Rock Script 1/29
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Rock Around the Clock! 100 Years of Rock n’ Roll History! ! ! ! ! CAST:! CAST:! CAST:! ! Lana! Duke Ellington Diana Ross! ! Ria! Robert Johnson! Buddy Holly! ! Friend 1! Ray Charles! The Big Bopper! ! Friend 2! Beatles:! Ritchie Valens! ! (Teacher/ Class)! John, Paul, George, (Hippies)! ! Elvis Presley*! Ringo! Hippie #1! ! (Prisoners)! Chuck Berry! Hippie #2! ! Lead Prisoner 1&2! Little Richard! Joey Ramone! ! Lead Belly! Wanda Jackson! Tommy Ramone! ! Jimmie Rodgers! Bill Haley! ! ! Trixie Smith! The Coasters (4)! Stage Manager! ! Robert Palmer*! Fats Domino Curtain Engineer ! ! SET:! • 2-4 Pedestals for statues! • Standing Arch with big sign [ROCK n’ ROLL MUSEUM] with working door/ OPEN/CLOSED sign.! !• Risers! ! ! ACT ONE - SCENE ONE - INTRO! Class and teacher are at the last exhibit of the ROCK AND ROLL MUSEUM. As the teacher is lining !the kids up to leave she takes a head count. After she counts the last student! [CURTAIN]! Music starts and curtain opens: I LOVE ROCK AND ROLL! Students roam around the stage chatting and looking at an Elvis statue on a pedestal. ! TEACHER: ! [The second the music stops -shouting] C’mon class! We need to shake a leg or we will miss the bus!! Teacher leads the class towards the exit.! TEACHER: !Alright students, partner up -PARTNER-UP!! Students start lining up and joining their partners, teacher assists. Students and teacher’s backs are to the statue! ELVIS !! [statue sings and thrusts his pelvis] [Sung] Well it’s one for the money! No one notices but LANA! LANA:! [nudges his/her friend] Hey! Did you see that?! RIA: ! See what? You’re so weird, just listen to the teacher will you?!! ELVIS: ! [Sung and moves to the beat] Two for the show!! Still, no one notices. LANA walks over to ELVIS,! LANA: !SEE! Did you see it then? Did you hear it? Elvis just moved!! FRIEND: ! Seriously? you’re losing it. ! [Teacher and class exit the museum, LANA, RIA, FRIEND, stay behind]! RIA: !! Yea, you didn’t even pay attention to anything on this trip, I’m surprised you even ! know his name!! FRIEND: ! See you on the bus [runs out of the museum]! !ELVIS: ! [Sung] Three to get ready now GO CAT GO!! LANA grabs RIA and runs over to ELVIS as his/her class exits the museum. ! LANA: ! [Shouts at Elvis] Hey, YOU!! ELVIS: ! … [stays frozen]! LANA: !I heard you sing. I saw you dance! Are you alive?! RIA:! [turns to LANA Are you crazy?! LANA:![Pokes Elvis’s shoulder] C’mon man, say it again! [Turns to RIA] I’m NOT crazy!! !Stage Manager- turns the OPEN sign to CLOSED and slams the door.! !After the door closes RIA notices and runs over to open the door and it’s locked.! ELVIS:!! Hey Mama! I noticed your ride left ya.! RIA:! [turns toward the door] OH NO! The bus?! … [Runs for the door then stops, pauses, take a long curious look at Elvis]! LANA:![Excitedly!] You CAN talk!? ! ELVIS:!Listen partner, I know you’re all shook up! I can talk, and you can walk… and there is only ONE way out of this museum. You’ve got to go back to the beginning and learn about Rock and Roll. ! LANA: !I already know all about Rock and Roll!! RIA:! [shoves LANA] NO YOU DON’T - You were talking and fooling around all day.! LANA!:!Noooooo - I am an expert on Rock n’ Roll!! ELVIS:!! Oh yea?! Then who’s THE KING?! HI - YA![kicks a high karate kick and strikes a karate pose]! LANA!:!Uh? What? I don’t get it.! RIA:! [bows head and shakes it in disappointment] ! ELVIS: ! [Disappointingly] Oh boy. The Exit is closed [points to the door] You have to go back to the entrance - that way! [points to the door] Don’t be lonesome tonight, my friends will keep you company. ! RIA: !Thanks Elvis!! ELVIS: !I should mention, that my friends are a little upset that you weren’t paying atten- tion to!day. They will probably want to educate you on 100 years of Rock n’ Roll History before they let you leave!! RIA:!Oh brother…! !ELVIS: !Thank you, Thank you very much! ![CURTAIN] REMOVE ALL SCENERY - 4th Grade Prisoners take the stage! [In front of curtain -LANA/RIA at STAGE RIGHT walking across to STAGE LEFT]! LANA:![walking] I wonder who we’ll meet first! This is exciting.! RIA:!You’re ridiculous - First off, you should know who we’ll meet first! It was the first exhibit?! LANA:![Shrugs]! RIA: ! Uh, the early blues - call and response sung by prisoners on the chain gang? I can’t believe I am stuck here with you. My mom is probably worried sick! ! ![Drags LANA off stage]! ! ! SCENE TWO - BLUES! !SONGS: I’ve Been Working On the Railroad, Rock Island Line, In the Jailhouse Now, Jailhouse Rock! ![2 chairs stage RIGHT]! [CURTAIN]! 