Gates are in front. Those are the back gates. They're just Mother-of-Pearly.

Billy Bigelow:
A daughter? A girl? My baby?

Carrie Pipperidge:
[singing] You're as tight-lipped as an oyster and as silent as an old Sahara spink!

Julie Jordan:
[speaking] Spinx.

Carrie Pipperidge:
Huh?

Julie Jordan:
Spinx.

Carrie Pipperidge:
Nuh-uh. Spink.

Julie Jordan:
You spell it with an "X."

Carrie Pipperidge:
That's only when there's more than one. [rolls eyes and chuckles]

Julie Jordan:
Oh.

Billy Bigelow:
Are you still here?

Carrie Pipperidge:
You told us to wait for you.

Billy Bigelow:
What do you think I want with two of you? I meant that one of you was to wait. The other can go gome.

Julie Jordan:
Well, good night, Carrie.

Carrie Pipperidge:
But if you stay, you'll...

Julie Jordan:
Good night.

Jigger Craigin:
Tut-tut-tut. Carnival hussie coming between a man and his wife.

Mrs. Mullin:
Oh, yeah, call names. But I got him back just the same and you're through!

Jigger Craigin:
Put on a new coat of paint. You're starting to peel you old pleasure boat! [Leaves, Billy enters]

Mrs. Mullin:
You'll be wanting an advance on your salary. It's only fair you being out of work such a long time. [hands Billy money]

Billy Bigelow:
[gives money back] Go on back to your carousel, Mrs. Mullin.

Mr. Enoch Snow:
[singing] I might've had a baby...

Jigger Craigin:
[speaking] What?

Mr. Enoch Snow:
[singing]... to dandle on my knee.

Ensemble:
All right, get back there. Get back. Stay back.

male:
Who is it?

male:
It's Billy.

female:
Billy Bigelow?

Julie Jordan:
What? Billy? Billy. Billy! [runs over to him, sees stab wound, cradles his head] Billy!

Billy Bigelow:
Jigger told me how I could get ahold of a lot money, see...

Julie Jordan:
Yes.

Billy Bigelow:
Hold my hand tight.

Julie Jordan:
[voice breaking] I am holding it tight, all the time.

Billy Bigelow:
Tighter. Tighter still. [dying breath] Julie?

Heavenly Friend:
[after Billy hits Louise's hand] Failure. You struck out blindly again. Is that the only way you know how to treat those you love? Failure.

Julie Jordan:
Where is he? [sees Billy and is shaken]

Billy Bigelow:
I don't want her to see me.

Heavenly Friend:
[waves arm] Then she doesn't.

Billy Bigelow:
I think she saw me before I said it.

Louise Bigelow:
He's gone! I didn't make it up, Mother. Honest, there was a strange man here and he hit me hard. I heard the sound of it. But it didn't hurt, Mother! It didn't hurt at all. It was almost as if - he kissed my hand! Don't you believe me, Mother?

Julie Jordan:
I believe you.

Louise Bigelow:
Then why are you acting so funny?

Julie Jordan:
It's nothing, darling.

Louise Bigelow:
But is it possible, Mother, for someone to hit you hard like tha - real loud and hard - and not hurt you at all?

Julie Jordan:
It's possible, dear - for someone to hit you - hit you hard and not hurt at all. [hugs Louise, Louise leaves. Julie sits down on bench]

Billy Bigelow:
Julie! Julie! [singing] Longing to tell you, but afraid and shy, I let my golden chances pass me by. Now I've lost you; [Julie notices Billy's star and reaches for it] soon I will go in the mist of day, and you never will know hiw I loved you, how I loved you. [Julie takes the star and leaves]

Billy Bigelow:
[speaking] She took the star! She took it! It's as if she knew I was here.

Heavenly Friend:
Julie would always know.

Mrs. Mullin:
I don't run my business for a lot of chippies!

Carrie Pipperidge:
Chippy yourself!

Julie Jordan:
Yes, chippy yourself!

Billy Bigelow:
Oh, shut up, all of you!

Mrs. Mullin:
Take a look at that girl, Billy. [gestures at Julie] She ain't never allowed on my carousel again!

Billy Bigelow:
What'd she do, anyway?

Julie Jordan:
She said you put your arm around my waist.

