YVONNE: That is not entirely true. Jules has great respect for George. And he has encouraged him since they were in school.
DOT: That is not what I hear. Jules is jealous of George now.
YVONNE (Beat): Well ... jealousy is a form of flattery, is it not? I have been jealous of you on occasion.
(DOT looks surprised)
When I have seen George drawing you in the park. Jules has rarely sketched me.
DOT: You are his wife.
YVONNE (Uncomfortable): Too flat. Too angular.
DOT: Modeling is hard work. You wouldn’t like it anyway.
YVONNE: It is worth it, don’t you think?
DOT: Sometimes ...
YVONNE: Has your life changed much now that you are with the baker?
DOT: I suppose. He enjoys caring for me.
YVONNE: You are very lucky. Oh, I suppose Jules cares — but there are times when he just does not know Louise and I are there. George always seems so oblivious to everyone.
(Lowers her voice)
Jules says that is what is wrong with his painting. Too obsessive. You have to have a life! Don’t you agree?
(DOT nods)
JULES: George ... I do not know what to say. What is this?
GEORGE: What is the dominant color? The flower on the hat?
JULES: Is this a school exam, George?
GEORGE: What is that color?
JULES (Bored): Violet.
(GEORGE takes him by the hand and moves him closer to the canvas)
GEORGE: See? Red and blue. Your eye made the violet.
JULES: So?
GEORGE: So, your eye is perceiving both red and blue and violet. Only eleven colors — no black — divided, not mixed on the palette, mixed by the eye. Can’t you see the shimmering?
JULES: George ...
GEORGE: Science, Jules. Fixed laws for color, like music.
JULES: You are a painter, not a scientist! You cannot even see these faces!
GEORGE: I am not painting faces! I am —
JULES: George! I have touted your work in the past, and now you are embarrassing me! People are talking —
GEORGE: Why should I paint like you or anybody else? I am trying to get through to something new. Something that is my own.
JULES: And I am trying to understand.
GEORGE: And I want you to understand. Look at the canvas, Jules. Really look at it.
JULES: George! Let us get to the point. You have invited me here because you want me to try to get this included in the next group show.
GEORGE (Beat — embarrassed): It will be finished soon. I want it to be seen.
(YVONNE, who has been eavesdropping at the studio door, leans into the room)
YVONNE: Jules, I am sorry to interrupt, but we really must be going. You know we have an engagement.
JULES: Yes.
YVONNE: Thank you, George.
JULES: Yes. Thank you.
GEORGE: Yes. Thank you for coming.
JULES: I will give the matter some thought.
(They exit. GEORGE stands motionless for a moment staring at the canvas, then dives into his work, painting the girls)
GEORGE: He does not like you. He does not understand or appreciate you. He can only see you as everyone else does. Afraid to take you apart and put you back together again for himself. But we will not let anyone deter us, will we?
(Hums)
Bumbum bum bumbumbum bumbum —
DOT (Calling to him): George!
(GEORGE, embarrassed, crosses in front of canvas. He begins to speak. DOT tries to interrupt him)
GEORGE:
Excuse me — speaking with DOT: Jules about the painting — well, You asked me to stay, George, I just picked up my brushes — and then you forget that I am I do not believe he even looked even here. George! at the painting, though —
DOT: I have something to tell you.
GEORGE: Yes. Now, about “your” painting —
DOT: I may be going away.
(Beat)
To America.
GEORGE: Alone.
DOT: Of course not! With Louis. He has work.
GEORGE: When?
DOT: After the baby arrives.
GEORGE: You will not like it there.
DOT: How do you know?
GEORGE (Getting angry): I have read about America. Why are you telling me this? First, you ask for a painting that is not yours — then you tell me this.
(Beginning to return to the studio)
I have work to do.
(Chord; music continues under)
DOT: Yes, George, run to your work. Hide behind your painting. I have come to tell you I am leaving because I thought you might care to know — foolish of me, because you care about nothing —
GEORGE: I care about many things —
DOT: Things — not people.
GEORGE: People, too. I cannot divide my feelings up as neatly as you, and I am not hiding behind my canvas — I am living in it.
DOT (Sings):
What you care for is yourself.
GEORGE: I care about this painting. You will be in this painting.
DOT:
I am something you can use.
GEORGE (Sings):
I had thought you understood.
DOT:
It’s because I understand that I left,
That I am leaving.
GEORGE:
Then there’s nothing I can say,
Is there?
DOT:
Yes, George, there is!
You could tell me not to go.
Say it to me,
Tell me not to go.
Tell me that you’re hurt,
Tell me you’re relieved,
Tell me that you’re bored —
Anything, but don’t assume I know.
Tell me what you feel!
GEORGE:
What I feel?
You know exactly how I feel.
Why do you insist
You must hear the words,
When you know I cannot give you words?
Not the ones you need.
