Story Behind The Song

Blue Moon - Act 1 Scene 1

Song Description

The goddess Fate explains how a young lady was born.

Lyrics

Blue Moon

ACT ONE

SCENE 1

SCENE: Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. July 3, 1863

At Rise: The Stage is lit by intermittent explosive flashes of light from cannons Stage Right and Stage Left. The loud sounds of cannons being fired are synchronized to the flashes of light. The lights reveal a Civil War battle scene. A cannon and a Union Flag surrounded by two dead soldiers is Stage Left. A broken cannon and a battered Confederate Flag surrounded by three dead soldiers is Stage Right. The only part of the dead soldiers exposed is their legs and shoes. One of the Confederate soldiers has no shoes on. The flashing lights and cannon sounds speed up and build to a crescendo ending in a very loud boom and explosive light to Blackout. Lights come up on Stage Right. FATE dressed as a Roman Goddess enters Stage Right holding a pair leather shoes and stops in front of the broken Confederate cannon.

(Music under.)

FATE. (Holding shoes out and addressing the audience.) It was just shoes. Something you wear to keep your feet from getting cold. Forget where you put them when you grow old. Brown, black, red, and blue they come in many colors but still they're only shoes. To change the course of war, I made shoes something more. The North and South were in a fight. The town of Gettysburg was in their sights. History has called it chance that for shoes the armies danced. General Lee had never known defeat until I wrote his destiny with shoes you wear on feet.

SONG: "SHOES"

FATE. (Sung.)

FOR SOME PAIRS OF LEATHER SHOES
LEE IS LED TO WHERE HE'LL LOSE
IN BLOOD I WROTE HIS DESTINY
CHANGING THE COURSE OF HISTORY

WITH THE CARDS I HOLD
NATIONS RISE AND FOLD
EVERY HAND THAT I DEAL
THE FATE OF ALL WILL BE SEALED

TIME CLAIMS HE HOLDS THE WINNING CARDS
MY JACKS WILL TRUMP THE HANDS OF TIME

(Music continues under.)

FATE drops the leather shoes at the feet of the Confederate soldier without shoes and crosses to Center Stage as the lights fade out Stage Right. The lights come up on Center Stage on the storefront of the Blue Moon. It is a piano bar in Cleveland at the corner of Erie and East 9th in 1955. There is a stoplight on the sidewalk at the intersection. Next to the stoplight are ANNA and a vacant street vendor stand with a sign "Roses 25 Cents". ANNA is posed handing a dollar bill from her purse and reaching for a white rose suspended in the air. The stoplight, white rose, and blinking neon sign of the Blue Moon are frozen in time with ANNA.

FATE. (Addressing the audience.) Why is there no one here to sell? If you ask me, I will tell. ANNA thinks she buys a rose each day, from an old lady along her way. But like a pair of leather shoes a rose can be something else I use.

FATE. (Sung.)

RICH OR POOR THE LIFE I GIVE
IS THE ONE YOU'RE MEANT TO LIVE
HEARTS FIND AND LOSE LOVE TO A PLAN
EVEN IF THEY DON'T UNDERSTAND

IN THE STARS I WRITE
FUTURES DARK AND BRIGHT
STARS WILL FADE FROM THE SKY
DECIDE WHO WILL LIVE OR DIE

FATE. (Addressing the audience.) And what does ANNA have to do with those pairs of leather shoes? Her great grandmother Annabelle was to hear the sound of wedding bells. But the soldier she was to wed at Gettysburg was found among the dead.

FATE. (Sung.)

DOORS STAY LOCKED TILL WITH THE KEY
I OPEN WHAT IS MEANT TO BE

FATE. (Addressing the audience.) To another heart she belonged and was meant to have grandmother Avalon. Her smile and eyes were passed along to her youngest daughter TAMERON. And if you were to make a guess my answer would be yes.

FATE. (Sung.)

FATE

FATE. (Addressing the audience.) TAMERON is the mother of ANNA.

(Music ends.)

Copyright 2008 by Richard Roman