a musical biography book, original lyrics and translations of selected

Transcription

a musical biography book, original lyrics and translations of selected

a musical biography
book, original lyrics and
translations of selected José Martí works
by
Mario Beguiristain
©2007 Mario Beguiristain
465 Ocean Drive, Suite 317
Miami Beach, FL 33139-6623
305-673-9815
Martí logo by Ponce de León
a musical biography
About the Production
This musical play is intended for a versatile cast of
25 actors, singers and dancers, doubling in
multiple roles, with the exception of the actor
playing the adult José Martí, who should perform
that role exclusively. A distribution of all the roles
appears at the end of this introduction.
The play calls for a dark bare stage where selected
pieces of furniture, occasional props or evocative
bits of scenery occasionally appear.
Images are to be projected on several moveable
screens of different sizes and shapes.
These
screens descend or slide onto the stage, always
moving in full view of the audience, forming a
dynamic frame within which the actors perform.
An effort has been made to faithfully translate and
incorporate into the book as much as possible of
the work of José Martí: his poems, prose, speeches
and letters.
When the lyrics are English translations of Martí’s
poetry, every effort has been made to provide a
faithful rendering of the Spanish original as to
meaning and style. Any future revisions of those
lyrics, if any, must retain the integrity of Martí’s
original work in Spanish.
The lyrics to the original songs are tentative at
best and are meant as guidance for the score’s
composer, so they should be considered a work in
progress until they are fully set to music.
a musical biography
About the Author
Mario Beguiristain
Book and Lyrics
www.mariofilms.com
Mario Beguiristain is an Associate Professor of Film at Miami
Dade College. Before entering academia, Mario created, wrote,
produced and/or directed over 300 commercials and more than
30 TV Music Specials in English, Spanish and French for the
NBC, Univision, CBC and Telemundo networks.
His work has been recognized with a Clio Award, a Belding
Award (Los Angeles Ad Club), a New York Festival Award, two
Golden Mike Awards, two Sunny Awards (Southern California
Broadcasting Assoc.) and five Se Habla Español Awards
(Hispanic Business Magazine). He is a past recipient of a CBS
Fellowship at The University of Southern California, from where
he holds doctorate and master degrees in Cinema-Television.
a musical biography
Scenes and Musical Numbers
Act One
Scene One:
Prologue
“Independence Overture”—Company Dance Number
“Is That Who You Think I Am?”—Cuba (Song and Dance)
“Clave a Martí”—Trio (Traditional Song/Public Domain)
Scene Two:
Childhood
“Simple Verses”--Trio
Scene Three:
The Letter
“Battle Ballet”—Orchestral Underscore
“Abdala”—Martí & Doña Leonor (Dramatic Duet)
Scene Four:
Arrest and Trial
“The Magistrate’s Gavel”—Orchestral Underscore
Scene Five:
The Quarry
“Don’t Be a Crusader”—Doña Leonor (Song)
“The Enchanted Forest”—Company Dance Number
“Your Friends”—Cuba—(Dramatic Song)
Scene Six:
A Tavern in Spain
“La Bailarina Española”—Company Dance Number (Flamenco)
Scene Seven:
Two Students in Zaragoza/Epiphany
“Ladies’ Lament I”—La Madrileña (Torch song)
“Epiphany”—Blanca de Montalvo (Religious Song)
“Your Lustrous Hair”—Martí (Love Song)
“Ladies’ Lament II”—La Madrileña & Doña Leonor
Scene Eight:
Two Young Men in Paris
“Offenbach’s Can-Can”—Company Dance Number
“Ladies’ Lament III”—La Madrileña, Doña Leonor & Blanca de Montalvo
“The Letter”—Doña Leonor (Song)
“Your Friends/Reprise”—Cuba (Dramatic Song)
“La Morena” ”—Company Dance Number
Scene Nine:
A Play Premieres in Mexico/Carmen Zayas-Bazán
“How Can You Resist Romance?”—Company Waltz
“Ladies’ Lament IV”—La Madrileña, Doña Leonor, Blanca de Montalvo & Cuba
“Someone You’d Love To Meet”—Doña Leonor & Ladies’ Chorus
“But What Does He See In Me?”—Carmen Zayas-Bazán (Song)
“Chess Match”—Orchestral Underscore
Scene Ten:
La Niña de Guatemala/Back Home to Cuba
“Ladies’ Lament V”—La Madrileña, Doña Leonor, Blanca de Montalvo & Cuba
“Is That Who You Think I Am?/Reprise”—Martí (Song)
“Resist”—Martí & Carmen Zayas-Bazán (Song Duet)
“La Niña de Guatemala”—Martí (Ballet with Orchestral Underscore)
“Back Home”—Company Chorus
Scene Eleven:
A Home in Cuba/Arrival in New York
“Don’t Be a Crusader/Reprise”—Doña Leonor (Song)
“It’s All The Same”—Martí & Carmen Zayas-Bazán (Song Duet)
“This Is The U.S.A.”—Orchestral Underscore
END OF ACT ONE
a musical biography
Scenes and Musical Numbers
Act Two
Scene One:
Arrival in New York
“This Is The U.S.A.”—Orchestral Underscore
“This is the U.S.A.”—Martí (Vaudeville Number)
Scene Two:
The Two Carmens and Cuba
Scene Three:
Gossip and Cesar Romero
“Talk, Talk, Talk,”—Cuba (Song)
“Cesar Romero”—Cesar Romero (Song)
Scene Four:
Boarding House Blues
Scene Five:
The Statues
“Liberation Overture/Reprise”—Instrumental
“Wedding of Fire”—Instrumental Dance Number
Scene Six:
Fueling a New War
Scene Seven:
Fernandina Disaster
“Talk, Talk, Talk/Reprise”—Cuba (Song)
“General’s Lament”—Maceo, Gómez and García
“Don’t Be A Crusader/Reprise”—Doña Leonor
Scene Eight:
The Rose Slippers
“The Rose Slippers Ballet”—Martí and Company
Scene Nine:
Invasion and War Diary
“Simple Verses”—Trio
Scene Ten:
Immolation
“Simple Verses”—Trio
“Clave a Martí”—Trio (Traditional Song/Public Domain)
THE END
a musical biography
Characters in Order of Appearance
Act One
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
Cuba—Vivacious narrator and Martí’s obsession
Trio—Older Cuban men in guayaberas playing guitars
Doña Leonor—Suffering mother
Don Mariano—Distant father
Five Sisters—From 6 to 14
Two Young Girls—Playmates
José Martí/Age 9—Precocious
Fermín/Age/9—Suspicious
Don Rafael María de Mendive—Martí’s teacher
Fermín’s Father—Kind and literate
José Martí/Age 15— Audacious
Fermín/Age/15—Restless
Police Agent #1—Official
Police Agent #2—Official
Magistrate—Presides at the Crown’s Court of Justice
Sigmund Freud/Age 12—Also precocious
Slave Smuggler—Whip in hand
Dying Slave—Famous last words
José Martí/Adult—Patriot, poet and martyr
Fermín Valdez Domínguez/Adult—Martí’s best friend
Student #1—On his way to the taverna
Student #2—Also on his way to the taverna
Carlos Sauvalle—Sympathetic Spaniard
La Madrileña—Flamenco dancer
Guitarist—Keeps his head low
Lino—Twelve-year-old prisoner
Prison Warden—cruelty personified
Blanca de Montalvo—Blonde paramour
Saint James—Christian martyr, fisher of men
The Blessed Virgin Mary—played by Cuba
Sigmund Freud/Age 23—Analytical
Sarah Bernhardt—Divine
Lucien—Her butler
Enrique Guasp de Péris—Cuban actor with his own company
Alexandre Dumas—Forlorn French author
Conchita Padilla—An actress
Eloisa Agüero—Another actress
Rosario de la Peña—Men died for her
Don Francisco Zayas-Bazán—Exiled Cuban Patriarch in Mexico
Carmen Zayas-Bazán—Martí’s anxious and disillusioned wife
Don Miguel García Granados—Former president of Guatemala
María García Granados—His sacrificial virginal daughter
Juan Gualberto Gómez—Cuban Patriot
Capitán Ramón Blanco—Spanish Captain General of Cuba
a musical biography
Characters in Order of Appearance
Act Two
1. José Martí/Adult—Patriot, poet and martyr
2. Carmen Miyares de Mantilla—Boarding house mistress
3. Carmen Zayas-Bazán—Martí’s anxious and disillusioned wife
4. Don Manuel Mantilla—Her husband
5. Mantilla Son (8 years old)
6. Mantilla Daughter (10 years old)
7. General Calixto García—Veteran from the Ten Years War
8. Cuba—Vivacious narrator and Martí’s obsession
9. Cesar Romero—Debonair Hollywood movie star
10. Sigmund Freud/Age 32—Analyst on-call
11. Trio—Older Cuban men in guayaberas playing guitars
12. Doña Leonor—Suffering mother
13. General Máximo Gómez—Veteran from the Ten Years’ War
14. General Antonio Maceo—Veteran from the Ten Years’ War
15. The Statue of Liberty—played by Cuba
16. Changó. God of Thunder and Lightning, also played by Cuba
17. Chained Slaves--Dancers
18. María Mantilla/Pilar—Marti’s fourteen year old goddaughter
