T2C Script Perusal - 5 LANTERNS

Based on the Novel by Charles Dickens

Book, Music, and Lyrics by Kirsten G.W. Dalton Arrangements and Orchestrations by Aaron Alsmeyer

Cast List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Scene List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Song List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

ACT I Scene 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Scene 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Scene 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Scene 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Scene 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Scene 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Scene 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Scene 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

ACT II Scene 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Scene 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Scene 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Scene 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Scene 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Scene 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Scene 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Scene 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Scene 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

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CAST LIST

Name (M/F) Description Role Requirements Sydney Carton (M) Appears in 9 scenes Act I: 2, 5, 7 Act II: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9

A dissolute lawyer, prone to drinking, who is similar in appearance to Charles Darnay

• 107 spoken lines • Solos in 9 songs

Therese Defarge (F) Appears in 8 scenes Act I: 1, 3, 6, 8 Act II: 1, 4, 6, 8

Ernest Defarge’s wife, who seeks revenge on all aristocrats, particularly the Evremondes


Charles Darnay (M) Appears in 10 scenes Act I: 2, 4, 5, 7, 8 Act II: 2, 4, 6, 7, 9

A disowned French nobleman who marries Lucie Manette and is similar in appearance to Sydney Carton


Lucie Manette (F) Appears in 10 scenes Act I: 1, 2, 5, 7, 8 Act II: 3, 4, 5, 6, 9

A young Frenchwoman brought up in England; daughter of Dr. Manette


Dr. Alexandre Manette (M) Appears in 7 scenes Act I: 1, 2, 5, 7 Act II: 3, 4, 9

The former French doctor unjustly imprisoned in the Bastille for 18 years; father of Lucie Manette


Ernest Defarge (M) Appears in 8 scenes Act I: 1, 3, 6, 8 Act II: 1, 4, 6, 9

Ringleader of the Revolution and owner of a wine shop in St. Antoine; wants a political revolution, but is not as vengeful as his wife


Jarvis Lorry (M) Appears in 7 scenes Act I: 1, 2, 7 Act II: 2, 3, 4, 5

The elderly English representative of Tellson’s Bank; close friend of Dr. Manette’s

• 36 spoken lines • Solos in 1 song

Miss Pross (F) Appears in 8 scenes Act I: 1, 2, 5, 7 Act II: 3, 4, 5, 8

A fiercely loyal Englishwoman; Lucie’s serving woman and dear friend

• 33 spoken lines

Monseigneur Evremonde (M) Appears in 3 scenes Act I: 1, 3, 4

A cruel French noble; uncle of Charles Darnay

• 17 spoken lines • Solos in 1 song

Stryver (M) Appears in 3 scenes Act I: 2, 5, 7

The ambitious, shallow, and overconfident co-counsel of Sydney Carton

• 28 spoken lines • Solos in 1 song • Dances

Barsad (M) Appears in 5 scenes Act I: 2, 8 Act II: 4, 7, 9

A cunning Englishman who serves as a double spy and testifies against Charles Darnay

• 47 spoken lines

The Jacquerie Appear in 6 scenes Act I: 1, 3, 6 Act II: 1, 4, 9

Jacques 1 (M/F) French revolutionaries and spies in league with the Defarges

• 7 spoken lines Jacques 2 (M/F) • 8 spoken lines Jacques 3 (M/F) • 24 spoken lines

The Vengeance (F) Appears in 7 scenes Act I: 1, 3, 6 Act II: 1, 4, 8, 9

Therese Defarge’s bloodthirsty cohort

• 15 spoken lines

The Seamstress (F) Appears in 4 scenes Act II: 1, 4, 7, 9

A young woman who is unjustly sentenced to the guillotine


Gabelle (M) Appears in 4 scenes Act I: 1, 3, 4 Act II: 1

Evremonde’s servant and Charles Darnay’s old tutor, sympathetic to the French peasants

• 11 spoken lines

Gaspard (M) Appears in 3 scenes Act I: 1, 3, 4

A French peasant whose son is run over by Evremonde’s carriage

• 6 spoken lines

Little Lucie (F) Appears in 4 scenes Act II: 3, 4, 5, 9

Charles and Lucie Darnay’s young daughter, 6-8 years old

• 4 spoken lines • Solo in 1 song

French Aristocrats Appear in 5 scenes Act I: 1 Act II: 1, 2, 7, 9

Aristocrat 1 (F) Noblemen and women whose acts incite the Revolution, and who eventually suffer the guillotine


Aristocrat 2 (M/F) • 2 spoken lines • Solos in 2 songs

Aristocrat 3 (M/F) • Solos in 1 song Servants Appear in 4 or 5 scenes Act I: 1, 3, 4 Act II: 7, 9 [optional]

Servant 1 (M/F) Servants of Monseigneur Evremonde


Servant 2 (M/F) • 1 spoken line • Duet in 1 song

Other speaking roles

Man 1 spoken line in Act I, Scene 1 Woman 1 spoken line in Act I, Scene 1 Attorney 13 spoken lines in Act I, Scene 2 Judge 7 spoken lines in Act I, Scene 2 Bystander 2 spoken lines in Act I, Scene 2 Jury Representative 1 spoken line in Act I, Scene 2

Other speaking roles (continued)

Priest 3 spoken lines in Act I, Scene 7 Soldier 1 spoken line in Act II, Scene 7 Child 2 spoken lines in Act II, Scene 9

Nonspeaking roles

A group of English girls, a few businessmen, and a chimney sweep who dance with Stryver in Act I, Scene 2

Two English guards who escort Charles Darnay to his trial in Act I, Scene 2 English jury members for Charles Darnay’s trial in Act I, Scene 2 English tavern girl who serves Carton and Darnay in Act I, Scene 2 Dead French peasant boy in Act I, Scene 3 The seamstress’s brother and young girl cousin, who appear briefly in Act II, Scene 1

Aristocrat 1’s husband, who is killed in Act II, Scene 1 English bankers, who appear briefly in Act II, Scene 2 Mock jury members assembled to sentence aristocrats to the guillotine in Act II, Scene 4

Ensemble roles

French peasants/revolutionaries, who suffer because of the aristocrats and eagerly await the Revolution; some may become soldiers in the second act [see below]

• Ensemble singing: Act I: 1, 6 Act II: 9

• Also appear in: Act I: 3 Act II: 1, 4

Several French peasants-turned-soldiers, who capture and execute aristocrats and traitors

• Ensemble singing: Act II: 9

• Also appear in: Act II: 1, 4, 7

Lower and middle class Englishmen and women, who watch Charles Darnay’s trial and later attend his wedding

• Ensemble singing: Act I: 7

• Also appear in: Act I: 2

[Optional] Additional French aristocrats and servants, who can be included in any scene that calls for speaking/singing aristocrats and servants

• Aristocrats: Act I: 1 Act II: 1, 2, 7, 9

• Servants: Act I: 1, 3, 4 Act II: 7, 9 [optional]

French peasant children, who dance and sing around a toy guillotine and also appear in various crowd scenes

• Children’s song: Act II: 6

• Ensemble singing: Act I: 1 Act II: 9

• Also appear in: Act I: 3

Company singing from backstage or unobtrusively onstage

• Ensemble singing: Act I: 8 Act II: 6

SCENE LIST

ACT I

Scene 1: Paris, 1775. The square in front of Defarge’s wine shop; Interior of wine shop.

Scene 2: London, 1780. Interior of a small tavern; Interior of the Old Bailey courthouse.

Scene 3: Paris. The square in front of Defarge’s wine shop.

Scene 4: A country château in France. Evremonde’s dressing room.

Scene 5: London. Interior of the Manette home.

Scene 6: Paris. Interior of Defarge’s wine shop.

Scene 7: London. Interior of a chapel.

Scene 8: Paris. Interior of Defarge’s wine shop.

ACT II

Scene 1: Paris, 1789. Exterior of the Bastille; Interior of Dr. Manette’s former cell.

Scene 2: London. Interior of Tellson’s Bank.

Scene 3: London. Interior of the Manette/Darnay home.

Scene 4: Paris. Interior of the Conciergerie.

Scene 5: Paris. Interior of Lorry’s rented rooms in St. Antoine.

Scene 6: Paris. The square in front of Defarge’s wine shop; Darnay’s prison cell.

Scene 7: Paris. Interior of the prison.

Scene 8: Paris. The street outside Lorry’s rented rooms in St. Antoine.

Scene 9: Paris. The square in front of Defarge’s wine shop.

SONG LIST

ACT I Scene 1 1775 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Aristocrat 2, Defarge, Company The Reunion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Defarge, Lorry, Lucie, Manette

Scene 2 Ambition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Carton, Stryver The Man I Might Have Been . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Carton

Scene 3 Knitted Register . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Therese

Scene 4 Monseigneur’s Waltz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Evremonde, Servants 1 and 2

Scene 5 Here Stands a Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Carton, Lucie

Scene 6 Liberty, Equality, Fraternity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Defarge, Revolutionaries

Scene 7 A Father’s Blessing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Manette One Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Carton, Darnay, Lucie, Englishmen and Women

Scene 8 One Life Reprise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Darnay, Defarge, Lucie, Therese, Company

ACT II Scene 1 Storming the Bastille . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Instrumental

Scene 2 Which Man Am I? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Darnay

Scene 3 Lucie’s Lullaby . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Carton, Little Lucie

Scene 4 Don’t Let Him Die . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lucie

Scene 5 Carton’s Song . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Carton

Scene 6 Chop Chop Chop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Children Goodnight Quartet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Carton, Darnay, Lucie, Therese, Company

Scene 7 Fourteen Hours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Aristocrats 1, 2, 3, Carton, Seamstress

Scene 9 Greater Love . . . Carton, Darnay, Defarge, Lucie, Manette, Seamstress, Company

For information on producing this musical, please visit 5Lanterns.com. 7

Act I

SCENE 1

CHARACTERS NEEDED: Aristocrats 1, 2, 3, Defarge, Evremonde, Gabelle, Gaspard, Jacques 1, 2, 3, Lorry, Lucie, Man, Manette, Pross, Servants 1 and 2, Therese, Vengeance, Woman; Company SCENE: Paris, 1775. The square in front of Defarge’s wine shop in the St. Antoine neighborhood.

Lights remain down as the mysterious intro music for “1775” begins, and we hear voices speaking their lines from different points all over the stage.

MAN It was the best of times. WOMAN It was the worst of times! ARISTROCRAT 1 It was the age of wisdom! DEFARGE It was the age of foolishness. JACQUES 1 It was the season of light! VENGEANCE It was the season of darkness. GASPARD It was the spring of hope! JACQUES 2 It was the winter of despair. ARISTOCRAT 2 In short, it was the year of our Lord… COMPANY One thousand, seven hundred and seventy-five. (Music picks up in tempo. Lights up slowly. Poor PEASANTS gather around a

squalid street in front of ERNEST DEFARGE’S wine shop. DEFARGE stands in the doorway. Several MEN are gathered around an overturned barrel drinking wine. Some WOMEN carry empty baskets or haggle over a loaf of bread. CHILDREN play a game with stones in the street.)

MUSIC CUE #1

Act I: Scene 1

A Tale of Two Cities: The Musical © 2006-2007, 2020, Kirsten G.W. Dalton. All rights reserved. 8

Song: 1775 COMPANY (Sings) It’s seventeen hundred and seventy-five!

(What a year, what a world!) The best of times (Best of times) and the worst of times to be alive.

(Have you seen? Have you heard?) It’s an epoch of wisdom, Yet an ignorant age. All the world is before us, Yet we live in a cage. WOMEN MEN Revolution is brewing and Revolution is Many are fanning the flame Fanning the flame COMPANY In seventeen hundred and seventy-five. (Enter a group of ARISTOCRATS, including EVREMONDE, followed by

SERVANTS, including GABELLE, carrying shopping items and a barrel of wine.)

ARISTOCRAT 2 The streets are brimming full of filth, Clogged with scum not fit to live a day! The common man is just a pawn In this game of pow’r we play. (Yells at some CHILDREN) Out of my way! (ARISTOCRATS exit into a shop

with SERVANTS.) COMPANY It’s seventeen hundred and seventy-five! (Another night, another day!) A season of darkness is speckled with light. (There’s no will, there’s no way.) While aristocrats party, We are left in the dust! They don’t care that we’re dying, ‘Cause we ain’t upper crust. WOMEN MEN Soon blood will be flowing Soon blood will be Because we will do what we must Shed if we must COMPANY In seventeen hundred and seventy-five.

Act I: Scene 1


DEFARGE (Yells) Listen to me! (Sings) We’re caught in a web! The world’s in a tangle. The rich ones will strangle us all! We’re stuck in a rut, In an endless circle. We must rise up! COMPANY

We must rise up! It’s seventeen hundred and seventy-five! (Let the people awake!) We never get nowhere although we all strive. (Let them know what’s at stake!) We desire to be equals In a land that’s free and rich, And the ones who stand in our way Will be dumped in a grave or a ditch.

WOMEN MEN Up with republics! Up we will We’ll finally get what we wish Go as we wish COMPANY In seventeen hundred— WOMEN MEN The children are crying, No work, no wages, Yet we have no bread. And nowhere to go. The poor ones like us The rich ones will Would be better off dead. Reap what they sow! COMPANY

We must rise up! We must rise up In seventeen hundred and seventy-five.

(ARISTOCRATS and SERVANTS enter from shop and exit stage. The VENGEANCE and JACQUERIE attack the last two SERVANTS and seize the wine cask. The VENGEANCE holds the cask over her head.)

VENGEANCE (Yells) The wine of the aristos!

(JACQUES 2 breaks the casks into an empty trough. PEASANTS run madly to the trough and drink from their hands. GASPARD uses his wine-stained finger to write “BLOOD” on a wall. DEFARGE stops him.)

Act I: Scene 1


DEFARGE Hush! Not yet. Don’t draw their eyes here yet. (Speaking in confidence) Hidden one story above us, in my wine shop, is my former master, Dr. Manette.

GASPARD The good doctor? The one who disappeared ages ago? DEFARGE The very same. Locked up for eighteen years in the Bastille for unjust

cause, and very recently rescued. I’ve sent word to England, that someone may fetch his daughter—Mademoiselle Lucie. I doubt he’ll know her, for his mind is at present very clouded.

GASPARD He was taken when she was but a little girl. A friend and hero to all of us!

Heaven knows what tortures he suffered! DEFARGE Tortures indeed. No, Gaspard; no uprising here. Not yet. GASPARD But the time will come? It will come? THERESE (Interrupting) Yes. A time of fire and water and wind. A time when the

wine on those pavement stones will run with fresh blood. The blood of our enemies. Yes, Gaspard! The time will come.

(THERESE and most PEASANTS exit. JARVIS LORRY enters, walking slowly across the stage, reading a piece of paper produced from his pocket.)

LORRY “Recalled to Life.” That’s all it says. After so many years—released at last!

