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Scene 1
[Industrial lights shut-off noise, prison door slam, click of lock, footsteps walking away.]
Norma: [scared, confused] Max?
Max: Madam.
Norma: Max, where’s Joe? I need to - I think I need to tell him something.
Max: Madam, he’s [pause, deliberate decision to lie] he left.
Norma: We have to find him. [up and pacing, small cell, short distances] Max, I think something terrible happened. We have to look for him, open the door.
Max: [pained] Madam -
Norma: We have to find him, Max. You have to help me.
Max: Madam, I’m afraid there is no way into or out of our current accommodations.
Norma: Then how did she get here?
Young-Norma: [gasps]
Max: You see her too?
Norma: She visits so often these days.
Hello. I remember you. Look at you, you’re beautiful. Do you know how to find Joe?
[a door opens]
Max: Madam, I cannot advise this course of action. I think perhaps Mr. Gillis is not in a place it would be wise for us to go.
Norma: No, look. She wants us to follow her. [pause] I have to find him, Max.
[Norma steps through the door.]
Norma: There are stairs, spiralling down. What is this place? [getting fainter] no, slow down, I can’t keep up.
Max:
Once, I half remember
A story of a boy who walked along the train tracks
Max: Madam, wait! I’m coming!
Norma:
A path, into the darkness
Follow the memory of the girl you used to be
Fates:
Way Down
Max:
I thought she lived in my mind, a beautiful mirage
But never really there
Fates:
Way Down
Norma:
I al-ways saw her dancing
There in the corner of my eye
She was so young and so alive
Fates:
Way down under the ground
Norma: What is this place?
Norma:
Razor wire, concrete walls
Max:
Howling winds, sprawling weeds
Norma:
She dances—I trip, I fall
Max:
I will guide you where she leads
Fates:
She leads
Way down Hadestown
Way down under the ground
Norma:
How does she know where to go?
Max:
I will keep you safe down here
Norma:
Why would Joe come down this road?
Max:
You will never disappear
Fates:
You go, Way down, Hadestown
Way down -
Norma: [stumbles] Ah!
Max: [catches her] Madam! … Madam
Max:
Look, she’s beautiful
The way she walks across the path, like a wind dancing
Norma:
I thought, she was a vision
One of so many things I couldn’t quite explain
Max, where’s Joe
I don’t know, when I last saw him, it scares me
Max:
She’s a youth which never fades
Madam, I’ll always save you
Norma:
What is this ornate hall?
Max:
You are the greatest star of all
Fates:
Way down
Way down under the ground
Persephone: And what are you two living folk doing all the way down here?
Scene 2
Norma: We’re here for Joe. Joe…
Max: Joe Gillis.
Persephone: [delighted] The writer! Oh then you must be Max, and you must be Norma Desmond, yes, I see it now you’re in the light. We’ve seen all your pictures. The name’s Persephone, this is my husband Hades.
Hades: Charmed.
Persephone: We’ve heard all about you, of course. The gatekeepers ask all the newly arrived souls to tell their life story. Your Joe Gillis, well, let me tell you we all went to watch. That’s one hell of a writer you’ve got there.
Fates:
Sunset Boulevard, Twisted Boulevard
Persephone: He had a lot to say about you.
Norma: [confused but latching on] You know where he is?
Persephone: Somewhere out with the shades, I suppose. We offered him a place in our court but he turned us down, said he was done telling tragic stories.
Norma: We’re here to take him home.
Fates:
The road to Hell’s a railroad line
Some folks know to walk the track
But if you take the carriage ride
There’s one way back
Persephone: My husband and I made a deal, after Orpheus. One chance a year for someone to rescue a love that’s been lost.
Hades: If they can impress us.
Persephone: There’s never enough entertainment down here. So we get the best and the brightest to put on their shows, and sometimes they walk, sometimes they don’t.
Norma: [nervous, but pushing through.] Do you need me to… perform?
Max: She’s the Greatest Star of All
Persephone: [laughs] Norma Desmond? No need for the Live Event, we’ve got all your pictures. [aside] Down here we have a lot of movie nights.
Hades: Yours are my favorite.
Persephone: He’s the silent type.
Norma: You have my pictures?
Persephone: You can pick your best work for us to watch but between you and me, I think you’re a shoe-in for the big prize. All you’ve really got to do is fetch him.
