Rock N Roll History
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ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK! the history of Rock n’ Roll! ! ! ! CAST:! ! CAST:! CAST:! Lead*! ! Robert Johnson! Buddy Holly! Friend 1! ! Ray Charles! The Big Bopper! Friend 2! ! Beatles:! Ritchie Valens! (Teacher/ Class)! ! John, Paul, (Hippies)! Elvis Presley*! ! George, Ringo! Hippie #1! (Prisoners)! ! Chuck Berry! Hippie #2! Lead Prisoner ! ! Little Richard! Joey Ramone! Lead Belly! ! Wanda Jackson! Tommy Ramone Jimmie Rodgers! ! Bill Haley! Trixie Smith! ! The Coasters (4)! Robert Palmer*! ! Fats Domino (Flapper Girls)! ! Duke Ellington! ! ! ! SET:! • 2-4 Pedestals for statues! • Standing Arch with big sign [ROCK n’ ROLL MUSEUM] with working door/ OPEN/CLOSED sign.! !• Risers! ![CURTAIN]! ACT ONE -SCENE ONE! 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! Music starts and curtain opens: Chuck Berry’s Rock and Roll Music! Students roam around the stage chatting and looking at an Elvis statue on a pedestal. ! TEACHER: ! 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.! 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! *House Band plays opening notes after Elvis sings ! No one notices but the LEAD! LEAD!! [nudges his/her friend] Hey! Did you see that?! FRIEND 1: !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. The LEAD walks over to ELVIS,! LEAD: ! SEE! Did you see it then? Did you hear it? Elvis just moved!! FRIEND 1: !Seriously? you’re losing it. ! FRIEND 2: !Yea, you didn’t even pay attention to anything on this trip, I’m surprised you even !know his name!! FRIEND 1: !See you on the bus.! ELVIS: ! [Sung] Three to get ready now GO cat GO!! LEAD walks over to ELVIS as his/her class exits the museum. ! LEAD: ! [Quietly, towards Elvis] Hey?! ELVIS: ! …! LEAD: ! I heard you sing. I saw you dance! Are you alive?! The last student in line turns the OPEN sign to CLOSED and closes and the door.! After the door closes LEAD notices and runs over to open the door and it’s locked.! ELVIS:!! Hey Pal/ Mama! I noticed your ride left ya.! LEAD:!! OH NO! The bus?! … [Runs for the door then stops, pauses, take a long curious look at Elvis]! !!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. ! LEAD: ! I already know all about Rock and Roll!! ELVIS:!! Oh yea?! Then who’s THE KING?! [kicks a high karate kick and strikes a karate pose]! LEAD:!! Uh? What? I don’t get it.! ELVIS: ! [Disappointingly] Oh boy. The entrance is that way! [points to the door] Don’t be lonesome tonight, my friends will keep you company.! LEAD: ! Thanks Elvis!! ELVIS: ! No little friend thank YOU. [with the classic Elvis accent] Thank you very much! !Lights go down! SCENE TWO BLUES! !SONGS: I’ve Been Working On the Railroad, Rock Island Line, In the Jailhouse Now, Jailhouse Rock! Lights up! 12 prisoners (Teachers are police) with pick axes chopping at the ground in time [UP DOWN UP DOWN]! LEAD PRISONER: [Sung] I’ve been working on the railroad.! CHAIN GANEG: [Sung] I’ve been working on the railroad.! LEAD PRISONER: [Sung] All the live long day.! CHAIN GANG: [Sung] All the live long day.! !!! [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?”! Chain Gang continues “working” without singing.! LEAD PRISONER: ! 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.! “Man” with acoustic guitar/ukulele walks on the stage! LEAD BELLY:!Hello, I’m Huddie William Ledbetter but everybody calls me LEAD BELLY. 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.! 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 double 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. I’ve been called the FATHER OF COUNTRY MUSIC and my music has influenced artists ! like U2, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, even ELVIS PRESLEY and THE BEATLES!! !Jimmie Rodgers, Lead Belly & CHAIN GANG (Sing): !!! I had a friend named Ramblin' Bob Who used to steal gamble and rob He thought he was he was the smartest guy around But I found out last Monday That Bob got locked up Sunday They've got him in the jailhouse way down town He's in the jailhouse now he's in the jailhouse now I told him once or twice stop playin' cards and shootin' dice !He's in the jailhouse now Bob liked to play his Poker, Pinochle, Whist and Euchre But shooting dice But shootin' dice was his favorite game Well, he got throwed in jail, with nobody to go his bail The judge done said that he refused a fine He's in the jailhouse now he's in the jailhouse now I told him once or twice quit playin' cards and shootin' dice He's in the jailhouse now ! Well, I went out last Tuesday, I met a girl named Suzie I said I was the swellest guy around" Well, we started to spendin' my money An' she started to callin' me honey We took in every cabaret in town We're in the jailhouse now We're in the jailhouse now I told that judge right to his face, I don't like to see this place !We're in the jailhouse now ELVIS walks out clapping! ELVIS: !Now that’s alright mama! These songs remind me of one of my greatest hit songs. (Sarcastically)! Jailhouse Rock wasn’t written until 1957… but ya know, it’s not completely out of context- C’mon Jailbirds!! !EVERYONE ON STAGE: (sing)! The warden threw a party in the county jail.! The prison band was there and they began to wail.! The band was jumpin' and the joint began to swing.! You should've heard those knocked out jailbirds sing.! Let's rock, everybody, let's rock.! Everybody in the whole cell block! !was dancin' to the Jailhouse Rock.! Spider Murphy played the tenor saxophone,! Little Joe was blowin' on the slide trombone.! The drummer boy from Illinois went crash, boom, bang,! the whole rhythm section was the Purple Gang.! Let's rock, everybody, let's rock.! Everybody in the whole cell block! was dancin' to the Jailhouse Rock.! Was dancin' to the Jailhouse Rock.! Was dancin' to the Jailhouse Rock.! Was dancin' to the Jailhouse Rock.! ![CURTAIN]! ! ACT TWO - SCENE ONE BLUES & JAZZ! !SONGS: Crossroad Blues, ! In front of curtain walks out Journalist Robert Palmer! ROBERT PALMER: Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen my name is ROBERT PALMER. I was a writer and musicologist who contributed to the New York Times and Rolling !! Stone Magazine.! !"Rock 'n' Roll was an inevitable outgrowth of the social and musical interactions ! between people of all different colors in the South and Southwest. Its roots are a ! complex tangle. Church music influenced blues, rural blues influenced folk song and the popular music of the Northern ghettos, blues and pop influenced jazz, and so on.