RAINDANCE
The Play
by Uncle John
Art Work by Michael Waters
Music by
Uncle John & Tobey Stein & Gary Sangervasi
Grateful Dead
& Bob Dylan
Special Thanks to Playwright Lauren Gunderson
Spanish translation by Tania Carrasco
Characters
Storyteller
Sundance
Raindance
Lady Liberty
The Joker
The Purple Sage
The Hermit
Daniel Rafael
Michelle
Pretty Peggy
Ida Red
Billy Dee
Jesse
Freya Chanteur
Johnnie Walker
Harry Jardiniere
Maria Bonita
Seven Gypsy Women
Bobby Sugarfree Sugaree
Rainbow
The Magician
The Raindance family tell their story in tales, through poetry, songs, art, and dance.
RAINDANCE
Acts and Scene descriptions in development
Here are some EXCERPTS from the play
SUNDANCE
Vision Of The Dance To Make It Rain
Lyrics by Uncle John & Music by Uncle John & Gary Sangervasi
Born in the American hills
Raised in a desert cave
It wasn't until he was twenty-one
He met Jesus and was saved
He can move like a mountain lion
Smell like a bear for snakes
Sundance is so bold and strange
As he is strong and brave
He has half a diamond for an eye
And an eagle to guide his way
And he lived ten years inside the city
And he learned the cityīs ways
He had a love for the game
A taste for whiskey
A weakness for pretty women
But he couldn't understand the cruelty
To lock up so many people inside prisons
He is a man who loves his freedom
He picked up a simple stone
And at night his would shine
Reflected on the city
Illuminated the road in the sky
They say he has ten thousand brothers
And all of them believing men
And ten thousand sisters
And many children
He has vision for a river of time
Who can stop the rain at will
When you find him he can make it rhyme
And get even better still
He walks inside the cities teaching ecology
He painted a rose for a masterpiece
And helps the blind to see
He had a love for the game
A taste for whiskey
A weakness for pretty women
But he couldn't understand the cruelty
To lock up so many people inside prisons
He is a man who loves his freedom
Sundance is clever
And a man with many faces
But heīs the only one I know
Holding all four aces
Now some say he is a prophet
And some just one man
But I know him as a friend of Jesus
And a child of the desert sand
Asking
How can the most advanced
Civilization of all time
be so far behind
be so far behind?
Now Sundance is among you
Golden Rain fall from the sky
Sky roses
Raining from the sky
Roses from the sky
Roses from the sky
!
The Golden Record VOYAGER - NASA
Storyteller:
Stories and the people in them are true inspiration. A band of musicians gather together as family, known as Raindance. Their famous and well known guitar player is Bobby Sugaree, they call "Sugarfree". His closest friends call him Sundance. The Purple Sage is riding with Bobby Sugaree in San Francisco who suggests they stop for tea. Bobby puts on a hat and sunglasses and they walk into a busy bakery and there are two counter chairs together available, and they sit down there. They order tea. Suddenly, Bobbyīs hit song "Around and Around" plays on the loudspeakers, and as soon as someone spots him, the whispers and pointing begin. They notice at one table are the clique known as The Gypsy Women. They are the only ones who get up and dance in the bakery aisle. There are seven of them, and The Sage points them out and ask Bobby if he recognizes them as the dancers in his audience.
Bobby (Sugarfree) Sugaree
:Sirens of Titan
Storyteller:
Titan is a moon of Saturn
Purple Sage
:That spurs my memory of the recent moment I had dancing with them. They are a tight clique who hang out and dance exclusively with one another.
One night I am able to speak with one of them and ask her name,
Gypsy Woman
Gypsy
Purple Sage
:And then I ask her, "What do you do?".
Gypsy Woman:
Astral Navigator
Purple Sage
:She responds quickly and tersely.
"Where are you from?" I ask and she answers,
Gypsy Woman:
From the future. We listen to the Golden Record and that made us come.
The music stops and the dancers sit down. The place is lively with conversation.
Purple Sage
:Our tea arrives, and I take a couple packets of sugar and offer it to Bobby.
He grabs the sugar and stands up and slams the packets on the counter.
Sugaree
:"I hate sugar!"
Purple Sage
:He says in a loud and booming voice that silences the rest of the room who are all staring. Bobby sits down and I whisper to him,
"Bobby, weīre in a bakery!"
Storyteller:
Suddenly, one by one, each of the seven gypsy women stand and sing a line to Bobby Sugaree
Gypsy Woman #1
:When they come to take you down
Gypsy Woman #2
:When they bring that wagon around
Gypsy Woman #3
:When they come to call on you
Gypsy Woman #4
:And drag your poor body down
Gypsy Woman #5
:Just one thing that I ask of you
Gypsy Woman #6
:Just one thing for me
Gypsy Woman #7
:Please forget you knew my name
All Seven Gypsy Women
(in harmony):My darlinī Sugaree
All Seven Gypsy Women (dancing)
:Shake it, Shake it Sugaree
Just donīt tell them that you know me
Shake it, Shake it Sugaree
Just donīt tell them that you know me
Gypsy Woman #1
:You thought you was the cool fool
Gypsy Woman #2
:And never could do no wrong
Gypsy Woman #3
:Had everything sewn up tight
Gypsy Woman #4
:How come you lay awake all night long?
