My Life: Act Five// The Stranger

Scene One: Bobby launches a mask initiative selling masks to support refugees in the Greek Islands of Lesvos.

My Life: Act Five// Sometimes a Fantasy

Scene Two: Laura caves and calls James

Laura

I didn’t want to do it but I got too lonely
I had to call you up in the middle of the night
I know it’s awful hard to try to make love long distance
But I really needed stimulation
Though it was only my imaginationIt’s just a fantasy
It’s not the real thing
It’s just a fantasy
It’s not the real thing
But sometimes a fantasy
Is all you needWhen am I gonna take control get a hold of my emotions
Why does it only seem to hit me in the middle of the night
You told me there’s a number I can always dial for assistance
I don’t want to deal with outside action
Only you can give me satisfactionIt’s just a fantasy
It’s not the real thing
It’s just a fantasy
It’s not the real thing
But sometimes a fantasy
Is all you need

My Life: Act Five//Laura

Scene Four: Sung by James lamenting over the lame parts of being on campus and caught in between wanting to see her.

My Life: Act Five//She’s Always a Woman To Me

Scene Five: While lamenting over Laura, James finds that he has all the while walked all the way to her dorm room. He is met with Laura asleep on the floor whilst making a 2020 version of We Didn’t Start the Fire. Remembering why he liked her in the first place, James carries Laura into bed and sings She’s Always a Woman To Me.

James

She can kill with a smile, she can wound with her eyes

And she can ruin your faith with her casual lies

And she only reveals what she wants you to see

She hides like a child but she’s always a woman to me

She can lead you to love, she can take you or leave you

She can ask for the truth but she’ll never believe you

And she’ll take what you give her as long as it’s free

Yeah she steals like a thief but she’s always a woman to me

Oh, she takes care of herself, she can wait if she wants

She’s ahead of her time

Oh, and she never gives out and she never gives in

She just changes her mind

And she’ll promise you more than the garden of Eden

Then she’ll carelessly cut you and laugh while you’re bleeding

But she brings out the best and the worst you can be

Blame it all on yourself ’cause she’s always a woman to me

Oh, she takes care of herself, she can wait if she wants

She’s ahead of her time

Oh, and she never gives out and she never gives in

She just changes her mind

She is frequently kind and she’s suddenly cruel

But she can do as she pleases, she’s nobody’s fool

And she can’t be convicted, she’s earned her degree

And the most she will do is throw shadows at you

But she’s always a woman to me

My Life: Act Five//And So It Goes

Scene Six: Laura wakes up back in her bed and responds to James’s She’s Always a Woman To Me with And So it Goes.

Laura

In every heart there is a room

A sanctuary safe and strong

To heal the wounds from lovers past

Until a new one comes along

I spoke to you in cautious tones

You answered me with no pretense

And still I feel I said too much

My silence is my self defense

And every time I’ve held a rose

It seems I only felt the thorns

And so it goes, and so it goes

And so will you soon I suppose

But if my silence made you leave

Then that would be my worst mistake

So I will share this room with you

And you can have this heart to break

And this is why my eyes are closed

It’s just as well for all I’ve seen

And so it goes, and so it goes

And you’re the only one who knows

So I would choose to be with you

That’s if the choice were mine to make

But you can make decisions too

And you can have this heart to break

And so it goes, and so it goes

And you’re the only one who knows

My Life: Act Five//Allentown

Scene Seven: Realizing she has snoozed through her West Wing alarm and is almost late for work, Laura makes a mad dash across campus! She is relieved her boss isn’t angry, in spite of her perpetually running three minutes late. Virginia invites her and James over to her home to make pumpkin bread and tells Laura about what Waterville was once like back as a mill town. 

Virgina

Well we’re living here in Allentown

And they’re closing all the factories down

Out in Bethlehem they’re killing time

Filling out forms

Standing in line

Well our fathers fought the Second World War

Spent their weekends on the Jersey Shore

Met our mothers in the USO

Asked them to dance

Danced with them slow

And we’re living here in Allentown

But the restlessness was handed down

And it’s getting very hard to stay

Laura:

Well we’re waiting here in Allentown

For the Pennsylvania we never found

For the promises our teachers gave

If we worked hard

If we behaved

James

So the graduations hang on the wall

But they never really helped us at all

No they never taught us what was real

Iron and coke

And chromium steel

And we’re waiting here in Allentown

Virgina

Every child had a pretty good shot

To get at least as far as their old man got

But something happened on the way to that place

They threw an American flag in our face

James

Well I’m living here in Allentown

And it’s hard to keep a good man down

But I won’t be getting up today

And it’s getting very hard to stay

And we’re living here in Allentown

My Life: Act Five//Where’s The Orchestra

Scene Eight: Discouraged about her musical and the future of Broadway, Laura daydreams about the show to empty, socially distanced seats.

Laura

Where’s the orchestra?

Wasn’t this supposed to be a musical?

Here I am

In the balcony,

How the hell could I have missed the overture?

I like the scenery

Even though, I have absolutely no, idea at all,

What is being said, despite the dialogue,

There’s the leading man

The movie star who never faced an audience

Where’s the orchestra?

After all, this is my big night on the town

My introduction to the theatre crowd

I assumed that the show would have a song

So I was wrong

At least I understand

All the innuendo and the irony

And I appreciate,

The roles the actors played

The point the author made

And after the closing lines,

And after the curtain calls,

The curtain falls

On empty chairs,

Where’s the orchestra?