ZACH
Again...Step, kick, kick, leap, kick, touch...
Again...Step, kick, kick, leap, kick, touch...
Again...Step, kick, kick, leap, kick, touch...
Again...Step, kick, kick, leap, kick, touch...
Right!
That connects with turn, turn out
In touch, step,
Step, kick, kick, leap, kick, touch...
Got it? Going on, turn, turn, touch down,
Back step, pivot step, walk, walk, walk!
Right, let's do the whole combination Facing away from the mirror
From the top! a-Five, six, seven, eight!

ALL
God, I hope I get it, I hope I get it!
How many people does he need? How many people does he need?
God, I hope I get it! I hope I get it!
How may boys, how many girls
How many boys, how many...
Look at all the people, at all the people
How many people does he need? How many boys, how many girls?
How many people does he ...

MAGGIE
I really need this job
Please, God, I need this job!
I've got to get this job!

ZACH
Stage left, boys.
Let's do the ballet combination
First group of girls, second group to follow.
One, two, three, four, five, six...

AL
God, I really blew it, I really blew it!
How could I do a thing like that? How could I do a thing like ...?
Now, I'll never make it
I'll never make it!
He doesn't like the way I look.
He doesn't like the way I dance.
He doesn't like the way I...
[Instrumental]

ZACH
All right, let me see the boys.
The whole group. Ready, A-five, six, seven, eight!
[Instrumental]
Okay, Girls, A-five, six, seven, eight!
[Instrumental]

AL
God, I think I've got it, I think I've got it!
I knew he liked me all the time
What's coming next? What's happening now?
Still it isn't over
I've gotta imagine what he wants it isn't over
I've gotta imagine what he does
God, I hope I get it, I hope I get it!
I've come this far, but even so: It could be yes, it could be no.
How many people does he...?
I really need this job
Please, God, I need this job I've got to get this show.

PAUL
Who am I anyway? Am I my resume?
That is a picture of a person I don't know.
What does he want from me?
What should I try to be?
So many faces all around and here we go,
I need this job Oh God, I need this show.

 

 

 

 

BOYS
One
Singular sensation
Ev'ry little step she takes
One
Thrilling combination
Ev'ry move that she makes
One smile and suddenly nobody else will do
You know you'll never be lonely
With you-know-who
One moment in her presence
And you can forget the rest,
For the girl is second best to none, son.
Ooooh! Sigh! Give her your attention
Do I really have to mention, she's the one?

BOYS
She walks into a room and you know

GIRLS
She's uncommonly rare, very unique,
Peripatetic, Poetic and chic.

ALL
She walks into a room and you know
From her maddening poise, effortless whirl,
She's the special girl strolling,
can't help all of her qualities extolling loaded with charisma is ma jauntily ,sauntering,ambling,shambler,one, and
you know you must shuffle along,join the parade she's the quintessence of making the grade this is whatcha call trav'ling
oh strut you stuff!
can't get enough! ohh! sigh! give her your attention do I really have to mention she's the one!
Can't help all of her qualities extolling.
Loaded with charisma is ma jauntily,
Sauntering, ambling, shambler.
She walks into a room and you know
You must shuffle along, join the parade
She's the quintessence of making the grade.
This is whatcha call trav'lling!
Oh, strut your stuff!
Can't get enough of her.
Love her!
I'm a son of a gun, she is one of a kind.

BOYS and GIRLS
One She walks into a room
singular sensation And you know
Ev'ry little step she takes She's uncommonly rare, very unique,
Peripatetic, Poetic and chic.

One She walks into a room
Thrilling combination And you know from her
Ev'ry move that she makes Maddening poise, effortless whirl,
She's the special girl
One smile and suddenly Strolling,
Nobody else will do Can't help all of her qualities
You know you'll never be lonely Extolling.
With you-know-who Loaded with charisma is ma jauntily,
Sauntering, ambling, shambler.
One moment in her presence She walks into a room and you know you must
And you can forget the rest, Shuffle along, join the parade
She's the quintessence of making the grade.
For the girl is second best This is whatcha call trav'lling!
To none, son. Oh, strut your stuff!
Can't get enough--
Ooooh! Sigh! Of
Give her your attention. Her,
Do I really have to mention, Love her!
She's the I'm a son of a gun, she is one of a
One? Kind.