4th grade prisoners (Teachers are prison guards) with “pick axes” chopping at the ground in time ! [UP DOWN UP DOWN]! LEAD PRISONER: [Chanting] I’ve been working on the railroad.! 4th grade CHAIN GANG: [Respond] I’ve been working on the railroad.! LEAD PRISONER: [Chanting] All the live long day.! 4th grade CHAIN GANG: [Respond] All the live long day.! !GUARDs/TEACHER: I CAN’T HEAR YOU!! [A Capella] I’ve been workin' on the railroad, Just to pass the time away.! !!Don't you hear the whistle blowing? Rise up so early in the morn.! !!Don't you hear the captain shouting, "Dinah, blow your horn?”! Dinah won't you blow, Dinah won’t you blow, Dinah won’t you blow your horn,! Dinah won't you blow, Dinah won’t you blow, Dinah won’t you blow your horn!! Someone’s in the kitchen with Dinah, someone’s in the kitchen I know,! ! Someone’s in the kitchen with Dinah! Strummin’ on the ole banjo!! Chain Gang continues “working” without singing.! [LANA/RIA walk on-stage]! RIA:!!Look! The prisoners! ! (LANA/RIA sit in chairs)! LEAD PRISONER: [Steps out to the front] In the 1800s, Americans could hear slave and prison work songs contained elements of spiritual music. Spirituals are an important relative of the blues; and the although we don’t know an exact date when the blues began, we do know that it is the earliest root of Rock and Roll!! Many of these blues elements, such as the call-and-response format, can be traced back to the music of Africa.! LEAD PRISONER 2: In the 1950s, there was a musical earthquake called Rock & Roll that shook everything up. But this exciting music didn’t happen overnight, it was actually centuries in the making. Ancient Rhythms from Africa first game to America on slave ships hundreds of years earlier. Lyrical melodies trailed from Europe to this country with immigrants. Gradually, in the south and southwest of America, where people from these different backgrounds heard each other’s musical tradi- tions, the rhythms and melodies merged.! LEAD PRISONER: So by the early 20th century, rhythmic call-and-response gospel echoed in Alabama churches, blues rang out in Mississippi cotton fields, country & western shook the rafters in Texas dance halls, banjo and fiddle fueled folk songs soared across the Appalachian mountaintops, and rhythm & blues set toes a-tappin’ in Chicago hot-spots.! LEAD PRISONER 2: The songs that you will hear tonight were made popular by the legendary founders of Rock & Roll. You will meet them, hear their stories, and learn how they worked together to help make Rock & Roll the music of a generation!! ! LEAD PRISONER: The first important figure in Rock n’ Roll History is a guy who has been his- torically referenced as an early influence to Rock!! Leadbelly with acoustic guitar OR ukulele walks on the stage! LEAD BELLY:!Hello, I’m Huddie William Ledbetter but everybody calls me LEAD BELLY. I am a Blues and Folk songwriter and musician. My music covered a wide range of top- ics, including gospel; blues about women, liquor, prison life, and racism; and folk songs about cowboys, prison, work, sailors, cattle herding, and dancing.! In 1988 I was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as an early influence to Rock and Roll. My songs tell stories and mix blues with folk and country style music. I’ve influenced songwriters from John Lennon to Kurt Cobain.! !!Please join me in a song. [ 4th grade take risers]! LEAD BELLY & CHAIN GANG (Sing): !! ! On the Rock Island Line, there's a mighty good road On the Rock Island Line, it's a road to ride On the Rock Island Line, there's a mighty good road If you want to ride, you gotta ride it like you find it !Get your ticket at the station on the Rock Island Line Yes, the A B C -W X Y Z !Cats in the cupboard but they can't see me On the Rock Island Line, it's a mighty good road On the Rock Island Line, it's a road to ride On the Rock Island Line, it's a mighty good road If you want to ride, you gotta ride it like you find it !Get your ticket at the station on the Rock Island Line I may be right and I may be wrong !You know you’re gonna miss me when I'm gone On the Rock Island Line, there's a mighty good road On the Rock Island Line, it's a road to ride On the Rock Island Line, there's a mighty good road If you want to ride, you gotta ride it like you find it ! Get your ticket at the station on the Rock Island Line Another “man” walks in with an acoustic guitar! JIMMIE RODGERS: Howdy Ya’ll Jailbirds and Little Kids, I’m the singing brakeman, Jimmy Rodgers.