Oh, how I pray for his daughter’s sake he is not changed beyond recognition. (DEFARGE sees LORRY and motions him over.) Ah! Monsieur Ernest Defarge, I presume. To business, to business. I have summoned Mademoiselle Lucie Manette. She does not yet know why she is here. As a representative of Tellson’s Bank, I assure you, sir, that I have done my utmost to—

DEFARGE Good. I see you received my message. LORRY (As he pockets his paper self-consciously) Ah… yes. Is he alone? DEFARGE Alone! Who should be with him? LORRY Always alone? DEFARGE Yes. LORRY Of his own desire? DEFARGE Of his own necessity!

Act I: Scene 1


LORRY He is greatly changed? DEFARGE Changed! (He strikes a wall in anger.) Bring the Mademoiselle inside.

(DEFARGE exits into the wine shop.) LORRY (Pulling out his message again) “Recalled to Life”—God have mercy. (Enter LUCIE and PROSS. As the following conversation progresses, lights dim

on the wine shop and leave only LORRY, LUCIE, and PROSS in vignette on one side of the stage as MANETTE’S workbench is set up on the opposite side.)

LUCIE Tell me all! I cannot bear it any longer! What is this place? LORRY Ah, Mademoiselle Lucie! Please, let us be clear-headed. You have business

before you, Miss Manette, useful business. LUCIE What business? I am trembling with every passing moment—have you news

for me? Oh, dear Pross, can’t you make him speak? PROSS (To LORRY) Fool, have you got a tongue? If you have something to say, say it! LORRY (Flustered) Please—it’s all very complicated—all in good time. Miss

Manette, after your mother died, you became my ward, and I placed you in the care of Miss Pross. I also looked into the disappearance of your father.

LUCIE Yes, yes, I know all that; we’ve been looking for him for years, and there has

been no hope—oh, please, Mr. Lorry, does this mean you have news for me? LORRY There has been no new discovery of money or property, but… Miss Manette,

your father is alive. He—he has been found. But alas, his mind is hazy. Eighteen years in such a place…

LUCIE (Shocked) He is… alive? You do not deceive me? PROSS (To LORRY) You blubbering idiot! You thick-headed, thick-headed… man!

Just like a man! There there, my darling. LORRY Why, I—I tried to break it gently. PROSS Ha! You gentle? Just like a man.

(Enter DEFARGE) LUCIE (Embracing PROSS and LORRY in turn) My father is alive! My father is alive…

oh, thank you, Mr. Lorry! I hardly know what to say—what to think!

Act I: Scene 1


LORRY (Recovering from LUCIE’S embrace, seeing DEFARGE) This man was his old servant. He will take us to your father. Now take courage, Lucie. He is… well, he is…

DEFARGE He is changed. Come with me. (Intro music for “The Reunion” begins as they cross, and lights come up on MANETTE at his workbench in a room in DEFARGE’S wine shop. He is crouching at a wall, running his hands over the bricks, searching for something.) MANETTE Where—where is it? It was the third brick over, by the workbench. I have

need of it… the letter… one hundred five North Tower… DEFARGE What? What letter? LORRY Poor man; everything must seem a dream to him. DEFARGE Not everything. Dr. Manette, what letter? Where is it? MANETTE (Rushing back to his workbench) One hundred five North Tower. I am

working. Working. Please, please, let me work. I must finish the shoes… it is a baby’s walking shoe, see?

DEFARGE Dr. Manette, you mentioned a letter just now— LORRY (Interrupting) Monsieur, there are more pressing matters at hand than a

phantom letter. DEFARGE Very well.

(He reluctantly moves back.) LORRY Come, Miss Manette. LUCIE (Shrinking back against MISS PROSS.) Suddenly—suddenly, I am afraid.

Song: THE REUNION (Sings) Oh dear, I fear he will not know me, For I hardly remember him. LORRY Dear lady, I give you solemn promise, I will lend you what aid I can.

MUSIC CUE #2

Act I: Scene 1


DEFARGE There he sits at his workbench, Patiently making shoes. LUCIE Oh, may God have mercy! LORRY I’ll introduce him to you. Monsieur Manette, I have your daughter here now. Do you see her?

(MANETTE looks up blankly for a moment, then returns to his work.) LUCIE (Somewhat timidly at first) My dearest father, Oh! How glad I am to see you now. Do you remember me? (Slowly, MANETTE looks up again; puts down his tools; hesitantly reaches up, trembling, to touch LUCIE’S cheek; he fingers a lock of her hair.) MANETTE I seem to see my wife again. The hair, it is the same, But it’s been so long, And she would be older. LUCIE Dear father, she is gone, But I am here, And I will hold you. (MANETTE buries his head on LUCIE’S shoulder, weeping softly, then slowly stands, unwilling to let her go.) MANETTE Eighteen years have passed Since last I held her. Such a tiny baby she was then. When they imprisoned me, I made these little shoes To remind myself of you. LUCIE Put away my little shoes; You won’t need them anymore.

Act I: Scene 1


Come away, away with me Over to the English shore, And I will stay, will stay with you. Forevermore, ‘twill be us two. Put away my little shoes, Papa, For now I am with you. MANETTE And you will never go away? Has my life returned today? LUCIE Yes, a life will start afresh for us today. (Lights down. Scene change music.)

MUSIC CUE #3


SCENE 2

CHARACTERS NEEDED: Attorney, Barsad, Businessmen, Bystander, Carton, Chimney Sweep, Darnay, Group of Girls, Guards (2), Judge, Jury Members, Jury Representative, Lorry, Lucie, Manette, Pross, Stryver, Tavern Girl; Englishmen and Women SCENE: London, five years later. Interior of a small tavern in England; Interior of the Old Bailey courthouse. Sound of breaking glass. Lights up. CARTON and BARSAD are laughing and drinking at a table. Numerous cups around the table signify that they have been drinking for some time. BARSAD So I says, “Kindly leave your purse, and we’ll call it square.” Ha! (They both burst into laughter.) CARTON Another triumph, Barsad! Another triumph! I’ll drink to that! But tell me— how do you manage it all? A private secretary can’t safely spend every evening

on his own time. BARSAD Private sec—eh? Is that what I told you? Well, I’ll be hanged! You’ve had a

drink too many if you swallowed that one! CARTON Well, what then? Undertaker? BARSAD (Bursts into laughter again) No! But nearly as dirty. (Takes a long swig,

then whispers loudly and conspiratorially) Spy! CARTON No… that’s worse than secretary. BARSAD It’s true, I tell you! For none other than a French aristocrat! Frenchies—

always suspicious. So I’m his man to watch them as he doesn’t want meddling, and to get them out of the way if they do.

CARTON So you’re here in England, spying for a suspicious French aristo? Come

now—secretary was more believable! BARSAD I’ll prove it, too! Run round the Old Bailey courthouse tomorrow morning

and you’ll see the nephew and heir to the title of my French aristo. Charles Darnay, being tried for treason, more innocent than a baby, but he’ll get worse than a walloping if I know my business.

Act I: Scene 2


CARTON And you are the one responsible for putting him there? BARSAD Yours truly. CARTON And the key witness? BARSAD Yours truly. CARTON And the evidence? BARSAD Written, planted, and reeking of seditious treason, thanks to none other than

yours truly! (Takes a triumphant swig) Ah yes, sir, I’ll drink to that! CARTON Quite the triumph! The Old Bailey tomorrow, you say? BARSAD And mid-morning. But, must get some sleep. Can’t miss me own show. CARTON Let me help you up; good night, and good luck, John Barsad! BARSAD Same t’you… uh… uh… CARTON Carton. Sydney Carton. BARSAD Ah, yes. Well, I’m off! Thank you, sir! Perhaps afterwards, you’ll drink

again to my triumph with me? CARTON We shall see—and perhaps then I’ll tell you one of my own. (BARSAD exits.)

To a coming triumph, Sydney… (A short musical interlude begins just as he plops his head down on the table, fast asleep. Lights down for a few seconds to indicate the passage of the night. Lights up to the sound of STRYVER whistling. STRYVER enters, swinging his cane and adjusting his hat. He walks over to CARTON and bangs on the table.) STRYVER Good morning! (CARTON winces and waves him off.) Frankly, I don’t know

why they call it a brief when it is seventy pages long; I can’t understand a word of it. You’re going to have to explain to me—Carton! Hurry up. (Tosses him his wig) Did you get the prisoner to tell you why he had business between England and France?

CARTON No. Said it was a family affair, rested upon his honor to keep silent, all that

rot. Typical Frenchman.

MUSIC CUE #4

Act I: Scene 2


STRYVER Carton, please. This fellow Darnay’s life is at stake! What about the witnesses? Manette and Barsad? How do we undermine them?

CARTON Eh? I had a brief run-in with the fellow Barsad—bag of hot air. And the

Manette witness will probably stumble all over his own words like a fool. Forget about them! One more glass to steady me.

STRYVER (Grumbling) One more glass, he says. One more glass. By heaven, we’ll be

here ‘til doomsday! CARTON Well then, go on without me. STRYVER You know very well I can’t do that! Have you no respect for the court, sir?

Have you no conception of the importance of this establishment—the reputations of myself and the firm? The admirable Mr. Stryver—practitioner of the law, upholder of justice, master of eloquence—

CARTON (Hung over) Yes, yes, and don’t forget his partner, Sydney Carton: a bum, a

drunk, and yet still the brains behind the entire operation. (Matter-of-factly) Mmmmm. I’ll drink to that.

STRYVER Bah! You’re impossible. CARTON Impossible? No—why, I’m a score of possibilities that got lost at sea

somewhere. All right. The bottle’s out. (He stands somewhat unsteadily, then regains his balance; puts one hand out in front of him while his other hand holds a damp towel to his eyes.) Direct me to my briefcase.

STRYVER (Both relieved and slightly irritated) Yes! (Intro music for

“Ambition” begins.) One day, all the wine in the world will be drunk. But there will always be cases!

CARTON (Mumbling) Mmm… cases… cases… my briefcase, where is it?

Song: AMBITION STRYVER (Heaves a large, annoyed sigh, then sings) Carton, hurry up! We have important cases to crack today. You with your brains, And I with my poise and style and polish and wit Will win the day! That is, if we ever get on our way!

MUSIC CUE #5

Act I: Scene 2


CARTON Stryver, calm down. Just one more drink to clear all the cobwebs away. The court can wait, And so can you. After all, without me, where would you be? I’m the mind behind all the brilliant ways You win your case and call your plays! (They begin to cross the street as English TOWNSPEOPLE set the stage for the court.)

STRYVER (Speaks) Look at that, Sydney—every one of them wanting a little piece of the world—killing each other to get it! But for us, every day holds a new promise of success!

CARTON (Absently) Oh … yes. Ugh, my mouth is dry. STRYVER Sydney! (Sings) Don’t you care? Don’t you see? There’s a world to be had for the asking! Fortunes to be made, headlines to read; Our names could be famous one day! Come on, Sydney! CARTON My work is all I’m living for, My only love, my only door To such a measly slice Of Paradise. STRYVER It seems to me that if you’d try, You’d see a starry-spangled sky, Find a wife, and settle down in style. Sydney, can’t you see I’m speaking for your good? There are so many things you’d do if you just would… (STRYVER enters in and out of dance with a group of GIRLS, a few BUSINESSMEN, and a CHIMNEY SWEEP.) Have a little ambition! With a little elbow grease, You’ll see that yet another piece Will start to fall into position! Have a little ambition, Sydney, my boy! Have a little ambition!

Act I: Scene 2


Tax your brain; give it no peace Until the edges start to crease And the page is finally written. Have a little ambition, Sydney, please! (At this point, the courtroom has been assembled, and TOWNSPEOPLE are coming in. LUCIE, PROSS, LORRY, and DR. MANETTE enter together.) Have a little ambition! Can’t you fathom all the things That can be done if you just think And aren’t afraid to break tradition? Have a little ambition. Sydney, just dream! Have a little ambition! Open your eyes and look around. The drum now beats; don’t fight the sound. Get up and load some ammunition! Have a little ambition. Sydney, look around! Look around. Look around. (CARTON and STRYVER enter the courtroom. STRYVER goes up to the defendant’s table while CARTON seats himself on one of the front benches. DARNAY enters with two GUARDS. He is brought to the bar. There is a general stir in the AUDIENCE. LUCIE audibly gasps when she sees DARNAY and buries her face in her father’s shoulder.) JUDGE (Speaks) Silence in the court! CARTON (Gazing at LUCIE intently) Who is she? BYSTANDER The witness. CARTON Which one? BYSTANDER Manette. CARTON Manette? A she? STRYVER What’s the matter, Sydney? Never seen a pretty woman before? Sit down,

man!

Act I: Scene 2


ATTORNEY (With a self-important air) Silence! Mr. Charles Darnay has pleaded Not Guilty to charges of treason against our illustrious sovereign, the King. He has been charged with passing letters and other documents in aid of the French, enemies of our illustrious sovereign, the King. Members of the jury, although you may think this man is young in years, he is old in matters of intrigue, deceit, and treason. The letters I hold here were passed to the prisoner on board a ship five years ago for the sole purpose of harming our illustrious sovereign, the King. I call to the witness stand a man of certain virtue, honor, courage, and loyalty to our illustrious sovereign, the King. John Barsad!

(BARSAD takes the stand.) JUDGE Do you swear to tell the whole and unsullied truth, so help you God? BARSAD I’ll swear to that! Eh, I’ll even drink to that! My motives is nothing but sheer

patriotism. ATTORNEY Ever seen the prisoner? BARSAD Yes. ATTORNEY Where? BARSAD On the trip from Calais to England. ATTORNEY Ever seen the treasonable documents on the prisoner? BARSAD Seen documents. ATTORNEY Certain these were the letters? BARSAD Certain. Outside looks the same. ATTORNEY Can you prove these letters are in the prisoner’s handwriting? BARSAD Can’t prove it, but that just shows what an artful, cunning rascal he is. ATTORNEY What made you testify against him? BARSAD Love of my country. I’m a true Briton and hope the gentlemen of the jury are

just like myself. ATTORNEY No further questions; you may stand down, Mr. Barsad. I now call on Miss

Lucie Manette. (BARSAD is seated, and LUCIE takes the stand.)

Act I: Scene 2


JUDGE Do you swear to tell the whole and unsullied truth, so help you God? LUCIE I do. ATTORNEY Miss Manette, have you seen the prisoner before? LUCIE Yes, we met on the ship from Calais five years ago, just after my father and I

had been reunited. And he has dined with us several times since. ATTORNEY Recall any conversation you may have had with the prisoner. LUCIE When Mr. Darnay came on board— JUDGE Do you mean the prisoner? LUCIE (Slightly flustered) Well, yes, my lord. JUDGE Then say, “the prisoner.” LUCIE When the prisoner came on board, he was very kind and helped me care for my

father. He told me he was on extensive business of a delicate nature, one that would take him frequently between France and England.

ATTORNEY Be particular. LUCIE We made general conversation. He tried to explain to me the quarrel between

America and England, and jested that perhaps George Washington would become as great in history as George III. But I’m sure he meant no harm—he merely wished to make me laugh!

ATTORNEY Did you see anyone hand him these letters before boarding the ship? LUCIE I don’t know. I saw two men conferring, but it was dark. ATTORNEY Did you see the letters? Were they like these in shape and size? LUCIE Possibly. I—I don’t know; I don’t remember; oh, I hope I may not repay him

by doing him harm today. (Almost in tears, she can barely utter the last few words and seems as if she is about to faint. The ATTORNEY sits down in a huff.) CARTON See to the lady! (CARTON hurriedly passes a note to STRYVER, then helps LUCIE down from the stand, where PROSS and LORRY help her to her seat. STRYVER stands.)

Act I: Scene 2


STRYVER Gentlemen of the jury: Thus far, we have established that this man, Charles Darnay, was on the same ship from Calais that the French spy was on; that he

possessed documents just as the spy did; and that he had business connected with France and England, just as the spy did. However, how many other men were on that ship? How many with business with France and England? I daresay most, seeing as they were aboard the ship sailing the Channel! Furthermore, how many with documents in their pockets? Gentlemen, I would be very safe in saying that every man in this court at the present time certainly has a document of some form on his person! Can it be proven that this man, Charles Darnay, was indeed a French spy with treasonous documents? I would like to call John Barsad back to

the stand. (BARSAD takes the stand.) Have you ever been a… (double-checking CARTON’S note in surprise) spy?

BARSAD I scorn that base insinuation! STRYVER What do you live upon? BARSAD Me property. STRYVER Where is that? BARSAD I don’t precisely remember. STRYVER Why were you coming from Calais? BARSAD Ain’t your business. (CARTON tosses another note up to STRYVER.) STRYVER You are sure it was the prisoner that you saw in conference with the

Frenchman aboard the ship? You are sure it was the prisoner that you saw carrying these letters?

BARSAD Certain as if it were me own son. STRYVER Would you swear your life on it? BARSAD Already sworn. STRYVER (After a pause) Certain? BARSAD Certain. STRYVER (Another pause; a swift look at CARTON, who nods slightly) John Barsad,

would you swear it to my co-counsel, Sydney Carton? Observe, gentlemen of the

Act I: Scene 2


jury, how completely similar in build and features my co-counsel appears in comparison to the man accused.

(CARTON removes his wig and winks at BARSAD, who registers shock and horror.) BARSAD I—I… perhaps I was rather hasty. I—that is… it wasn’t the prisoner at all!

No. (Weakly) Not the prisoner at all. STRYVER (With dramatic eloquence) Aha! How many more innocent men will you

mistake in your certainty! JUDGE (Amidst general laughter) Gentlemen of the jury, you are dismissed to

deliberate. (The JURY exits as LUCIE crosses to CARTON and STRYVER.) LUCIE Oh Mr. Stryver, please, do you think they will acquit him? The penalty for

treason—oh, I cannot even bear to think of it! STRYVER (With a self-important air) I cannot be certain of the outcome, but you may

rest assured that I have striven to lay all my mental resources, all my logic, all my eloquence, all my talents, at the feet of the unfortunate Mr. Darnay.

CARTON All? Dear me, hopefully he won’t mistakenly tread upon such a small pile. LUCIE And thank you, Mr. Carton, for your concern earlier. The close air in the

courtroom makes me faint. CARTON Nothing to it. LUCIE (Continuing) I’m sure you can understand my affection— (Blushing) that is,

my father’s affection… for Charles—I mean, Mr. Darnay. He is very close to my father.

CARTON With your father’s support behind him, I am sure Charles—Mr. Darnay will

be quite safe. (The JURY re-enters.) JUDGE Have you reached a verdict? JURY REPRESENTATIVE (Rising) We have. The prisoner is acquitted! (General applause; the courtroom empties except for LORRY, MANETTE, LUCIE, PROSS, DARNAY, STRYVER, and CARTON. As the following

conversation progresses, the lights leave these few characters in vignette as the tavern table is reset.)

Act I: Scene 2


LORRY (Hurrying toward DARNAY) Ah, that was an infamous prosecution, grossly infamous. I think I may speak for all of us when I say that I am sincerely glad you got off, Mr. Darnay.

DARNAY I thank you. And Miss Manette, are you… feeling well now? LUCIE Yes, thank you. I was so fearful that my words would have wrecked all for you! PROSS Well, we should all go back home and to bed. My ladybird is looking pale, and

I’m sure Mr. Darnay has had quite the terrible day. CARTON (Dryly) You could say that. PROSS (Aside to LORRY) Now just you wait. After seeing his life flash before him,

that Mr. Darnay will no doubt be joining the hundreds of people after my ladybird’s hand. None of ‘em are worthy of her little finger! I call it all your fault, Mr. Lorry.

LORRY Mine, Miss Pross? PROSS Indeed! You were the one who brought her father back to life! Not that I have

any fault to find with Dr. Manette. But it is really doubly, trebly hard to have all these multitudes turning up after him to take Ladybird’s affections away from me!

LORRY (Raises eyebrows) Oh dear. Multitudes, you say? PROSS (Emphatically) And more! LORRY (Changing the subject) Oh dear, I—Mr. Stryver, how did you ever manage

such a clever trick on that scoundrel Barsad? STRYVER Ah! Well… I, uh—that is… CARTON (Breaking in) Most men are quite willing to admit their guilt in court when

confronted with the man to whom they’d confessed their guilt the previous evening.

STRYVER Sydney! You can’t mean— (In a loud whisper) all your drinking last night

was—research? CARTON Well, yes. I had a hunch and followed it to the tavern last night. A pint or

two of stiff English brew loosens the tongue of any man! Barsad was spying for some conniving French nobleman, Emond… Evronde…

Act I: Scene 2


DARNAY AND MANETTE Evremonde? (MANETTE freezes, then begins to tremble; DARNAY looks deeply troubled.) CARTON Yes, that was it! That spy Barsad planted those suspicious papers on you and

then reported you to the authorities in England. LUCIE (Noticing MANETTE) Father? Are you all right? MANETTE That name! That name. I must remember. Something… I cannot

remember it! LUCIE Father, it is nothing. You are frightened by shadows. Come. DARNAY I hope to see you soon, Miss Manette. LUCIE And I you, Mr. Darnay! Very soon. (LUCIE, MANETTE, LORRY, and PROSS exit. STRYVER follows, congratulating himself on his success. DARNAY and CARTON are left standing awkwardly together.) CARTON Well, this is a strange chance that throws you and me together. How does it

feel, standing here alone with your counterpart on the street? DARNAY I feel as if I am hardly yet belonging to this world again. CARTON Don’t wonder at that. A few hours ago, you were pretty far advanced on your

way to another. But a bottle of port will bring you back in no time. Eh? (They cross to the tavern. A GIRL enters and brings two tankards and some bread.) A toast! To the one nearest your thoughts and dearest your heart.

DARNAY I don’t… that is, I— CARTON Oh come on, it’s on the tip of your tongue, man! DARNAY Well… to Miss Manette, then! CARTON Miss Manette. Now that’s a fair lady to be wept over and pitied by. Is it

worth your life to have her notice you? DARNAY Mr. Carton, I do not know what you are getting at. I am, however, deeply

indebted to you for saving my life today. CARTON I don’t want your thanks. Mr. Darnay, I must ask you: do you think I

particularly like you?

Act I: Scene 2


DARNAY Really, Mr. Carton, the question never occurred to me. Your saving my life would seem to indicate that you do; but sitting here with you now, I feel as if you do not.

CARTON I feel as if I do not either. Bravo, I begin to have a very good opinion of your

understanding. DARNAY Well. On that bright note, I must go. Thanks to your comments on Barsad

tonight, I realize I have unfinished business back in France. (To the GIRL) Here’s for the both of us. (Stiffly, to CARTON) My thanks, once again.

(CARTON raises his tankard in a silent salute. DARNAY exits.) CARTON (Still holding up the tankard, and talking to his reflection as the GIRL exits.)

Do you particularly like the man? Cruel fate. He is everything you are not, everything you could have been, might have been. Change places with him and you could have been looked at by those pretty eyes. (Intro music for “The Man I Might Have Been” begins.) Out with it! You hate him.

Song: THE MAN I MIGHT HAVE BEEN

(Sings) I saw her hands, her lovely face, Her tear-filled eyes, her delicate skin, Then she looked straight at him. Oh, it must be worth an accusation To have that face look at yours, To hear such a sweet voice Pleading for you. And everything I see is a “might have been.” My hands are empty, though my heart is full. For all my life, I’ve held the key, Yet I myself am still not free! The world turns; The wine’s all run out. I see myself, my tousled hair, A drunken wretch for whom no one could care And I sigh in despair. For he has my face; he has my life Before I wasted it away, Before I let something Lead me astray.

MUSIC CUE #6

Act I: Scene 2


And everywhere, I grasp at shadows that disappear. And deep inside, I know there is no way. I have no right to win her love! How dare I think that God above Would grant me One small chance to try? Let no tears be shed for me, But for the man I might have been. (Lights down. Scene change music.)

MUSIC CUE #7


SCENE 3

CHARACTERS NEEDED: Dead Boy, Defarge, Evremonde, Gabelle, Gaspard, Jacques 1, 2, 3, Servants 1 and 2, Therese, Vengeance; Peasants and Children SCENE: Paris. The square in front of Defarge’s wine shop. DEFARGE stands agitated while THERESE sits beside him knitting. The JACQUERIE and THE VENGEANCE stand around them talking as PEASANTS go about their business and CHILDREN play in the streets. JACQUES 1 And so they tied his upper body to a tree and had a team of four horses pull

him apart until every bone in his body was broken. And then they hung him, pierced through with hot rods, over the village well. All for the theft of a scrawny chicken which Monseigneur Neuviette wouldn’t toss to his dogs!

DEFARGE The fiend! Go on. JACQUES 3 He is hanging there, forty feet high with his blood poisoning the well. It is

frightful. How can the women and children draw water now? DEFARGE (To THERESE) What say you? The family Neuviette to be registered for…? THERESE Extermination. The château and all the race. JACQUES 2 Registered? Have you a list of the doomed? THERESE Here. (Holds out her knitting) Within each stitch is a record of crimes

committed against us. It would be easier for a man to erase himself from existence than to remove one letter of his name from this knitted register.

JACQUES 2 Where do you get all these names? DEFARGE From the stories of men like yourselves—the “Jacquerie.” For many years,

we have watched and waited. The revolution has eyes and ears, Jacques. And the time is almost come.

THERESE Ah yes, where is Gaspard with my list for today? (The rattle of a carriage. Peasant MEN, WOMEN, and CHILDREN rush into the square, pressing against the buildings. Suddenly, there is a scream and the carriage noises stop.) SERVANT 1 (Shouting offstage) Stop! Stop!

Act I: Scene 3


(GASPARD enters with the body of a BOY in his arms. He throws himself on the ground, screaming and wailing. EVREMONDE, GABELLE, and TWO

SERVANTS enter.) EVREMONDE What has gone wrong? What is blocking the road? GABELLE Pardon, Excellency, but the carriage rolled over a child. EVREMONDE Why does that man make such an abominable noise? Is it his child? GASPARD Killed! Dead! DEFARGE Be brave, Gaspard! He died in a moment without pain. Could he have lived

another hour as happily? GASPARD Dead! My poor Jean-Michel! EVREMONDE It is extraordinary to me that you people cannot take care of yourselves

and your children! One or the other of you is forever in the way! Take this. (EVREMONDE tosses a coin at GASPARD, who continues to weep over his SON. As he leaves, THERESE picks up the coin and throws it at EVREMONDE’S back. He turns back around, and she deftly begins to knit again.) You dogs! Who threw that?! (Looks around furiously; no one raises an eye.) I would ride over every one of you willingly and exterminate you from the earth! May you rot in your insolence!

(EVREMONDE, GABELLE, and the SERVANTS exit. DEFARGE helps GASPARD offstage and the rest of the PEASANTS gradually disperse. Lights slowly down, except for a single spot on THERESE.) THERESE (Spits in disgust as she walks down center. Intro music for “Knitted

Register” begins.) May the family Evremonde rot! Twice now I have seen the body of a dead boy, dead by the same hand! (Holds up her knitting) The Evremonde crest occupies the place of honor.

Song: KNITTED REGISTER

(Sings) Every name, every letter, Woven in my knitted register. Every thread, every tangle, Speaks of one whose name now rankles Me with hate, Yet I wait, Content to sit and knit away.

MUSIC CUE #8

Act I: Scene 3


Every hour, every minute, My blood is boiling, yet I still it. Every chime, every church bell, Rings a memory of what I’ll tell The world when we Have liberty And I denounce the name that haunts me! A sister’s honor torn away; A brother on his dying day. He thought no one would know, But one remembers Every bloodstain, every whisper, Every evil, every letter. Cursed be Evremonde! (She suddenly stabs the cloth with her needle. Lights down. Scene change music.)

MUSIC CUE #9


SCENE 4

CHARACTERS NEEDED: Darnay, Evremonde, Gabelle, Gaspard, Servants 1 and 2 SCENE: A country château in France. Monseigneur Evremonde’s dressing room. Lights up to reveal EVREMONDE, attended by GABELLE and two SERVANTS bustling in and out, holding articles of clothing, refreshments, etc. EVREMONDE Ah! Life is intolerable. The only excitement of today was that incident

with the peasants in town. Unpleasant. (To GABELLE) You know, the problem with politics is that there is too much humanitarianism. It is like a disease. I had hoped my nephew’s little encounter with the English jails would cure him of it.

GABELLE But Eminence, Charles did not mean— EVREMONDE Then he should not have acted like he did mean so. I’ll have you know I

consider much of this catastrophe to be your doing, Gabelle. I’ve a mind to ship you both off to a tower somewhere where you can sympathize with “the people.” Perhaps then Charles would appreciate his situation. (A SERVANT powders his nose.) Have you the latest figures?

SERVANT 1 Yes, Monseigneur. But there are several who have failed to pay the tax. EVREMONDE Failed to pay it? Force them to pay it! The summer season is about to

begin and there are things which must be purchased. GABELLE Monseigneur, it cannot be done. They are dead. EVREMONDE Dead? Of what? GABELLE Starvation, your Excellency. EVREMONDE Pooh! The only thing worse than peasants crowding the streets is

peasants crowding the graveyards. Starvation indeed. Bring me my breakfast! And tell those musicians to play something light and free; it feels close in here. (Intro music for “Monseigneur’s Waltz” begins.)