ALL
One
Singular sensation
Ev'ry little step she takes
One
Thrilling combination
Ev'ry move that she makes
One smile and suddenly nobody else will do
You know you'll never be lonely
With you-know-who.
One moment in her presence
And you can forget the rest,
For the girl is second best to none, son.
Ooooh! Sigh! Give her your attention.
Do I really have to mention,
She's the...
She's the...
She's the one!

 

 

 

 

VAL
...But after a while I caught on...I mean, I saw what they were
hiring! I also swiped my dance card once after an audition, and on a scale
of ten, they gave me for dance: TEN, for looks : THREE! Well!
Dance Ten, Looks Three
And I'm still on unemployment,
Dancing for my own enjoyment.
That ain't it, kid! That ain't it, kid!
Dance Ten, Looks Three
Is like to die!
Left the theater and called the doctor
For my appointment to buy...
Tits and ass
Bought myself a fancy pair
Tightened up the derriere
Did the nose with it
All that goes with it
Tits and ass!
Had the bingo-bongos done.
Suddenly I'm getting
National tours!
Tits and ass won't get you jobs,
Unless they're yours!
Didn't cost a fortune neither.
Didn't hurt my sex life either!
Flat and sassy
I would get the strays and losers,
Beggars really can't be choosers.
That ain't it, kid! That ain't it, kid!
Fix the chasssi,
'How do you do!'
Life turned into an endless medley of
'Gee, it had to be you.'
Why?
Tits and ass
Where the cupboard once was bare
Now you knock and someone's there
You have got 'em, hey!
Top to bottom, hey!
It's a gas!
Just a dash of silicone.
Shake your new maracas and your fine!
Tits and ass can change your life,
They sure changed mine!
Have it all done!
Honey, take my word.
Grab a cab, c'mon
See the wizard on
Park and Seventy-Third
For tits and ass.
Orchestra and balcony.
What they want is whatcha see.
Keep the best of you,
Do the rest of you.
Pits or class, I have never seen it fail,
Debutante or chorus girl or wife.
Tits and ass, yes, tits and ass
Have changed my life!

 

 

Diana
I'm so excited because I'm gonna go to the High School of Performing Arts, I mean I was dying to be a serious actress. Anyway, it's our first day acting class and we're in the auditorium and the teacher, Mr. Karp,
puts us upon the stage with our legs around everybody, one in back of the other, and he says: 'Okay, we're gonna do improvisations...Now, you're on a bobsled and it's snowing out and it's cold... Okay, go!'

Ev'ryday for a week we would try to feel the motion,
Feel the motion down the hill.
Ev'ry day for a week we would try to hear the wind rush
Hear the wind rush, feel the chill
And I dug right down to the bottom of my soul
To see what I had inside.
Yes, I dug right down to the bottom of my soul
And I tried, I tried!
And everybody's goin' 'Woosh... woosh ...
I feel the snow, I feel the cold,
I feel the air...'
And Mr. Karp turns to me and he says:
'Okay, Morales, what did you feel?'
And I said...
'Nothing, I'm feeling nothing,'
And he says 'Nothing could get a girl transferred.'
They all felt something,
But I felt nothing
Except the feelin' that this bullshit was absurd!
But I said to myself,
'Hey, it's only the first week. Maybe it's genetic,
They don't have bobsleds in San Juan!'

Second week, more advanced,
And we had to be a table,
Be a sportscar, Ice-cream cone.
Mister Karp, he would say,
'Very good, except Morales.
Try, Morales, all alone.'
And I dug right down to the bottom of my soul
To see how an ice cream felt...
Yes, I dug right down to the bottom of my soul
And I tried to melt!
The kids yelled,
'Nothing!'
They called me 'Nothing'
And Karp allowed it, which really makes me burn.
They were so helpful, they called me 'Hopeless',
Until I really didn't know where else to turn.
And Karp kept saying,
'Morales, I think you should transfer to Girl's High,
You'll never be an actress, Never!'
Jesus Christ!

Went to church, praying, Santa Maria,
Send me guidance,
Send me guidance on my knees.
Went to church praying, Santa Maria,
Help me feel it,
Help me feel it pretty please.
And a voice from down at the bottom of my soul
Came up to the top of my head,
And a voice from down at the bottom of my soul,
Here is what it said,
'This man is nothing! This course is nothing!
If you want something go find a better class.
And when you find one You'll be an actress.'
And I assure you that's what fin'lly came to pass
Six months later I heard that Karp had died.
And I dug right down to the bottom of my soul and cried--
'Cause I felt nothing...

