The Dolls of New Albion: A Steampunk Opera Libretto

8/10/2019 The Dolls of New Albion: A Steampunk Opera Libretto

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Music and Lyrics by

Paul Shapera


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The Dolls of New Albion was first released as a concept album onMay 8 th , 2012 and featured the following cast:

Annabelle, Fay, Amelia, and Priscilla: Lauren Osborn

Edgar, Byron, and Solider 7285: Jason Broderick

Jasper: Paul Shapera

Narrator: Kayleigh McKnight

The Dolls of New Albion was first performed at the OvalhouseTheatre in London directed by Mark Swetz on November 28 th , 2012

and featured the following cast:

Annabelle, Fay, Amelia, and Priscilla: Lauren Osborn

Edgar, Byron, and Solider 7285: Oliver Marsh

Jasper: Mike Shearer

Narrator: Kate Young

Soldier/Dancer/Ensemble: Jorge Crecis

Jasper Puppeteer 1/Ensemble: Faith Brandon

Jasper Puppeteer 2/Ensemble: Joni-Rae Carrack


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Musical Numbers:

Act 1:

1. Overture

2. New Albion 1 - Narrator

3. Annabel Raises The Dead - Annabel

4. Annabel Has A Doll Narrator, Annabel, and Jasper

5. Annabels Lament - Annabel

6. We Bid The 1 st Generation Adieu - Narrator

Act 2:


8. Edgar Gets His Heart Broken Edgar and Fay

9. The Old Trunk In The Attic - Narrator

10. Edgar Builds A Business Narrator and Edgar

11. Fay Considers Edgars Proposal - Fay

Act 3:


13. The Movement Byron, Amelia, and Company

14. Voodoopunk Amelia and Company

15. The Movement (Reprise) - Byron, Amelia, and Company16. Elysian Night - Jasper

17. The Suicide Narrator and Amelia

18. The Bonfire Of The Dolls Narrator and Byron

Act 4:

19. The Ballad Of The Gambler And The Monk - Narrator


21. Priscilla And Jasper Play Cards Priscilla, Jasper, and Solider 7285

22. Priscilla Contemplates - Priscilla

23. The Day They Come Narrator, Jasper, Priscilla, Solider 7285

24. I Will Bring You Down Solider 7285

25. We Bid You All Adieu - Narrator


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Act 1:

New Albion 1

(Scene: The steampunk city of New Albion. Our Narrator appears to takeus on a guided tour. The music is a tango with some industrialelements lightly in the background)

NARRATOR:Several hundred years beforeA gambler and a monk embarkedOn a long trek through the endless prairies of the NorthThey had a fierce debateAbout God and chance and fateand to resolve it agreed a game of cards indeed be played

The game went on all dayAnd through the next and next they playedAnd around them a shelter was built to shield the rainA street around the shelter formedThen a church, a house, a barAnd that is how the city of New Albion was bornThat is how the city of New Albion was born

New Albion todayWith bustling streets, machines, cafesAnd the nice, the wise, the eccentric and insane

The Mafias run by A red haired dwarf with just one eyeWhose affairs he decides with a pair of silver dice

Over the Zeppelin Union PilotsA castrati boss presidesAnd we hear his song each afternoon as he flies byTheres prisons made of lead And gargoyles of iron shredsAnd Annabelle McAlistair whos raising up the dead Annabelle McAlistair whos raising up the dead

The Lodge on Ashland StreetIs where the Alchemists Guild meetsAnd to join you have to craft a glass pearl from a young girls dream A group of thieves they heardBroke in the lodge to steal the pearlsBut In the morning they were found there sitting staring unperturbed

The twilight fog they sayAn aphrodisiac contains


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Nonsense, but yet they copulate in doorways anywayTheres inventors and inbred In upper classes its been said And Annabelle McAlistair whos raising up the dead. Annabelle McAlistair whos raising up the dead.

Annabelle Raises The Dead

(Scene: Inside Anna belle McAlistairs laboratory. Its littered withall manner of Victorian era scientific equipment and machinery. Seatedin a chair in the center of it all is a machinelike mannequin.Annabelle is frantically rushing about the lab in preparation.)