Fates:
Across the fields of smoke and bone
Far down the twisting paths of fate
Every soul here stands alone
With nothing left, but to wait
No more thoughts
Your mind is caught
All you are has come to nought
So leave it on the shore
Nothing changes
Nothing changes, nothing changes,
Anymore
Norma: Max?
Max: Let me handle that part, Madam. I will bring him to you. Focus on selecting your picture.
Norma: [relaxing] Well, my Joan of Arc is said to be sublime. Oh but you have Antigone! I thought all the tapes had been lost!
Hades: Lost things tend to wash up down here.
Norma: It has to be this one, the critics said I was divine in it and I have to agree. You know, my household does movie nights as well.
Persephone: Our couples counselor recommended it. We went through a rough patch a while back. Almost destroyed the world, whoopsie! But we put in the work and turned things around. Learned how to make each other feel appreciated.
Hades: Learned to compromise.
Persephone: Learned how to trust each other. And to talk about it when something feels wrong.
Norma: That sounds wonderful! How do you… do that last part?
Persephone: [Teasing a little] Well, when you start to feel like you’re losing your wife, and you spend all your time building an elaborate electric metropolis to feel powerful, trying to control every little she does, and glowering at her all the time until she feels like a bug under a microscope, that’s a good clue that it might be time to talk.
Hades: [in agreement] Mm.
Persephone: And when you feel like your husband has stopped seeing you as anything but a trophy and the only thing that makes you happy anymore is finding ways to break free of him, that’s a good time to talk, too. To ask what’s gone wrong. And then to listen. Be willing to change.
Hades: Admit you were wrong. In private, where none of the shades will overhear.
Persephone: And try to build something better together. Love each other enough to try again. Do you think you might do that with your lover?
Norma: Oh, he’s not—he lets me love him, he doesn’t feel that way about me. It’s an arrangement, you see. I offer what I can, and he stays, for the most part. He’s been wandering farther astray lately… I can’t imagine what brought him all the way down here, though.
Persephone: Well, probably the fact that he’s dead, dear.
Norma: [Lighthearted, smiling, in total denial] I don’t know what you mean! [Sound of projector starting up] Oh look, the picture’s starting. I adore this one. Did you see the way I turned to the camera there? Mr. DeMille said I looked like an angel. And those jewels in my hair took ages to place, with five people crowded around, and I had to keep perfectly still the whole time of course…
Scene 3
Joe:
Shadows in the mist a thousand souls
A field of nothingness and cold
No more joy and no more sadness
At least there’s no more need to try
At things I never could get right
Guess I’m free of all the madness
Max: Mr Gillis! Mr Gillis!
Sunset Boulevard, No more Boulevard
It’s getting harder to keep thinking
Sunset boulevard, uh-bah boulevard
But why struggle when you’re sinking
Max: Mr Gillis! Mr Gillis [out of breath] Did you not hear me calling?
Joe: [apathetic] I hear a lot of things down here. [he looks up at Max] Did she kill you too?
Max: [affronted] Madam has come here to save you. You must understand, you put her under so much strain she hardly knew what was happening. But as soon as she saw you were gone, she wanted to find you. She needs you.
Joe: Gone. Is that what we’re calling it now?
Max: Madam is delicate. You must come back with me and we will return to the world and everything will be as it was before.
Joe: Too late, I love it here.
Max: [looks around] This is a shadow land of lost souls and ruin.
Joe: Well, it’s Hadestown or Ohio and Hell’s cleaner.
Max: This isn’t a joke Mr Gillis. Madam has found the road down to the underworld, she has spoken with Hades and Persephone and by her astounding talent they have agreed to allow her to take you out, to return you to the world.
Joe: Oh, we’re doing Euridice now, are we? Yes, we all remember her miraculous escape.
Max:
Now the Gods have changed the rules
One soul each year makes it through
Follow me back to the living
Joe:
I’m not looking for a chance
I’m happy to have left the dance
And I’m not feeling all that forgiving.
Max: You’d rather give up. You’d rather languish down here.
Joe: Wow. Max Von Mayerling telling me I’ve wasted my life. You could’ve been great.
Max: I was great. Norma Desmond is the greatest star of all
Joe: Norma… Norma… Not ringing a bell. What’s she been in lately?
Max: She came down here to save you!
Joe: Then where is she? Is she here? No because she has
Joe:
Max to do her dirty work,
Max to tuck her in at night,
Max to keep her locked out of the world
Max:
The world could hurt her!