19. Pilar’s Mother—Dancer
20. Florinda—Little girl dancer
21. Florinda’s French Maid—Dancer
22. Alberto, a Soldier and Sailor—Dancer
23. Magdalena—Little girl dancer
24. Indigent Mother—Dancer
25. Sick Daughter—Played by a wax mannequin or a doll
26. Fermín Valdés Domínguez—Martí’s best friend, now older
27. Angel de la Guardia—Martí’s guardian angel, played by Cuba
a musical biography
Distribution of Roles
1. Leading Actor/Singer: José Martí/Adult
2. Leading Actress/Singer/Dancer: Cuba, The Blessed Virgin
Mary, Liberty, Changó and Martí’s Guardian Angel
3. Supporting Actress/Singer #1: Carmen Zayas Bazán
4. Supporting Actress/Singer #2: Doña Leonor, Pilar’s Mother
5. Supporting Actress: Sarah Bernhardt, Rosario de la Peña,
Carmen Miyares de Mantilla
6. Specialty Dancer/Singer: La Madrileña, Company Dancer
7. Supporting Actor/Singer: Fermín/Adult, Sigmund Freud/Age
23, Sigmund Freud/Age 32
8. Older Actor #1: Don Mariano, Carlos Sauvalle, Saint James,
Capitan Ramón Blanco, General Calixto García
9. Older Actor #2: Fermín’s Father, Prison Warden, Slave
Smuggler,Don Francisco Zayas Bazán, Don Manuel Mantilla,
General Máximo Gómez
10. Older Actor/Singer: Don Rafael de Mendive, Magistrate,
Enrique Guasp de Péris, Don Miguel García Granados, Cesar
Romero
11. Young Boy #1: Martí/Age 9, Mantilla Son, Peasant, Dancer
12. Young Boy #2: Fermín/Age 9, Peasant, Company Dancer
13. Older Boy/12: Sigmund Freud/Age 12, Lino, Peasant, Dancer
14. Young Girl #1: Martí’s sister, Playmate, Student, María
Mantilla, Pilar
15. Young Girl #2: Martí’s sister, Playmate, Student, Mantilla
Daughter, Magdalena
16. Teenage Boy #1: Martí/Age 15, Student #1, Peasant,
Chained Slave, Dancer
17. Teenage Boy #2: Fermín/Age 15, Student #2, Peasant,
Chained Slave, Dancer
18. Strong Black Man: Dying Slave, Juan Gualberto Gómez,
Tobacco Worker, General Antonio Maceo
19. Older Black Woman: Chained Slave, Dancer
20. Younger Black Woman: Chained Slave, Indigent Mother
21. Young Woman Dancer #1: Martí’s Sister, Eloisa Agüero,
María García Granados, Florinda’s French Maid, Dancer
22. Young Woman Dancer #2: Martí’s Sister, Blanca de
Montalvo, Conchita Padilla, Florinda, Company Dancer
23. Trio Man #1: Singer/Guitarist, Flamenco Guitarist
24. Trio Man #2: Singer/Guitarist, Lucien, Police Agent #1
25. Trio Man #3: Singer/Guitarist, Alberto, Police Agent #2
a musical biography
ACT ONE
1
ACT ONE
SCENE ONE
PROLOGUE: ”Independence Overture”
[When the audience enters the theater, the curtain is
already open, revealing a dark empty stage with a large
screen in back. In front of it hangs a smaller screen with
the Martí logo suspended in mid air]
[Eventually, a stagehand enters pushing a portable
electronic scoreboard and plugs it in. It lights up and
reads: “1776”. The stagehand leaves as the house lights
go down]
[We hear two snare drums and a flute playing "The Spirit
of 1776”. Three men in silhouette march onstage playing
the drums and the flute. They are a faithful depiction of
the famous painting from the American War of
Independence: a short young man and a tall old man
banging on their drums, with the flutist marching
alongside them]
[Engravings and woodcuts of the American War of
Independence are projected on descending screens: The
Boston Tea Party, the Minute Men, the Ride of Paul Revere,
the Battle at Concord, Massachusetts…]
[Cannons roar]
CUBA
(a woman's voice, offstage)
Seventeen seventy-six. Thirteen American colonies fight almighty England and win their
independence…
["The Spirit of 1776" marches offstage as the screen
now flashes "1789"]
[Images of the French Revolution are projected: The
Bastille, Versailles, and The Louvre]
[Sinister silhouettes quickly erect a guillotine
downstage and proceed to decapitate a King and a
Queen]
[Cannons roar]
CUBA
(the woman's offstage voice continues)
Seventeen eighty-nine. The French Revolution! Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette: Off with
their heads!
[A rabble cheers and rushes onstage branding pitchforks
scythes and torches. They carry on their shoulders a bare
breasted woman, La Marianne, draped in a French Flag]
2
[Strains of "La Marseillaise” blend into the
“Independence Overture”]
CUBA
Liberté! Egalité! Fraternité!
CHORUS
(the rabble running around the stage)
Liberté! Equalité! Fraternité!
[The scoreboard suddenly flashes "1791". The French
Revolution comes to an abrupt halt]
[An "African Beat" begins to pulsate as a group of
Black Slaves carrying machetes appears. They shove
the French rabble-rousers aside and proceed to
celebrate their country's independence with a ritual
African Dance]
[Projected: Historical images of Haiti]
[Canons roar]
CUBA
Seventeen ninety-one: The French Revolution spreads overseas to Haiti! The slaves revolt.
The second European colony in America wins its independence!
[The scoreboard now flashes "1811." The Haitians run
offstage, scared by a loud horse's neigh heard from
afar]
[A statue of Simón Bolívar on horseback is wheeled
onto the stage by Latin American peasants]
[Projected: Images of Bolivar fighting and freeing
Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Perú and Bolivia]
[Cannons roar]
CUBA
Eighteen eleven: Simón Bolívar appears, heroic, like a statue on horseback, ready to liberate
all of South America from Spain!
[The scoreboard now flashes "1813"]
CUBA
Eighteen thirteen: Venezuela! The third American nation to gain its freedom!
[The Latin American peasants move the statue of
Bolívar again several steps forward]
[A Venezuelan flag unfurls and the peasants
celebrate]
3
CUBA
Eighteen nineteen: Colombia!
[The Latin American peasants move the statue of
Bolívar a few more steps forward. A Colombian flag
unfurls. The peasants cheer]
CUBA
Eighteen twenty-two: Ecuador!
[The Latin American peasants continue moving the
statue of Bolívar forward. Flags of Perú and Bolivia
unfurl as the peasants carouse]
[The screen now flashes "1825"]
CUBA
Eighteen twenty-five: Perú and Bolivia!
[The Latin American peasants start to wheel the
statue of Bolívar but, as they make their way, they
run into a voluptuous Chorus Girl dressed in full,
glitzy, "Las Vegas" regalia. She is Cuba, the voice
we've been hearing offstage. The peasants come to a
full stop]
CUBA
(confronting the Latin American Peasants)
Hey! Don't stop there, boys! What about me?
[A spotlight falls on her as the stage goes dark. The
screens and all the Latin American peasants
disappear, leaving her on an empty stage]
CUBA
(struts downstage to address the audience)
I’m always stuck with the short end of the stick. The last one to get picked. By the 1850's all
of Latin America was free except for me… and Puerto Rico--but that's another story, in which
I also play a big part… But we’ll save it for some other time.
[The house lights come up as Cuba walks downstage
and peers into the audience]
4
CUBA
(adlibbing with the audience)
Hello, everybody! How you doing? Good?
(as if answering a question from the front row)
Yes, I’m Cuba!
(she strikes a pose)
Ta Da! What, no applause?
(looking into the balcony)
Let's try it again, this time with the house lights off and the spotlight right here on my…
(she looks at her derrière, then smiles)
…face!
[A spotlight falls on her as the house lights dim]
CUBA
(she looks down into the orchestra pit)
And give me some oomph, maestro!
[The Orchestra plays a “Fanfare”]
I’m Cuba! Ta Da!
CUBA
(she strikes the same pose)
[She now gets some applause]
CUBA
That's much better.
(to someone else in the front)
What's that? You think I’m not dressed properly? Come on, you never went to the Tropicana?
Well then, let me ask you, what do you think Cuba should look like?
[Music Up: “Is That Who You Think I Am?”—a
dizzying rhumba with a Big Band sound]
[She begins to strut stage left as two dancers, enter
stage right wheeling a screen in front of her. They
continue moving the screen as Cuba emerges from
behind it wearing an Ancient Greek helmet and
carrying a shield and a spear]
CUBA
(singing)
Should I look like the 50-foot statue
of the Warrior Goddess Athena
under the dome of the Cuban Capitol?