Gypsy Woman #5
:Just one thing that I ask of you
Gypsy Woman #6
:Just one thing for me
Gypsy Woman #7
:Please forget you knew my name
All Seven Gypsy Women
:My darlinī Sugaree
All Seven Gypsy Women
(dancing):Shake it, Shake it Sugaree
Just donīt tell them that you know me
Shake it, Shake it Sugaree
Just donīt tell them that you know me
Gypsy Woman #1
:You know, in spite of all you gained
Gypsy Woman #2
:You still had to stand out in the pouring rain
Gypsy Woman #3
:One last voice is calling you
Gypsy Woman #4
:And I guess itīs time you go
Gypsy Woman #5
:Just one thing that I ask of you
Gypsy Woman #6
:Just one thing for me
Gypsy Woman #7
:Please forget you knew my name
All Seven Gypsy Women
:My darlinī Sugaree
All Seven Gypsy Women (dancing)
:Shake it, Shake it Sugaree
Just donīt tell them that you know me
Shake it, Shake it Sugaree
Just donīt tell them that you know me
Gypsy Woman #1:
Shake it up now Sugaree
Gypsy Woman #2
:Iīll meet you at the jubilee
Gypsy Woman #3
:And if that jubilee donīt come
Gypsy Woman #4
:Baby, Iīll meet you on the run
Gypsy Woman #5
:Just one thing that I ask of you
Gypsy Woman #6
:Just one thing for me
Gypsy Woman #7
:Please forget you knew my name
All Seven Gypsy Women
:My darlinī Sugaree
All Seven Gypsy Women (dancing)
:Shake it, Shake it Sugaree
Just donīt tell them that you know me
Shake it, Shake it Sugaree
Just donīt tell them that you know me
Shake it, Shake it Sugaree
Just donīt tell them that you know me
Shake it, Shake it Sugaree
Just donīt tell them that you know me
All Seven Gypsy Women
now standing behind Bobby and hovering over him, shout together in one voice:
Take us to your leader, Johnny B. Goode!
The bakery now is jam packed with people, and outside looking through the big plate glass is a large crowd.
The loudspeaker is playing the mellow Workingmanīs Dead album:
"It's the same story the crow told me, it's the only one he knows
Like the morning sun you come and like the wind you go
Ain't no time to hate, barely time to wait
Wo-oh, what I want to know, where does the time go?"
Storyteller:
As soon as Bobby stands up, the crowd and loudspeakers go quiet.
Sugarfree turns to each of the seven gypsy women and sings loudly
Sundance:
Just like Jack the Ripper
Just like Mojo Hand
Just like Billy Sunday
In a shotgun rag-time band
Just like New York City
Just like Jericho
Pace the halls and climb the walls
And get out when they blow
Storyteller:
It is the blowing of the ramīs horns, the sound of musical trumpets, accompanied with loud choral voices that bring the walls of Jericho down. Following Godīs instructions accomplish the unexpected.
Sundance:
Did you say your name was Rambling
Rose?
Ramble on baby, settle down easy
Ramble on Rose
Did you say your name was Rambling Rose?
Ramble on baby, settle down easy
Ramble on Rose
I'm gonna sing you
A hundred verses of ragtime
I know this song
It ain't never gonna end
I'm gonna march you up and down
Along the county line
Take you to the leader
Of the band
Just like crazy Otto, just like Wolfman Jack
Sittinīplush with a royal flush, aces back to back.
Just like Mary Shelley, just like Frankenstein.
Clank your chains and count your change and try to walk the line.
The Joker, Raindance, & Liberty, join their brother Sundance
and in perfect harmony sing together a capella
Did you say your name was
Rambling Rose?
Ramble on baby, settle down easy
Ramble on Rose
I'm gonna sing you
A hundred verses of ragtime
I know this song
It ain't never gonna end
I'm gonna march you up and down
Along the county line
Take you to the leader
Of the band
Good-bye mama and papa
Good-bye Jack and Jill
The grass ainīt greener
The wine ainīt sweeter
Either side of the hill
Did you say your name was Rambling Rose?
Ramble on baby, settle down easy
Ramble on Rose
The Joker, Raindance and Lady Liberty toasts the gypsies and say to them & each other
The Joker
:I want your world
Raindance
:Would you settle for the country?
Liberty
:Fuck the country, I want to be a star!
Liberty
turns and sings:"Take my hand and run with me
Out of the past of yesterday
And walk with me
Into the future tomorrow........"
Next Act: THE SECRET BOOK
SUGAREE, RAMBLE ON ROSE
Songs by the Grateful Dead
Lyrics by Robert Hunter & Music by Jerry Garcia
Excerpts from the science fiction musical Play "RAINDANCE"
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