Joe: That’s life, Max! That’s living!
Max: And what are you doing, if you don’t come with me?
Joe: Dying.
Joe: Did you forget that part? When you lie to her, do you remember what the truth is or do you really think you’re changing things?
Joe:
I tried for fortune, tried for fame,
Tried to try to make my name,
But at last, I’m done pretending.
You change the score you change the show,
But what any writer knows,
A different story, same old ending.
Max: If Madam came herself-
Joe: She won’t. Does she even know where she is or why she’s down here? Or did you lie about that too? You know in a way you’re the worst of us, at least Norma was honest.
Max: Everything I did, I did to protect her.
Joe: To protect her, or to protect some memory you have of the way she used to be?
[Young Norma appears]
Joe: I’m the leading man in a tragedy, Max. I don’t have to fight it, I know how it ends.
Joe: Now get out.
Scene 4
[Max stumbling, watching young!Norma]
Max: What are you… why are you here? You should be with her. She called you, she keeps you here. It’s her, it has to be -
Max:
Sixteen, a child of pictures
The world was falling at her feet, and I among them
Thought I, could shield her beauty
From all those sharks and scoundrels lurking in the waters
Fates:
How long? How long? How Long?
Max:
How long?
Just as long as a life is worth
Keep the girl from saints and sin
A name known ‘cross all the Earth
A white lie or two to rein her in
Give them an inch, they’ll tear her down
Piranhas out to take her crown
There aint no mercy in this town
I have to keep her warm
[he takes her hand, they dance.]
Max:
Was it me who held you here?
You shouldn’t have to face the truth
I couldn’t let you disappear
I tried to save the girl I knew
A knife cuts to the heart instead
Trapped as we were at the start instead
Director turned to play a part instead
How long, How long, how long?
How long? Longer than she was ever my wife
I never meant her heart to cry
But as I tried to save her life
Something in us both has died
And what would I even do, if you go
How will I make it through, if you go
But there’s a chance for something new, when you go
So long, so long, so low.
Young Norma: [sigh/breath out. And she’s gone.]
Max: Oh
[This has brought him back to the court, where Norma is waiting.]
Norma: Max? Max, did you find him? Where’s Joe?
Max: Joe is… he’s dead, Norma. You killed him.
Norma: No! No, I only… I only wanted him to stay. [pleading] Tell me the truth Max. He left, he left and we have to find him.
Max: I know you remember. [quietly mourning the life they had, wishing he could hold her again and tell her everything’s okay but knowing he can’t] You phoned a lady he’d been visiting, Miss Schaefer.
Norma: No. No no no.
Max: She came to see him, to see the life he was living. He sent her away, but then -
Norma: He told me Salome was… he said you wrote my letters, all my beautiful letters. But that’s not true, Max. None of this is true.
Max: Dear Norma Desmond, I thought you were wonderful in The Lions of Winter. Dear Norma Desmond, when you smile I find my heart melts. Dear Norma Desmond, you are still to this day the greatest star of all, the pictures are nothing without you.
Norma: [gasp, taking it like a hit to the stomach, then… piecing it together] there was blood on my hands. There was… so much blood. Mr Demille came with his cameras -
Max: The police came, with their cameras.
Norma: Oh. Yes. They washed my hands. They washed my face. They took him from me, they took him. My Joe. My poor, dead - [pause, looks around her.]
All of these people are dead, aren’t they? This place, this cold, dead place… You brought me down here to find him, why didn’t you say something before?
Max: You were so… upset. I thought if we came, I could fetch him back for you. That I could fix everything, return to how we were, without you ever having to know. But Mr Gillis told me - he made me realise - that I can’t stand between you and the world. Not anymore.
Norma:
You stood beside me, so long
I didn’t even know that I was fading
You held me up, so long
I didn’t even know I’d fallen down
Lock the door and turn the key
That was how it had to be
I never knew a way to do this on my own
Never had to make it through this on my own
But now I want to know what’s true
I thought that I was fine
But now I’m here with shadow all around me
I know I’m cold, and tired
But I feel like I never have before
I think that I got lost up there
Forgetting what it meant to care
I never had to manage this life on my own
Never had to learn to fight just on my own
But now I’m finally seeing
Now I’m finally feeling
Something true
I don’t want to go back to the life I knew
So I am going to save him, on my own
And now, my love,
I’m going to
let you go
Max, Say you won’t forget me forever
Say we can be friends who don’t lose ourselves
That we can be good for each other
Max and Norma:
(And) I will always wish you well
Norma: Joe was right. This isn’t something you can take from me. Where is he?
Scene 5
Joe:
Sunset ba-da-da, bah-bah da-da-da
Eyes closed, we sink
Dah-dah-dah , huh-uh ba-da
Don’t think don’t think don’t - [he sees her]
Norma: My darling!
Joe: My killer.
Norma: Don’t be that way!
Joe: I’m free, Norma, I can be any way I want. There are no strings on me. You cut my strings.
Norma: Joe, please, I came all this way.
Joe: I hope you enjoyed the walk.
Norma: I’ve come to get you out of here and bring you back home. I’ve spoken to the gods of the underworld—
Joe: [laughs—it’s just like Norma to go straight to a god expecting to get her way] Of course you have.
Norma: —and they say we have a chance, Joe. We can try.
Joe: I’m done with trying. Don’t you get it? That’s the gift you gave me, Norma. I get to be done with it. It hurt so much—and now I’m done hurting for you, or for anyone else.
Norma: [stiffly] I… understand that you’re upset. I recognize that I got carried away. But I can fix it if you just come with me now. I’ll fix everything—it’s all going to be all right! [No reaction from Joe.] I’ve missed you terribly, Joe.
Joe: [That gets a reaction] Missed your favorite plaything? I’m sure you can get yourself another without too much trouble. The streets of Hollywood are littered with crushed and broken artists like me. Take a walk down to the lot, or better yet send Max down for you with the promise of a soft bed and a warm meal. He’ll be able to bring you back another hollowed-out failure by lunchtime.
Norma: But I don’t want anyone else, I want you!
Joe: Me? You never expressed the slightest bit of interest in me before now. Six months living on call for you, and how often did you ask me what was on my mind, what I felt about something, what I wanted or dreamed? How much did you learn about the life you plucked me out of to keep for yourself? Nothing. I was a fool to think—no, you know what? I’m done. Aren’t you supposed to respect a dead person’s last words? I stand by mine. Goodbye, Norma.
[Long pause]
Norma: I… apologize, Joe. Please don’t take it personally. I suppose I just… forget to think of these things sometimes.
Joe: Things like what other people are thinking and feeling?
Norma: Sometimes.
Joe: Right.
Norma: You have to understand, back when I was—when everyone wanted everything from me—it was too much. I had to tune it out! When you’re the star, your job is to make your own performance flawless. Everything beyond that is for other people to worry about.
Joe: [laugh] Well. It was comforting sometimes. Not having to be seen or judged, being reduced to just what you needed from me. At least that was a thing I could get right that actually meant something to someone.
Until it turned out that it didn't.
Norma: You’re upset about what I said to Ms. Schaefer.
Joe: Yes, Norma. “He’s just a—” I knew I was selling out. But I guess I hoped it was for a nobler cause than just being your whore.
Norma: I was afraid. Of losing you. I wanted it to be true.
Joe: It doesn’t matter now.
Joe:
Early morning when I’d see your face
Gentle light, a quiet glow
Something soft behind your eyes, familiar undertow
Hungry hands and hopeful smiles
The hours passing slack and slow
When I should have walked away, because I know
How this kind of story goes
Fingers cling and then they tear
Words are warm and then they freeze
Sirens draw you in and bring you to your knees.
Does anybody miss me?
I shut myself in and never came out.
Lights off
No one gets to have me now
Precious, I thought what I held was
Precious, unexpressed but felt
Whispered without words
Bright between my fingers
Captivating me
Glittering, pristine
But it was fake and cheap
I was asleep
So, I end as I began
Empty, rotten, and ashamed
Let me rest and leave behind the mess we made
Norma: Joe, think whatever you want to think about me. You’re finished with me, I understand that. You can go. But if you don’t come with me right now, you will fade into nothing. You’ll lose your name, you’ll lose your identity, and Joe Gillis will be gone forever.
Joe: Oh. That’s probably for the best. The world never needed Joe Gillis.
Norma: No! Forget the world! Forget need. Did you like living?
Joe: [slooowly] …Parts of it.
Norma: Which parts?
Joe: I don’t know. The sunset, over the beach when the waves are crashing as high as your head. The feeling of sand between your toes. Good whisky, [slightly self-depricating laugh], cheap whiskey. Chocolate ice cream. Root beer float on a hot day, sitting in a park in the sun, when you’re reading a book, a really good book, and- [Stops, seemingly surprised by how into it he’s become.]