Is that who you think I am?”
Hah!
[Projected: Statue of Cuba as the Goddess Athena in the
Cuban Capitol]
[As she continues strutting, other dancers cross her, sliding
another screen between her and the audience] [Cuba
5
reappears from behind the screen wearing a red cap
and draped in Cuban flag]
CUBA
(continues singing)
Or like this,
very official and symbolic,
presentable, uncomfortable
and… apostolic?
Hah!
[Projected: Images of “Cuba” draped in a flag]
[She slides behind another moving screen and comes
out as an Eighteenth Century Señorita fanning
herself in a lacy dress with a broad hoop skirt]
CUBA
(continues singing)
Or like a prim and proper Damisela,
Color embossed on a cigar box,
surrounded by Gold Medals
won at fairs around the world?
Hah!
[Projected: Colorful Lithographs of Cigar Boxes with
Coy Damsels and Prized Gold Medals]
[Another screen intercepts her and she sashays
behind it. After a couple of turns, she comes out now
as a "Rumbera" straight from a 1930's Pan-American
Airlines travel poster]
CUBA
(continues singing)
Ay! Ay! Ay! Like the "Rumbera"
from a "Weekend in Havana,"
sex symbol from another era,
Or a jinetera?
Hah!
[Projected: A montage of Cuban Communist
propaganda posters followed immediately by photos
of raft people arriving in Florida]
CUBA
(continues singing)
Or maybe I’m a “guerrillera”…
With a rifle and a bayonet
Or maybe I’m just a “balsera”
Whose feet on the sand are still wet!
Hah!
6
[Another screen sweeps by, and Cuba now emerges
wearing a burlap sack with chains around her wrists,
which she raises and rattles in midair]
[Music Out]
CUBA
(continues spoken)
What you’re used to… is seeing me like this…. No? Everyone sees me in different ways,
depending on how they feel about me, what their experiences with me have been…
[A screen descends with an old-style vaudeville
poster: **CHALLENGE TO THE DEATH**
**MARTÍ VOWS TO LIBERATE CUBA**
**TONIGHT!**”
CUBA
Ah! But, tonight, I am José Martí’s Cuba. Unfortunately, he always saw me like this:
humiliated and in chains!
(now doing Ed Sullivan)
And right here, tonight on this stage, he will fight against all odds to liberate me from Spain.
(she begins searching the stage)
Where are you, my beloved patriot, my very own martyr and apostle? My love…
Where are you, Martí? Can’t you see we’re about to start?
[A Trio of Cuban men in white guayaberas, playing
guitars and maracas, walks through the scene,
singing in Spanish. The scoreboard flashes the
English translation]
[Song: “Clave a Martí” (Traditional P.D.]
Martí no debió de morir
Ay! de morir…
Si Martí no hubiera muerto
Otro gallo cantaría
La patria se salvaría
Y Cuba sería feliz
Ay! de morir…
Ay! de morir…
TRIO
(singing)
Martí should never have died,
Never have died…
If Martí had not died…
Nothing would be the same
The country would have been saved
And Cuba would have been free
Never have died…
Never have died…
[The famous lithograph of Martí hit by enemy
gunfire as he leads the charge on horseback at Dos
Ríos, flashes briefly on a screen]
[A loud fusillade rings out]
CUBA
(resigned)
But die he did.
[Lights out]
7
SCENE TWO
CHILDHOOD
[Lights come up immediately on stage left, where a
Man in a nineteenth century Spanish night
watchman’s uniform stands next to a Woman all
dressed in black, rocking a cradle. Other than for the
rocking motion, they are motionless, as if posing for a
Daguerreotype]
CUBA
(now offstage)
But first, before he died, he had to be born. Born on January 28th, 1853 in a Cuba sucked bone
dry by Spain…
[The scoreboard flashes 1853]
CUBA
…to Don Mariano Martí, night watchman for the Spanish Crown, and Doña Leonor Pérez, a
lady who kept herself busy, giving José five little sisters all in a row…
[The Five Sisters stick their heads out from behind
their parents holding the baby]
Girls, you haven’t even been born yet!
CUBA
(to the sisters)
[The sisters duck their heads down immediately]
CUBA
(continued)
Pepe, as José was familiarly called, was a bright, precocious, curious child. He loved to read.
And although his parents couldn’t afford to pay for school, little Pepe was allowed to attend,
free of charge, Professor Rafael María de Mendive’s fourth grade class…
[The lights now reveal a group of kids upstage seated
in a classroom facing a blackboard]
FERMÍN/AGE 9
(sotto voce to Martí)
He warned me that we’re all going to hell.
MARTÍ/AGE 9
Who?
The priest. Father Jacinto.
FERMIN/AGE 9
MARTÍ/AGE 9
That’s to make you go to his school.
[Suddenly, the students rise from their desks as
Professor Mendive enters the classroom]
8
PROFESSOR MENDIVE
(walking in)
Ahem! Go to what school?
MARTÍ/AGE 9
Catholic school. Father Jacinto told Fermín that he’s going to hell because you don’t teach
religion here.
PROFESSOR MENDIVE
Religion! Religion you find in your soul, not in a classroom!
FERMÍN/AGE 9
So… Are we going to hell or not, sir?
PROFESSOR MENDIVE
(begins to walk among the students)
You won’t go to hell if you choose right over wrong. That path always leads to God. But I
founded this school on the teachings of Karl Krause. Like him, I believe in secular education
and only teach the pursuit of science and liberty--not of God!
MARTÍ/AGE 9
But, didn’t Krause say that only when Man knows absolute liberty will he know God?
PROFESSOR MENDIVE
Yes…
MARTÍ/AGE 9
(reasoning an argument)
Then, if the pursuit of liberty leads us to God… You are teaching religion!
appears standing in the door to the
[A spotlight reveals Don Mariano Martí, who
classroom.]
now
DON MARIANO MARTÍ
Blasphemy and rebellion! If this is what my son is learning in your school, Professor
Mendive, I don’t want him here…
[Don Mariano Martí grabs his son and starts to take
him away. The boy resists]
MARTÍ/AGE 9
(formally debating the point)
But Father, Professor Mendive is teaching us religion! See, it’s a simple syllogism: if he
teaches us to pursue liberty…
DON MARIANO MARTÍ
(erupting)
That’s blasphemy and seditious rabble rousing, that’s what!
So I’m going to hell then?
FERMÍN/AGE 9
9
Not if you fight for Cuba’s liberty…
MARTÍ/AGE 9
DON MARIANO MARTÍ
(to Professor Mendive)
Look, Mendive, I am a poor, obedient man, making a meager living as night watchman for the
Crown.
(pleading)
I appreciate your teaching my boy, but don’t bring your people’s fight into our home...
(releasing Martí who steps away from him)
In our family we are all Spaniards!
MARTÍ/AGE 9
(siding with Mendive)
No. I’m Cuban!
[The lights go down on the classroom]
[The Trio of Cuban men in white guayaberas, walks
through the scene, singing “Simple Verses”]
TRIO
(singing)
Yo soy un hombre sincero
De donde crece la palma
Y antes de morirme quiero
Echar mis versos del alma
I am an honest man
From where the palm trees grow,
And before I die I want to cast
These verses from my soul.
[Cuba appears downstage, wearing a damisela
costume and twirling a parasol, she sashays her way
through the Trio]
CUBA
Those two never did get along too well, father and son. But in that school, Martí did make a
good friend in Fermín Valdés Domínguez, a kid from a good home, a home where books were
read and dangerous ideas were discussed…
[The screens descend with several projections
depicting the front porch of a Colonial house, with a
stoop and a small garden in front]
[Martí and Fermín are on the porch, eavesdropping
on a group of portly men talking, drinking and
smoking cigars inside]
What are they saying?
Can't hear them.
Are they conspiring against Spain?
MARTÍ/AGE 9
FERMÍN/AGE 9
MARTÍ/AGE 9
FERMÍN/AGE 9
(defensively)
Look, you better go now.
MARTÍ/AGE 9
10
I knew it! They are conspiring!
FERMÍN/AGE 9
Go away! You’re spying for Spain!
MARTÍ/AGE 9
It's my parents who are Spaniards. Not me. I'm Cuban.
FERMÍN/AGE 9
Let’s see you prove it!
[Fermín raises his fists. Martí follows suit. The boys
start fighting and the scuffle gets the attention of
Fermiín's father, a kind and wise man, who steps out
onto the porch to investigate]
FERMÍN'S FATHER
What's this?
(splitting them apart)
Come now, boys. Not friends anymore?
MARTÍ/AGE 9
(snapping to attention)
I wish to put myself at your service, sir. To send me on any mission…
Ah, Pepe!
FERMÍN'S FATHER
(a sigh of relief)
You’ve been reading. Did you bring back the books I lent you?
