THE NIGHT FALLS
LYRICS BY KAREN RUSSELL & ELLIS LUDWIG-LEONE
ACT ONE
[01 Overture]
[02 Florida!]
Sirenettes:
Florida! State of Sunshine, State of Awe!
Florida! Megaflora and megafauna!
Winter never comes to roost in Florida!
Happy hour never ends in Florida!
But the best kept secret rolls in with the tide
Yes the best kept secret rises with the moon
Countdown and swoon!
Countdown and swoon!
At the Night Falls
Hear a song you won’t forget in Florida
It will never leave your head!
Count down and swoon!
Count down and swoon!
At The Night Falls
Will you come to us?
Will you come to us?
Three sisters trapped among the stones and geysers
Three voices calling as the water rises
Count down and swoon!
Count down and swoon!
How cold the last surprise is!
Sirens:
Will you come to us?
Will you come to us?
Will you come to us?
Will you come to us?
Three sisters locked inside and no one found us
Florida fell to ruin all around us
Let your earthly cares dissolve in Florida
Like the land into the sea
Solid ground becomes the void
All is lost and there is nothing to be done
Give up
There’s no reason to remember
Give up
Things that have been lost forever
Rest with us
Will you come to us?
Forget with us
Will you come to us?
[03 Felisberto’s Dream]
Felisberto:
I dreamed and saw women in my dreams
Sequined in moonlight
Their wings stark as ruins
First singing, then screaming
Screaming
A song I knew, with a lonely deja vu
Black eyes in black water
Every night I’ve been having this dream
I can’t get it out of my head
They want me to join them
I think they want me dead
Strange creatures
Singing on a tide that never ebbs
[04 Sudden Blood]
Felisberto:
Whose life am I walking through?
Two weeks ago you watched me undress you
Who will I be in the halls of our school?
Chameleons swallow their colors
Remember the pool we broke into all summer
What was it you said underwater?
Your fingers found my skin
Under the water when we jumped in
We surfaced and gasped
And you laughed
What was that
Sudden blood
As our teeth hit
Sudden blood
The world’s most violent first kiss
Sudden blood
When our teeth hit
Sudden blood
And we held the same breath
Whose life am I walking through?
Two weeks ago you watched me undress you
Who will I be without you?
It’s the greatest surprise to be recognized
[05 Felisberto! Wake Up]
[06 Vortical Song I]
Sufferer 1:
Don’t give up
Don’t die
Sufferer 2:
Don’t die
Don’t despair
Sufferer 3:
Don’t dive headfirst into the pool
Sufferer 4:
Don’t leave me alone
Sufferer 2:
Don’t despair
Don’t fly off the handle
Sufferers 3 & 4:
Don’t cry
Sufferer 2:
Don’t evaporate
Don’t quit
Sirens:
Come
Will you come to us?
Give up
Will you come to us?
Come die
Will you come to us?
Give up
Sufferers:
Don’t evaporate
Don’t dive
Don’t leave it behind
Don’t leave it alone
Don’t panic
Sirens:
Will you come to us?
Will you come to us?
Will you come to us?
Will you come to us?
Sufferers:
Don’t panic
Don’t panic
Don’t panic
Don’t panic
Just leave it behind
Leave it behind
Don’t
Don’t
Sirens:
Ooh
Sufferers:
Don’t
Give up
Don’t
Despair
Die
Sirens:
Give up
Give up
Die
Give up
[07 Television Static]
[08 The Night Falls Commercial]
Sirenettes:
Florida! State of Sunshine, State of Awe!
Florida! Megaflora and Megafauna!
Megadeals on megameals in Florida!
Swim with manatees, and snorkel through our caves
(Spoken:)
This weekend, come with us and tailgate a celestial event: the solar eclipse and spectacular spring tide! Watch water spout 20 feet through holes in the Anastasia limestone caverns! Whirlpools galore and Florida’s eeriest echoes.
(Sung:)
But the best kept secret rolls in with the tide
Yes, the best kept secret rises with the moon
Countdown and swoon!
Countdown and swoon!
At the Night Falls—
(Spoken:)
Fall under the spell of the Siren Sisters of The Night Falls Grotto! Campground opens at dawn. Dogs welcome, alcohol tolerated. Fireworks discouraged.
(Sung):
Put your tent stakes down and leave the Earth behind
At the Night Falls!
When the sun goes down the echoes will begin
At the Night Falls!