Joe: Fine, there were parts I liked. What does it matter?
Norma: I took all that away from you. I want to give it back. Please let me.
Joe: This isn’t that kind of story.
Norma: Says who? [pause] When we started, Max and I, everything we did was new. Everything we did was impossible. If you don’t like a story you change it. You go back up there, you live.
Joe: You’re telling me to go out and live? You’ve barely left your house in twenty years. You let Hollywood forget you, you let Max shut you up like a prisoner, you cut your own – [stops, breathing heavily]
Joe: Is that what you want? Me to save your life again?
Norma: If you come back -
Joe: What if I come back and leave you? I’m not yours, Norma. I’m not going to step in where Max left off, husband number 4.
Norma: I don’t… no. I do care if you leave me. But I… understand if you feel you need to.
Joe: I can’t be your reason for living. I can’t protect you like he did.
Norma: Do you know why I divorced Max? Because he was smothering, overbearing, never let me do anything on my own. But somehow here we are. Twenty five years later.
Joe: Why did you let him?
Norma: I think you know this one.
Norma:
Sure, I’ve been Athena, Joan of Arc
They said I could play any part
Never had to want for casting
They said ‘She’s an idol, she’s a star
You’re a doll, kid, you’ll go far
A beauty, grace, so everlasting’
Sunset Boulevard, darling boulevard
You think you’re there to play a role
Sunset boulevard, naive boulevard
They take your body, take your soul
I was just a child at seventeen
Living a child’s movie dream
My dewy youth depreciating
Ev’ry shoot went long the sets were hell
The dirty backlots and the smell
Directors handsy, and berating
Sunset boulevard, Meetings boulevard
A new director, good connection
Sunset boulevard, house on Boulevard
And Max he promised me protection
You think I gave up,
fine yes I gave up
Yes I was tired of losing to takers
Clutching my skirt hems, grasping my stockings
Found in hotel rooms, cut from the rafters
And Max was easy, and Max was gentle
Found myself wanting, all he could offer
Comfortable silence, close up the mansion
Short break from working
But… I’m an actor
So I fell away, claimed it was choice
I’d never let them take my voice
The fear too strong to stay above it
Still I remained here in this town
Never once thought of getting out
Because I know I’ll always love it
Sunset Boulevard, cardboard boulevard
Glitter and paint, the lot seems tragic
Sunset Boulevard, big screen boulevard
But off the page it turns to magic
Joe, forget the crowds, your name in lights
Forget that raging appetite
For fame and fans and endless glory
Joe, I know you love what you create
The words you spin, the lives you make
I know you burn to tell a story
Sunset Boulevard, Tell me boulevard
Joe, are you a runner or a fighter?
Sunset Boulevard, Once more Boulevard
Joe: [pause, then softly]
I’m a writer.
Norma: You said that, when we first met. You said it with such certainty. It reminded me of how I felt when I was acting, like I’d found my purpose in life. That’s why I chose you, for Salome. I know you think I knew nothing about your work but I could see how much you cared, and that means a lot. What were you writing when we met?
Joe: This baseball story. A rookie shortstop, joins a small league and gets them to nationals while trying to escape his … It’s stupid. A cheap flick to appeal to the masses and I couldn’t even sell that.
Norma: But you love it.
Joe: I suppose, yes. I don’t think you can write something without loving at least parts of it. [pause] I loved the work. Creating the characters, finding the perfect word. [starting to smile] Working with someone else who really got it. Who pushed me to make things better, to find the better story. That’s what I was doing with Betty, you know. Working on a script.
Norma: [startled] Oh. With... Miss Schafer? You were only working?
Joe: Ye – [starts to lie, then remembers they don’t do that anymore.] No. No, you were right. I slept with her. And she was engaged to my best friend so…[throws up hands] I made a lot of bad decisions this week.
Norma: [sad, but accepting the inevitable.] But you love her.
Joe: What? [pause, then with slight regret] No. I loved the idea of her. The plucky female lead who pulls the hero out of his funk. The pretty girl my age who liked my stories and helped me make them better. The optimist who thought we could create something great inside the system.
But she’s a real person, not some Hollywood Happy Ending. Love doesn’t show up on cue to give you a convenient escape from the narrative.