MARTÍ/AGE 9
(going for his satchel)
Yes, sir.
FERMÍN'S FATHER
Why don’t you go in and pick two more for this coming week?
MARTÍ/AGE 9
(starts to go inside, then turns)
Thank you, sir. But, don’t dismiss me so quickly: What must I do to win your trust?
FERMÍN'S FATHER
What makes you think I don’t trust you, Pepe?
(to Fermín)
Come over here, son.
(he lowers himself on the stoop and hugs the kids)
You two are good friends, aren’t you?
Yes… Yes.
MARTÍ/AGE 9 & FREMÍN/AGE 9
(vacillating)
FERMÍN'S FATHER
Then, you must trust each other…
(to Martí)
You see: I trust my son Fermín, and through him, I place my trust in you, Pepe.
11
[Fermín’s Father brings the boys together under
his wing. They form a triangle as a bright
spotlight falls on them, giving the moment an
otherworldly resonance]
[Music swells up…]
FERMÍN'S FATHER
(continues)
And whatever you may hear within these walls is not to be repeated. Understood?
MARTÍ/AGE 9
You have my word, sir. And remember that you can count on me for any mission…
FERMÍN'S FATHER
I’ll keep you in mind! Your mission now is to go inside for more books. And don't let
anything break up this friendship.
MARTÍ/AGE 9 & FREMÍN/AGE 9
(in unison)
Yes, sir!
[With a musical flourish, the lights go out]
[The Trio of Cuban men in white guayaberas, playing
guitars and maracas, walks through the scene,
singing in Spanish. The scoreboard flashes the
English translation]
TRIO
(singing)
Si dicen que del joyero
Tome la joya mejor
Tomo a un amigo sincero
Y pongo a un lado el amor.
If I’m ever asked to choose
From among the jeweler’s gems
I’ll take an honest friend’s word
Over a lover’s excuse.
[The Trio leaves the stage]
[Lights out]
12
SCENE THREE
THE LETTER
[The scoreboard flashes: 1868]
[Cuba appears dressed as the Warrior Goddess
Athena]
CUBA
(striking an aggressive pose in shining armor)
Eighteen sixty-eight! All that conspiring comes to its purpose: The Ten-Years’ War begins.
Cuba finally rises against Spain! And, look, I’m all dressed for it!
[Shots ring out]
[Music Up: Battle Ballet]
[Cuba marches off the stage. A contingent of Spanish
soldiers marches on. Cuba leads a group of Cuban
rebels in an ambush of the Spaniards, machetes in
hand]
[A Battle Ballet ensues. With lighting effects, the
stage is enveloped in flames and the lights go down]
[Music Out]
[The scoreboard flashes “1869.” Cuba emerges from
the battle mêlée tired and worn out, now wearing
bloody rags]
CUBA
(striking a defeated pose)
Eighteen sixty-nine! One year down. (sighs) And nine to go. I tell you, Spain is no pushover.
(she wipes her brow)
Cubans take hold of the countryside, entrench themselves, and continue to fight to the death;
while in Havana, rumors and an underground press run rampant…
[Lights come up on Fermín's house, where Martí and
Fermín, both now aged 15, are running a printing
press. Drying on clotheslines hung throughout the
room, are copies of “La Patria Libre”, Martí’s first
patriotic newspaper]
FERMÍN/AGE 15
The fighting is fierce. Céspedes is burning the sugar cane fields and freeing the slaves! Let’s
go join them!
MARTÍ/AGE 15
Yes! And we’ll take all our friends with us.
(he raises the newspaper)
When they read “Abdala” in “La Patria Libre” they’ll hear our rallying battle cry!
13
FERMÍN/AGE 15
Listen, Pepe, I don’t think that sophomoric play of yours, as rife in political allusions as it may
be, could be considered a rallying cry.
[Cuba enters the scene. Martí and Fermín freeze]
CUBA
(to audience)
Ooh! That hurt. And they’re good friends, mind you. For you see, in the first issue of their
paper, “La Patria Libre,” Martí published a play called…
(she picks up one of the drying newspapers and reads)
”Ab-da-la.” Sounds musical, no? Like that Connie Francis song? Well, it means “father” in
Arabic. It’s also the name of a young Nubian warrior who… Yes, Nubian. Now, where Martí
got this Nubian thing, I don’t know…
MARTÍ/AGE 15
(rising from his desk, with arrogance)
Both Cuba and Nubia have the same cadence and musical notes in their names. And both are
situated on the 24th parallel—the Tropic of Cancer. Any fool could see that.
CUBA
(miffed)
Oh… Ex–cuse –me!. I guess I’m not one of Professor Mendive’s star pupils.
[She puts her spear and bloody armor suit on him
and pushes him downstage]
CUBA
Take my spear and armor and show us what’s in that play you wrote!
[Music begins: “Abdala”]
[Martí assumes a warrior pose and runs downstage,
spear held high]
MARTÍ/AGE 15/ABDALA
(yelling)
Espirita!
That’s his mother. In the play…
CUBA
(sottovoce to the audience)
[Doña Leonor appears stage right. Cuba walks up to
her and drapes a Grecian tunic over her black dress
as she bids farewell to her son]
(reciting)
Forgive me Mother! For leaving you
And going to the battlefield.
[Doña Leonor/Espirita begins to weep]
14
(reciting)
Do not weep, Mother!
My own tears are sufficient to my pain.
If I return a victim of the cry of battle,
It would not matter, not to me…
As long as I knew that by my blood
Nubia would be freed from foreign claws,
I would stain that dress you wear, mother,
With drops of my own blood.
DOÑA LEONOR/ESPIRITA
Why do you love so much this patch of earth, my son?
Did it protect you as a child? Did it nurture you as you grew up?
Was it this land that gave birth to your courage and resolve?
Answer me! Was it Nubia, son?
…Or was it me?
The life of an honorable man, mother,
Is to fight and die in defense of his country…
(suddenly, an arrow shoots into his back)
Oh!
Now I die happy; death does not matter to me,
For I have saved her… Nubia has triumphed!
[He falls dead in front of Doña Leonor, who remains
unmoved]
[Music ends]
[Lights go out and come up on Cuba]
CUBA
Of course, “Abdala” was never performed. It was read only by Fermín’s father and by some
of their friends in school who bought their newspaper. But it became clear that these two
boys were headed for trouble.
[Lights come back up in Fermín’s room. Martí and
Fermín are folding the newspapers in a stack]
FERMÍN/AGE 15
Look at Carlos Castro de Castro, a Cuban, like you and me, fighting on the side of Spain just
because it pays good money.
MARTÍ/AGE 15
That’s exactly the kind of mercenary behavior we must condemn in “La Patria Libre”!
FERMÍN/AGE 15
I’ll challenge him to a duel.
MARTÍ/AGE 15
Come now, Fermín, don’t be foolish; he’d shoot you dead fair and square.
15
FERMÍN/AGE 15
Then let’s put him to shame in the next issue. Let’s write him an open letter right now,
accusing him of betraying his country!
[Lights fade out as Fermín sits down to write the
letter, and come up on Cuba--downstage]
CUBA
(to audience)
Bad idea. Or maybe a very good one, if you take the long view of things. For what was to
unfold because of this letter would change the course of their lives, and of history…
[Loud knocking is heard offstage]
CUBA
I think someone's at the door.
[Lights out]
16
SCENE FOUR
ARREST AND TRIAL
[Marti’s home late at night. A door and a staircase. A
shaft of light falls on Doña Leonor, who comes running
downstairs, candle in hand, wearing a nightgown]
DOÑA LEONOR
Stop banging! You'll bring the door down! Who is it?
[Two Spanish Police agents barge in]
POLICE AGENT #1
His Majesty’s Police!
DOÑA LEONOR
(catching her breath)
Oh, Captain Flores and his aide! If you look for my husband, he’s making the rounds. A
trustworthy night-watchman, a loyal servant to the Crown, he is…
[While Doña Leonor speaks, Marti's five sisters come
down and stand, each on one step of the stairs, wearing
impoverished nightgowns]
POLICE AGENT #1
This is not with your husband. We’ve come for your son, José Julian.
DOÑA LEONOR
My son? But he’s only a child of fifteen, what could you want with a boy…
[Martí appears at the top of the stairs. He makes his way
through his sisters as he comes down]
MARTÍ AGE 15
(correcting his mother)
The man you’ve come for is here. Take me.
[The Police Agents point guns at Martí, who calmly
raises his hands]
MARTÍ/AGE 15
But there’s no need to scare my sisters…
[Before he finishes his sentence, the kid is forcefully
taken with such brutality that his sisters and mother
instinctively go to his rescue. The women are roughed
up and pushed aside as handcuffs are slapped on Martí's
wrists. The scuffle subsides]
POLICE AGENT #2
José Julián Martí y Pérez in the name of the Spanish Crown, you are hereby under arrest and
ordered to stand trial…
17
DOÑA LEONOR
(interrupts screaming)
There must be some mistake! What has he done?