ANNABELLE: Winding all the dials and the wires and the spires and thetests for the connections and injections still to runCapacitors and meters and the alkali and beakersThe restating of equations for the phase about to come

Please come back to me theres so mu ch we could bePlease come back, with voltage I invokePlease come back from empty cracks and berths of blackCome to me, Im summoning the Ghost

Be my angel, my angelBe my angel, rescue meBe my angel, my angelBe an angel be with me

Please come back from bowels of blackFrom silent shores to me once moreThrough veils and gates and seas of slateTo blood wet moors where I await ashore

Years of all my theories and hypothesis and inquiriesNo gathering cadavers and they kicked me out of schoolAll alone with theorems and experiments and endless testsYears in labs and numberlands but now Ive reached the goal

Please come back so we can have a life at last

Please come back, I grab at heavens throat Please come back, I beckon, beg and cry and laughCome to me, Im summoning the ghost

Be my angel, my angelBe my angel, rescue mebe my angel, be my angelbe an angel be


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Please come back from bowels of blackfrom silent shores to me once moreThrough veils and gates and seas of slateTo blood wet moors where i await ashore

(She sings quietly and tenderly to the mannequin construct)

Please come speak to mePlease come speak to meAll the things we can share and conceiveif youll come speak to me

I remember you from schoolYou were dashing and I so uncoolYou di dnt know I was alive until that one nightwe spoke and you kissed me

But then I was expelledYou married her as welland now youve died, but I can bring you back to lifeand soon youll speak to me

(She gradually gets more and more impassioned)

Be my angel, be my angelBe my angel, rescue meBe my angel, be my angelBe an angel be with meBe an angel be with meBe an angel be with me

Please come back so we can have a life at lastPlease come back, I grab at heavens throat Please come back, I beckon, beg and cry and laughCome to me, Im summoning the ghostPlease come back from bowels of blackFrom silent shores to me once moreThrough veils and gates and seas of slateTo blood wet moors where I await ashore

(Annabelle throws the switch.)

Annabelle Has A Doll

(Narrator enters.)

NARRATOR: And so around 3 AM,a recently deceased manfound himself wound in the land of living again


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Bound in a body,of gears and wheels but oddlyhe has no voice and his steel joints barely can bend

The one sound he makes in factHe streams radio broadcasts

He plays a country station if you give him a pat

Our dearest Annabel isquite thrilled and ecstaticShe has a friend who just was dead and yet she brought back

(Narrator sings to an oblivious Annabelle who is dressing the lifesize mechanical doll up to take out)

What may please does not contentall resolves but never endsall that comforts is not trueall you love does not love you

(Annabelle takes her doll with her everywhere like a romantic partner.The Mannequin itself is quite stiff and helpless.)

ANNABELLE: I have a dolly and we like to go on walksWe like to stroll around the park all while he listens to me talkabout the people and the places that I never got to seecause I wouldnt leave my house, but thats before he was with me

We share a world, which is wonderful to see its like a dream where no one calls me failure if I dont succeed

I have a dolly its like flowers in the spring and but no matter how I talk to him he never says a thing

NARRATOR: What may please does not contentall resolves but never endsall that comforts is not trueall you love does not love you

ANNABELLE: I have a dolly and he goes with me outsidewhich used to be a problem for me oh but now i never mindIce cream and carriages I always thought were nicebut never had someone to share them with because the labs my life

Annabelle no friends you must be brilliant and the bestyou must be better and industrious, or you are worthless

But now I have dolly a dear friend with whom I goout for wal k and talks but hes mute and just plays the radio


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(Jasper is playing a song to communicate but Annabelle is unaware ofit)

JASPER: ElysiumThe place the when your sorrows end

Whyd you bring me here again

ANNABELLE: I have a dolly who can keep me companyWe go to shows, parades and cabarets though people stare at meBut Ive shown that I am brilliant and Ive conquered life and deathThe only thing my father said is that one must be a success

And now Ive got a friend, a silent clockwork doublewho can be there for me to lean on when I feel sad and troubled

I have a dolly, and hes very stabling if not a little just toodistantcause he never says a thing.

(The Narrator tries to give Annabelle advice but Annabelle is unawareof her)

NARRATOR: What you hold may wish to goWhat you believe may not be soAll that brings you piece of mindmay not stay for a long time

What may please does not content

All resolves but never endsAll that comforts is not trueAnd all you love does not love you

(Annabelle has arrived home, exhausted after so much gallivantingabout with her doll. She sits in front of him trying for some kind ofreal communication)

ANNABELLE: Cant you speak to me? Wont you speak to me? All the things we could share and conceive

If youd just speak to me(Jasper plays the same song as before but now Annabelle is actuallylistening and can hear it)

JASPER: ElysiumThe place the when your sorrows endWhyd you bring me here


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Oh whyd you bring me here Whyd you bring me here again?