[shakes his head]
I don’t know, Norma. I’m messed up, I’m lost. Maybe it is better that I stay down here, let it all fade away.
Norma: I’m in prison for murder! Max and I have been dragging a ghost around for thirty years, and I’m in love with a boy half my age who called my life’s work ‘a maze of fragmented ramblings by a soul in limbo.’
Joe: I’m not sure I -
Norma: The mansion doors are not soundproof.
Joe: Oh. It... had good parts?
Norma: My point is
Norma:
We’ve all made mistakes
Hearts will always break
Nothing’s gone the way we planned
But to stay down here
Is giv-ing into fear
You’ll never know you could if you surrender
Joe:
Lift my head up high
Once more see the sky
Even if it hurts up there
There are more beginnings
If I only dare
So let’s change the ending from surrender
Joe & Norma:
One more time, we stand, we don’t surrender
Joe: Fine. Let’s go see a god.
Scene 6
[back at Hades’ court, finishing up the contract.]
Fates: If we could get you both to sign here at the bottom.
It’s the standard agreement.
You follow, she leads.
Keep to the path, don’t stumble, don’t look back.
And when you both are in the sunlight the deal is complete.
Mr Gillis’s body will be returned to life.
Ownership of his soul will transfer from Hades to Norma Desmond.
And he will -
[Joe interrupts at ‘desmond’, laughing a dry, humorless laugh]
Joe: There's always a catch.
Joe: We love your story, Mr Gillis. Everyone at the studio is so excited to make it. Who’s this? Oh that’s Paul. Yes, he’s a writer too. Well, we’ve asked him to make a few small changes to the script. Why does he look so dead behind the eyes?
Joe [right up at the mic]: You’ll find out soon enough.
Norma: Joe -
Joe: No need to look so stricken. This is what you wanted, right? For me to belong to you. He’s just a kept boy, just a pet chimp, just a… oh, [bitter] I can’t say it.
Norma: You know that’s not true. I didn’t do this for that, I didn’t even know - I’ll give it back. Once you’re free, I’ll give-
Joe: How?
Norma: I don’t… [casting around] can we put it in the contract?
Fates: No. / Not possible. / [laugh]
Persephone: That isn’t really how it works. You win his soul, you get his soul. But up there, it’s not as though it really means much. You’ll have your body, your mind. Your soul is just… an idea, really. It doesn’t mean anything.
Joe: I’m a writer. ‘Ideas’ mean a lot to me.
Norma: I’ll take good care of it. I won’t hold it over you, I promise. It’s one little compromise, for your freedom. You can’t stay down here, not because of this.
Joe: Norma… [he’s conflicted for a moment, the idea of freedom within his grasp, but no.] No. No, I can’t. I spent too long selling my soul to give it away.
Norma: [to Hades, taking Joe’s side] There must be another way.
Hades: The deal is the deal. [but you can kind of tell he’s thinking about it.]
Joe: Then I’ll stay down here. [to Norma] Thank you for coming, for reminding me who I am, that I want to… that I can still make things. For giving me something to hold onto.
Persephone: This is not a place for creating, child. Hope can lighten your heart a little, but the river Styx creeps up into your heart and ekes it away. Even I have to leave to grow.
Norma: I’ll take such good care of it, Joe. I’ll keep it hidden, safe, shut away.
Joe: It’ll ruin us, Norma. You know it will.
Hades: He’s right. You can’t give someone freedom while keeping part of them trapped. I learned that one the hard way. [he reaches out a hand for Persephone] But there have to be rules.
Joe: This is a loophole for artists, right? I’m not the muse of an artist or the lover of an artist. I’m an artist.
Fates: A soul can’t free itself
It would be chaos!
A constant dreary talent show
Hades: No. No. We know you each have talent. We’ve seen your pictures, we’ve heard you tell your story. But that can’t be enough to change a deal that’s been in place for millenia.
Fates:
It’s an old song,
An old song from way back when,
And we’re gonna sing it again
Hades: Here is my final offer:
Hades:
I challenge all three of you
To create a dream so new
A show that cannot be made alone
Then you may leave, your souls your own
Joe:
But if we fail to impress?
Hades:
Then there is nothing I can do
But keep you here with the rest
To while away forever
Hades: I’ve never been one for talkies. Win me over.
[Hades, the court, everything disappears, leaving Norma, Joe and Max.]
Norma: Max! I didn’t know you were still here.