Song: MONSEIGNEUR’S WALTZ

SERVANT 1 (Sings) Here is your chocolate, Milled to perfection, And ready for Monseigneur’s

MUSIC CUE #10

Act I: Scene 4


Taste buds to savor. And when you are finished, Your nephew is waiting. I hope he’s behaving While I am not there. EVREMONDE Oh, life is such a bore; All these parties and people! Please go and learn the menu; I’m famished and I’m wrinkled! Come here and get me dressed; I suppose I must see him, That renegade and foolish nephew Relation of mine. SERVANTS 1 AND 2 The ball’s tonight, And ladies delight In the newest frocks From “Pay-ree!” [“Paris”] EVREMONDE Then press my lace, And powder my face, For the world delights In me! Send in my nephew, The soul of compassion. He’s sure to accuse me Of extravagant fashion! A pity he’s foolish; He could have been wealthy, But now to stay healthy, He must side with me! (DARNAY enters. SERVANTS exit, but GABELLE remains.) DARNAY Ah, uncle, how are you? EVREMONDE Wretched as always. One cannot even drive down the street without

being contaminated by the rabble-rousers. You are fortunate that I wasn't killed along the way.

Act I: Scene 4


DARNAY Ah. Well, I suppose you consider it unfortunate that I wasn’t killed along the way?

EVREMONDE Come, come. My dear Charles, listen— DARNAY No! No, uncle, for once, you listen to me. Listen to the women who wait

outside the gate, wailing for the raw meat the servants throw to the dogs. Look at the hollow circles of hunger under the children’s eyes. Feel the hate burning in the hearts of the men whose livelihoods have been swallowed up by the property extensions of the Evremondes. Uncle, you alone have power to make things change, but every time you raise your hand, you raise it to strike!

GABELLE Charles, please— EVREMONDE You speak candidly, nephew. Just as you did before leaving France the

last time. And my answer to you now is the same as then: you are, and will always be, an Evremonde! You speak treason to our family! To our heritage! To me!

DARNAY My time away has taught me much. I renounce my name, my title, and my

inheritance. I have no desire to live upon what I have not earned, and no intention of standing by while the Evremondes destroy this country for their own personal benefit.

EVREMONDE An admirable speech, nephew. Did Gabelle teach you such things, or are

you simply playing on my nerves? DARNAY Life is not a game, uncle. You cannot treat so lightly the lives of those you

are meant to protect. EVREMONDE Therein lies the difference, nephew, between you and me. You would

have life serious; I prefer things less dull. Now, shall we join the ladies, or must you pack your bags?

DARNAY We are through, uncle. I have no interest in such things anymore. EVREMONDE (Irritated and angry) The devil take your view of life, Charles! Our

family has always had one strategy: Power. Unqualified, unrestrained, unconditional.

DARNAY The people are hot with revolution. You have left them nothing, not even

your pity! The lands of Evremonde are stolen property—and I intend to see them returned!

Act I: Scene 4


GABELLE Excellency, overlook these impetuous words! Charles, you must not— EVREMONDE Ingrate! Out with you! Throw your privilege away if you choose. Look

at yourself, crying over thieves and insolents. They have no idea what to do with any of it; they are not worthy of any of it! Charles, all this is yours. It ought to be yours.

DARNAY It is not mine; it belongs to the people. EVREMONDE Humanitarian! Repression is the only lasting philosophy. (He turns his

back, fuming. After a beat, he turns back to DARNAY.) Go. You have renounced your inheritance. (Bitingly) I had very few qualms about putting your life in jeopardy in the first place; it was only meant to teach you a lesson. Now that you refuse to learn, consider yourself bereft of all favors, all privileges, all protections of an Evremonde!

DARNAY I have made my choice! (DARNAY exits, followed presently by GABELLE. Enter SERVANT 2, who

arranges pillows on a fainting couch.) EVREMONDE (Screams in rage) Argghhhh! That fool! Curse that Barsad for failing

me! That boy Darnay is going to endanger my reputation, my livelihood, everything. Insufferable! Next time, Charles will not leave England alive. (Settles himself in the chair) Wake me when the powderer arrives. Madame LeFleur comes at five with her entourage of ladies for tonight’s dinner party.

SERVANT 2 Yes, Monseigneur. (EVREMONDE settles back in his chair to sleep as SERVANT 2 exits. Lights dim somewhat. An ominous musical interlude, “Gaspard’s Revenge,” begins just as GASPARD appears in silhouette, crouching with his dead son’s bloodied sash in hand. GASPARD sneaks up behind EVREMONDE, then suddenly lashes out and wraps the sash around his neck to strangle him! They struggle, and EVREMONDE dies. Lights out. Scene change music.)

MUSIC CUE #11

MUSIC CUE #12


SCENE 5

CHARACTERS NEEDED: Carton, Darnay, Lucie, Manette, Pross, Stryver SCENE: London. The interior of the Manette home, with a view of both Lucie’s boudoir and the sitting room.

Lights remain down on the MANETTE home interior. Lights up on STRYVER and CARTON, who meet in the street in front of the house, in vignette downstage. STRYVER Six more cases closed this month, and all were victories! After years of

hard work, Sydney, I believe we can now call our partnership officially a success. (Stops and glances at CARTON) Why the gloomy face, my boy? Bottle all drunk? Headache?

CARTON (Muttering) Heartache. STRYVER Eh, what’s that? CARTON (Realizing what he said) Yes, headache. STRYVER Hot cloths and no more drinks tonight. Cheer up, will you? CARTON Why? (Coughs) The world spins whether I smile or not. STRYVER Sydney, have some thought for the future. At the rate you’re going, you may

find yourself sick and cold with no one to nurse you at all. My advice is: find yourself a woman! A good woman with some property. Women are wonderful provisions against a rainy day.

CARTON My work is the only wife I’ll know, keeping me company through long,

lonely nights. STRYVER You just don’t know where to begin with a woman. Now how about that

Miss Manette? I know you’ve been going to the Manettes’ every week for what, nearly a year now? Wonderful people, wonderful girl! She’s not bad looking, and she seems to like you. Why don’t you—

CARTON (Somewhat angrily) I visit her as a friend, and you mistake it for matrimony.

I’ve no interest in Miss Manette. None.

Act I: Scene 5


STRYVER Well, one thing’s certain. Miss Manette has been good for you. Or is it that straight-iron Miss Pross you go to see? Ha, under her influence you’ll become a regular teetotaler.

CARTON Oh, get out! The Manette home is like a refuge to me, especially after all the

noise of being out here. Or worse, in court with you! STRYVER It’s always the same conversation with you. You can’t even hear yourself

anymore. But someday, life will slap you across the face and wipe the grog from your eyes. Goodnight, Sydney!

(STRYVER exits, whistling “Have a Little Ambition.”) CARTON Miss Manette, indeed. I cannot love her! And yet, I do. Irrationally,

devotedly; she stirs something in me that I thought was lost. (Looks at his reflection in a window) You must tell her! You can never live with yourself if you do not. You can barely live with yourself as it is.

(Lights down on street in foreground; Lights up on the boudoir, where PROSS is brushing LUCIE’S hair.) PROSS Ah, my pet. More beautiful every day. You make your father proud. LUCIE Thank you, dear Pross. These two years having him home again have made me

happier than I could have dreamed. We were just walking together in the garden, and he was telling me the names of the herbs and their medicinal uses.

PROSS Ah, yes—the doctor in him, coming alive again. LUCIE Yes! Sometimes he loses himself in the moment and it is like a huge weight of

lost years has been lifted off. And then other times, his mind clouds over and he is troubled. So I walk with him in the garden, and by and by he becomes himself again.

PROSS It does his heart good to be near you. You bring joy back to him. LUCIE I am grateful every day. Oh, but look at the time… Charles and Mr. Lorry are

coming for dinner tonight, and I must hurry and change. PROSS Charles, is it now? And Lorry, that blithering banker. Humph. LUCIE Oh, come now, Pross. I half think you fancy him. PROSS Fancy? Fancy that pompous overblown… man!

Act I: Scene 5


LUCIE (Laughs) You and your hatred of men! If “man” is an offensive word, then what would you call the charming Charles Darnay?

PROSS (Sighs) Just one more out of hundreds who want to take away my ladybird’s

love! LUCIE Oh now, Pross… no one could take away one bit of my affection for you. You

have been my lifelong companion, my best friend—almost my mother! PROSS (Clearly touched, but trying to hide her face) Pooh! Mother. (A bell rings

offstage.) Oh! There they are! (Lights down as LUCIE and PROSS exit. Lights up on DARNAY, who is pacing in the sitting room. CARTON enters.) CARTON Darnay, my man! (Pause, after little to no acknowledgement from DARNAY) Why so irritable? DARNAY I have business with Dr. Manette. CARTON Ah. Is Miss Manette in? DARNAY I—I believe so. Upstairs with Miss Pross. CARTON Aha! (Turns to go, then pauses) All right there, Darnay? Come, man, your

business with the old doctor can’t be so dire. You look as if you need a stiff drink to put a little color back in your face!

DARNAY No drinks, Carton, and my business is dire. My future hangs in the balance.

CARTON Again? Perhaps you need a new occupation. (Laughs; DARNAY pays no mind, so CARTON changes subjects to lighten the mood.) Speaking of hanging, did you know that old cutthroat John Barsad was sentenced to be hanged this morning? The same man who testified against you in your own trial. Stryver heard the case this morning. The beautiful irony is that he is to be hanged for the exact same crime—treason.

DARNAY (Distractedly) Oh. Really? CARTON Some conversationalist you are today. What is it you are going to talk about

with Dr. Manette? DARNAY If you must know, I intend to ask for Lucie’s hand in marriage. I love her,

Sydney.

Act I: Scene 5


CARTON (Suddenly recoiling and growing pale) Oh. And does she… ? DARNAY I have great hope; I pray I may find out for certain soon. CARTON (Quietly) Darnay, do you remember the first question I asked you after your

trial? If you thought I particularly liked you? DARNAY Yes, I remember. And I remember you said you did not. CARTON I take back that answer now. Darnay, I would like to ask you another

question. Do you think we could be friends? DARNAY Why, yes, of course. CARTON I mean, truly friends. And if your conversation with the doctor goes as you

wish it—may I have the privilege of visiting you and Miss Manette from time to time?

DARNAY Well… if it does… I… CARTON Well? DARNAY Carton, regardless of what happens between Lucie and myself, I would be

honored to be your friend. CARTON Thank you. (DARNAY exits. CARTON stares after him for a moment. LUCIE enters.) LUCIE Oh! I was expecting—I mean… forgive me, Mr. Carton—I did not know you

were here. Did you wish to speak with my father? CARTON I—no, no. I was only passing this way and thought I would stop. LUCIE Oh, I am so glad of it. Have you been well, Mr. Carton? Do join us for dinner

tonight—Mr. Lorry and Charles will be arriving any minute. CARTON I—yes… well… LUCIE (Concerned) Mr. Carton, you do not look well. Please, sit down. Can I get you

something? CARTON No, it is nothing. Simply the strain of the day. (He falters and lowers his eyes, which have been fixed on LUCIE’S face.)

Act I: Scene 5


LUCIE It is more than that. I see it in your eyes. Can I help you? Could you tell a friend? Please, ease your mind; I promise it will not go beyond this room.

CARTON Miss Manette. (Intro music for “Here Stands a Man” begins as

CARTON runs his fingers through his hair awkwardly) I—I fear I am at a loss.

LUCIE Please, at least try. Tell me—what is it that troubles you?

Song: HERE STANDS A MAN CARTON (Sings) I am a man whose life, you see, Has been wasted, flung away. I am not worthy of your courtesy, But I come to you today To say that you, Lucie, have been The last dream of my soul. You have stirred within me shadows Of what once I could have known. LUCIE (Speaks) Please, Mr. Carton! I— CARTON (Sings) All you can do for me is done. You’ve shown the love of God above, And I thank you from the bottom Of my undeserving heart. LUCIE (Speaks; emotions playing across her face) I am sorry. Deeply, deeply sorry.

Cannot someone else inspire you to a better life? I beg you to forgive me that my friendship with you has been the cause of such unhappiness!

CARTON Miss Manette, I am not worthy of such feeling. Do not speak of this to

anyone. (Bitterly) Give me silence as your final gift. That is all I ask. (Rises to leave, but turns back) And in return, I wish you to know that here stands a man who will never forget your kindness—who would embrace any sacrifice for you. (Sings)

Here stands a man who’d give his life To keep a life you love beside you. LUCIE Is there no hope and no reclaim? You can’t have lived your life in vain.

MUSIC CUE #13

Act I: Scene 5


CARTON Farewell, God bless you, But you see There is no recourse left for me, Not for me. But this promise now I make, And I pray that you will take it. It’s the only worthy thing That I can give you still, So Lucie, listen. Here stands a man who’d give his life To keep a life you love beside you. (CARTON exits. DR. MANETTE enters.)

MANETTE My dear child. The time has finally come that I knew was inevitable.

Outside, there waits a man who would have your life and love. LUCIE (Still distraught over CARTON and confused at her father’s words) What do you

mean? Mr. Carton— MANETTE Carton? Was he here? Never mind. I wish to speak to you about Charles

Darnay. LUCIE Charles! MANETTE My dearest daughter, I already know your feelings for him. And now I am

informed of his feelings for you. We have talked it all over, and—my darling, why the tears in your eyes? Are you not happy with this news?

LUCIE Oh Father, I am happy! It is just that—I fear our happiness will… destroy

another’s. (She puts a hand to her mouth, as if she has said too much.) MANETTE Another’s? My dear, if you mean your father, he is just as happy in your joy

as you are. No need to worry over me. LUCIE (Relieved at her father’s misunderstanding of her earlier slip) Oh! Oh

Father… are you certain? I… if I had never seen Charles, I could have been quite happy with you.

Act I: Scene 5


MANETTE But Lucie, you did see him. And if it had not been Charles, there would have been another. Old shadows cannot stretch on forever; my past cannot keep you from your future, my dear.

LUCIE Oh Father, I do love him so! And he—he has been so good to us! MANETTE I have been given back my daughter only to give her away again! LUCIE Oh Father! It’s not like that. MANETTE No; no it is not. Indeed, the best of times is now beginning. You have my

full blessing, Lucie. LUCIE Thank you, Father! (LUCIE exits. Lights down on MANETTE. Scene change music.)

MUSIC CUE #14


SCENE 6

CHARACTERS NEEDED: Defarge, Jacques 1, 2, 3, Therese, Vengeance; Revolutionaries SCENE: Paris. Interior of Defarge’s wine shop. Evening.

THERESE sits knitting with THE VENGEANCE hovering nearby. DEFARGE is cleaning tables, and a number of REVOLUTIONARIES mill about. JACQUES 1, JACQUES 2, and JACQUES 3 enter and sit down. JACQUES 1 Gaspard has been put in an iron cage! I saw him myself in the prison, his arms swelled up with the cutting of the ropes, his feet lamed, and his body

covered in bruises from the butts of guns. JACQUES 2 They whisper that because he has slain Monseigneur Evremonde, Gaspard

will be executed! JACQUES 3 One said that his hands will be burnt off before his face; that they will pour

boiling oil, melted lead, and hot resin into his wounds— DEFARGE By Dickens! (Bangs his fist on the table) JACQUES 3 And finally, that he will be torn limb from limb by four strong horses. JACQUES 2 (Sighs) If only the four of us could tear this cursed country apart and throw

the fattened, bilious bellies of the aristos to the starving dogs! JACQUES 1 And yet, all we do is watch and listen and wait and talk—when will we

finally do something? THERESE Patience. The wave must be allowed to grow until it is powerful enough to

crash down upon our enemies. And when it does… DEFARGE When it does, there will be no holding it back. It will come! JACQUES 1, JACQUES 2, JACQUES 3 It will come! (They murmur gleeful assents of approval and clink their glasses together.)

