All the World's a Stage

(note: this version of the work if for performance with directions for an assistant to interact with singer)

They say that all the world’s a stage
And all we men and women merely players
We make our entrances and exits
In costumes, masks, and layers

I know it’s an ensemble endeavor
But in my mind’s eye I’m the leading role
Interacting with other cast and crew
Who are merely there to suit my goals

(Assistant enters and gets in singer’s way, they bump around during this part)

Yet this doesn’t seem to work out so well
Playing off different scripts and pages
Running around in chaos and conflict
With our various daily engages

Um…uh…

(Singer feigns forgetting lines – Assistant shows singer the script here)

I should put in more time to rehearse
I should have I learned all of my lines
I seem to deliver them all mixed up
Or speak them at the wrong times

My life is a melodrama and a mystery
My actions fail to follow dramatic laws
Foreshadowing leaves me in the dark
But you can see my epic of tragic flaws

(chorus)

Oh tell me how can my story change —
Must I seek out a brand new author?
How do I hit every mark and beat —
Just where is the damn director?
Tell me how does this all pay off?
I’d like to speak to the producer!
Oh, tell me how will I make it through
When all the world’s a stage?

I’m tired of being down on my fortune
In days played out like a tragedy
Entangled in some kind of heavy plot
Where the gods are all against me

When I make a request for another genre
And get a chance break at comedy

(Assistant delivers a pie pan to face)

I find myself with pie in the face

Because the jokes are all on me

When I have a rare romantic adventure

(Assistant takes singers arm romantically)

The affair has such dramatic irony
Because the audience unlike me knows
It’s a case of mistaken identity

(Assistant shrieks & pushes singer away)

I’m always running in my rising action
And in my climax I take such tumbles
I’d prefer some happy resolutions
Than all these ones that leave me troubled

My narratives are knotted up with twists
And elements come back to haunt me

(Assistant creeps in and goes BOO! Giving singer a startle – then exits)

I wish I knew more about structure
And argh, I wish I had a better theme

Cancel the regular production!
But fill up all the seats!
Give me a spot light center stage!
I want to deliver a soliloquy!

It may not be perfect or speak in poetic verse
Using rhyme, rhythm or symmetry
I may not be much of a spectacle
But I want to redefine what we see!

I’m not a flat, stock, or static character
That will work within conventions,

(Assistant enters in godly white beard)

So don’t you dare just try to solve up my life
With some kind divine intervention!

"There will be no deus ex machina for me!"

(singer pushes the god-like character away)

Call me a fool, a nothing, a zero,
Cast me as king, or even a hero
Let me be speak open let me be grand
And if I should fall please lend me your hand

I’d like to break through the fourth wall
And do something so outrageously absurd
But the critics’ pens are sharp and ready
To pounce on every action and every word

(Assistant “stabs” singer with a pen)

Gasp! Et tu (singer says the name of assistant)?

Et tu?? Oh…The pen is truly mightier than the sword! This is the harshest review I have ever received!

(Singer feigns a long dramatic death, before living once more to sing finale)

I just want to experience catharsis
And there doesn’t have to be unity,
Just something more than a fleeting moment,
But a lasting feeling of true ecstasy!