Max: I have had… a great deal to think about.
Joe: They expect us to make a picture? A brand new picture with one director, one actress and…
Norma: A writer.
Joe: [playing for casual] well I’m not much for acting and someone has to be behind the camera, so Norma, you’ll have to do the bulk of the performing [jazz hands]. Assuming we have a director.
Norma: Max. I know what Hades said but… you don’t have to be part of this. You only came down here for me, I can speak to Hades about letting you go. I know we’ve already lost too much to each other.
Max: [to Joe] Is that what you think too, Mr Gillis? It’s your soul on the line. Are you going to take the high road and tell me I don’t need to, that I shouldn’t feel guilt for what happened to you, that you forgive me or that none of this was my fault. [He’s been thinking about this.]
Joe: Oh I think we’ve all fucked up in all kinds of fun new directions. I’m done keeping score. It’s up to you what you choose. But you only get one chance in life to test if your skill is equal to Orpheus. You only get one shot to see if you can impress Hades, king of the underworld. And I suppose I thought Max Von Mayerling would be up for the challenge.
Max: [very aware he’s being goaded but also that it’s working] Oh did you?
Joe: I bet Cecil B. DeMille wouldn’t do it.
Max: [oh he’s in] You’d better be one hell of a writer.
Joe: I… [suddenly realising what he’s got himself into] right…
Joe, Norma & Max: [nervous]
Create, a new way to dream, be-
fore we fade in the underworld
Joe:
How do, we even approach this
I don’t have a single, shoot to my name
(Movies)
Norma:
I don’t, know how to do talkies
And it’s been years since I stepped into frame
(Movies)
Max:
I said, we need some distance
But I’m the one director they’ve got
Surely, there’s a soul here who
Can turn on a camera, line up a shot
(Movies)
Joe:
I don’t, even have a story
Pretty sure baseball won’t go down so well
(Movies)
Norma:
How do, you speak into a camera
Maybe we should all just stay in Hell
I know, new ways to dream, but
That seemed easier when I was young
Max:
Madam, try to breathe slowly
I meant to say ‘Norma’. Slip of the tongue
(Movies)
Norma:
It’s my, fault that you’re down here
You should be free, this isn’t your fight
(Movies)
Max:
Norma. I let this happen
But I can still choose, I know what is right.
(Movies)
Joe:
I should, have listened to Daryll
I’m not cut out for, the pressure it’s true
(Movies)
If I had stayed there in Dayton
Just plodding onwards, writing the news
(Movies)
[They turn to talk to each other.]
Norma:
Darling, you’re better than headlines
Better than charmless local reports
(Movies)
When you rewrote my baby
You never backed down, you always fought
Max:
I know, new ways to dream, it
Sounds a heavy burden to lift
But when, we started in pictures
Every mistake turned into a gift.
Norma:
Those days, new ways to dream, it
Seemed absurd but we loved it still
Max:
Remember, filming Stars on You
The sets collapsed and the boats capsized
Norma:
I said, don’t call it off yet
I’ll do it all with one look and my eyes
Max:
So Joe, tell us a story
Don’t fuss about business, headlines or trends
Joe:
I think, I have an idea now
A change of direction, with a better end.
Scene 7
Joe: Max, set the scene.
Max: A white stone mansion, Hollywood Hills. The sun is starting to rise, casting soft light on a woman, walking across a dew-damp lawn towards a swimming pool. She’s twenty-five.
Norma: Twenty one.
Joe: [exasperated] She’s forty seven.
Norma: [gasps]
Max: There are no good roles for women over thirty.
Joe: There’s this one.
Joe:
Boy meets girl, a simple kind of story
But there’s a happy ending, one that’s real and it’s true
Take an old song, classically tragic
But with a few changes it turns into something new
He’s a talented young actor
With his face on every movie screen
She’s an older writer, and the work comes slow
One night, she stumbles into his mansion
Up in the hills where he hides from prying eyes
He’s got, an idea for a picture
And he needs a writer, a talented writer
To help it take flight
Norma: I think I know this story. ‘He’s’ isolated, ‘he’s’ obsessed, ‘he’ falls in love with her.
Joe: Sure. And she loves him.
Norma:
He truly thinks she loves him
Joe: She loves him
Norma:
He has all these delusions
Joe: [firmly] She loves him.