[The action freezes and the stage goes dark, except for a
spotlight that singles out the handcuffed Martí, who
begins to walk downstage left]
[Simultaneously, another spotlight reveals a Spanish
Magistrate behind a huge, trapezoidal courtroom desk
on a very high platform upstage center. He answers
Doña Leonor's question]
[Music begins: “The Magistrate’s Gavel”]
MAGISTRATE
(banging his gavel on the desk)
José Julián Martí y Pérez, you are hereby accused of treason. As editor of a seditious leaflet
and the author of this letter, addressed to one of our Cadets, Señor Carlos Castro de Castro, in
which you degrade and ridicule his decision to enlist army…
[Fermín is suddenly lit, standing facing the audience
downstage right]
FERMÍN/AGE 15
(interrupting)
He did not write that letter! As you can plainly see, your honor, from the sample of my
handwriting you have in evidence. The author of that letter is no one else but me!
[The Magistrate compares documents at his desk]
MARTÍ/AGE 15
No! That man is innocent, your honor. Check his handwriting against mine and it will be
clear to you that the true author is me!
[The Magistrate compares more documents at his desk.
He is dumbfounded]
MAGISTRATE
(confused and upset)
Do you mock me, lads? For these handwriting samples are identical! But since you both
signed the letter and claim authorship, you shall both be penalized!
MARTÍ/AGE 15
(protesting loudly)
But I, alone, wrote that letter!
MAGISTRATE
(very upset)
Very well then, José Julián Martí y Pérez, you are sentenced to six years of hard labor in the
quarry penitentiary.
(he bangs the gavel, glances at Fermín and continues)
And as for you, Fermín Valdés Domíngues, you are sentenced as an accomplice to six months
in prison. Thereafter you shall be deported to Spain.
[The Magistrate bangs his gavel a second time]
18
No, not Fermín! This is an injustice!
MARTÍ/AGE 15
MAGISTRATE
(agitated)
Injustice? This is the Court of Justice, young man, and you’re out of order!
[The Magistrate bangs his gavel a third time]
[Music ends]
guitars and maracas, walks through the scene, singing in
Spanish. The scoreboard flashes the English translation]
[Song: “Simple Verses”]
TRIO
Con los pobres de la tierra
Quiero yo mi suerte echar
El arroyo de la sierra
Me complace más que el mar
(singing)
With the poor people on Earth
I would rather cast my lot:
I prefer a mountain stream
To the vastness of the sea.
[The lights go out]
19
SCENE FIVE
THE QUARRY
[Cuba appears downstage]
CUBA
(to the audience)
Well, I guess the Magistrate had to scare them. Make an example of them! Make sure no
more kids got any funny ideas about going into the printing business or inciting uprisings.
That’s for grown-ups, not for kids!
[Music begins: “Don’t be a Crusader”]
[Doña Leonor appears]
DOÑA LEONOR
(singing)
Don’t be a crusader
Don’t take up this fight…
You must remember
Since you were a child
What I’ve been telling you:
He who seeks to be a redeemer
Ends up being crucified.
Your worst enemy is always
Your own kind.
We won’t have a single day
Of peace or tranquility
Until you learn to stop
Demanding Cuba’s liberty
[Suddenly, the stage is blaring white. The full back wall
is a limestone quarry]
[On several levels and niches, men in chains with picks
and shovels, carve blocks out of the mountain at a
mercilessly sorrow beat]
[On one of the niches, is José Martí, pick in hand, and
chipping away at a large boulder. He turns to face the
audience and we see him clearly for the first time. It is a
different Martí, older, fragile and at breaking point, yet
fueled with an incredible energy from his burning
obsession]
MARTÍ/ADULT
(recitative)
Oh mother,
I don’t ask for your forgiveness
But only for your understanding.
The best that my heart has to give
You judge as the worst in me.
20
DOÑA LEONOR
(singing)
What a useless sacrifice
You are making, my dear son,
Of your life and of the lives
Of those who love you…
MARTÍ
(recitative)
Look at me, mother,
And, for your love, don’t cry.
If you feel that because of my youth and ideals,
Prickly thorns cut and clutch your heart,
Think that it‘s among those thorns, mother dear,
That new roses are born.
DOÑA LEONOR
(pleading to someone offstage)
He’s innocent, my Governor,
He’s but a child of sixteen,
He knows nothing, he just hears and repeats.
I beg of you, Governor, please, intervene
On behalf of a child who is only sixteen.
MARTÍ
I know the truth, mother
And I live and die by my words.
[Music ends]
[Lights go out on Doña Leonor, remain on Martí and
Cuba]
CUBA
Ah, Pepe, why are you so obsessed with me, that you choose me over your own mother?
(aside, to the audience)
Now, Freud would probably have something to say about all this. But he was only 12 years
old at the time…
[A twelve-year-old Sigmund Freud appears
downstage in a spotlight. He sports a fake beard,
wears a tweed jacket and carries a pen and a
notebook]
[The rest of the stage goes dark as the young Freud
approaches the audience]
FREUD/AGE 12
(as if by rote)
José Martí’s case is emblematic of the Oedipus complex… Fixated on the perceived betrayal
by the steadfast mother and the indifference of an alienating father, his sexuality begins to
manifest itself by displacing the…
CUBA
(interrupting)
That’s enough, Ziggy. I’ll call you if I need you. Bye, bye…
[The young Freud, dejected, leaves the stage]
21
CUBA
(to audience, after making sure Freud cannot hear her)
I hope I didn’t traumatize him.
(back to Martí at the quarry wall)
Pepe, you tell me. Why are you obsessed with me, when hardly anyone ever cares anymore
about me?
[Lights go out on Cuba and the blindingly white quarry
wall. A spotlight remains on Martí as he speaks.
Another spotlight picks up Don Mariano, in a guard’s
uniform, and Martí/Age 9 who walk together onstage]
[Music begins: “The Enchanted Forest”]
MARTÍ
(still at the rock pile, looking straight ahead)
When I was nearly nine, my father, who had long been unemployed, found work as
watchman in the southern coast of Matanzas. He took me with him and those nine months
we spent together in the country were spellbinding.
[Through a series of colorful projections, the quarry wall
becomes a lush tropical forest—in the style of Henri
Rousseau—featuring swaying palm fronds, enticing
fruits and exotic animals]
[Don Mariano and little Martí appear on stage. They
move, dance-like, through the soothingly green swamp
forest, encountering many magical apparitions, as the
older Martí, still chained to the wall, continues talking to
the audience]
MARTÍ
(continued)
Everything my eyes saw, my heart could feel. In everything I found something beautiful,
something I could understand. Even the wild flowers were bursting with magic, the
hummingbirds, butterflies, grass, the roosters, the cows, the horses—even the bugs crawling
around the trees—were magical! They were all smiling down on me…
[The projections now become darker, deep blue with
pinpoints of white, giving the effect of a starry night.
Little Martí catches a firefly and holds it up to show it to
his father, who pats his son on his head]
DON MARIANO
It’s a firefly, Pepe. Isn’t it beautiful?
MARTÍ/AGE 9
Yes. But where does its light come from?
DON MARIANO
It comes from within its heart, my son.
MARTÍ
(echoing from the back wall)
It comes from within my heart, my love for you, Cuba…
22
Oh, you’re so sweet…
CUBA
MARTÍ
At that time, someone gave my father a horse—and he gave that horse to me…
[From within the forest projections appears a “horse”.
Little Martí gets up on it and begins to ride it, leaving his
father behind as the projections begin to swirl around the
galloping horse]
MARTÍ
(still at the back wall)
…and I went on long rides, at night, when it was cool, and the fireflies lit the way. Once I
came upon a ship… unloading contraband slaves.
[A whiplash! A neigh! Martí on the “horse” comes to a
standstill. The previously swirling projections now
depict a three-mast schooner on a very stormy, ominous
sea]
[From the Orchestra Pit, we hear moaning and
screaming. Suddenly, dripping-wet slaves in chains
begin to rise from the pit, as if from the sea, and climb
onstage, crawling towards the back wall, where Martí,
also in chains, and his nine year old counterpart on a
horse, watch the unfolding action in horror]
[Smugglers wielding whips and rifles circle the slaves,
bringing them to a closed pack, which they begin to prod
and herd as cattle]
[A spotlight falls on the Trio, who appear, singing
“Simple Verses”]
TRIO
(singing)
El rayo surca, sangriento,
El lógrebo nubarrón
Echa el barco, ciento a ciento
Los negros por el portón
Bloody lightning circles ‘round
the stormy, brooding clouds,
As the ship spews from its bowels
Hundreds of negroes about.
[The Trio goes dark as a spotlight falls on Martí ]
MARTÍ
That evening they were taking more than a hundred Africans—to be sold in Havana.
[Martí goes dark as the Trio steps into the spotlight]
TRIO
El temporal sacudía
Los barracones henchidos
Andaba la hilera, andaba
De los esclavos desnudos
(singing)
The fierce wind was blowing
Through the rain-soaked forest:
As the line now made its way,
The line of naked slaves.
23
[One of the slaves breaks off his chains and tries to run
away. A smuggler fires his rifle. The slave is hit and
stumbles onto Little Martí, horrified on horseback]
MARTÍ
One slave made a run for his freedom. He held his broken chains high up in the air. Like this!
And came dying towards me.
DYING SLAVE
¡Ken bwiya me nyire kewe!
MARTÍ
I didn’t know his African tongue, but he told me with his eyes that he was happy to die as a
free man!
[Martí goes dark as the Trio steps into the spotlight]
TRIO
Un niño lo vio: tembló
De pasión por los que gimen
Y, al pie del muerto juró
Lavar con su vida el crimen!
(singing)
A child saw this and trembled
With horror for those who cried
And over that corpse he swore
To wash this crime with his life!
[The Trio leaves the stage as a spotlight falls on Martí
still chained to the wall]
MARTÍ
That’s why I need to set you free, Cuba.
[The music ends]
[The stage goes dark and a spotlight falls on Cuba]
CUBA
(to audience)
Ah! He always gets to me… And it’s hard to have ideals when you’re chained to a rock pile
in a quarry all day. Yet he hangs on to his romantic notions. At night, do you think he sleeps?
[Lights fall on Martí, now lying on a cot, writing on a
notebook while holding a candle with his left hand]
CUBA
(continues walking towards him)
No. He writes by candlelight. Oh, look at his left ankle! There’s the yoke and bleeding sore
from the ball and chain he must carry all day. Yet at night… he's writing a diary!
[Cuba leaves the stage]
MARTÍ
(holding his diary)
“The Political Prison System in Cuba.” The world will read this and things will change.
24
[Cuba reappears carrying two canvas suitcases and
some notebooks. She takes a large key from her
bodice and falls on her knees to unlock the yoke
around Martí’s ankle]
CUBA
Things didn’t change at all, but youthful idealism should always be encouraged.
(handing the yoke to Martí)
Take this and always keep it with you. A souvenir.
(to Martí)
You’re out of here, Pepe. Your parents finally got the Governor to intercede. You’re being
deported to Spain.
[She hands the notebook and suitcases to Martí]
[Music Up: “Your Friends”—a wistful bolero]
CUBA
(singing)
These are your friends
Come, meet them, hold them
They hold your belongings
They hold all that you are.
These are your bags
Take them and leave us behind
They’re all that you’ll have
For all of your years
Go with your friends
They won’t desert you
Two canvas bags,
Some paper, a pen
Travel the world
Tell them I’m fighting
Tell them I’m waiting
Tell them the truth.
Now, go with God
But go!
[Martí puts the yoke in one of his bags and leaves]
[Cuba is left stoically alone in the jail cell]
[Music ends]
[The lights go out]
25
SCENE SIX
A TAVERN IN SPAIN
[The scoreboard flashes: “Madrid 1871”]
[Silhouetted young men bring tables onstage. They
set them around a platform, where a guitarist plays.
We’re in a Spanish Taverna]
[Martí and Fermín enter downstage. They wear suits
and ties, sport Derbys and look healthy]
[Music begins: “La Bailarina Española”]
MARTÍ
(recitative)
The lonely and trembling soul
Grows gloomy as the night falls:
FERMÍN
(recitative)
Cheer up, come on, lose that pall,
Let’s go see the Spanish dancer.
[A Student rushes towards the Taverna past Fermín.
He stops by Martí and leans toward him, secretly]
STUDENT #1
(recitative)
Look, here she comes; it’s the dancer,
Proud and pale she glows and shines,
Where she’s from, no one can answer
But no one cares; for she’s divine.
[The dancer, known as La Madrileña, enters
interpreting the verses through dance. Martí and
Fermín arrive and sit at their table. Everyone in the
Taverna joins them]
STUDENT #2
(recitative)
She’s wearing a bullfighter’s hat
And a flowing fringed red shawl,
Resembling a long-stemmed rose
That’s been topped with a black cap!
[Carlos Sauvalle, Spanish friend of Martí and Fermín,
rises from a nearby table]
CARLOS SAUVALLE
(recitative)
You catch a glimpse of her eyes
Moorish eyes that foretell treason
Her glance neutralizes reason
Her mouth is the source of lies.
26
FERMÍN
(recitative)
The lights dim, we’re in a trance;
And here she is, her shawl in motion
As if Our Lady of the Assumption
Were performing the dance!
[Martí rises and walks over to La Madrileña, to
capture her volatile moves in words]
MARTÍ
(recitative)
She raises her head in defiance
Swirls ‘round her shoulders her shawl:
Makes of each gesture a science
Slowly starts tapping the floor.
[Everyone settles. A spotlight on Martí and another
on La Madrileña]
MARTÍ
(continues recitative)
Hitting the floorboards onstage
She makes them sing to her tempo
Our hearts also beat to that tempo
Of her musical outrage.
She entices our emotions,
Pulling us into her eyes,
With her shawl’s recurring motion
Everyone is hypnotized.
Her body exerts an attraction;
Her trembling mouth provokes:
That mouth opens, like a rose,
And invites to satisfaction.
With one simple move she lifts
Her red shawl from the stage floor
Goes away, with her eyes closed,
Leaving with us her rare gift!
[La Madrileña leaves the stage]
MARTÍ
(spoken)
She dances well, that Madrileña,
With her shawl of crimson red
But it’s now each one to bed…
[Martí sits at his table, next to Fermín]
MARTÍ AND FERMÍN
(together)
For these lonely, trembling souls!
[Music ends]
27
CARLOS SAUVALLE
Bravo, Martí! You do write good poetry. You could make some “pesetas” doing that!
FERMÍN
He’s already written a book…
MARTÍ
(interrupting)
It’s the diary I kept in jail, in Cuba.
CARLOS SAUVALLE
Jails in Cuba don’t sell. Write pretty poetry for women. And not about Cuba!
Cuba always!
MARTÍ AND FERMÍN
(together)
[La Madrileña, now making her rounds of the tables,
brushes past Carlos]
CARLOS SAUVALLE
Let’s not get argumentative now. So you were in jail… with no women?
[La Madrileña leans sensually over Martí, at his
table]
MARTÍ
(responding to her advances)
Yes, with no women.
[Martí rises and grasps La Madrileña by her waist.
He sweeps over her in one graceful move, planting a
kiss on her lips]
STUDENTS #1 AND #2
(with envious admiration)
Ah!
[Carlos, in an outburst of male rivalry, goes over to
where Martí is still kissing La Madrileña, and taps
him on his shoulder]
CARLOS SAUVALLE
So, ahem, tell me about Cuba.
[Martí and La Madrileña regain their composure.
The lower part of his face is smudged with red
lipstick]
MARTÍ
Your sudden interest intrigues me, Carlos. You want to read my prison diary after all?
CARLOS SAUVALLE
Sure. Is it typed? I’ve seen your handwriting…
28
MARTÍ
Well, I could type it for you if you lend me your typewriter.
CARLOS SAUVALLE
Wouldn’t that get me in trouble?
(sotto-voce, towards La Madrileña, behind Martí)
You know he’s a rebel—a dangerous man!
LA MADRILEÑA
(she looks at Martí)
I can tell he’s dangerous.
(she looks at Carlos)
I like danger.
CARLOS SAUVALLE
But would you like to have him around all day talking about Cuba?
[La Madrileña clings to Martí in an anaconda- like
embrace]
[A music chord. They freeze. Cuba enters the
spotlight dressed like a Flamenco dancer]
CUBA
(to audience)
My ears are ringing! Oh, did I come in at the wrong time? I promise we’ll pick it up right
where we left off. But first, there’s something I must do…
[She walks toward Martí and wipes his lipsticksmeared face clean with her handkerchief]
CUBA
(continued)
Now, that’s better. I don’t like to see my boy all smeared up like that.
(to Martí)
Pepe, continue.
[A spotlight singles out Martí, who loosens himself
from “La Madrileña’s” embrace and walks to the
footlights]
MARTÍ
(to Sauvalle)
Listen, listen carefully to this story…and you will shudder with fear at the horrors Spain has
committed:
[The loud clang of picks and shovels is heard]
[The Quarry wall returns, in all its horrific blinding
light. Cuba leaves the stage]
[Enter Lino, a young and frail child to perform the
narrative]
[Conga drums and chanting are heard in the
background]
29
MARTÍ
(continues agitated)
One day at the quarry a little boy appeared.
(he leans over the boy)
How old are you?
Twelve years old.
LINO
MARTÍ
They sentenced a twelve year old to the quarry? What is your name?’
Lino Figueredo, señor.
LINO
MARTÍ
And what was your crime, Lino?’
LINO
I don’t know, señor. One night the soldiers came and took Papi away and then they came
back for Mami and me.