Act I: Scene 6


DEFARGE A toast, Jacques One, Two, Three! (Intro music for “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity!” begins.) To the eyes and ears of the Revolution! To the lightning that will soon strike down our enemies! To the Jacquerie! To liberty, to brotherhood, and to every man!

Song: LIBERTY, EQUALITY, FRATERNITY!

(Sings) One more night, my friends, One more moon ‘til we burst into sight! One more volunteer, One more gun, and we’ll put ‘em to flight! One more bites the dust! One day, we’ll do what we must! One more dawn, And the world once more will be free! The world is turning faster, further, Changing pitches every day, Mixing up and spilling out A glorious anthem for countries to play! The world is turning, orbiting, curving, Making pathways out in space, Waking up to radiant sunrise; When it’s all over there stands a new race! COMPANY Liberty, equality, fraternity! The beating hearts of revolutionaries cry. Down with aristocracy and tyranny! Wipe the stains and let the new republic rise! MEN Liberty! WOMEN For common folk! MEN Equality! WOMEN For every man!

MUSIC CUE #15

Act I: Scene 6


MEN Fraternity! WOMEN Of brotherhood! MEN Let freedom ring! WOMEN Throughout the land! COMPANY Let the old regime come crashing On the heads of all who hold it dear! The world is turning, hearts are burning, Let the flag of new republic fly! DEFARGE The world is turning, crashing, tumbling, Turning round the wheel of fate, Breaking into glorious sunrise! Arms to us all; let the patriots wake! The world is turning, orbiting, curving, Making pathways out in space; People dying, others crying; When it’s all over there stands a new race! COMPANY Liberty, equality, fraternity! The beating hearts of revolutionaries cry. Down with aristocracy and tyranny! Wipe the stains and let the new republic rise! MEN Liberty! WOMEN For common folk! MEN Equality! WOMEN For every man!

Act I: Scene 6


MEN Fraternity! WOMEN Of brotherhood! MEN Let freedom ring! WOMEN Throughout the land! COMPANY Let the old regime come crashing On the heads of all who hold it dear! The world is turning, hearts are burning, Let the flag of new republic… (fly!) World is turning, hearts are burning, Let the flag of new republic fly! Let it fly! (Lights down. Scene change music.)

MUSIC CUE #16


SCENE 7

CHARACTERS NEEDED: Carton, Darnay, Lorry, Lucie, Manette, Priest, Pross, Stryver; Englishmen and Women SCENE: London. The interior of a small chapel.

Lights up on MANETTE, alone, praying. Intro music for “A Father’s Blessing” begins. MANETTE Ah, me. So many years without her. And now I gain her back only to lose

her again! (Sighs deeply) Ah, me. (To himself; somewhat changed; eyes vacant all at once; crouching as if to ward off a blow) Manette, are you mad? Give him part of yourself, your own flesh and blood? Has not enough of your own flesh and blood been torn and spilled for the sake of an Evremonde? (Shakes himself abruptly, as if to wake himself up, and slowly stands) No. They are only old shadows. Put away those little shoes now. It is right, very right. He is no one to fear; only to trust.

Song: A FATHER’S BLESSING

(Sings) He said he loved her, And he could not live without her at his side. He asked my blessing: Would I give to him my daughter as his bride? Just for a moment, There was hesitation as his eyes held mine, Something he had to tell me, Would have told me had I not stopped him in time. I begged him stay his words, Hold back his pressing story, Conceal it, not reveal it ‘Til his marriage morn. Yet I know what his secret is. And I shudder at his former name: Evremonde, the family I denounced, While in the Bastille I rotted! Unjust years of shame; I died inside Until God called me back to life.

MUSIC CUE #17

Act I: Scene 7


And yet I give her to him, Trust her to him, give my child away. What’s in a name? What’s in the man, I ask, And I am pleased with Darnay. (Closing chord from “A Father’s Blessing” segues into intro music for “One Life.” A PRIEST, LORRY, PROSS, STRYVER, CARTON, DARNAY, and LUCIE enter, followed by the rest of the COMPANY, entering intermittently and taking seats. STRYVER and CARTON take seats in the front. LUCIE crosses to her father, and DARNAY speaks to the PRIEST in hushed tones. LORRY and PROSS talk downstage.) LORRY Dear me! A wedding, and all in a flurry! Who could have known that for this

reason, dear Lucie was brought here to England! Ah, Providence! Here, Miss Pross; my handkerchief.

PROSS I’m not crying. You are. LORRY Dear me! This is an occasion that makes a man speculate. To think that there

might have been a Mrs. Lorry anytime these fifty years! PROSS Pooh! Stuff and nonsense. You were a bachelor in your cradle. Do hush, Mr.

Lorry; this is neither the time nor the place for such confessions! (DARNAY, LUCIE, and MANETTE take places. MANETTE is very pale but determinedly keeping his composure. DARNAY and LUCIE are married.) PRIEST Do you, Charles Darnay, take Lucie Manette… MANETTE (To himself) It is he; it is that name! And yet, I take him as one of my own. PRIEST Do you, Lucie Manette, take Charles Darnay… PROSS (To herself) My ladybird! (Wipes a stray tear) Ah, how I shall miss you! PRIEST What God has joined together, let no man tear asunder. I pronounce you

husband and wife.

Song: ONE LIFE DARNAY (Sings) One life, one love, One flame burning For you and me forever. LUCIE One hand, one heart,

MUSIC CUE #18

Act I: Scene 7


One voice singing ‘Til death we’ll be together. DARNAY AND LUCIE One more day turns to One more night. Still our love burns bright And we share DARNAY One song, one dream, LUCIE One name binding Our souls together DARNAY For now and ever, DARNAY AND LUCIE And we shall be as one! MEN One life, one love, COMPANY One flame burning in unity Forever. WOMEN One hand, one heart, COMPANY One voice singing, ‘til death they’ll be Together. One more day turns to one more night. Still their love burns bright and they share One song, one dream, One name binding their souls together For now and ever, And they shall be as one! CARTON One look, one tear; My heart stirred and Began to long for freedom.

Act I: Scene 7


One day, one spark; And a flame came to Melt my mask of shame. Now I can see She broke through the clouds of darkness And brought the light of the sun. But… One man, one love, One vow claims her; I wished, I dreamed, But it could not be. She could never have loved A man like DARNAY AND LUCIE Me! (On my hand is your ring!) Now I never can sing! COMPANY CARTON DARNAY AND LUCIE And they shall be as one! (Now hope for me is gone!) (And we shall be as one!) (Lights down. Scene change music.)

MUSIC CUE #19


SCENE 8

CHARACTERS NEEDED: Barsad, Darnay, Defarge, Lucie, Therese; Company SCENE: Paris. Interior of Defarge’s wine shop.

THERESE is knitting at the counter. BARSAD enters. BARSAD (Speaking very poor French) Bonsoir, Madame, Monsieur. A glass of wine,

sil-vous-plait. Ah, merci! Wine is so hard to come by these days. You work hard, Madame.

THERESE Yes, I have a good deal to do. BARSAD What do you make with all that knitting? THERESE Many things. BARSAD For instance? THERESE For instance, shrouds. (Awkward silence) BARSAD I hear much in the neighborhood concerning this poor wretch Gaspard. It is

rumored that he killed the Marquis Evremonde! His execution—it sounds a bad business.

THERESE He knew beforehand the price of the luxury of murder; he has paid it now. BARSAD Ah. (Uncomfortable) I had been led to believe that there is much compassion

for him in this neighborhood? Am I not right? (Advances to her, placing his arm around her shoulders) Just between ourselves.

(DEFARGE enters, clearing his throat; BARSAD starts back.) THERESE My husband, Ernest Defarge. BARSAD Defarge! (Recovering himself) Why, we have mutual friends! Your local

hero—Dr. Alexandre Manette—the one who was mysteriously locked up in the Bastille; you were his servant at one time, no? And was he not delivered to you here, after his release?

DEFARGE Yes. Old news.

Act I: Scene 8


BARSAD And do you hear from him? DEFARGE Not for some time. He went his way; I went mine. BARSAD Then you know he has a daughter? DEFARGE I have heard. BARSAD Well, she is recently married—in fact, (Chuckles to himself as if the irony is

just hitting him) to the nephew of Marquis Evremonde, the one whom Gaspard murdered! But the nephew doesn’t go by that name in England—there he styles himself “Mr. Charles Darnay.” I thought perhaps you might find it… interesting. (DEFARGE gasps audibly, but THERESE clamps down on his hand.) Ah well, enough of small talk. My pleasure, Madame, Monsieur. If you have any news of a coming uprising, I’d be interested in hearing it. I am quite sympathetic to the plight of the French. Good day—Jacques.

(THERESE looks up quickly; BARSAD exits.) DEFARGE (Spits) Spy! Therese, have you his name? THERESE Oui. Barsad. Its place will be here, under Evremonde's—underneath Charles

Darnay, the Marquis Evremonde. DEFARGE Can it be true? The news of her marriage? I do not trust the motives of a man such as Barsad, but— THERESE It may be true. DEFARGE If it is— THERESE Then what? DEFARGE I hope, for her sake, destiny will keep her husband out of France when the

time comes. THERESE Her husband’s destiny will take him where he is to go, and will lead him to

his rightful end. That is all I know. DEFARGE Possibly we could— THERESE (Forcefully) No. No, we could not. (Intro music for “One Life

Reprise” begins.) What will come, will come. And we shall welcome it together—you, and I. One in death, as in life.

MUSIC CUE #20

Act I: Scene 8


Song: ONE LIFE REPRISE (Sings) One night, one day, One more hour Until the end must come. One day, one chance, One sole hatred that Dooms that Evremonde. No turning back now; We’ll break through the chains of darkness, Avenge the wrongs that were done. One head, one blade, One burst of lightning! Stand firm with me; Near is victory, But we must be As one. (LUCIE and DARNAY enter upstage, singing to each other.) DARNAY One life, one love, One flame burning For you and me forever. DEFARGE (Speaks as DARNAY sings the previous line) Then let it come. LUCIE (Sings) One hand, one heart, One voice singing ‘Til death we’ll be together! THERESE (Speaks as LUCIE sings the previous line) And we will see it—together. (COMPANY sings “Ah” from backstage or unobtrusively onstage, as the following lines progress.) LUCIE, DARNAY, THERESE, DEFARGE (Sing) One more day turns to one more night. Still our love (hate) burns bright And we share DARNAY AND DEFARGE One song, one dream,

Act I: Scene 8


LUCIE AND THERESE One name binding Our lives together DARNAY AND DEFARGE For now and ever! LUCIE, DARNAY, THERESE, DEFARGE Yes, we must be as one! (The couples sing their final “one” on a chord that is neither major nor minor as the accompaniment swells with tension, wrestling with itself as if trying to determine whether to end the act in major or minor. The COMPANY then joins the accompaniment as it crashes upon us with a decidedly minor climax. Lights down.)

INTERMISSION


Act II

SCENE 1

CHARACTERS NEEDED: Aristocrats 1, 2, 3, Aristocrat 1’s Husband, Defarge, Gabelle, Jacques 1, 2, 3, Seamstress, Seamstress’s Brother, Seamstress’s Young Girl Cousin, Therese, Vengeance; Revolutionaries and Soldiers SCENE: Paris, 1789. The imposing exterior of the Bastille. To one side of the stage, the interior of a long-abandoned prison cell is visible. “Act II Beginning” music. As the music draws to a close, lights come up downstage only, where DEFARGE and THERESE are gathered with JACQUES 1, JACQUES 3, and the VENGEANCE.

JACQUES 2 (Enters breathlessly as intro music for “Storming the Bastille” begins) Have you heard? Foreign mercenaries! The aristocrats are bringing in others to fight their own battles!

JACQUES 1 No fear, Jacques. They shall soon know the force they reckon with—when

we storm the tower! JACQUES 3 The Bastille? Now? THERESE Yes! The time has come. Gather the Jacquerie: tonight, the Revolution

begins. Jacques, all of you—go make ready the people! (JACQUES 1, 2, and 3 exit.) DEFARGE Therese, do you have the register? VENGEANCE Here is the latest list, Therese. More crests to be added. Beasts—

murderers—thieves! Here’s one who withheld his servant’s pay until the poor man and his family starved to death. And we must not forget the worst—

THERESE The name? VENGEANCE Evremonde. THERESE I have that name. It is forever burned into my memory. Take the lists. Meet

me at the gate of the Bastille. We women fight!

MUSIC CUE #21

MUSIC CUE #22

Act II: Scene 1


VENGEANCE We fight!

Instrumental: STORMING THE BASTILLE (VENGEANCE laughs and runs toward the gate as music picks up energy [measure 48] and the lights come up on the Bastille gate. THERESE picks up her knitting in one hand and her knife in the other as she and DEFARGE join the fray. A crowd of REVOLUTIONARIES and SOLDIERS led by JACQUES 1, 2, and 3 has gathered, and people are running here and there gathering any instrument that will do for battle—pitchforks, knives, rocks, etc. Some MEN have picked up a large barrel to use as a battering ram.)

COMPANY (Ad lib shouting) The Bastille! The Bastille! Work, citizens, work! To the

Tower! THERESE (As above lines are being shouted) I lead the women into battle! VENGEANCE (As above lines are being shouted) Women can kill as well as men! (They break through the gate and storm into the Bastille as the music shifts

to a minor version of the “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” theme [measure 71].) COMPANY (Ad lib shouting) The prisoners! The records! The secret cells! The

instruments of torture! The prisoners! Liberty! (All run in separate directions as lighting transitions to the empty prison cell. Music quiets down and a solo violin takes the melody [measure 86] as DEFARGE enters MANETTE’S old cell.)

DEFARGE One hundred and five North Tower—the old cell of Dr. Manette. Third

brick by the workbench… (DEFARGE searches the cell and discovers a packet of letters.) A… M. Alexandre Manette! This is the letter he spoke of! (Reads silently for a moment) How must he have suffered! (DEFARGE exits as the instrumental picks up volume again [measure 109]. Lights go down on prison cell, and several vignettes of revolutionary violence are played out in spotlights in rapid succession. First vignette [measure 114] depicts ARISTOCRATS being chased down and taken or killed without mercy or explanation. Second vignette [measure 122] depicts the SEAMSTRESS being separated from her BROTHER and her young COUSIN. Last vignette [measure 134] shows the HUSBAND of ARISTOCRAT 1 being killed and JACQUES 3 stalking her, calling out menacingly, “Marie!” As the music tumbles to its conclusion [measure 146], lighting transitions downstage where THERESE and JACQUES 1 have met up again. GABELLE is brought in by the VENGEANCE and JACQUES 2. They throw him down in front of THERESE as the instrumental hits its final note [measure 155].)