[09 Through the Television]
END ACT ONE
[10 Unwound (Entr’acte)]
ACT TWO
[11 The Campground]
[12 Are You Someone They Sing To?]
Angela:
Are you someone they sing to?
Does hell fill your head?
Is it somewhere you’re yearning to go?
Are you someone they sing to?
Does a cold tide rise inside you
At night when the song blows in?
Angela and George:
Did you hear voices
That drew you here?
George:
Are you their concert hall in skin?
Angela:
Do they fill you?
Do they spill into your ear?
Have you forgotten who you are
Like I have?
Nadia:
Are you terrified of sunset?
Allan:
Do you ache to hear them again?
Angela, Nadia, George, and Allan:
Is your skull bruised from within
Like I am?
Felisberto:
Am I one of you?
Are you one of me?
Am I one of you?
Are you one of me?
(One by one, other singers join in):
Am I one of you?
Are you one of me?
All:
Am I one of you?
Are you one of me?
Are you one of us?
Am I one of you?
Are you one of me?
Angela:
Are you someone they sing to?
[13 The Mother’s Tale]
Sirens:
Ooh
Nadia:
Don’t look
When the shadows come
Don’t listen
When the song begins
The darkness claimed my daughter
The song pulled her under
When she had no one around her
Let me tell you a story about her
Her first word was “cloud”
“Milk” and “mama” came later
She had a painter’s eye and she could see into the ultraviolet
She covered her room in chalk animals
Like those bison on the cave walls
Beasts and flowers
I said, “Jesus, Anya,
Do you have to destroy the whole house?”
Even when she was a small girl
There was something inside her that wanted out
She was always brimming over
The walls could not contain her
She’d disappear for years and years
And each time I dragged her home from hell
I’d say don’t pull a stunt like that again
Even when she was a small girl
There was something inside her that wanted out
Don’t look
When the shadows come
Draw closer
“When the sun goes down…”
Allan:
“…the echoes will begin”
Nadia:
Draw closer
George:
Draw closer
Angela:
Draw closer
Nadia:
Closer!
Angela:
Closer!
[14 The Hunter’s Tale]
Nadia:
Tell us a story
Keep us from drifting
Who were you before this?
Allan:
I was a hunter when I was younger
Under my rudder, alligator eyes
I had a knife and an empty mind
Good aim and a heart of moss
I killed whatever I came across
One night
I felt something circling
Circling
A hunter always knows
When he’s become the hunted
I don’t know what sprang the trap
But I can feel its teeth
A wounded beast won’t kill again
A change came over me
And I didn’t want it
A change of heart is violent
Everything escapes me now
The light flies out the window
[15 The Acrobat’s Tale]
[16 A Losing Season]
Angela:
Don’t look
Don’t listen
Let me tell you a story
It will hold us together
Love, love
Serve, return, point
Love, fifteen
Serve, return, point
The rules are clear, the lines are drawn
Serve, return, point
The ball comes in, I send it back
Serve, return, point
Day and night, grass and clay
Slice and volley, win the rally
Beat whoever comes my way
Serve, return, point
Serve, return, point
Serve, return, point
Find your rhythm, get there faster
Serve, return, point
Never giving up an inch
Serve, return, point
Keep moving, keep winning
Crowd cheering, ball spinning
If it’s never quiet, the voices can’t creep in
Serve, return, point
Serve, return, point
Serve, return, out
One miss is an anomaly
Serve, return, out
But miss again, you’re spiraling
Serve, return, out
Serve, return, out
Fighting down the growing panic
Screaming at the rising static
With the wrong song repeating in your head
A star falls and everyone sees it
But fail enough times in a row
You become invisible
Who is keeping score now?
What is this body for now?
I wake to an empty room
Anonymous as dawn
[17 A Losing Season (Coda)]
Angela:
Before I was a champion, I was a child
Who loved to play a game
I don’t know who I am outside the lines they’ve drawn
Love, love
Felisberto:
When he died
I lost my faith
How do you find your footing
Floating alone inside a losing season?
George:
I wake to an empty room
Anonymous as dawn
[18 Lola’s Song]
George:
Carving pumpkins with candles for eyes
I turned to Lola and said, “Marry me”
She cut a wide smile out of her face
Winter came, we were unafraid
January wedding, frosted hair on the bride
She wanted a baby, I said later we’d try
We were nineteen and had nothing but time
Nothing but time
Love kept us warm for a while
Love kept us aglow
And she waited for years
While I played the piano
First I was trying to get famous
Then I was failing to get famous
And I haunted our home, possessed by a song
The first song I wrote is the one she loved best
A simpler melody doesn’t exist
Not a song for the ages, or a song to charm stones
“Lola’s Song” was for her ears alone
I left my wife for a song
She left to prove I was gone.