(Annabelle is taken aback and understanding dawns on her. She becomesdepressed.)

Annabelles Lament

ANNABELLE: Ghosts of dreams, ghosts of memorythat will not leave or lay in quietGhosts that cry about the lifeyou let go by

Ghosts of pasts of little girls wholearned their math, grasped their factsTried their best to reach success

just as they were asked

The girl learns to hide, deep insideof fractions and facts and worlds of mathA long lonely land she can understandAnnabelle in Numberland

You could have been my angelbeen my angel. Been my angel and been with meCould have been my angelbeen my angel, been my angel and rescued me

Ghosts of love you never knew, youjust construed like well penned playsGhosts of scenes, embraces, thingsyou only knew in dreamt up days

Ghosts of frowns for little girls whenfriends came round to waste her timeGhosts of creeds, rebukes receivedChildren are not what achievers need

Fractions and maths, sweet companions,equations and facts who always standby as you go your road aloneAnnabelle in Numberland

You could have been my angelbeen my angel, been my angel and been with meYou could have been my angelbeen my angel, been my angel and rescued me

Ghosts of me, ghosts of whoI could be and been with you


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Ghosts of dreams, of who you thoughtyoud one day be when you grew up

Ghosts of breath, of little girlswho promised, stressed theyd be their best Ghosts of days that fade away

as failure holds your hand til Death

And deep in the place you escape wheretheorems and thoughts your hopes and plansall are derailed and then you failed themAnnabelle in Numberland

Liquids and labs, fractions and facts,are all you had, all that you understandand as you age all that remains withAnnabelle in Numberland

You could have been my angelBeen my angel, been my angel and been with meYou could have been my angelMy angel, been my angel and rescued meMy angel, my angelMy angel and been with meMy angel, my angel

(Annabelle takes an axe and destroys the doll.)

We Bid The First Generation Adieu

(Annabelle exits and Narrator enters.)

NARRATOR: So Annabella destroys herDoll, her beloved toy boyAnd takes all the notes that she made and packs them away

Thus Annabella vows that sheWont tell a soul and stay lonely Defeated now she sadly creeps back to her lab

Thus friends we bid adieu to

The 1st generation, but dont move Weve 3 more Acts to get through, so come lets ensue

The future beckons and wont wait The next generations on its way Dead things and broken love stories for us await

End Act 1.


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ACT 2

New Albion 2:

(Narrator takes us around New Albion a generation later.)

NARRATOR: And so a generations passed Annabel married at last And she had a son she named Edgar but alasShe died when he was 10 his heart was broken but since thenHes grown and found his darling Fay with whom he wants to wed

The red haired dwarf he had a son when the son turned 31He stabbed his father so new mob boss hed become As his father slowly died he told his son with tear stained eyeshe was the proudest that h ed ever been in his entire life

A cat burglars around who is the toast of the whole town His is the most daring heists ever to aboundIn reality in fact its two 18 year old girls and Their pet albatross Simon and a brilliant mouse named Sam

In the Botan ists Lodge theyve bred a plant who can think thoughts It communicates by opening its petals on and offBut alas one day it went into a deep meditative tranceSearching for enlightenment and has not made a move since then.

Edgar Gets His Heart Broken(Edgar appears. He is seated at a table dining with Fay.)

EDGAR: The restaurant was lovelyThe food, the wine, it all seemedA perfect night and she looked so divineI poured myself a new oneShe says its over and done She says she found someone and its goo dbye

One day you will learn, and you will burn like my heart burnsOne day you will learn, and you will burn like my heart burns

I had the prawns with mangoShe had the cod and misoAnd says she loved me and she really triedI would have had the lime pieBut I was dying insideShe left, I sat, pretended not to cry


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One day you will learn, and you will burn like my heart burnsOne day you will learn, and you will burn like my heart burns

The Old Trunk In The Attic

(Edgar, brokenhearted, mopes around his family manor. He finds himselfruffling through an old trunk in the attic.)