Act II: Scene 1


JACQUES 1 You were once the tutor of young Evremonde, also called Darnay, and in the employ of Monseigneur Evremonde, eh?

GABELLE Please, monsieur! It is well known that I am a friend of the people. I even

taught my charge—Charles Darnay—to love the people. Just ask him! VENGEANCE Then why isn’t he here?! JACQUES 2 Why doesn’t he testify for you? GABELLE I… I… he is in England, or he would be here, I know it! THERESE Citizen Gabelle, I believe you. I believe that Citizen Darnay is a friend of the

people. He could be of much use to the Revolution. (Looks meaningfully at VENGEANCE) He could save you.

GABELLE But he’s in England! THERESE If you have taught him the views he holds, he should be willing to return and

testify for you. Write him! (Shoves pen and paper into his hand)

GABELLE He will come! I am certain of it!

(GABELLE writes. The VENGEANCE seizes the letter.) VENGEANCE (Cackling) Aha! Another crest rides back into France—and another head

becomes forfeit to the Revolution! He shall receive the reward of his inheritance! (Thrusts the letter into THERESE’S hands)

GABELLE (Understanding their trickery) You—but Charles Darnay is your friend! I

beg of you, do not harm him! Do not send that letter! I beg of you… I— (JACQUES 2 stabs GABELLE, and he dies. The VENGEANCE cackles once more and exits, and the JACQUERIE drag GABELLE’S body out. THERESE seals up the letter as DEFARGE enters, reading the letter he found in the raid on the Bastille.)

DEFARGE Therese! Therese, I have found it! THERESE Found what? DEFARGE The letter—in my master’s own hand. Listen: (Reading) “I, Alexandre

Manette, unfortunate physician, write this secret letter from my doleful cell in the Bastille, in the year 1767. In it are recorded the evils done to me—and to many others—by the family Evremonde.”

Act II: Scene 1


THERESE (As she grabs the letter from him) Beasts! Wicked dogs! (Looks through the letter; as she scans its contents, she slows her pace, and her face changes from anger to deep sadness.)

DEFARGE The letter is lengthy. It details how Dr. Manette was forced into a carriage

late one night and driven to a house where lay a young woman in great pain, bound to a bed with sashes and handkerchiefs. Beside her, a boy, dying from a wound in his side—

THERESE (Greatly moved; with difficulty) Her brother. Andre. He…

(She trails off.) DEFARGE Yes… he had been mortally wounded by Monseigneur Evremonde while

attempting to rescue his sister. (THERESE begins quietly weeping.) When Dr. Manette’s medical skills could not save either of them, Evremonde threw my master into the Bastille to keep him from speaking about what he had seen. (Holds the crying THERESE) My dear—do not grieve; fortune is smiling on us at last! Now we have proof! Now we will see justice—

THERESE Justice! (Composes herself) I seek not justice but vengeance. DEFARGE (Growing concerned) My dear, is it our place to seek— THERESE Trust me. These letters… (Waving the letters signed by GABELLE and

MANETTE) are the keys. DEFARGE Very well. THERESE Take this and send it to England to fetch our dear Marquis, Mr. Darnay.

(Hands him GABELLE’S letter) And this— (Places MANETTE’S letter into her pocket) this we shall keep until the time is ripe. (Her shoulders slump a bit in relief, as if a weight has been lifted.) You have done well, my husband. A true citizen of the Republic!

DEFARGE (Somewhat troubled) Oui. As are you.

(He exits with the letter. Lights down. Scene change music.)

MUSIC CUE #23


SCENE 2

CHARACTERS NEEDED: Aristocrats 1, 2, 3, Bankers, Darnay, Lorry SCENE: London. The interior of Tellson’s Bank.

At the bank entrance, French ARISTOCRATS are trying to get loans off their properties and the BANKERS are holding them off. ARISTOCRAT 1 is inside talking with LORRY. BANKERS (Shouting ad lib) You cannot! I’m sorry! Come back another day! Please go away! We aren’t giving out loans now. ARISTOCRATS (Shouting ad lib at the same time as the BANKERS) I want to see Mr.

Tellson now! You don’t understand! I own the finest property in St. Antoine! Let me in! I demand to see Mr. Tellson!

(Shouting subsides as following lines begin. During the course of the following conversations, the ARISTOCRATS give up and leave, one by one. The exasperated BANKERS eventually exit too as the hubbub abates and they are no longer needed to hold off the crowd.)

ARISTOCRAT 1 Please help me! They—they’ve murdered my husband! My children

and I have escaped, but we must find a place to stay. Can you not convince the bank to put a few pounds forward until our property is released?

LORRY My dear, I am not allowed to… that is—it’s compli… business… business…

ah, it’s terrible, terrible! ARISTOCRAT 1 (Crying) I always believed my husband and I were more generous than

most in our circle. I knew of the discontent, but… it seemed so far away. LORRY Perhaps you could… if we just had some proof of ownership or some

security… (Stops) My dear, listen to me. Give me a little time, and I will do my best to help you. I promise. Call back again tomorrow.

ARISTOCRAT 1 Thank you, thank you! God bless you.

(She exits as DARNAY enters. LORRY hurries over to him.) LORRY Charles, Charles! Oh, what a disorderly mess! Such insistence, such urgency!

This is not how Tellson’s is used to conducting its business. DARNAY (Patting LORRY on the back) You look as if you need a rest, my friend.

Lucie sent me to ask you to supper this evening.

Act II: Scene 2


LORRY Ah! Why, I shall be there most promptly. How is the little one? Little Lucie? Such a sweet child.

DARNAY Very well, spoiled to death by Miss Pross, I’m afraid! Well, I shall see you

tonight! LORRY Wait! I nearly forgot in all this hubbub. A letter arrived for you this morning.

From France. It must have been rerouted to the bank by mistake. (He pulls GABELLE’S letter from his pocket and hands it to DARNAY.)

DARNAY Thank you! (LORRY exits, wringing his hands, as DARNAY moves down

center, reading.) “For the love of Heaven, of justice, of generosity, of the honor of your noble name, I beg you, Monsieur the Marquis Evremonde, to secure my release. My fault is that I have been true to you. I pray you will be true to me! Gabelle.” (Troubled) Gabelle—poor tutor! They will kill him if I do not intervene. But what about Lucie—and our little girl? Dare I go back into France and risk my own life, and their welfare? (Intro music for “Which Man Am I?” begins.) The revolutionaries will stop at nothing, fueled by their hatred of the aristocrats. Of which… of which I am one.

Song: WHICH MAN AM I?

(Sings) One man, two names, One life, two games, One choice, two lives, One war, two sides! There is no time; I must decide Just which man am I? I am Darnay, Friend of the people! I believe in justice For the people! I left behind All that was mine To seek their good! Yet I am Evremonde, An aristocrat. My name speaks oppression By an aristocrat. And in their minds,

MUSIC CUE #24

Act II: Scene 2


They still will try To seek my harm! One man, two names, One life, two games, One choice, two lives, One war, two sides! There is no time; I must decide Just which man am I? He was my tutor, A faithful friend to me! And he is innocent; A faithful friend to me. But for my name, He’s now in chains Because of me. I must be faithful! I must be true to him, Go back to France now, Do all I can for him. And if I go, I pray the truth Will set us free! Here I stand, a man; Which man am I?

(He exits. Lights down. Scene change music.)

MUSIC CUE #25


SCENE 3

CHARACTERS NEEDED: Carton, Little Lucie, Lorry, Lucie, Manette, Pross SCENE: London. The sitting room of the Manette/Darnay home.

There is a fierce storm outside. LUCIE is sitting with a note from DARNAY in her hand. LITTLE LUCIE plays on the floor with some dolls while MANETTE, LORRY, and PROSS sit glumly, staring into space. CARTON enters. CARTON (Picks up LITTLE LUCIE and throws her in the air) Why, it looks like the

storm has come inside, too! Why all this gloomy silence? Come, Pross, no sarcastic words for me tonight?

LUCIE Oh, Mr. Carton. Charles has left for France! This afternoon, without a word to

me before he left! He sent a messenger from the bank. CARTON Well, well. He will return soon, no doubt. LUCIE No, it is far worse than you realize. Father has just told me that— MANETTE Charles is an Evremonde. The last descendant of the most hated family in

France. The nephew of the late Monseigneur Evremonde himself. CARTON Is this true? They will kill him! PROSS Hush, you fool! Do you want the child to hear you? MANETTE I must go to France. As a former victim under the old regime, as a prisoner

of the Bastille for eighteen years, I will be regarded as a hero. My influence may be all that can save Charles.

LUCIE I will go with you, Father! PROSS No, Ladybird! LORRY Dear child, you must not! CARTON I disagree. (To LUCIE) Your place is with your husband. If you need

protection, Dr. Manette, I will gladly accompany you on the journey. I think it best if we all go together.

LUCIE Thank you, Mr. Carton, thank you.

Act II: Scene 3


LORRY I can easily get passes for us. Tellson’s can send me on business to check on our Paris branch… if it’s still there.

MANETTE Very well. I agree. LUCIE We can leave in the morning at first light, can we not? MANETTE Yes, I will make the arrangements. LUCIE Thank you. Pross, I must go and gather our things. Would you see that little

Lucie is put to bed? PROSS Of course. (LUCIE, LORRY, and MANETTE exit severally.) Come, little Lucie.

Time to say goodnight now. LITTLE LUCIE But Pross, they haven’t finished their tea yet.

(Indicating her dolls) CARTON Go help Lucie pack, Pross. I’ll put the little one to bed. PROSS Oh, very well. Goodnight, my precious. Don’t spoil her, Carton. She must get

her rest. (PROSS exits.)

CARTON So, little Lucie, would you like to go on an exciting carriage ride and perhaps

a sea voyage with Uncle Sydney tomorrow? LITTLE LUCIE Really, Uncle Sydney? And we could play mermaids and pirates? Oh

yes, please! (Intro music for “Lucie’s Lullaby” begins.) CARTON Then you must get your sleep, and dream of all there is to see!

Come now. Let’s put away your dolls.

Song: LUCIE’S LULLABY LITTLE LUCIE (Sings) Uncle Sydney, sing me please A lullaby. I promise I won’t stay awake; I’ll close my eyes If you sing a lullaby. Sing me to sleep.

MUSIC CUE #26

Act II: Scene 3


CARTON If I’d known your mother when She was just as young as you, This is what I’d sing to her. Now listen, Lucie… Shhh… Goodnight, sweet angel. Flights of cherubs sing thee to thy Sweet repose. Only Heaven knows how much I love you. Goodnight, sweet sunshine. May tomorrow bring you Even better days, And golden rays to dance in your pretty hair. Goodnight, sweet innocent. May Jesus keep you through the Darkest night, Until the light is brighter once again. Goodnight, sweet Lucie! May nothing ever spoil Your pretty smile; A little while and I will come again. LITTLE LUCIE (Speaks) Do you hear those footsteps, Uncle Sydney? CARTON Hush now, it is only the rain. LITTLE LUCIE Sometimes I imagine that they are lots of people, rushing towards us.

There are so many of them. Running, running… (Yawns) Do you hear them? So… loud. (She falls asleep.)

CARTON Yes. I hear them. Fast, fierce, and furious. A great crowd bearing upon all

of us. Rushing into our lives whether we wish it or not. (Lights down. Scene change music.)

MUSIC CUE #27


SCENE 4

CHARACTERS NEEDED: Barsad, Carton, Darnay, Defarge, Jacques 1, 2, 3, Jury Members, Little Lucie, Lorry, Lucie, Manette, Pross, Seamstress, Therese, Vengeance; Revolutionaries and Soldiers SCENE: Paris. The interior of the Conciergerie.

French REVOLUTIONARIES are gathered around, eagerly watching the mock trials. The JACQUERIE, serving as the Committee of Public Safety with JACQUES 3 as prosecutor, are lounging on chairs and wearing the hats of French noble officers. JACQUES 3 wears the wig and hat of the dead HUSBAND of ARISTOCRAT 1, whom he killed. THERESE, THE VENGEANCE, and ERNEST DEFARGE sit in prominent places in the assembly. During the SEAMSTRESS’S trial, LORRY and MANETTE enter, escorting LUCIE, LITTLE LUCIE, and PROSS. CARTON follows behind. JACQUES 3 Name? SEAMSTRESS Elise Fontaine. JACQUES 3 What is your profession? SEAMSTRESS I am a seamstress, sir. JACQUES 3 You are accused of consorting with Pierre Fontaine, who spoke slightingly

of the Revolution. SEAMSTRESS He is my brother, sir. I have done nothing that—

(REVOLUTIONARIES murmur and protest in the background; the “courtroom” is generally disorderly and interrupted by noise from the crowd.)

JACQUES 3 Vote, jury! JURY (Bored voices) Guilty. JACQUES 3 Death within 24 hours. SEAMSTRESS But I—

(Two SOLDIERS drag her off.) MANETTE (To LUCIE) Do not tremble, my dear. They will not dare to harm any of us.

And I know I can save Charles.

Act II: Scene 4


LORRY There’s a place. Come, my good doctor. We’ll sit over there. (As they cross the stage to sit down, CARTON sees BARSAD among the REVOLUTIONARIES on the other side.)

CARTON Lorry, see in that corner? It is that wretch, Barsad. I thought he was to hang

in England. LORRY No, no; if I recall correctly, he managed to escape through some powerful

friends. CARTON Interesting. JACQUES 3 Charles Evremonde, called Darnay! (DARNAY enters, escorted by two

SOLDIERS.) I accuse you by our newly passed law which demands the life of all emigrants returning to France.

REVOLUTIONARIES (Ad lib) Take off his head! An enemy to the Republic! JACQUES 3 (Rings bell to silence them) Do you agree to the charge of enemy to the

Republic? DARNAY No! I voluntarily relinquished my title several years ago because the name of

my family Evremonde was repugnant to me. I live by my own industry in England. I returned to France to save the life of a citizen, my dear friend and tutor who schooled me in the ideas of equality, truth, and liberty. Is this criminal in the eyes of the Republic?

REVOLUTIONARIES (Ad lib) No! No! JACQUES 3 (Rings bell) Prove this! DARNAY My proof… (Fishing in his pocket to produce GABELLE’S letter) is the

written testimony of Citizen Gabelle and the words of Dr. Alexandre Manette. REVOLUTIONARIES (Ad lib) Manette! Manette! Hero of the Bastille! JACQUES 3 (Rings bell) Dr. Manette, we have heard much of your courage. You are a

hero of the people! Take the stand and speak for the prisoner. MANETTE (Slowly, and with great effort) Citizens, you all know of my long, unjust

imprisonment and of my rescue, thanks to my old servant Ernest Defarge. You know that my heart is for you, my people, my friends. Citizens, I know Charles Darnay well. I know that his sympathies also lie with you. How can I prove this? By gladly giving him my only daughter’s hand in marriage because I trust him!