Billy Bigelow:
So that's it? I can't put my arm around a girl without I ask your permission?

Mrs. Mullin:
I just don't want that one around anymore.

Billy Bigelow:
You... [pointing at Julie] you come around here all you want. And if you don't have the price, Billy Bigelow'll treat you to a ride.

Mrs. Mullin:
Big talker, ain't you Mr. Bigelow? I suppose you think I can't throw you out, too? You're such a good barker that I can't do with out you? Well, just for that, you're discharged. Your services are no longer required. You are bounced.

Billy Bigelow:
Very well, Mrs. Mullin.

Mrs. Mullin:
Well, you know I... I could bounce you, if I felt like it.

Billy Bigelow:
You just did.

Mrs. Mullin:
Well, don't pick up every word I say! Oh, if only my saintly departed husband Mr. Mullin were here. He would set you straight! I only wish my poor husband was alive this minute!

Billy Bigelow:
I bet he don't!

Mrs. Mullin:
Upstart! After all I've done for you! You're done for good now!

Ensemble:
[singing] The clock just ticks yer life away, there's no relief in sight. It's cookin' and scrubbin' and sewin' all day and God-knows-whatin' all night!

Billy Bigelow:
[singing] Want every star in heaven hangin' in the room. Shinin' in my eyes when I hear my doom. Reckon my sins are good, big sins, and the punishment won't be small. So take me before the highest throne and let me be judged by the highest judge of all.

Carrie Pipperidge:
And so the next day we all climbed to the top of the Statue of Liberty. Enoch and me and the nine kids.

Julie Jordan:
[laughs] Did you go to any theaters in New York?

Carrie Pipperidge:
Course we did! Enoch took me to one of those "extravaganzas." And the curtain come up and the first thing you see is twelve hussies with nothing on their legs but tights!

Julie Jordan:
What happened then?

Carrie Pipperidge:
Well, Enoch just grabbed hold of my arm, dragged me right out of the theater. But I went back the next day, to a matinee, to see how the story come out.

Julie Jordan:
All by yourself? You're lucky you didn't see anybody you know.

Carrie Pipperidge:
I did.

Julie Jordan:
Who?

Carrie Pipperidge:
Enoch! [Julie laughs] There was this one girl whonsung this awful catchy song. She-here [demonstrates] -she threw her leg up over a fence like this and she sung... [begins singing] I'm a tomboy, just a tomboy! I'm a madcap maiden feom Broadway! I'm a tomboy, a merry tomboy- [Julie gestures to stop as Enoch and Jr. enter]

Mr. Enoch Snow:
Turn your eyes away, Junior! [Junior laughs]

Carrie Pipperidge:
I was just telling Julie about that show, "Madcap Maidens"!

Julie Jordan:
Won't you stay and visit with us?

Mr. Enoch Snow:
I'm afraid we haven't the time. Mrs. Snow and I have to stop by the minister's on the way to the graduation. And I'll thank you very much not to sing "I'm a Tomboy" to the minister's wife.

Carrie Pipperidge:
[to Julie] I already did. [Julie laughs]

Enoch Snow, Jr.:
Pa, can I stay and talk to Louise? Just for five minutes.

Mr. Enoch Snow:
[Carrie looks at Enoch] Five minutes, no more!

Carrie Pipperidge:
I wish we could stay longer.

Julie Jordan:
Good-bye.

Carrie Pipperidge:
We'll see you at the graduation.

Enoch Snow, Jr.:
Still lollygagging. You'd think a woman with nine children would have more sense.

Carrie Pipperidge:
If I had more sense, I wouldn't have nine children!

Fredrika Arnfeldt:
[watching her grandmother play solitaire] If you cheated a little, it would come out.

Madame Arnfeldt:
Solitaire is the only thing in life that demands absolute honesty.

Madame Arnfeldt:
Don't squeeze your bosoms against the chair, dear! It'll stunt their growth, and then where would you be?

Desiree Armfeldt:
[in her role during a performance of "Woman of the World"] Dignity. We women have a right to commit any crime toward our husbands, our lovers, our sons - as long as we do not hurt their dignity. We should make men's dignity our best ally, and caress it, cradle it, speak tenderly to it, and handle it as our most delightful toy. Then the man is in our hands, at our feet... or anywhere else we momentarily wish him to be.

Henrik Egerman:
[attempting to ravish the maid] We have sinned! And it was a complete failure!

Frederik Egerman:
They told me at the theater where to find you.

Desiree Armfeldt:
Fredrik!

Frederik Egerman:
Hello, Desiree.

Desiree Armfeldt:
So it was you! I peered and peered and said, "Is it? Can it be? Is it possible?" Then of course, when you walked out after five minutes, I was sure.

Frederik Egerman:
Was my record that bad?

Desiree Armfeldt:
Terrible. You walked out on my Hedda in Helsingborg, and my sensational Phaedra in Eskilstuna.

Desiree Armfeldt:
Your little bride... so, you took her home, tucked her up in her cot, with her rattle and her wooly penguin!

Frederik Egerman:
Figuratively speaking.

Desiree Armfeldt:
And then you came to me.

Frederik Egerman:
I wish you'd ask me why.

Desiree Armfeldt:
Why did you come to me?

Frederik Egerman:
For old times' sake? For curiosity? To boast about my wife? To complain about her, perhaps? Oh, hell, why am I being such a lawyer about it? This afternoon, while I was taking my nap...

Desiree Armfeldt:
So you take afternoon naps now!

Frederik Egerman:
Hush! I had the most delightful dream.

Desiree Armfeldt:
About?

Frederik Egerman:
You.

Desiree Armfeldt:
Ah. What did we do?

Frederik Egerman:
Well, as a matter of fact, we were in that little hotel in Malmo. We'd been basking in the sun all day...

Desiree Armfeldt:
When my back got so burned, it was an agony to lie down, so you...

Frederik Egerman:
As vivid as... well, very vivid. So you see, my motives for coming here are what might be called... mixed.

Frid:
[as he helps Petra out of a car] Allow me!

Petra:
[smiling lasciviously] To do... what?

Desiree Armfeldt:
[Frederik has just finished telling Desiree about his wife, who is still a virgin after eleven months of marriage] A virgin?

Frederik Egerman:
A virgin.

Desiree Armfeldt:
Eleven months.

Frederik Egerman:
Eleven... months.

Desiree Armfeldt:
No wonder you dreamed of me!

Frederik Egerman:
Well, at least it was you I dreamed of, which would indicate a kind of retroactive fidelity, doesn't it?

Desiree Armfeldt:
At least!

Frederik Egerman:
Desiree... would it seem insensitive if I were to ask you... [he stops himself] I can't say it.

Desiree Armfeldt:
Say it, darling.

Frederik Egerman:
Would you...? [he gestures to the bedroom]

Desiree Armfeldt:
Of course. What are old friends for?

Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm:
Why don't you pay a visit to Marta's little school friend, Anne?

Countess Charlotte Malcolm:
A-ha.

Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm:
She probably has no idea what her husband's up to.

Countess Charlotte Malcolm:
And I could enlighten her? Poor Carl-Magnus; are you that jealous?

Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm:
A civilized man can tolerate his wife's infidelity, but when it comes to his mistress, a man becomes a tiger!

Countess Charlotte Malcolm:
As opposed, of course, to a goat in rut. Ah, well... if I'm back in two hours, that still leaves us three, right?

Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm:
You're a good wife, Charlotte. The best.

Countess Charlotte Malcolm:
That's a comforting thought to take to town with me, dear. It just may keep me from cutting my throat on the tram.

Madame Arnfeldt:
Child, I have come to give you your advice for the day.

Fredrika Arnfeldt:
Yes, Grandmother?

Madame Arnfeldt:
Never marry, or even dally with, a Scandinavian.

Fredrika Arnfeldt:
Why not?

Madame Arnfeldt:
They are all insane.

Desiree Armfeldt:
Hello, mother.

Madame Arnfeldt:
To what do I owe the honor of this visit?

Desiree Armfeldt:
I just thought I'd pop out and see you both, is that so surprising?

Madame Arnfeldt:
Yes.

Desiree Armfeldt:
You're in one of your bitchy moods, I see.

Madame Arnfeldt:
If you've come to take Fredrika back, the answer is no. I do not object to the immorality of your life; merely to its sloppiness. Since I have been tidy enough to have acquired a sizeable mansion and a fleet of servants, it seems only common sense that my granddaughter should reap the advantages of it. Isn't that so, child?

Fredrika Arnfeldt:
I really don't know, Grandmother.

Madame Arnfeldt:
Oh, yes, you do, dear.

Madame Arnfeldt:
To lose a husband, or a lover or two, during one's lifetime can be vexing - but to lose one's teeth is a catastrophe!

Desiree Armfeldt:
[Upon meeting her lover's wife] Countess Malcolm, I presume.

Countess Charlotte Malcolm:
You do indeed, Miss Arnfeldt.

Henrik Egerman:
[while riding a bicycle with Fredrika] Miss Arnfeldt, for the past 11 months, although I am preparing to enter the ministry... I... I... I've been madly, hopelessly in love with my stepmother! Do you realize how many mortal sins that involves?

Madame Arnfeldt:
Are you addressing me, sir - whoever you may be?

Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm:
I am, madam.

Madame Arnfeldt:
Then be so kind as to repeat yourself. Judging from the level of the conversation so far, you can hardly expect me to have been paying attention.

Desiree Armfeldt:
Shall I tell you why I really invited you here? When we met again and we made love, I thought, "Maybe here it is at last. A chance to turn back, to find some sort of coherent existence after so many years of muddle." Of course, there is your wife... but I thought perhaps - just perhaps, you might be in need of rescue, too?

Frederik Egerman:
When my eyes are open, and I look at you, I see a woman that I have loved for a long time, who entranced me all over again when I came to her rooms, who gives me such genuine pleasure, that, in spite of myself, I came here for the sheer delight of being with her again. A woman who could rescue me? Of course. But when my eyes are not open, which is most of the time, all I see is a girl in a pink dress teasing a canary, running through a sunlit garden to hug me at the gate, as if I'd come from Timbuktu, instead of the municipal courthouse three blocks away!

[the music begins. Desiree sings "Send In The Clowns." Just before the last verse, Frederik speaks]

Frederik Egerman:
Desiree, I'm sorry. I never should have come. To flirt with rescue when one has no intention of being saved... Do try to forgive me.

[He leaves her. Desiree sings the last verse in spotlight. The light fades out on her weeping quietly]

Petra:
It's a very short way from the fling that's for fun to the thigh pressing under the table; It's a very short day 'til you're stuck with just one, or it has to be done on the sly; In the meanwhile; There are mouths to be kissed before mouths to be fed; And there's many a tryst and there's many a bed; There's a lot I'll have missed, but I'll not have been dead when I die! And a person should celebrate everything passing by!

Madame Arnfeldt:
Child, will you do me a favor?

Fredrika Arnfelt:
Of course, Grandmother.

Madame Arnfeldt:
Will you tell me what it's all for? Having outlived my own illusions by centuries, it would be soothing at least to pretend to share some of yours.

Frederik Egerman:
[Frederik has just played Russian Roulette - and almost lost. Desiree is the first person he sees when he wakes up] I don't suppose this is my heavenly reward, is it?

Desiree Armfeldt:
Hardly, dear, with me here.

Fredrika Arnfeldt:
Grandmother, I've watched and I've watched, and I haven't noticed the night smiling.

Madame Arnfeldt:
Young eyes are not ideal for watching; they stray too much. The night has already smiled twice.

Fredrika Arnfeldt:
It has? Twice? For the young and for the fools?

Madame Arnfeldt:
The smile for the fools was particularly broad tonight.

Hanna:
Besides the engagement to Rossion is off.

Danilo:
Off?

Hanna:
Off.

Danilo:
But that rendezvous in the summer house....

Hanna:
That was no rendezvous, that was another women a married woman, I merely stepped in to save her honor that's all.

Danilo:
That's all?! And I nearly went out of my mind with sheer RAGE and MISERY

Hanna:
You did?

Danilo:
Yes.

Hanna:
Why?

Danilo:
You said yes.

Hanna:
And your uncle said no!

Danilo:
You got angry.

Hanna:
And you left me and went back to Marshovia.

Danilo:
I went back to Marshovia to tell him how wrong he was about you. How proud I would be to have you for my wife, how proud Marshovia would be as well.

Hanna:
You said that?

Hanna:
He relented. I raced back to Paris... but you had already given yourself to another.

Hanna:
I... never knew.

Danilo:
And now you will give yourself to someone else again!