 

 

SHEILA
Daddy always thought that he married beneath him
That's what he said, that's what he said.
When he proposed he informed my mother
He was probably her very last chance.
And though she was twenty-two,
Though she was twenty-two,
Though she was twenty-two--
She married him.
Life with my dad wasn't ever a picnic
More like a "Come as you are."
When I was five I remember my mother
Dug earrings out of the car
I knew they weren't hers
But it wasn't something you'd wanna discuss
He wasn't warm, well, not to her ... well, not to us
But ev'rything was beautiful at the ballet.
Graceful men lift lovely girls in white.
Yes, ev'rything was beautiful at ballet,
Hey! I was happy at the ballet.
That's why I started ballet class

SHEILA and BEBE
Up a steep and very narrow stairway
To the voice like a metronome
Up a steep and very narrow stairway
It wasn't paradise, it wasn't paradise,
It wasn't paradise, but it was home.

BEBE
Mother always said I'd be very attractive
When I grew up, when I grew up
"Diff'rent," she said,
"With a special something
And a very, very personal flair."
And though I was eight or nine,
Though I was eight or nine,
Though I was eight or nine,
I hated her.
Now, "diff'rent" is nice, but it sure isn't pretty.
"Pretty" is what it's about.
I never met anyone who was "diff'rent"
Who couldn't figure that out.
So beautiful I'd never lived to see.
But it was clear, if not to her,
Well then to me!

BEBE and MAGGIE
That ev'ryone is beautiful at the ballet.
Ev'ry prince has got to have his swan.
Yes, ev'ryone is beautiful at the ballet,
Hey! I was pretty

SHEILA
At the ballet

SHEILA BEBE and MAGGIE
Up a steep and very narrow stairway
To the voice like a metronome
Up a steep and very narrow stairway
It wasn't paradise,
it wasn't paradise,
It wasn't paradise, but it was home.

MAGGIE
I don't know what they were for or against, really! Except each
other! I mean, I was born to save their marriage. But when my father
came to pick My mother up at the hospital, he said, "Well, I thought
this was going to help But I guess it's not." Anyway, I did have a
fantastic fantasy life I used to dance around the living room with
my arms up like this. My fantasy was that it was an Indian chief and
he'd say to me, "Maggie, do you wanna dance?" And I'd say,
"Daddy, I would love to dance!"

SHEILA, BEBE and MAGGIE
Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo
But it was clear when he proposed
That I was born to help their marriage and when
That's what he said,
That's what she said,
I used to dance around the living room
He wasn't warm, not to her

MAGGIE
It was an Indian chief and he said
"Maggie, do you wanna dance?"
And I said, "Daddy, I would love to."
Ev'rything was beautiful at the ballet.
Raise your arms and someone's always there
Yes, ev'rything was beautiful at the ballet
At the ballet... At the ballet...


SHEILA, BEBE and MAGGIE
Yes ev'rything was beautiful at the ballet
Hey!
I was pretty
I was happy
"I would love to..."
At the ballet.

 

 

 

 

Cassie:
...Only knowing what I do is to point my toes and lip.
I... Oh,Zach...
I'm a dancer.
That's what I am.
What I do... Ah...
Zach- Cassie...

Cassie:
I...I am a dancer,
Give me the step.
I'll come thtough.

Give me somebody
to dance for.
Give me somebody
to show.
Let me wake up
in the morning
to find I've somewhere
exciting to go.

Zach:
For Christ's sake! How can I put you
in the line? Don't you fit that you too God
damn good?
Cassie:
You bet I am! That I'm so good that I
can dance anyway you want me to!

Let me dance for you
Let me try.
Let me dance for you.
We made a lot of music-dancing
You and I.

Zach:
We? 'Talking about us?
Cassie:
No! I'm talking about a job! I haven't
working to, over a year.

Please give me an answer.
Give me a place
To begin.

I... I am a dancer.
I have come home!
Let me in.
Give me somebody
to dance with.
Give me somebody
to be!
Let me wake up
and feel entirely proud
that the girl
in the mirror,
is me!

Let me dance for you
Let me try.
Let me dance for you.
We made a lot of music-dancing
You and I.

Let me dance for you
Let me try.
Let me dance for you.
We made a lot of music-dancing
You and I...

Zach:
CASSIE!...
All right. Go with the others to learn the
lyrics. We'll see..