Act II: Scene 4


Do not take the last joys left me. All that remains for me in my life is my daughter’s future happiness—a happiness that rests in the hands of this man. (Gestures toward DARNAY) Grant me this blessing, my friends; grant me my son’s life!

REVOLUTIONARIES (Ad lib) Release him! Listen to the doctor! Hero of the Bastille!

Free! Free! Acquit Darnay! JACQUES 3 Citizens of the jury, cast your— THERESE Stop! Citizen Prosecutor, in the name of the Revolution, stop!

(DEFARGE makes a movement to hold her back, but pulls back his hand. All turn to face THERESE as she steps before the prosecution bar.)

JACQUES 3 What do you have to say, Citizeness Defarge? THERESE I have an accusation to make! Against that man, the Marquis Evremonde. JACQUES 3 Who denounces him? THERESE I, Therese Defarge, do denounce him. My husband, Ernest Defarge,

denounces him. And Dr. Alexandre Manette denounces him. MANETTE That is false! Why should I denounce the husband of my only daughter?

You have no right— THERESE Citizen Manette, if the Republic should demand the sacrifice of your child,

you have no other duty than to sacrifice her. Be silent! MANETTE Citizeness Defarge, this charge is false! (Pleadingly, to DEFARGE) Ernest—

Ernest, what is she— THERESE (Interrupting) How can you say that when it is written in your own blood?!

Written and signed, and can never be taken back! JACQUES 3 Speak, Citizeness. THERESE The testimony of Alexandre Manette, written in his own hand during his

eighteen years in chains. These letters were found by my husband during the storming of the Bastille. They recount a terrible story. The story of a young woman brutally raped (Points to DARNAY) by the family Evremonde! Of a young boy foully murdered defending her by (Points to DARNAY) the family Evremonde! Of a father dying of a broken heart by (Points to DARNAY) the

Act II: Scene 4


family Evremonde! There were only two witnesses to these atrocities. The first was Alexandre Manette. Read them, read your own words, doctor! (The letter is handed to MANETTE, who is forced to read from it.)

MANETTE “The mark of that red cross of blood is fatal to the family Evremonde. They shall have no part in the mercies of God. I, Alexandre Manette, unhappy prisoner, do this last night of the year 1767, in my unbearable agony, denounce the family Evremonde to the last descendant! I denounce them to the times when all these things shall be answered for!” (Crumples the paper and falls to his knees, holding his head) Ohhhhhh!

THERESE And there was one more witness, citizens. One more. A sister who hid

herself that dark night; who watched as the Evremondes tried to cover up their crimes; who saw, firsthand, the deaths of her family caused by the Evremondes! But she is not dead, citizens. She lives! She lives today! (Looks triumphantly at DEFARGE) I am that sister! For years, I have suffered the pain of these crimes! And I demand the life of the last of the Evremondes! (The room erupts into a storm of cries for blood. MANETTE sinks back to his seat while CARTON, LORRY, and PROSS help hold LUCIE up.)

DEFARGE Therese!

(Shocked, horrified, unsure what to do next) THERESE Save him now, my doctor, save him now! JACQUES 3 Death within 24 hours!

(DARNAY is forcibly carried out. LUCIE screams and attempts to run after him, but is held back by PROSS and CARTON. The REVOLUTIONARIES begin to clear. THERESE, DEFARGE, and the VENGEANCE remain with a few others.)

LORRY All is lost! MANETTE (Fading back into memory) One hundred and five, North Tower. One

hundred and five… where is my workbench? What have you done with it? PROSS He has had a relapse. Mr. Lorry, help him out.

(LORRY exits with MANETTE. DEFARGE takes a long look at THERESE before following the remaining crowd, trailing behind MANETTE.)

LUCIE But Charles, Charles… can nothing be done for him? PROSS Mr. Carton, isn’t there something we can do?

Act II: Scene 4


CARTON (Watching BARSAD move toward the door) Yes, yes, there is. Wait here. (As PROSS comforts LUCIE, CARTON catches BARSAD before he exits.) I know you, sir. And I believe you know me.

BARSAD If you seek to play with me… CARTON Oh I do, Mr. Barsad, I do. See the cards I hold in my hand! John Barsad,

once a spy for French noblemen in England. John Barsad, supposedly hanged for treason in England, but now serving under the French Republic. And my Ace? (Jerking his head toward the COMMITTEE MEMBERS) Denunciation of John Barsad to the Section Committee. A committee that will not take kindly to spies and turncoats. Look over your hand, Mr. Barsad. Don’t seem to like what you see?

BARSAD (Panicked) What do you want? CARTON Can you gain access to the prison cells? BARSAD Yes, any. But I cannot take any prisoner out. CARTON No. But… I may call upon you soon for a service. In return for your own

undeserving head. Come with me. (During this conversation, LITTLE LUCIE has wandered over to where THERESE and the VENGEANCE sit knitting. VENGEANCE demonstrates a miniature guillotine toy for LITTLE LUCIE, who watches it silently and curiously. As BARSAD and CARTON exit, PROSS notices where the child has gone and strides over to rescue her.)

PROSS Come, little Lucie. (To VENGEANCE) Stop staring at her, you boldface! THERESE Lucie? Is that… his child? LUCIE (Throwing herself at THERESE’S feet) Yes, yes, our darling daughter, his

only child! For her sake, be merciful to my husband! (Intro music for “Don’t Let Him Die” begins.) For my sake! For a wife and mother!

THERESE Wife and mother? All our lives we wives and mothers have suffered! Why

should the troubles of one wife and mother mean anything to me now?

LUCIE Please…

MUSIC CUE #28

Act II: Scene 4


Song: DON’T LET HIM DIE (Sings) He is One man I love! One life still waits. One word from you Would save his fate! Two hearts beg you: Mercy, pity! Do not let him die! He is my husband, And I love him so. He is the people’s friend! Madame, let him go. For if he dies, I can’t survive! O mercy, please! You must save his life. You must speak for him. It cannot end this way! Madame, speak for him. May God above, Out of His love, Right every wrong! Here I am to ask: Please don’t let him die! THERESE (Speaks) Blood marks your husband, and every one of the Evremondes.

(Spits at LUCIE) Save your prayers for another. (Lights down. Scene change music.)

MUSIC CUE #29


SCENE 5

CHARACTERS NEEDED: Carton, Little Lucie, Lorry, Lucie, Pross SCENE: Paris. The interior of Lorry’s rented rooms in St. Antoine.

LUCIE is kneeling beside a couch, watching the sleeping form of LITTLE LUCIE. CARTON enters. CARTON Your father is resting now. (Looks at LITTLE LUCIE) Is she asleep? LUCIE Sydney, she will never know what it is like to enter into womanhood under a

father’s loving eyes. She will never know a father’s blessing on her wedding day. She will never know… what I have known. And yet, I never knew what she has known, the care and protection of a father in my childhood. Why must it be so… so…

CARTON Broken? Why not the full circle? LUCIE (Sobbing) Sydney, I cannot go on without him! I cannot! My heart

will die tomorrow. If only I might touch him, embrace him once more, before… before… (Intro music for “Carton’s Song” begins just as LUCIE loses consciousness and falls into CARTON’S arms.)

CARTON (Embracing her) Lucie, be strong. I will not leave you. (Carries her to the couch)

Song: CARTON’S SONG (Sings)

What strange thought is this? What pang of feeling smarts inside me? What voices sound within my mind? What draws me closer To a side of myself I was blind to And begins to stir me? What does my heart say? I cannot tell, it beats so thunderously now; Pumping plans into my brain. Oh, what madness! I cannot think; I cannot pray. I can only listen closely.

MUSIC CUE #30

Act II: Scene 5


If I pass him by, Like the Levite, walk on the other side, How can I ever stand to look her in the eyes? Yet for the sacrifice to be made, The price must be paid in full. I must be brave! And if I die for him, Another life awaits. The world will keep on turning When I’m past the Pearly Gates! Perhaps in death I’ll find What my heart has been searching for. For years and years I’ve broken windows, Never found the door! Here stands a man who’d give his life To keep a life you love beside you. This promise I have made And by this promise I will stay And when I’m gone, do not regret, For I’ll have done for you my best. And my life is worth the losing If it keeps you what you love. So, take my gift; it’s yours. What I have sworn to you, I promise to perform. Until my death I will be true. I will be true to you!

(Speaks) Miss Pross! Mr. Lorry! (PROSS and LORRY enter.) Take her to her room. She needs rest.

PROSS Oh! Mr. Lorry, take the child. (LORRY carries LITTLE LUCIE out, and PROSS

turns to LUCIE.) There there, my darling; no wonder she fainted! (To CARTON) That witch-woman, that black-eyed boldface thoroughly frightened her this afternoon. A fiend from hell itself!

CARTON What are you talking about? PROSS Therese Defarge. Ladybird appealed to her after the trial to take back her

denouncement.

Act II: Scene 5


CARTON Why did she— PROSS Little Lucie had wandered over to that side of the hall and we went to fetch— CARTON (Aghast) No! They saw the child? Miss Pross, did they see the child? Did

they know she was his child? (LORRY enters as this is being said.)

PROSS Well yes, but— (Understanding slowly dawns on her as she looks to LORRY

and then back to CARTON.) Mr. Carton! CARTON (Quietly) Death to the last of the race. (LUCIE starts to awaken.) Quickly,

take her to her room. Begin packing the bags. Lorry, stay a moment with me. (PROSS and LUCIE exit.) They are both in great danger. They will certainly be denounced within the week as Evremondes. Listen carefully. Tomorrow I will send two carriages for you. Put the doctor, his family, and yourself into the first one. I will meet you in the square at eight o’clock exactly and take the second carriage. Miss Pross will follow with all the bags. I depend upon you, sir.

LORRY You may. CARTON Promise me solemnly that nothing will influence you to alter this course.

Remember: any alteration, any delay, and no life can possibly be saved. Many lives will, inevitably, be sacrificed as it stands.

LORRY It shall be done! Is there nothing more you wish to tell me? Shall we wait for

you? CARTON (Wistfully) Yours is a long life, is it not, Mr. Lorry? LORRY Yes, I am in my seventy-eighth year. CARTON What a place you fill at seventy-eight! Loved and respected by so many. LORRY Ah, Mr. Carton. I am but a solitary old bachelor. The eyes that mourn for me

when I am dead will be those of my friends alone—the good doctor, his daughter, the child, even Miss Pross may shed a tear for me.

CARTON That is a thing to thank God for! Imagine if you had to say, “I have secured

to myself the love and attachment, the gratitude and respect of no human creature; I have won to myself a tender place in the regard of none.” If you could say that, would not those seventy-eight years be seventy-eight heavy curses?

LORRY Yes, they would be. But why do you say such things, Mr. Carton?

Act II: Scene 5


CARTON Enough of me. Remember my instructions! And if tomorrow, when I meet the carriage, I am somewhat… altered… in appearance, give it no mind. You know enough of my vagabond ways and wicked habits. Here is my pass; keep it for me. All depends upon you, Mr. Lorry.

LORRY I hope to do my part faithfully! CARTON As I hope to do mine. Farewell. (CARTON exits. Lights down. Scene change music.)

MUSIC CUE #31


SCENE 6

CHARACTERS NEEDED: Carton, Children, Darnay, Defarge, Lucie, Therese; Company

SCENE: Paris. The square in front of Defarge’s wine shop. Off to one side of the

stage, the interior of Darnay’s tiny prison cell. Intro music for “Chop Chop Chop” begins as lights come up down center

only, where several CHILDREN play with a miniature guillotine in the public French square. THERESE stands nearby, knitting silently, while DEFARGE stands behind her looking troubled and re-reading MANETTE’S letter.

Song: CHOP CHOP CHOP CHILDREN (Sing) One, two, three, four, five! Caught an aristocrat alive! Six, seven, eight, nine, ten! Took ‘im to the guillotine and Chopped off ‘is ‘ead! Chop chop chop! Watch ‘em drop. Won’t stop choppin’ ‘Til their ‘eads are off! Slice slice slice! Ain’t it nice? The rich is dead And the world is right! The rich is dead And the world… is… right! (The CHILDREN laugh, gather up their guillotine, and exit as the following

conversation progresses.) THERESE (Speaks) Even the children see blood as a game. Such it has come to in

France. And worse times draw near. DEFARGE The line for La Guillotine is long indeed! I cannot even see its end.

(Troubled) And yet… in general, extermination is a good doctrine, but one must stop somewhere. The doctor, he has suffered so much already. My poor old master, always kind to me. You saw the anguish on his face!

THERESE I did observe his face. It was not the face of a true friend of the Republic!

MUSIC CUE #32

Act II: Scene 6


DEFARGE But the anguish of his daughter! Does that mean nothing? THERESE His daughter is now an Evremonde. I have but to raise my needle… (Raises

her knitting needle as if to drop it, then hesitates) Do you wish to save the traitor Evremonde, my husband?

DEFARGE No, no, I did not say that! But, I would leave the matter there. It is finished

with his death. THERESE Finished? Have I not for years had this name on my register doomed for

extermination? DEFARGE It is so. THERESE And the story of the sister whose family was ravaged, destroyed at the hands

of the Evremondes, is that not my story? DEFARGE It is so. THERESE And the blood required to pay for such an evil—that also is mine. The blood

of every last member of the cursed family! The doctor himself declares it—(Seizes the letter from him and reads) “denounced to the last descendant.” Is that not so?

DEFARGE It… it… THERESE (Savagely) Is it not so? DEFARGE (Slowly) It is so. THERESE Then tell wind and fire to stop, but don’t tell me! (Lights transition to DARNAY in his cell.) DARNAY Oh Gabelle… my dear tutor. I’m so sorry I could not save you! It seems that

the curse of the Evremondes cannot be escaped. Justice lies with God. (Begins to pray) Father, forgive my trespasses, and help me to forgive those who have trespassed against me. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. (Wipes a tear) Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death… (Intro music for “Goodnight Quartet” begins) I shall fear no evil, for Thou… for Thou… art with me. (Faltering, pleading) And be with my dearest wife and child tonight, Father, when I cannot!

MUSIC CUE #33

Act II: Scene 6


Song: GOODNIGHT QUARTET (Sings) Goodnight, my angel! Flights of cherubs sing thee to Thy sweet repose. Only Heaven knows how much I love you. Goodnight, my Lucie. May Jesus calm your heart And grant you peace to bear The load of care You carry now for me.

(Lights up on LUCIE kneeling)

LUCIE Goodnight, my darling! Though I cannot see your face, I hear your voice, And I rejoice In Heav’n we’ll meet again. Goodnight, my Charles. Just beyond tomorrow Lie the Pearly Gates, And God awaits, And He will hold our hands. DARNAY And I shan’t be afraid! For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He waits for me. (Lights back up on THERESE, with DEFARGE brooding in the shadows behind

her. He moves forward to join her after her solo, at the song’s climax.) THERESE Just beyond tomorrow, All my years of hate and misery Will climax in a moment of victory! Just beyond the sunset, An ancient crime avenged. Underneath the blade Falls Evremonde’s head!

(The COMPANY remains backstage, or unobtrusively onstage; only voices are heard.)

Act II: Scene 6


COMPANY Just beyond tomorrow, Past our pain and sorrow Lies a world of hope For every man! Just beyond the sunset, Waits a glorious dawn, Waiting to rise Just beyond! LUCIE AND DARNAY

My heart, it aches for you, To hold you close once more! Just hold my hand in your thoughts. One day we’ll be together forevermore! (Spot on CARTON, center stage)

CARTON Here stands a man who’d give his life To keep a life you love beside you. This promise I have made And by this promise I will stay! COMPANY God holds our destinies! Tomorrow we shall finally see! Tomorrow we shall finally see! (Lights down. Scene change music.)

MUSIC CUE #34


SCENE 7

CHARACTERS NEEDED: Aristocrats 1, 2, 3, Barsad, Carton, Darnay, Seamstress, Servants 1 and 2, Soldiers (2)

SCENE: Paris. The prison interior, with Darnay’s cell most prominent.

Lights up dimly as CARTON enters with BARSAD. DARNAY is sitting forlornly at a

small table in his cell, while other PRISONERS, mostly ARISTOCRATS but also including the unfortunate SEAMSTRESS and some SERVANTS, languish in dark corners. BARSAD Mr. Carton, you couldn’t pay me any amount to make me do what you’re

doing. It’s impossible to break him free! CARTON Leave everything to me, Barsad, and just mind you keep watch, as you

value your head! BARSAD Not like you value your own! What if we’re found out? CARTON Give me but a few moments. I will knock when I am ready. BARSAD I could lose my head for this. A citizen of the Republic, keeper of the prison

gate— CARTON Spy! BARSAD Enough! Stop here.

(Unlocks DARNAY’S door) CARTON Go—and wait for my signal.

(Enters the cell. BARSAD exits.) DARNAY Carton! How—why—? CARTON The last person you expected to see, eh? Probably the last you wanted to see.

I come from her, Darnay, from your wife. DARNAY What does she say? CARTON I have no time for explanation. Do exactly as I say and remember this is her

earnest desire. DARNAY Of course, anything!

Act II: Scene 7


CARTON Speak not a word, but write this letter. (Gives DARNAY a pen and paper) Say, “Please remember my old promise from a conversation long since past.”

DARNAY What conversation? CARTON Never mind. Write! “Tonight, the time has come when I can prove those

words. I do so with no regret—no second thoughts. Please hold me in your mind as ardent, sincere in this one thing...” (As he speaks, CARTON holds a cloth, doused in a sleeping drug, under DARNAY’S nose.)

DARNAY What is that? I smell something… sweet…

(Holds his head as if he is about to pass out) CARTON (Fiercely) Quickly, man, write! “All my love to you, dearest Lucie. Here

stands a man who would give his life to keep a life you love beside you…” DARNAY (Understanding) Sydney, no!

(CARTON presses the cloth into DARNAY’S face. DARNAY struggles, then falls unconscious. CARTON takes the ribbon from DARNAY’S hair and ties back his own. He then changes jackets with DARNAY. He bangs on the door.)

CARTON Guards!

(BARSAD and two SOLDIERS enter and come into the cell.) BARSAD He is overcome with the parting interview. Carry him out to the carriage.

(The two SOLDIERS exit, holding up DARNAY.) There; I will have him to your carriage by eight o’clock. You will not betray me?

CARTON I will be true… to death. Now hurry up, man! BARSAD (Loudly, as he prepares to leave the cell) You have fourteen hours remaining,

Evremonde. (Undertone) I… I honor you, sir. CARTON Go!

(BARSAD leaves the cell, locking the door behind him, as the SOLDIERS return. CARTON looks around as other doomed PRISONERS step forward from the shadows. One of the SOLDIERS is looking through the cell bars from outside.)

SOLDIER Ha! It’s a regular fancy dress ball in there. Look at ‘em—missing wigs,

stains on satin, whisperin’ fervent prayers to a God they never knew ‘til they were lookin’ His heaven in the face! Why, it’s almost comical!

Act II: Scene 7


BARSAD Yes. Almost. (He exits. Intro music for “Fourteen Hours” begins as lights come

up more fully on the cells full of PRISONERS.)

Song: FOURTEEN HOURS ARISTOCRAT 1 (Sings) Fourteen hours till the light is darkened, And a blade cuts me away from my world. No more laughter, no more joy; Oh, who will carry on When I am gone? Only fourteen hours. ARISTOCRATS 2 AND 3 Fourteen hours left to beg God’s mercy. ARISTOCRAT 2 Far too little time to make right your soul! ARISTOCRAT 3 I was blind, but now I see, Yet what is left for me? Not liberty. ARISTOCRATS 2 AND 3 Only fourteen hours. CARTON Fourteen hours till her face is shining With the joy that comes from holding those you love! No more tears and no more fears; May they live only happy days, And this terror be erased from their minds. May they find it in their hearts to remember me, If only for a little while.

(The SEAMSTRESS steps forward, mistaking CARTON for DARNAY.) SEAMSTRESS Please, I do not understand. What do they want with me? I’m just a seamstress girl. How can my death profit them? My life is hardly worth The dreaded guillotine.

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Act II: Scene 7


CARTON Child, do not fear. Hold my hand, And I will give you the courage that you need. SEAMSTRESS Forgive me, sir, I am so weak and small. I can hardly bear The fate that’s left for me. But wait a moment… Hold your face up to the light… (Speaks) Are you… dying for him? CARTON (Sings) Yes! And ‘tis a far, far better thing that I do Than I’ve ever done before. It is a far, far better rest that I seek Than the life that I have known! Hold on tightly to my hand. SEAMSTRESS I’ll cling tightly to your arm. CARTON We will face the blade together. SEAMSTRESS God will calm our trembling hearts. CARTON AND SEAMSTRESS And I will stay, Will stay with you, Until death separates us two! I’ll say a prayer, A prayer for mercy on those Who this evil do. SEAMSTRESS And in Heaven, no more pain, No more dying, no more hate.

Act II: Scene 7


CARTON And in Heaven, Jesus waits. I pray my soul He’ll take. (Lights down. Scene change music.)

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SCENE 8

CHARACTERS NEEDED: Pross, Therese, Vengeance SCENE: Paris. The street outside of Lorry’s rented rooms. We see the gate

outside the building, the front door, and a bit of the entryway behind the front door. THERESE and THE VENGEANCE enter and stop near the gate.

VENGEANCE Why do we stop? Is not your husband already at the town square? THERESE My husband is a good citizen and a bold man; but he has a weakness for his

old master. I care nothing for this doctor; he can keep his head or lose it, but the Evremonde family must be exterminated. To the last descendant.

VENGEANCE The little one has such a pretty head for it—such golden curls and blue

eyes! And we so seldom have a child there. THERESE I cannot trust my husband in this matter; I must act before he can intervene.

He does not have my reason for pursuing this family to annihilation, and they must not escape.

VENGEANCE I will go to the square and keep him there—assure him that you are

coming. THERESE Yes! (Looking through the gate at LORRY’S rented rooms) She is in their

rooms now, awaiting the moment of her husband’s death. She will rage against the justice of the Republic. My revenge upon her will be justified!

VENGEANCE Magnificent! Madame is an angel of death!

(She cackles.) THERESE Take my knitting and have it in my usual seat. The lap of La Guillotine will

be full today. VENGEANCE I will. Be sure you are there!

(The VENGEANCE cackles again as she exits. THERESE moves slowly through the gate and toward the door. PROSS enters from the rented rooms carrying the bags, and stops in the entryway to fuss over her packing.)

PROSS One more bag. There, and there! I hope they have gotten safely past the

border. Oh my darling, darling girl! It’s a good thing they left in the first carriage already. Ah! Hurry, Pross—you’re an Englishwoman. Spit spot!

Act II: Scene 8


(PROSS walks out the front door and faces THERESE, standing inside the gate. PROSS drops her bags in surprise.)

THERESE Take me to the wife of Evremonde!

(PROSS regains her composure, slams the door behind her, and resolutely stands in front of it.)

PROSS (Shouting behind her to an imaginary LUCIE) Stay in the house, Ladybird! THERESE Let me pass! Do you know who I am? PROSS You might, from your appearance, be the wife of Lucifer. Nevertheless you

shall not get the better of me. I am an Englishwoman!

THERESE It will do her no good to conceal herself from me. Let me see her! Do you hear?

PROSS If those eyes of yours were pliers and I was an iron plate, they shouldn’t raise

one square inch of me! No, you wicked foreign woman; I am your match. THERESE Imbecile! English pig! I demand to see her! Stand out of my way. PROSS English I am, but no pig, you gypsy witch. I’ll not leave a handful of that dark

hair upon your head if you lay a finger on this handle! THERESE (Attempting to call into the house) Citizen Doctor! Wife of Evremonde!

Answer the Citizeness Defarge! (“Miss Pross Fights Madame Defarge” music begins as THERESE rushes at the door with a scream. They struggle. THERESE pulls out her knife, but PROSS wrests it away and stabs THERESE; she dies, crying pitifully like a wounded child, such that the audience may feel sympathy for her. PROSS drops the knife and runs out. THERESE’S body lies in spotlight as the lights dim. Scene change music after spot goes off.)

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SCENE 9

CHARACTERS NEEDED: Aristocrats 1, 2, 3, Barsad, Carton, Child, Darnay, Defarge, Jacques 1, 2, 3, Little Lucie, Lucie, Manette, Seamstress, Servants 1 and 2 [optional], Vengeance; Revolutionaries, Soldiers, and Children SCENE: Paris. The square in front of Defarge’s wine shop.

REVOLUTIONARIES are gathered toward one side of the stage, facing toward the

guillotine offstage.* Some CHILDREN run around amidst the chaotic atmosphere. The JACQUERIE and some revolutionary SOLDIERS enter, escorting ARISTOCRAT 1, ARISTOCRAT 2, ARISTOCRAT 3, CARTON, THE SEAMSTRESS, and [optional] other recently imprisoned ARISTOCRATS and SERVANTS. VENGEANCE There he is! The traitor Evremonde! COMPANY (Shouting ad lib) Down, Evremonde! To the guillotine! Up with the

Republic! Down with Evremonde! Extermination! La Guillotine! Liberty! Equality! Fraternity!

CHILD (As the COMPANY quiets somewhat) Death to Evremonde! BARSAD Hush, hush, citizen. CHILD Why? Is that not what we are supposed to say? BARSAD (To himself) Supposed to say. (To the CHILD) No. He is going to pay the

forfeit; it will be paid in five minutes more. Let him be at peace. VENGEANCE (Rushing around amongst the crowd) Therese! Who has seen her?

Therese Defarge! She has never missed before. Therese! Therese! CARTON (To the SEAMSTRESS) Keep your eyes on me, dear one; do not look at

anything else. Do not hear anything but my voice. SEAMSTRESS If it were not for you, dear stranger, I would not be able to raise my

thoughts to Him who was put to death for my sake. I think… I know, you were sent to me by Heaven.

CARTON As were you to me.

* This scene has also been staged with the guillotine onstage, silhouetted far upstage, with the crowd obscuring the bottom where the victims are placed.

Act II: Scene 9


SEAMSTRESS You are not afraid at all. The others—they just pretend, but you… you are sincere. How can you be so brave?

CARTON My dear, perhaps in death I will find something I never had in life.

Perhaps… perhaps my death will be the ultimate proof of sincerity; the only act of love I have ever done.

SEAMSTRESS Will it be quick? CARTON Very quick. Do not fear. Everything will be over soon. SEAMSTRESS In my mind’s eye, I see my little cousin, the only other person who has

loved me as you have. She—she knows nothing of my fate. But… the image of her face still comforts me.

CARTON Yes. And keep that picture close to your heart in these last moments.

(Intro music for “Greater Love” begins.) Soon you may look down on her from above, free of all these tears and sorrows. (Musingly, as if he is speaking partly to himself) You may look upon that face, that beautiful face. The face you have loved for so long.

Song: GREATER LOVE

(Sings) I see her face! I see her golden hair, Her child so fair. Heaven beckons me!

JACQUES 3 (Yells) Number 19—Comtesse de Cheville! (May be called “Comte de Cheville” if male. ARISTOCRAT 3 exits amongst shouts and jeers from the COMPANY. The sound of the guillotine offstage, followed by cheers and laughter. The shouting, cheering, etc., subsides in between executions, then rises again and grows rowdier with each execution.)

CARTON (Sings) I hear my name; It’s whispered soft and low. I know that they Will remember me! JACQUES 3 (Yells) Number 20—Marquis Godenot! (May be called “Marquise

Godenot” if female. ARISTOCRAT 2 exits. The sound of the guillotine offstage.) Number 21—Madame Molyneux! (ARISTOCRAT 1 exits. The sound of the guillotine offstage.)

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Act II: Scene 9


SEAMSTRESS (Looking to CARTON) I—it is my name next. Will you… I mean… thank you, for…

CARTON Hush, child. Have no fear. (They embrace.) CARTON AND SEAMSTRESS (Sing) And I have stayed, Have stayed with you, And now death separates us two. I’ll say a prayer, A prayer for mercy on those Who this evil do. JACQUES 3 (Yells) Number 22—Elise Fontaine!

(SEAMSTRESS exits. The sound of the guillotine offstage.) CARTON (Mournfully musing to himself as lights dim somewhat) And now, here I

stand, with words long forgotten suddenly taking hold of me like never before. Christ’s words. “I am the Resurrection and the Life.” And so, this is not the end. It is the beginning! (Sings, introspectively) It is a far, far better thing that I do Than I’ve ever done before. A far, far better rest that I seek Than the life that I have known! (As CARTON sings, MANETTE, LUCIE, DARNAY, LITTLE LUCIE, and DEFARGE take places toward the front and side of the stage, leaving CARTON in the center and the REVOLUTIONARIES and remaining COMPANY on the other side. Spotlight on MANETTE.)

MANETTE I see a life Reborn again to me. Now I am free And the sun will rise!

(Spotlight on DEFARGE) DEFARGE I see a world Where justice will prevail, Where men are free And the drums are hushed!

(Spotlight on DARNAY)

Act II: Scene 9


DARNAY I see a man Who gave his life for mine; A greater love I could never find!

(Spotlight on LUCIE) LUCIE I see a soul Who kept a vow till death, A soul I never shall Forget!

(Lights up fully.) JACQUES 3 (Yells) Number 23—Marquis Evremonde! CARTON (Sings) Here stands a man! (He exits.) COMPANY God holds our destinies! Tomorrow we shall finally see! Tomorrow we shall finally see!

(Lights down abruptly, just as the sound of the guillotine echoes with finality.)

CURTAIN

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T2C Script Perusal - 5 LANTERNS