"The Waltz of the Politicians"
POLITICIAN #1: LADIES AND MEN,
POLITICIANS #2,3: FOOLS AND FRIENDS,
POLITICIANS #1,4: WE'RE HERE TO SAY
POLITICIAN #3: WE'RE HERE TODAY,
ALL POLITICIANS: OUR POCKETS HEAVY TO SPEND!
(When not singing their following solos, the remaining POLITICIANS sing the nonsense syllables, "YA DA DIT DA," etc., reprising "My Loyal Citizens (Grease for the Wheel)")
POLITICIAN #4: HOW 'BOUT A MALL
A HUNDRED FEET TALL
WITH A PARKING LOT RIGHT OVER THERE.
FIVE THOUSAND STORES
RIGHT AT YOUR DOORS.
VOTE FOR ME AND I'LL DO IT, I SWEAR.
POLITICIAN #2: VOTE FOR ME,
YOU'LL GET ONE SACK OF FLOUR.
VOTE FOR ME
FOR TWO POUNDS OF BEANS.
I KNOW IT'S NOT MUCH
BUT I HOPE IT'S ENOUGH
TO GET YOU LIKING ME.
ALL POLITICIANS: LADIES AND MEN,
ELECTIONS AGAIN
WE'RE HERE TO SAY
WE'RE HERE TODAY,
OUR POCKETS HEAVY TO SPEND!
POLITICIAN #1: JOBS FOR THE TAKING,
POLITICIAN #4: POLICY-MAKING,
POLITICIAN #3: BUT WHO HERE CAN TELL
POLITICIANS #1,4: THAT WE'RE GOD-FORSAKEN?
POLITICIAN #2: DOUBLE-TALK,
POLITICIAN #1: SYSTEMIC OBFUSCATION,
POLITICIAN #3: THANK GOD FOR OUR FRIENDS
IN PUBLIC RELATIONS!
POLITICIANS #2,4: NO DIRECTION FOR US
POLITICIAN #3: LET ALONE PURPOSE.
POLITICIAN #1: WE'RE JUST WAITING AROUND
FOR TIME TO RESURFACE.
(The MISSIONARY enters, silent and unnoticed. The POLITICIANS continue to sing the nonsense syllables, "YA DA DIT DA," etc.)
SANTIAGO: Why don't you promise us something we need?
JORGE: What does it matter? They're only promises, Santiago.
MISSIONARY: You want something you need?
SANTIAGO: I suppose an end to the blockade is out of the question, isn't it?
MISSIONARY: Oh, there's always a little room to negotiate.
JORGE: Always?
MISSIONARY: Okay, not always.
(The MISSIONARY reprises IMACULATA's solo from "My Loyal Citizens (Grease for the Wheel)". The POLITICIANS continue to sing the nonsense syllables, "YA DA DIT DA," etc.)
MISSIONARY: TONIGHT, THOUGH,
SOMETHING NEW'S BECOME
POSSIBLE...
TOMORROW,
THIS NEW THING JUST MIGHT
SLIP AWAY.
JORGE: PLEASE, WILL YOU TELL US
WHAT IT IS?
SANTIAGO: AND WHAT WE MUST DO JUST TO
TASTE OF IT?
CAMPESINOS: HOPING IS SO PRE-
CARIOUS!
WHY CAN'T OUR WORLD CONSIST
JUST OF US?
MISSIONARY: JUST THE U.S.,
NO OTHER AGENDAS.
THE U.S.,
WITH ALL OUR WARS WAGED.
WE COULD LIVE
IN OUR LONELY HEAVEN,
THE STAINS ON OUR HANDS
LONG SINCE FORGIVEN...
DIEGO: So, are you running in the election too, Missionary?
MISSIONARY: No, but I'd like to introduce someone who is.
(IMACULATA emerges hesitantly, clad in her customary white dress. The POLITICIANS end their nonsense syllables in ragged disarray.)
MISSIONARY: Presenting a true lover of the revolution and my candidate for what can only be called... an immaculate government...
(Fade to black.)
♩♫ ♬ MUSIC ♬ ♫♩
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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...