MARTÍ
(he rises, to the audience)
The Spanish Crown had sentenced a twelve year old to ten years of forced labor at the quarry.
They put a ball and chain on him! And I ask you, is this a just government?
(pause)
One day Lino woke up sick. He had a rash. A fever… He went up to the Warden.
[The Warden enters and Lino goes up to him]
LINO
Señor, I do not feel well; I cannot cut stones today.
WARDEN
(ruthless)
Go to the quarry!
MARTÍ
And so he did, to swing his pick until he finally collapsed… and died of smallpox.
[Lino dies]
MARTÍ
When I left that graveyard of living ghosts, Lino was still there. But when I was sent here,
Lino had already died. But that’s not true, because Lino is always with me, reaching for my
hand…
[Lino rises and goes to hold his hand]
MARTÍ
(picking Lino up and holding him over his head)
And like an angel, he flutters over me… Always in my memories…
[Lino falls into Martí’s arms. The lights go down on
them, then come up on the Taverna]
30
[Carlos Sauvalle is visibly shaken, as are La
Madrileña, Fermín and the students]
CARLOS SAUVALLE
Martí, you have moved me. Not only will I read your prison diary, after I let you type it on
my typewriter, but I will publish it; so that all of Spain will learn of the injustices that are
being carried out in Cuba in her name!
LA MADRILEÑA
(plants a kiss on Martí)
Viva Cuba Libre!
[The students crowd around him to congratulate
him]
[The cover of Martí's first book, “El Presidio Político
en Cuba,” is projected on the back wall]
[Lights out on everyone except Cuba]
CUBA
It’s about time! The kid’s finally got a publisher! But no readers. You see, Spain was then
going through one of its cycles, from Monarchy to Republic. The colonies—of which very few
remained—were of no concern. So Pepe and Fermín were ignored and left Madrid to go to
the University of Zaragoza. Fermín to study Medicine. Pepe, who had developed quite a gift
for oratory as you have just witnessed, hit the law books.…
[All lights out]
31
SCENE SEVEN
TWO STUDENTS IN ZARAGOZA
EPIPHANY
[On the scoreboard: “Zaragoza, 1874”]
[The projections evoke a bedroom in a boarding
house. Through a tall window we can see the
Towers of the “La Seo” Cathedral rising in the
distance]
[Martí and Fermín are studying at their desks.
Outside, at street level, a commotion is heard]
FERMÍN
How can you study with this going on? Let’s join them. They’ve been celebrating for days!
[Martí rises from his desk, opens a drawer and pulls
out a Cuban flag neatly folded]
MARTÍ
Do you have any twine? If the Spaniards are in a festive mood, celebrating their Republic,
maybe it’s a good time for us to remind them that Cuba’s been fighting for that same thing for
more than six years!
[Martí threads the twine through the eyelets of the
Cuban flag]
FERMÍN
You know that if we fly our flag, we’ll most certainly get in trouble.
MARTÍ
So… When have we ever shied away from trouble?
FERMÍN
(smiling)
Never, my friend.
[As the two young men go towards the open window
to unfurl the flag, La Madrileña appears downstage]
[Music starts: “The Ladies’ Lament”]
LA MADRILEÑA
(singing to the audience, as if reading a letter)
Pepe, I received your letter of the eleventh.
I read it many times over, and kissed it even more.
I worship you, so you know that I am yours alone.
I have stopped dancing. My heart won’t let me move!
Ah! Pepe of my life, I’ll die if I don’t see you,
and there’s nothing I fear more than not seeing you again!
Ask me, love, now to go to where these letters come from…
Ask me, love, to go follow by your side…
[La Madrileña leaves the stage as the action in the
room resumes]
32
MARTÍ
(hanging the Cuban flag out the window)
Look, la Señorita Blanca de Montalvo is among the celebrants! Hair that blonde and skin that
fair in Spain is very conspicuous, even suspicious, wouldn’t you say?
FERMÍN
I’d say! And look at her; she waves at us! No. She waves at you. And she’s coming up.
Seems like you’ve been straying from your law books again, José Julián!
MARTÍ
Not in the slightest bit. And you, Fermín, how are you coming along in Anatomy?
[Blanca de Montalvo, a curvaceous blonde of twenty,
enters the room]
Not as well as you.
FERMÍN
BLANCA
(catching her breath)
Oh, my dear friends, I have horrible news! The Republic is doomed. General Pavía is
marching here and destroying everything in his way! You better take down that flag right
away and go into hiding!
Hiding?
MARTÍ
(shocked)
BLANCA
(she rushes to Martí)
Stay away from that window. There may be stray bullets. Everyone’s armed.
MARTÍ
We’ll fight to defend the Republic alongside you.
[Explosions and gunfire are heard]
BLANCA
Oh, I’m not going to fight. I came to tell you father’s opened up the cellar for us to hide.
(she grabs Martí by the hand)
Come, Pepe.
(an afterthought)
And you too, Fermín.
But Blanca, we’re not cowards that hide!
MARTÍ
FERMÍN
Besides, what have we done to hide?
BLANCA
Oh, everyone knows who you are. Deported prisoners! They’ll hold you responsible…
MARTÍ
For the Declaration of the Spanish Republic? I wished…
FERMÍN
We’re staying right here! Holding our ground.
33
And if there’s a fight, we’ll fight.
MARTÍ
FERMÍN
That’s right.
BLANCA
No you won’t. If you won’t go down in the cellar with me, then I’m taking you to the
Cathedral. You’ll be safe there.
We’re not taking refuge in churches.
MARTÍ
FERMÍN
It wouldn’t be fitting.
We don’t go to church much.
MARTÍ
BLANCA
How dare you talk about “La Seo” as if it were just any church? It’s a Cathedral! Built on the
very spot where our Blessed Mother Mary first appeared to Saint James on a pillar! And the
pillar is still there! Not even Pavía will dare desecrate it! Come!
[An Explosion is set off, closer. Lights go out on the
boarding house room as Blanca, holding Martí’s
hand, walks with him into a spotlight]
[Music begins: “Epiphany”]
BLANCA
(singing)
When our Lord, Jesus Christ,
called on his apostles to be "fishers of men"
James took him for his word
quite literally.
[St. James appears upstage, waving and preaching to
multitudes. Martí turns away from Blanca and
watches St. James with curiosity]
BLANCA
(continues singing)
He went on to preach in Samaria and Judea,
then he traveled a great distance, here,
to Spain.
Where he evangelized
and fought to death the infidels
right here on this spot
on the Ebro River.
[St. James comes up to a streaming blue fabric
representing the Ebro river. The Sky turns red. Fires
burn and there are more explosions in the streets of
Zaragoza]
34
BLANCA
(continues singing)
It was at that battle,
around Forty Years A.D.
that the Blessed Mother made her first
recorded apparition.
[The sounds of fighting now seems to subside. The
red sky is bathed in a silvery-blue light]
BLANCA
(continues singing)
She came, in a vision, to James,
as Our Lady of the Pillar,
because she stood on a pillar
with twelve angels for support.
[From behind the streaming blue fabric representing
the river, a Corinthian column rises. St. James and
Martí walk closer to the pillar, then drop to their
knees]
[The Virgin Mary, from behind a cloud, steps onto
the pillar that rises to meet her. Twelve “Angels” fly
about in the silvery blue light]
[St. James and Martí are spellbound. Blanca
continues singing as the Virgin gesticulates]
BLANCA
(continues singing)
She said that her purpose
was to summon St. James to return
to his native Jerusalem
where he was to be martyred, beheaded,
at the hands of Herod Agrippa.
[St. James gets up. He brandishes a sword and a
shield, as if to go to battle—but soon is beheaded,
leaving Martí alone, worshipping at the foot of the
Virgin’s pillar]
BLANCA
(continues singing)
James was buried in Jerusalem
but in 830 A.D.
His relics were transferred
to Compostela, here in Spain,
where they remain.
[Suddenly, the Virgin begins to sing to Martí. They
remain lit in spotlights as the whole stage goes dark]
35
BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
(singing to Martí)
Like Saint James, you, Martí,
have been chosen for a life
of sacrifice.
You will always live in exile
And your cause proselytize.
But when you return to Cuba,
which you will, you will die!
Only with your pain
Cuba will be free from Spain…
Only with your blood
Will you see the face of God!
[The Virgin Mary lets loose a cascade of red rose
petals, which as they fall from the pillar, envelop the
kneeling Martí]
[The rest of the stage is lit once again. Martí, now
somewhat shaken, rises to join Blanca]
[Music ends]
It’s a beautiful story, isn’t it, Pepe?
BLANCA
(spoken, to Martí)
MARTÍ
(walking toward her)
Yes. And I had my fate revealed to me, a fate that, in a way, I already knew…
BLANCA
(coyly in retreat)
Oh, if you already knew the story, I wouldn’t have bored you with it…
MARTÍ
(embracing her)
You didn’t bore me, Blanca. Beauty such as yours could never bore me.