There’s nothing to say.
I cannot be what you want.
DOT:
What do you want, George?
GEORGE:
I needed you and you left.
DOT:
There was no room for me —
GEORGE (Overriding her):
You will not accept who I am.
I am what I do —
Which you knew,
Which you always knew,
Which I thought you were a part of!
(He goes behind the canvas)
DOT:
No,
You are complete, George,
You are your own.
We do not belong together.
You are complete, George,
You are alone.
I am unfinished,
I am diminished
With or without you.
We do not belong together,
And we should have belonged together.
What made it so right together
Is what made it all wrong.
No one is you, George,
There we agree,
But others will do, George.
No one is you and
No one can be,
But no one is me, George,
No one is me.
We do not belong together.
And we’ll never belong — !
You have a mission,
A mission to see.
Now I have one too, George.
And we should have belonged together.
I have to move on.
(DOT leaves. GEORGE stops painting and comes from around the canvas. He is left standing alone onstage. The lights fade)
(The set changes back to the park scene around him. When the change is complete, he moves downstage right with the OLD LADY, and begins to draw her. They are alone, except for the cut-out of the
COMPANION, which stands towards the rear of the stage. There is a change of tone in both GEORGE and the OLD LADY. She has assumed a kind of loving attitude, soft and dreamlike. GEORGE is rather sullen in her presence)
OLD LADY (Staring across the water): I remember when you were a little boy. You would rise up early on a Sunday morning and go for a swim ...
GEORGE: I do not know how to swim.
OLD LADY: The boys would come by the house to get you ...
GEORGE: I have always been petrified of the water.
OLD LADY: And your father would walk you all to the banks of the Seine ...
GEORGE: Father was never faithful to us.
OLD LADY: And he would give you boys careful instruction, telling you just how far to swim out ...
GEORGE: And he certainly never instructed.
OLD LADY: And now, look across there — in the distance —all those beautiful trees cut down for a foolish tower.
(Music under)
GEORGE: I do not think there were ever trees there.
OLD LADY: How I loved the view from here ...
(Sings)
Changing ...
GEORGE: I am quite certain that was an open field ...
OLD LADY:
It keeps changing.
GEORGE: I used to play there as a child.
OLD LADY:
I see towers
Where there were trees.
Going,
All the stillness,
The solitude,
Georgie.
Sundays,
Disappearing
All the time,
When things were beautiful ...
GEORGE (Sings):
All things are beautiful,
Mother.
All trees, all towers,
Beautiful.
That tower —
Beautiful, Mother,
See?
(Gestures)
A perfect tree.
Pretty isn’t beautiful, Mother,
Pretty is what changes.
What the eye arranges
Is what is beautiful.
OLD LADY:
Fading ...
GEORGE:
I’m changing.
You’re changing.
OLD LADY:
It keeps fading ...
GEORGE:
I’ll draw us now before we fade, Mother.
OLD LADY:
It keeps melting
Before our eyes.
GEORGE:
You watch
While I revise the world.
OLD LADY:
Changing,
As we sit here —
Quick, draw it all,
Georgie!
OLD LADY and GEORGE:
Sundays —
OLD LADY:
Disappearing,
As we look —
GEORGE: Look! ... Look! ...
OLD LADY (Not listening, fondly):
You make it beautiful.
(Music continues)
Oh, Georgie, how I long for the old view.
(Music stops. The SOLDIER and CELESTE #2 enter arm-in-arm and promenade)
SOLDIER (Noticing his COMPANION): I am glad to be free of him.
CELESTE #2: Friends can be confining.
SOLDIER: He never understood my moods.
CELESTE #2: She only thought of herself.
(MR. and MRS. enter. He is carrying a big steamer trunk. She is carrying a number of famous paintings, framed, under her arm. They are followed by DOT, who is carrying her baby bundled in white, and LOUIS)
SOLDIER: MR.:
It felt as if I had this burden at my side. This damned island again! I do not understand why we are not goin’ straight to our boat.
CELESTE #2:
She never really cared about me. MRS.:
They wanted to come here first.
SOLDIER:
We had very different tastes.
MR.:
CELESTE #2: That much I figured out —but why? Didn’t you ask them?
She had no taste.
SOLDIER:
She did seem rather pushy. MRS.:
I don’t know.
CELESTE #2:
Very! And he was so odd.
SOLDIER: (MR. and MRS. are stopped by the SOLDIER’s line, “He is not odd”)
(Angry)
HE IS NOT ODD!
CELESTE #2: No. No, I didn’t really mean odd ...
(They exit. LOUISE runs onstage. BOATMAN rushes after her)
BOATMAN (Mutters as he chases after LOUISE): ... you better not let me get my hands on you, you little toad.
(LOUISE puts her hand over her eye and stiffens her leg in imitation of the BOATMAN. As he chases her offstage)
Now stop that!