NARRATOR: The old trunk in the atticWhere grandmothers broken heart was tossed In a box with a ballet shoeAnd dead soldiers cross

The old trunk in the atticWith the candlesticks your great uncle savedFrom the girl in the market

Whose mother he once paid to go away

The old trunk in the atticWith a dress for a child but hardly wornStained in a memory and tearsFor a name youll never learn

The old trunk in the atticWhere your gra ndfathers glass eye lays to rest Your sweet aunts nostalgia And Annabellas formula for raising up the dead Annabellas formula for raising up the dead

Clever mother Annabella with her clever headAnnabellas formula for raising up the dead

Edgar Builds A Business

NARRATOR: So Edgar tries the experiments hes read Annabellas formula for bringing back the dead The experiments of course prove a successAnd thus a crazy notion comes into his head

EDGAR: One day you will seeThat I can be someone you never thought Id be One day you will seeThat I can be someone you never thought Id be

(Edgar goes to the center of town, steps up on a soapbox and proceedsto sell to the crowd.)


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My friends step right up, I have brought you a thing,Why its a miracle process that you will never believeYour grandma, your parents, your child I say whoyes whomever youve lost I can bring back to you

You doubt me of course, think Im out of head

but this week Ill choose 5 folks and bring back their deadand I ll put them in quality, mechanical dollslife sized, yes for free and youll see its not talk

(The crowd responds enthusiastically to his offer. We then see himsome weeks later)

My friends, can you hear me, the crowds grown so big and these orders, why Ill tell you I barely know how to keepup with, so I must tell you, Im building a storewhere your dead ones can be brought to you folks once more

With all this success I can offer new dealsTheir bodies now come in different colors and feelslike mahogany, lilac, and deep oaken redSeven models to choose from to fit your dear dead

(The crowd continues to go crazy for his business. We see him thensometime later, no longer on the street but in a boardroom)

Gentlemen welcome, will the board please sit downour profits this quarter are almost beyond countWere opening new factories, starting new ads Were making our fortunes, so Ive one thing to ask

Theres a man they call Sillof and he once stole my girl I want him destroyed, all he has in this worldHis business his home and his carriage all crushedI want him left penniless, face down in the dust

(Narrator enters and attempts to give Edgar advice which he isoblivious to)

NARRATOR: All your intentions take their tollAll you hate enthralls your soulWhen you win you sometimes lose

And all you love does not love you(Somewhere quiet, possibly at the original dinner table, Edgar isbefore his ex-fiance Fay)

EDGAR: Fay, good to see you. I asked you here soyou could listen to what i want to offer to you


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Th at man who you left me for, you know hes in ruins a broken down wreck, but Fay my fortune booms

And I have a surprise, your dear long dead dadI have taken the liberty of bringing him backhe sits now in my parlor, but Fay the only way

you can see him or talk to him is to come back and stay.

(Edgar leaves and Fay remains)

Fay Considers Edgars Proposal:

FAY: Once we saw a band playYears ago I hardlyKnew you like I came to in our day

I was so excitedI fussed to hours priorAnd when you knocked my heart nearly gave way

When does intimacyBecome so cruel and pettyBecome a pit of loathing, disgust and hate?

One day you will learn, and you will burn like my heart burnsOne day you will learn, and you will burn like my heart burnsOne day you will learn, and you will burn like my heart burnsOne day you will learn, and you will burn like my heart burns

End Act 2.


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ACT 3:

New Albion 3

(Narrator returns to show us New Albion a generation later.)

NARRATOR: And so the years they fly, a generation goes on byAnd new faces, new places of New Albion arriveThe doll that Edgar brought back for Fay well sure enoughHes Jasper, the same one that Annabelle herself called up

Edgar and Fay had a son, a young man whos named Byron And hes inherited the Doll, his dear Jasper whom he loves After years and years of folks bringing back their dead ones, droves

Of Dolls fill the city in streets slums and homesYes, theres slums just full of dead, they dont walk or talk instead Theyre like blank slates on which theyre friends and relativesprojectThe big subculture in these times is Voodoopunk and every nightByron and Amelia are immersed and acolytes

The red haired dwarfs son ran the mob for years and years but then He was run out by 2 women and a brilliant mouse named SamThe voodoopunks, to mock the world, for city mayor run a DollThey show up at the rallies and attempt to rile the crowd

(BYRON and AMELIA and other Voodoopunks are hanging out)

The Movement

(BYRON and AMELIA and other Voodoopunks are hanging out)

BYRON: In the movement, In the nights of dead and danceIn the movement, The haunted held within our handsIn the movement, Jasper, love is why I doIn the movement, the love I never get from you

In the movementCome and dance through the nightIn the movementRidden by the blinding light

At the crossroads and the barrowWe have come to court the shadow


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Instead of the system my friends walk awayCome ride at the crossroads come do it today

You think that this world you live in is all?Come feel the spirit the Baron he callsDont be a zombie vote dead all the way

Vote voodoopunk we dance with you on your grave

Voodoopunk

(Scene: A popular nightclub among the Voodoopunk subculture. It catersto their subculture and their club dancing is a voodoo ceremony.Amelia is dancing and chanting as high priestess.)

VOODOOPUNKS:Ya ko, hoo-o-la-oh A-hee-lay-oh-la-heyYa ko, hoo-o-la-oh A-hee-lay-oh-la-hey

The Sidhe are coming over, the Sidhe are pass back overThe Sidhe will come back over, doll-ay doll-ay

AMELIA: Anwen open, Anwen open to meAnwen open, come oh Sidhe

Doll-ay doll-ay, doll-ay doll-ayDoll-ay doll-ay, hey

The Movement (Reprise) AMELIA:

In the movementIn the nights of dead and danceIn the movementWhen Im offering out my hand In the movementI dont need you to pretend In the movementall I ask for is a friend

In the movementDrugs and dance and spirits whirlIn the movementAs we flee our fathers world

At the crossroads so it goes weNeed a love you cannot show me


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And hes used them to make A new song he can playTo the crowd as he tries to communicate

(Jasper takes center stage and all else but him fades.)

Elysian Night

JASPER: ElysiumThe silent sighed lost lullabyElysian night

ElysiumThe child who climbs the edge of timeElysian night

The place the child you hardly knewSailed to in his wooden shoePast the last star in the skyWhere wishes never wished go lie


The place where all the love you sharedWent day by day til none was thereWhere yearning and forgotten dreamsAre nursery rhymes the quiet sing

ElysiumThe silent sighed lost lullabyElysian night


The childhood friend you knew was thereBut never saw or touched and whereThey went when never called again

The place their loneliness all ends

All the sorrow, guilt and shameBurdens borne and karma paidIn one soft breath like candlelightDispersed in endless Elysian night


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ElysiumThe silent sighed lost lullabyElysian night

ElysiumThe child who climbs the edge of time

Elysian night

The Suicide

(Narrator enters and takes us from Jasper into a small flat in NewAlbion where one of the most prominent girls from the Voodoopunk partyis sitting alone in her room listening to an old fashioned radio.)

NARRATOR: Jaspers song that he made All the Dolls in the town playAnd it broadcasts all throughout the day

Amelia lives in a small flatWith a cruel father whos quite sad And she listens and feels a deep compassion

(The sound of the song Elysian Night is heard playing over the radio.Its interrupted by the father violently yelling at the girl. After itfinishes she sings quietly.)

AMELIA: A place I cannot bear to beWhere loneliness, brutalityAnd days of endless, dismal sky

Just go by and by and by

Another place I never knewA distant, silent, sweet refuseWith razor, rope and no lamentI go to where my sorrows end

ElysiumThe silent sigh beyond this lifeElysian night

ElysiumThe girl who cries her last goodbyeElysian night

(Amelia kills herself.)

Bonfire Of The Dolls


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NARRATOR: Beside the girls body her suicide note and the words from the dolls song was all that she wrote It was published in papers, discussed, yet despitethis the dolls kept broadcasting all day and all night

(The sound of Elysian Night playing over radio)

Columnists bantered, parent groups fumedand distrust, fear and anger rose, spread and loomedThe dolls were derided, distained and decriedand everyone waited for the match to ignite

BYRON: It wont be too long folks til our doll runs this townWere voting him in and its happening now Were all at the crossroads where worlds connectAnd your kids are all dancing each night with the dead

NARRATOR: Kill the dolls! Kill the dolls ! E veryone screamed

BYRON: Now my friends just hold on, that is not what we mean

NARRATOR: But whatever he meant no one cared or would hearThere was blood in their eyes and a riot was reared

The streets are chaotic as bonfires glowIn the alleys and flames fear and furor just grow

The dolls are picked up and then thrown in the fireand the fever of violence and panic conspire

Poor Byron he runs to find Jasper his loveas the dolls are torn limb from limb, torched and burned upNo one s left to listen to his speeches or cries Hes fanned the flames th at kill his dear doll tonight

BYRON: Wheres my angel? Wheres my angel? Wheres my angel?

Wheres my angel? (They city is exploding in a fiery riot. Citizens are throwing dollson bonfires. Byron is frantically trying to find Jasper. He finallysees him being carried by some rioters towards a bonfire. He racesafter them trying to stop them. He arrives just as Jasper is beingthrown and leaps to stop it.)

End Act 3


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I pledge allegiance and devotionIll be the power that you flex

I am your arm of executionI am the trigger of your gunI am the binding and the order

My duty to you has begun

NARRATOR: Random searches are the law, looking for remaining DollsAnd if found execution is immediate for allAny token of the dead, whether relative or friendIs forbid and if found you may or may not be seen again

Jaspers still around and hes with Priscilla now They sit and hide together deep within the family houseThe spend their days resigned from the brutal world outsideAnd play a never ending game of cards to pass to time

Priscilla and Jasper Play Cards

(Scene: A dimply lit, windowless room deep in the McAlistair Manor.Priscilla and the doll Jasper sit and play cards. Jasper is naturallyawkward at it, but Priscilla is patient and the game manages to be

played.)

PRISCILLA: Club and spade I raise, here in this parlor in this never ending gamewe play

And we hide, just you and I, as day fades into dayHidden in our room, with a game that no one ever seems to win or loseAnd the shades of flames remain from a world we keep far away

JASPER: Ghosts of towns, ghosts of citiesGames that brought its sad demiseThe only way to end the gameOne who plays must sacrifice

PRISCILLA: Diamonds now I raise, outside wed die and there is nowhere else Id

rather stayIn the scrawl beyond these walls in a cold and coarse and viciousplaceHere where theres no time, theres no loss or lies or need to speakof sacrificeIts no way to win a game and why else would a person play?

JASPER: Ghosts of games, youre always caught in


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Games you play but cannot winThe only way the game can dieOne who plays must sacrifice

(The scene shifts to the outside world. The young recruit is out in athree police man squad raiding homes and executing guilty citizens)

SOLDIER 7285: And on the day we come its over And you will have your fate laid out and spun, its execution And you may pray if you get comfortIts on that day youre dutys done

(Return to the Manor where Priscilla and Jasper play cards)

JASPER: Ghosts of Fay, the child I lovedWhose eyes and smile you remind me ofIn the year s Ive been trapped here Only you Ive come to love

A ghost am I, one if they knew ofWho, with you, theyd come and kill Ghosts of death I wish to dieBut sacrifice so you might live

Ghosts of love, of little girls youTalked and watched as they grew upGhosts of things and rings and giftsYou give to them so they might live

Ghosts of towns, ghosts of citiesGames that brought their sad demiseThe only way to end the gameOne who plays must sacrifice

PRISCILLA: Hearts and now I fold, you cant mean that yo u just dream of death andwish to go?Youre my soul, my angel The only thing that keeps me whole

How can you want to die? All this time and all these years that slowly

pass on byYoure alive so I dont die? What kind of twisted sacrifice

(Scene once again shifts to the young police soldier, Soldier 7285,carrying out his duties)

SOLDIER 7285: And on the day we come its over


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And you will have your fate laid out and spun, its execution And you may pray if you get comfortIts on that day youre dutys do ne

Priscilla Considers(Priscilla leaves Jasper at the table and goes to the side of the roomto reflect)

PRISCILLA: Some speak about love in a sweet wayEnchantment, romance and dizzy dream statesAnd some just wait and pace their cage

Some speak about love as a passionAs rapture and cries and sighs and gasps andSome resign to yearn inside

These odes of tear stained banter and dew eyed candorThat wither in the world, the world thatJust deceives you and beats and bleeds youAnd leaves lonely little girls

And some sacrifice, anywaySome sacrifice, it all awayAh, the fallen and the burdened and the wreaths upon their graveWhen theyre broken theres no assurance they made a better place

Some speak about love in a kind wayThe friend that wont leave and makes your day saneAs you bide and cringe and hide

Some wait for a stranger to touch and fill themSome wait for the stranger who will kill themAnd some just pace their lonely cage

With one dear doll who keeps you from crying but cries tooSilently insideSome speak of love and kindness and clutch in blindnessAnd take and hoard and hide

And some sacrifice, anyway

Some sacrifice, it all awayAh, the fallen and the burdened and the wreaths upon their graveWhen youre broken theres no assurance you made a better place

(Priscilla picks up the phone)

Hello, police? Hello, police? A felony, you need to see


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(Priscilla puts down the phone and returns to Jasper who has seen andheard what she has done)

The Day They Come

NARRATOR: Circles never stop themselves, nothing that youve ever held were youpromised or reneged and sometimes when you lose, you win.

JASPER: Priscilla , whatd you do? When they come for meYou know theyll also kill you too Youre young, your song unsung Theres too much still for you to do

PRISCILLA:

All these years youre here, you suffer quietly, its barbarous tothink thats fair Theres no one who thinks of you The game is gonna end right hereId help you to Die, if I could, but

JASPER: Priscilla whatd you do? Now theyll come and y ou mustRun or else theyll kill you too

Your life so I can dieI s wrong and you must know thats true

Ghosts of life, ghosts of livesIve watched fall and pass me by Ghosts of all the selfish, vainAll the blindness, all the painAll the fool and petty gamesAll the shallow all the same

PRISCILLA: Id help you to die if I could , love

Some sacrifice anywaySome sacrifice it all away

(Soldier 7285 and his 2 other squad members burst into the room)

SOLDIER 7285: And on the day we come its over And you will have your fate laid out and spun, its execution And you may pray if you get comfort


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Its on this day your dutys done And on this day youve been caught guilty, the sentence citizen isdeathIt will be carried out this instantSay any prayers that you want said

JASPER: One day you will learnAnd you will burn like my heart burnsOne day you will learnAnd you will burn like my heart burnsGhosts of all the selfish, vainAll the blindness, all the painAll the fool and petty gamesAll the shallow all the same

PRISCILLA: Some speak aboutLove, in a sweet waySome sentiment ofBliss and dream statesSome speak about loveIn a kind way,Some sentiment of rapturous states

And some sacrificeSome sacrificeSome sacrificeSome sacrifice

JASPER: Please, my angel, my angelPlease my angel, my angelPlease, my angel, my angelPlease my angel, my angel

SOLDIER 7285: I am the arm of executionI am the trigger of your gunI am the binding and the orderIts on this day youre dutys done

PRISCILLA: Please go back toBerths of blackTo silent shoresfrom me once morethrough veils and gatesand seas of slateand blood red mores where Ill


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see you once more.Circles never stop themselves,Nothing that youve ever held, Were you promised or reneged,And sometimes when you lose, you win.

(The squad shoots and kills Priscilla and Jasper. Soldier 7285 doesnot, however, shoot.)

I Will Bring You Down

(The room fades and Solider 7285 is left alone)

OTHER SOLDIER: Soldier 7285, why didnt you fire? OTHER SOLDIER 2: Soldier 72 85, why didnt you fire?

AUTHORITY: Soldier 7285 you are hereby notified of your court martialfor negligence of duty

OTHER SOLDIER: Why didnt you fire?

SOLDIER 7285: I saw her eyes, Ive never faced That kind of look that haunted graceThe way she died so willing justTo die for love, to die for love

What kind of masters must I serveThat make this into such a worldWhere one must kill such beauty andBring this to pass with such cruel hands

Soldier 7285is who I am it is my lifeBut I perceive another placeAnd it must be built upon your grave

And I will bring you downI will bring you downI will bring you down

And if I fall someone will seeThe way I went, just like sheWith eyes of love and heart of lightThey too will fight, they too will fight

Today I say it will beginToday I will begin your endToday the wind that comes, portendsWill be your end, will be your end


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And I will bring you downI will bring you downI will bring you down

(Soldier 7285 exits)

We Bid You All Adieu

(Narrator enters)

NARRATOR: The revolution that rises has stories for another timeOur tale for this evening comes to a closeSo we bid adieu to our players and of course youWe hope this little history lesson weve shown

Has been illuminating, our facts have been kept straight and

Names and situations all remain unchangedAlas friends we cannot stay, the future is always on its wayThus ends our little passion play as played today.

End Act 4

Documents

The Dolls of New Albion: A Steampunk Opera Libretto