Joe:
Boy meets girl, can’t stop looking at her
This jaded actor is somehow totally charmed
As a child he watched all of her pictures
And now she’s a person, a real person there in his arms
And she can’t help falling
For the sparks of life inside of him
Behind the smiles and make up
Is someone true
Keeps thinking, she ought to be leaving
Shouldn’t take his money
His bed, his home, or his heart
But she stays, finds reasons to linger
To hold him closer, a little closer
And in the sunrise, the pool lights, we start.
Max: Camera to close up, lights dim. Minimal make-up. Enough to show up on screen, but we want to see her real face through it. She’s tired, she’s been fighting for so long, she’s not sure where to go from here.
Max: she’s beautiful.
Norma: I don’t know how to do this.
Max: Of course you do. Joe will give you the words, I have the camera. You can say anything.
Norma: With my eyes
Max: Anything.
Joe: She says -
Joe, echoed by Norma: Darling?
Joe: Yes?
Norma&Joe: Why are my bags packed
Joe:
It’s not right, me keeping you here.
You should have your own life.
Norma:
I never wanted to leave you.
Joe:
I know you don’t love me.
Norma:
Don’t tell me how I feel
I need you to know that this was real
Life’s too long, to live alone
(In this) mausoleum of white and stone
And I want to hold your hand
Joe:
I don’t understand
Norma:
I know the world’s been hard on you
When I arrived you’d lost yourself
To the Pictures and the Magic
A vision made by someone else
But I see you behind the mask
All the parts you don’t dare to show
Life is messy, life gets hard
I don’t want to let go
And maybe it’s new territory
There’s no ending sent down, from poets above
But we can write our own story
Call it madness, call it love
I am not afraid of all that’s past
Those demons we already know
Cause that’s not all we are
We don’t have to let go
Max: And zoom out. The rising sun starts to catch on the blue of the pool and we see him, sitting on the edge, a drink in hand. She sits beside him, takes the glass, sets it down.
Norma:
I can’t promise you forever, love
But we can try again, and that’s enough
There’s a world where we take a chance
Beyond these gates, where flowers grow
This end can be our start
If we don’t let go
So darling can I hold your hand
Joe:
You can
Norma:
I can
Both:
And then
Norma:
Do we try at love anew
Joe:
I do
Norma:
I do
Both:
We do
Max: The sun comes up over the mansion walls, spilling golden light across their entwined hands and upturned faces.
Max: He kisses her.
Max: And scene.
[a moment of silence, then a single person (Hades) starts to clap slowly, then joined by Persephone then others, half the underworld has come to watch.]
Norma: Did we do it?
Max: I think we did.
Hades: It’s a long way out, you’d better start walking.
Persephone: Don’t look back.
Norma: I suppose we’ll see you again some day.
Persephone: Oh, everyone comes back sooner or later, and there’ll always be a place in our court for the three of you. But you’ve got a lot more new ways to dream ahead of you before then.
Joe: Thank you.
Persephone: And with that:
Goodbye, lovers, Goodbye.
[Persephone sings this line, we hear the final beats of the final song of Hadestown. When it finishes, the court is gone.]
Norma: You won. You have your soul. You have your freedom.
Norma: Now you can leave me.
Joe: Why would I leave you? Don’t you know this is a love story?
Norma: Joe
[She grabs onto him, holding him close. Arms wrapped around, he lowers his head to press their foreheads together. Holding on.]
Joe: I love you. I should’ve said that before.
Norma: [giddy, delighted, overwhelmed] I wouldn’t have believed it.
Joe: But I can’t -
Norma: I know. You can’t be my whole life and I can’t be yours. We’re going to - we’ll figure something out. You can move back to your apartment. Or into a better apartment. [pulls away to see Max] Both of you.
Max: I’ve always wanted to live by the beach. Nothing big. But a place to call my own, a window to watch the sunset and a path to walk down to the ocean.
Joe: Feel the sand between your toes.
Norma: It sounds beautiful.
Joe: What about work? I need my own money, but I won’t go crawling back to Fox. Not anymore. And if I had to work for DeMille, after what he did to you -
Norma: We have money, Max and I. Not a handout or a… like before. But enough to build something that - [She sees the camera following them.]
Joe: Oh. They’re still here. [to camera] The story’s over. We’re not performing for you anymore. You can find your own way out.
Norma: You’ll see us again. But on our terms, not yours.
[She pushes the camera away]
[They continue talking, walking away from the cameras, not looking back]