MR.: Are we ever going to get home?!
(MR. and MRS. exit. DOT crosses downstage to GEORGE)
GEORGE (Not looking up): You are blocking my light.
DOT: Marie and I came to watch.
GEORGE (Turning towards DOT): Marie ...
(Back to his sketch pad)
You know I do not like anyone staring over my shoulder.
DOT: Yes, I know.
(She moves to another position)
George, we are about to leave for America. I have come to ask for the painting of me powdering again. I would like to take it with me.
GEORGE (He stops for a moment): Oh? I have repainted it.
(He draws)
DOT: What?
GEORGE: Another model.
DOT: You knew I wanted it.
GEORGE: Perhaps if you had remained still —
DOT: Perhaps if you would look up from your pad! What is wrong with you, George? Can you not even look at your own child?
GEORGE: She is not my child. Louis is her father.
DOT: Louis is not her father.
GEORGE: Louis is her father now. Louis will be a loving and attentive father. I cannot because I cannot look up from my pad.
(She stands speechless for a moment, then begins to walk away; GEORGE turns to her)
Dot.
(She stops)
I am sorry.
(DOT and LOUIS exit. GEORGE drawing OLD LADY)
OLD LADY: I worry about you, George.
GEORGE: Could you turn slightly toward me, please.
(She does so)
OLD LADY: No future in dreaming.
GEORGE: Drop the head a little, please.
(She does so. CELESTE #1 enters and goes to the COMPANION)
OLD LADY: I worry about you and that woman, too.
GEORGE: I have another woman in my life now.
OLD LADY: They are all the same woman.
GEORGE (Chuckles): Variations on a theme.
OLD LADY: Ah, you always drifted as a child.
GEORGE (Muttering): Shadows are too heavy.
OLD LADY: You were always in some other place — seeing something no one else could see.
GEORGE: Softer light.
(Lights dim slowly)
OLD LADY: We tried to get through to you, George. Really we did.
(GEORGE stops drawing. He looks at her. Looks at the page)
GEORGE (Laments): Connect, George.
(Trails off)
Connect ...
(FRIEDA and JULES enter. They seem to be hiding)
FRIEDA: Are you certain you wish to do this?
JULES (Uncertain): Of course. We just have to find a quiet spot. I’ve wanted to do it outside for a long time.
FRIEDA: Franz would kill you —
JULES (Panics): Is he in the park?
FRIEDA: I am not certain.
JULES: Oh. Well. Perhaps some other day would be better.
FRIEDA: Some other day? Always some other day. Perhaps you do not really wish to —
JULES (Subservient): I do. I do! I love tall grass.
FRIEDA: Ja. Tall grass. You wouldn’t toy with my affections, would you?
JULES: No. No. Of course not.
JULES (Pointing where she did, nervous): Over there. There are people in that grove —
(FRIEDA places his hand on her breast. They are interrupted by the entrance of CELESTE #2 and the SOLDIER. FRIEDA, then JULES, exits; as he leaves)
Bon jour.
SOLDIER: Do you suppose there is a violation being perpetrated by that man?
CELESTE #2: What?
SOLDIER: There is something in the air today ...
CELESTE #1 (To the COMPANION): Being alone is nothing new for me.
SOLDIER (Noticing CELESTE #1): Look who is watching us.
CELESTE #1: Sundays are such a bore. I’d almost rather be in the shop. Do you like your work? I hate mine!
CELESTE #2: I do not care if she never speaks to me again.
SOLDIER: She won’t.
(Chord. FRANZ and the NURSE enter as if to rendezvous)
YVONNE (Entering): FRANZ!
(NURSE exits. YVONNE goes to FRANZ)
Franz, have you seen Louise?
FRANZ (Angry): Nein, Madame.
YVONNE: I thought Frieda was going to care for her today.
FRANZ: But it’s Sunday.
YVONNE: What of it?
FRANZ: Our day off!
YVONNE: Oh. But I have just lost my little girl!
(FRANZ shrugs his shoulders and begins looking for LOUISE)
SOLDIER: Let’s go say hello to Celeste.
YVONNE (Calling): Louise?
CELESTE #2 (Indignant): I do not wish to speak with her!
SOLDIER: Come. It will be fun!
(SOLDIER takes CELESTE #2 toward CELESTE #1. LOUISE comes running in, breathless. She immediately goes to YVONNE’s side)
YVONNE: Louise! Where have you been, young lady?!
LOUISE: With Frieda.
YVONNE (To FRANZ): There, you see.
FRANZ: Frieda?
LOUISE: And with Father.
YVONNE: Your father is in the studio.
LOUISE: No, he’s not. He’s with Frieda. I saw them.
FRANZ: Where?
LOUISE: Over there. Tonguing.
(FRANZ exits. Music under, agitated)
Four by Sondheim Page 42