[19 Don’t Look, Don’t Listen]
[20 Remedios Caseros Para Un Corazón Herido]
Felis:
At night my mama gathers aloe leaves
And makes the Sign of the Cross
The book that’s on her shelf lets me know
That she has also suffered loss
“Remedios Caseros Para Un Corazón Herido”
At night my mama gathers aloe leaves
And makes the Sign of the Cross
She makes wishes on my eyelashes
She hopes a girl broke my heart
“Remedios Caseros Para Un Corazón Herido”
The wound she wants to heal
Her remedies can’t fix
The son she wants to help is gone
A stranger in her home
Becoming someone else
Sirens:
Ooh
END ACT TWO, INTERMISSION
ACT THREE
[21 During a Solar Eclipse, What Happens?]
Sirens (voice over, spoken):
During a solar eclipse, what happens?
The Earth, Moon, and Sun are aligned.
The Earth, Moon, and Sun form a straight line.
Up floods the light from the bottom of the world
Up floods the water…
The Moon pulls up, the Earth tugs back
Advantage, Moon!
The Moon pulls up with the Sun behind her
Their conglomerate gravity lifting the river
Geysers shoot six feet through the lacy rocks– you’ll soon see them, folks
Our grotto becomes a concert hall, with echoes eerie and familiar
Count down and swoon!
Count down and cower
Can you hear the rising water?
Night is falling all around us
Quiet your hearts, and listen.
[22 The Nocturnal Migration of Birds]
[23 Sister and Brother]*
Sufferers:
We came into the world like brother and brother
Sister and sister
Sister and brother
And now let’s go hand in hand, not one before another
[24 Felisberto, Where Are You?]
Angela:
Felis! Felisberto! Felisberto! Where are you?
[25 The Siren Song]
Sirens:
Sleep my baby
Sleep my darling child
Sleep my baby
The night is warm and mild
All is failure
All is despair
Solid to void
All is failure
All is despair
Solid to void
Sleep without rising
Die without dying
Come
Come into the water
Dive into our arms
Where nothing can threaten you
Nothing loves you
Nothing remains
Solid to void
Sleep, my baby
Sleep, my darling child
Sleep, my baby
Ooh
[26 The Vortical Song II]
Angela:
Wake up
Wake up
Wake up Felis
Nadia:
Wake up, beloved
George:
Draw breath
Surface
All sufferers:
Come home to us
Come back to us
Wake up
Wake up
Wake up!
All Sufferers:
Just don’t give up
Draw breath
Surface
Surface
Draw breath
Wake up
Don’t despair
Don’t despair
Sirens:
All is failure
All is despair
Nothing loves you
Nothing remains
All Sufferers:
Don’t dive
Don’t dive headfirst into the pool
Don’t fly off the handle
Don’t dive
Don’t dive headfirst into the pool
Into the pool
Don’t despair
Sirens:
Sleep
Sleep
All Sufferers:
Our hands are a ladder
Our voices make the door
Sister and brother
Come back to the world
Sirens:
All is failure
All is despair
Nothing loves you
Nothing remains
All Sufferers:
Come back to the world
Hand over hand
Hand over hand
We’ll climb home
[27 Are You Someone They Sing To? II]
Felis:
Were you women before this?
Were your lives snapped from their stalks
In a cruel early frost?
Were you human like I am?
Did the red sun leap inside you
Near a river that glowed pink with sky?
Are you sisters?
Are you prisoners here?
Have you forgotten how to fly?
Did you know joy?
Did it spill into a song?
Did you laugh when your bare toes sank into warm mud?
Do you remember the rain?
How it falls cold and green on your skin
How April feels like the beginning of the world?
Did you love someone and lose them?
Do you ache to hold them again?
Is your heart bruised from within
Like I am?
Am I one of you?
Are you one of me?
Am I one of you?
Angela (joining):
Are you one of me?
Nadia (joining):
Am I one of you?
Are you one of me?
All Sufferers:
Am I one of you?
Are you one of me?
[28 Reunion]
One by one, single voices lift in song, merging together
[29 Three Birds]
BLACKOUT
* “Sister and Brother” lyrics adapted from Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors