"Jomorrismo"
JOMORRA: IN MY FATHER'S TIME
THIS WAS FERTILE SOIL.
THE WORLD WAS NEW
AND RIPE, LIKE A WOMAN, FOR TAKING.
JUST LIKE ME HE WAS THE PRESIDENT
AND A GENERAL;
AN OPPORTUNIST TO THE CORE...
SOME THINGS ARE NO MORE, MY GIRL.
THIS ONCE WAS FERTILE SOIL.
JUST ONCE, THIS WORLD WAS NEW.
(A CAMPESINO passes by.)
JOMORRA: COULD YOU SPARE SOME CHANGE
FOR A HOPELESS CAUSE?
FOR A FARMER FORCED OFF HIS LAND
IN THE NAME OF A GOD
CALLED COFFEE?
IMACULATA: Father! Come back here this instant!
I DON'T UNDERSTAND
WHY YOU CAN'T BE LIKE EVERYONE ELSE'S FATHER,
WHY YOU CAN'T SHOW TO THE WORLD THE MAN
THAT YOU SHOW ME.
JOMORRA: I SHOW THE WORLD
WHAT IT WANTS TO SEE.
THE PEOPLE WANT A TYRANT;
EVERYBODY NEEDS A TYRANT
SO THAT'S WHAT I'LL BE.
WHO IS BETTER SUITED
AFTER ALL?
THIS ISLAND HAS BEEN
IN OUR FAMILY FOR YEARS.
BEFORE YOUR GRANDFATHER
CAME AN UNCLE OF HIS.
SOMEDAY IT WILL BE YOURS
IMACULATA, MY DEAR.
SOMEDAY IT WILL BE YOURS
AFTER ALL.
IMACULATA: WHAT WOULD I WANT WITH THIS GUTTED ISLAND?
YOU OVERTHREW YOUR BROTHER
AND HE ONLY GOT IT
BECAUSE GRAND‑DAD WAS SHOT
AND GRAND‑DAD OVERTHREW HIS UNCLE,
IF I HAVEN'T FORGOT...
I JUST DON'T WANT ALL THAT FOR YOU.
JOMORRA: IMACULATA, MY LITTLE DEAR‑
IMACULATA: I REFUSE TO LOSE A FATHER!
JOMORRA: WE MUST FACE OUR LIVES WITHOUT FEAR!
WE'RE A DICTATOR
BOTH: AND HIS DAUGHTER...
JOMORRA: IF THEY ONLY RECOGNIZED MY FACE‑
IMACULATA: IF THEY ONLY RECOGNIZED YOUR FACE,
DRESSED IN RAGS
WITH NO GUARDS TO KEEP YOU SAFE‑
JOMORRA: Guards are a pain in the ass.
IMACULATA: THEY WOULD KILL YOU IN THIS PLACE
WITHOUT A SECOND THOUGHT.
WHY DID WE COME HERE?
WHY DID YOU MAKE ME COME ALONG?
WE WERE SAFER IN THE CITY, FATHER,
WHERE WE BELONG.
(Another CAMPESINO walks by.)
JOMORRA: HERE, YOU TAKE THIS ONE!
IMACULATA: FATHER, NOT NOW.
JOMORRA: HE LOOKS WEALTHY!
IMACULATA: He's a peasant, Father...
JOMORRA: GO ON, LIMP A BIT
AND TELL THEM THAT YOU'RE BLIND
IMACULATA: Just listen to me, please.
JOMORRA: YOU JUST SQUINT A BIT
AND COCK YOUR HEAD OFF TO THE SIDE...
EXCUSE ME, COULD YOU HELP US OUT?
MY DAUGHTER, HERE, IS PREGNANT.
IMACULATA: Father!
JOMORRA: IT'S BEEN TEN MONTHS
AND SHE'S STILL NOT ROUNDING OUT.
IMACULATA: I'm not pregnant now nor do I intend to become so anytime soon!
PAPA, WHY DID WE COME HERE?
IT'S NOT SAFE.
THERE'S A REVOLUTION BEING FOUGHT AGAINST YOU.
JOMORRA: KNOW THE FOE.
KNOWLEDGE, AFTER ALL, IS EVERYTHING.
PUT ON RAGS AND WE'RE ALL THE SAME.
NOBODY'S A SOMETHING 'LESS SOMEBODY KNOWS THEIR NAME.
ENJOY THE MOMENT'S ANONYMITY.
IMAGINE AN INFINITY.
TAKE THIS BRIEFEST TASTE OF LIFE
AT THE BOTTOM OF THE HEAP.
IMACULATA: Speak plain Spanish, father. I can hardly understand what you're saying.
JOMORRA: I just want you to be happy. Is that too much for a father to ask?
IMACULATA: What's that supposed to mean?
JOMORRA: I think you know...
IMACULATA: If you want me to be happy, just keep yourself out of danger.
JOMORRA: THERE'S A SPEECH I NEED TO MAKE,
A HORDE I NEED TO CALM.
'MACULATA, TWO DAYS...
IT WON'T TAKE LONG.
JUST GO.
HAVE FUN.
BE YOUNG.
IMACULATA: AND WHO SHOULD I HAVE FUN WITH, FATHER?
YOUR FOOLISH GUARDS WHO SEE ME NAKED
EVERY TIME THEY CLOSE THEIR EYES?
JOMORRA: Let's not play games, little one.
IMACULATA: Then who?
JOMORRA: Does it really matter with who, 'Maculata? You could have anyone money could buy.
IMACULATA: Who, father?
JOMORRA: Does it matter?
IMACULATA: It matters.
JOMORRA: (Pause.) With Diego... Who else?
IMACULATA: // JOMORRA:
——- // DIEGO.
DIEGO. // A MOUTH OF WORDS,
A MOUTH OF WORDS, // A HAND OF GUNS.
A HAND OF GUNS. // -----
IMACULATA: YOU KNEW...
YOU'VE ALWAYS KNOWN...
JOMORRA: It was in the intelligence reports... I'm sorry, Imaculata, how could I not know? It's in your voice, it's in how you walk, it's in the way you bite your lip when you don't think I'm watching... You love him and that's beautiful... There are so few beautiful things left on this island.
IMACULATA: But you hate him...
JOMORRA: But I hate him... Keep him away from me, alright Dear? If I ever set eyes on him, he's a dead man. I'd pull the trigger myself.
IMACULATA: Why?
JOMORRA: Because if I don't, he will! ... He's a Marxist, 'Maculata... It's what they do.
IMACULATA: He's a good man...
JOMORRA: And you're a good girl. I wish that changed things but it doesn't.
(A group of CAMPESINOS passes, JORGE among them.)
JOMORRA &
IMACULATA: HEY, HAVE YOU GOT SOME CHANGE?
WE COULD USE SOME CHANGE, HERE.
WE KEEP GOING 'ROUND AND 'ROUND IN CIRCLES WITHOUT HOPE.
HAVE YOU GOT SOME CHANGE?
WE COULD USE SOME CHANGE
WE COULD USE SOME CHANGE, HERE.
(JORGE stops. The others continue and exit.)
JORGE: What can I give you when I have nothing, myself?
IMACULATA: It doesn't matter, friend. Take it home.
JORGE: Here. It's all I have anyway.
(JORGE drops a single coin into each of their cups.)
JOMORRA: Thank you, good sir. A million thanks.
(IMACULATA ushers her father out, leaving JORGE alone.)
JORGE: What is two poderos, anyway? I could have bought a bean and planted it and had a meal in three months' time. Two poderos...
♩♫ ♬ MUSIC ♬ ♫♩
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YOU ARE READING
montepío - the musical
General FictionThe libretto for a 2-act Broadway-style musical about a revolution that plays out on a fictional Latin American coffee plantation. And Diego, the revolutionary leader, is in love with the Dictator's daughter... Love, politics, violence, and conseque...
