The Black Rider: Songs

(Songs performed in the play)

Prologue: The old uncle enters, singing "Lucky Day Overture" through a bullhorn. On stage is a black box. The "Black Box Theme" is played. Pegleg (the devil) and the entire company come out of the box until they all stand in a line in front of the stage. Then Pegleg sings "The Black Rider" with the rest of the cast joining in. Then the characters disappear and while the "Black Box Theme" is played again, the box gets bigger, until the whole stage is engulfed in a black spot.

The Black Rider

Scene 1: This scene takes place in the interior of a room, with enormous furniture. On the back wall is a portrait of Kuno (played by actor). Bertram (the old forester) enters and consults the Kuno portrait. But Kuno leaves it up to him to decide. Bertram's wife Anne enters and they start singing "But He's Not Wilhelm". Wilhelm and K�thchen enter and join the song. Robert (the hunting boy) enters and shakes hands with Bertram. The two are obviously close friends. Then Robert tries to convince K�thchen: "I know this forest, like I know my prick".

But He's Not Wilhelm

Scene 2: The old uncle tells the story of young Kuno. When Kuno was young he once saved a man's live by shooting the stag he was tied to "Tied to the branches of a roebuck stag, Left to wave in the timber like a buck shot flag". In a flashback scene, we see the man on the stag is played by Robert. While tied to the stag Robert sings "November". Young Kuno shoots the stag and "Carnival" is played. Young Kuno is rewarded a miniature black box.

Tied to the branches of a roebuck stag

Scene 3: Back in the interior of a room, with enormous furniture. K�thchen enters while carrying a white goose. She speaks lines from "That's The Way". Wilhelm enters and we hear the Burroughs version of "That's the Way". Then K�thchen and Wilhelm sing "The Briar And The Rose" as a love duet. During the song the room fills with water, with K�thchen and Wilhelm swimming under water. Scene ends with a giant gun, appearing on stage.

 
The Briar And The Rose

Scene 4: Outside Wilhelm picks up the gun (offered to him by Pegleg), but doesn't know how to handle it. He tries to shoot deer placed like in a shooting gallery, but he fails. Then Pegleg enters and sings "Just The Right Bullets" to Wilhelm. Wilhelm is persuaded to try some magic bullets, and shoots all the deer regardless where he aims his gun. "Carnival" is played again.

Just The Right Bullets

Scene 5: In the interior of a room, full of dead animals shot by Wilhelm, K�thchen mesmerizes about her feelings for Wilhelm. The Kuno portrait starts singing "Chase The Clouds Away", then K�thchen joins. Then Wilhelm and Bertram and his wife Anne join in. Everybody appears to be very pleased that Wilhelm has become a good huntsman and has shot all these animals. Bertram decides that Wilhelm can marry his daughter. Then Pegleg comes out of the floor and sings the last couplet to "Chase The Clouds Away".

K�thchen mesmerizes about her feelings for Wilhelm

Scene 6: After a monologue by Robert and the old uncle we are back in the forest. Wilhelm tries to shoot shadows without the magic bullets, but he doesn't hit a thing. When he tries his last magic bullet he hits a goose. Robert and the old uncle sing "Flash Pan Hunter".

Wilhelm shooting shadows without the magic bullets

Scene 7: After a monologue K�thchen sings "In The Morning". A bridesmaid helps her dressing for the marriage. The bridesmaid and Anne join the song. Wilhelm joins: "Oh the blood of the lamb is in the well... " but he is in despair because he cannot shoot any more. His pants fall down. Wilhelm needs more magic bullets.

In The Morning

Scene 8: Flashback scene telling the story of Georg Schmid. Robert and Bertram sing "Crossroads". A messenger enters and sings "News From The Duke". Pegleg comes out of the floor again and hands a bridal veil for K�thchen. When the veil is put on K�thchen, it turns out to be black. Everybody is shocked, and together they finish "In The Morning". Bertram continues the Georg Schmid story. Robert sings "Crossroads" while playing Georg Schmid on the crossroads. Georg Schmid goes crazy. He's put on a strait jacket and is taken off stage by two attendants. During an intermission Wilhelm sees the black box. We hear Burroughs version of "T'aint No Sin". The old uncle comes with a warning: "Whatever you do, don't sell your you."

 
George Schmid at the crossroads

Scene 9: K�thchen sits on a huge bed. She sings "I'll Shoot The Moon" as a love song. We have another intermission with Pegleg and Wilhelm doubles doing a dance on "Russian Dance" in front of the stage screen.

Scene 10: We are at the crossroads again. The trees are upside down. Wilhelm is surrounded by ghosts and he appears to be frightened. Wilhelm needs more magic bullets. "Oily Night" is playing. Then the "Black Box Theme" starts and the devil flies in on a chair and sings "Gospel Train". Wilhelm gets his magic bullets from him. The old uncle tells us the Hemmingway story (selling a script only for the money).

Wilhelm at the crossroads

Scene 11: We see a white dove in a tree. Wilhelm enters in white. The rest of the cast enters in white. Wilhelm tries to shoot the dove but hits K�thchen instead. "Now a man figures it's his bullets, so it'll take what he wants, But it don't always work out that way, You see, some bullets are special for a single target, a certain stag or a certain person, And no matter where you aim, that's where the bullet'll end up, And in the moment of aiming, the gun turns into a dowser's wand, and points where the bullet wants to go." Pegleg and the black box reappear on stage. Wilhelm goes mad and sings "Lucky Day". All players behaving like madmen, disappear in the black box. In the back we see paintings of madhouses.

     
The white dove in the tree

Epilogue: Only Pegleg is on stage, someone throws him a rose. Pegleg introduces the band and thanks the audience: "Thank you, you're too kind." Pegleg sings "The Last Rose Of Summer" and disappears in the black box which then flies away.

The Last Rose Of Summer

Curtain