Listen. The fighting has subsided.
BLANCA
MARTÍ
Listen. I wrote this poem especially for you:
[Music begins: “Your Lustrous Hair”]
MARTÍ
(he sings while embracing her)
I would give so much, my dear,
To let loose over your shoulders
That long and lustrous hair,
That makes my heart smolder
Slowly I would unfold it
36
And quietly I would kiss it.
Running strands over your ears
Flowing down like a plush curtain
That, parting, your back reveals
And your ear is the work of a master
Carved from fine alabaster.
Oh, I would give so much, my dear,
When you’re standing unawares,
To undo that knot that’s binding
Your luxurious, lustrous hair
And when it falls over your nude back
Slowly, apart I would spread it,
And gently kiss in each strand
Every one of your hairs.
(spoken, holding her tightly)
Will you remember me, Blanca?
[Music continues under]
BLANCA
(coyly attempting to leave his embrace)
Of course. I just didn’t know you liked my hair so much…
MARTÍ
(resumes singing)
I think of nothing…
But your hair!
[Music crescendos as Martí leans over and starts
kissing her passionately. Lights dim on them as a
spotlight singles out the Virgin Mary, still standing
atop the pillar. When she speaks, we realize that she
is Cuba]
BLESSED VIRGIN MARY/CUBA
(as if suddenly waking up from a dream)
Hey! What am I doing up here? Can somebody help me down? Help!
[Sigmund Freud, now 19 and still wearing the false
beard, appears from behind the pillar and presses a
button on it]
[The pillar starts to descend, bringing Cuba, still
dressed as the Blessed Virgin Mary, to stage level]
Oh, thank you, Ziggy.
CUBA
(as the pillar descends)
FREUD/AGE 23
I heard you calling for help. And by the way, from now on, it’s Doctor Freud, to you.
CUBA
(stepping off the pillar)
Fine. And since you seem to know everything around here, Doctor Freud, can you tell me
how come I ended up standing up there on that column and dressed like this?
37
FREUD/AGE 23
You were playing the Blessed Virgin Mary. Like all the actors, you have multiple roles in this
play. Multiple personalities.
CUBA
Multiple personalities? I am Cuba! I can’t pass out and then come back to my senses on a
column, dressed like this, only to find my beloved Martí making out with some hussy!
FREUD/AGE 23
Those carnal earthly pursuits are essential for a man who’s going to make the ultimate
sacrifice for you. Be patient. You need not be jealous. If you have a rival in Martí’s affections,
your rival is Death. For he’s as much in love with Death as he is with you…
CUBA
(to Freud)
Death? But I don’t want him to die! I just want him set me free!
But freedom always comes at a price!
FREUD/AGE 23
CUBA
Yes! And talking about price, do you know who pays for each one of his new conquests? We do!
(resigned, to the audience)
Sometimes I wish he had not caused so much pain to all the women who loved him…
[Cuba and Freud leave the stage]
[Music segues into “The Ladies’ Lament/Reprise”]
[La Madrileña enters singing, as if reading a letter]
LA MADRILEÑA
(singing)
Pepe, I think you’ve no idea
of what you’ve done to my soul.
Why not just tell me in beautiful verses
that I’m not your love anymore.
[Doña Leonor appears elsewhere on stage]
DOÑA LEONOR
(also singing to the audience, as if reading a letter)
Pepe, you write me and your letters say nothing.
As if it were an obligation to write.
Letters like that never fulfill me.
They just make me sad.
[La Madrileña comes over to Doña Leonor]
LA MADRILEÑA & DOÑA LEONOR
(a duo, singing together)
Pepe, now that you’ve finished school
And you’re a lawyer
Why not come back to those you love?
Or don’t you love us who love you?
Why not return to us today?
38
[Cuba appears carrying Martí’s canvas bags and
puts them down in front of him and Blanca]
[“The Ladies’ Lament” segues into “Your Friends”]
CUBA
(singing to Martí)
These are your bags
Take them and leave her behind
They’re everything you’ll have
For all your years
[Martí acknowledges Cuba, but Blanca does not see
her. Cuba breaks them apart, placing the bags in
Martí’s hands]
CUBA
(singing to Martí)
Two canvas bags,
Some paper, a pen
Travel the world
You know I’m waiting
For you.
(singing together)
Pepe, Now that you’ve finished school
CUBA
(spoken to audience)
Return to them today? When Paris is just a day away by train?
[Martí, bags in hand, leaves Blanca De Montalvo and
Cuba alone on the stage]
[The Trio appears downstage, singing]
Yo vengo de todas partes,
Y hacia todas partes voy
Arte soy entre las artes,
Y entre monte, monte soy.
TRIO
(singing)
I come from all places,
And to all places I go:
I am art among the artists
Among peasants, I am soil.
[The lights go out]
39
SCENE EIGHT
TWO YOUNG MEN IN PARIS
THE DIVINE SARAH
ARRIVAL IN VERACRUZ
[Paris 1875 appears on a screen along with various
nighttime scenes of Montmartre and the Place
Pigalle]
[Music begins: “Offenbach’s Can-Can”]
[The rotating arms of the “Moulin Rouge” Windmill
sweep over the scene as a line of Chorus Girls comes
out doing the Can-Can]
[The Can-Can number ends and lights go out on the
“Moulin Rouge” set. A spotlight picks up Martí and
Fermín applauding downstage]
FERMÍN
Isn’t it scandalous, Pepe?
(back slapping him)
Hey! Now you’ve been to Paris and seen the Can-Can!
MARTÍ
Only fools and wastrels come to Paris for pleasures and vices. Those can be found anywhere.
But in Paris, there’s so much one can learn just by walking around…
FERMÍN
(making light)
If you plan to be walking for more than a couple of blocks, you’re going to need new shoes.
Those are falling apart.
MARTÍ
(admitting it humbly)
Yes. I know. Yesterday, after the rain, my feet got wet and kept me sneezing…
FERMÍN
(he pulls some francs from his pocket)
I heard you. Buy yourself a proper pair.
No Fermín. No. I can’t!
MARTÍ
FERMÍN
You’ll need them. We’ve been invited to the Salon of Madame Sarah Bernhardt this
Wednesday evening.
MARTÍ
But before we should see her before in Phaedre at the Odeon. I’m saving my francs…
FERMÍN
I already got us tickets! So you go buy new shoes now with that money you saved.
[Lights out]
40
[A spotlight picks up Blanca de Montalvo, who
enters downstage walking aimlessly]
[Music begins: “Ladies’ Lament/Reprise”]
BLANCA DE MONTALVO
Pepe, you promised to write, but so far you haven’t
Not even to send me that beautiful poem you promised.
And you are a poet, so there’s no excuse.
Please answer my letters, even if just to cheer up
This wretched soul who does nothing but cry
Since you left her.
[A spotlight picks up La Madrileña]
LA MADRILEÑA
Pepe, my dear. You haven’t seen fit to answer my letters.
I don’t even know if you have the portrait I sent you
Of me wearing that dress that you tore apart
Along with my soul, of Madrileña.
Oh, how could you forget me so soon?
When you know I’ll be yours forever!
[Doña Leonor appears elsewhere on stage]
DOÑA LEONOR
Pepe, things in Cuba are worse every day
One of your sisters has contracted malaria
This war has gone on for seven long years
And your father hasn’t had work for the last two.
It’s time for you to come home, go to work and support us
Isn’t that, after all, why we sent you to school?
[Blanca De Montalvo and La Madrileña come over to
Doña Leonor]
BLANCA DE MONTALVO,
(a trio, singing together)
Pepe, now that you’ve finished school
And you’re a lawyer
Why not come back to those you love?
Or don’t you love us who love you?
[Music ends]
[The lights go out on the trio of forsaken women and
come up on Fermín, now wearing an elegant suit]
[Martí enters carrying something rolled-up and
wrapped in newspapers]
41
FERMÍN
Let’s see those new shoes.
MARTÍ
Well, you see, as I was walking to the cobbler along the left bank, where artists sell their
paintings, I saw this landscape, which reminded me of Cuba…
[Martí unfolds the roll to reveal a colorful, naïf oil
painting of a tropical valley densely planted with
royal palms]
MARTÍ
(continued)
A Haitian, who misses his island as much as we do ours, painted it.
FERMÍN
And he’ll probably be at Madam Sarah’s tonight wearing new shoes!
MARTÍ
(examining his shoes)
Fermín, these are not that bad. As long as it doesn’t rain, I’ll be fine!
[SFX: Thunders and Rain]
[Lights out]
[The lights come up in the living room of Madame
Sarah Bernhardt]
[The projections evoke a lovely decorated Parisian
flat filled with the glitterati of the day. Waiters
circulate serving wine, spirits and hors d’œvres. It
rains outside]
[Sarah Bernhardt, a tall, aquiline, grandiose yet
graceful woman, presides]
SARAH BERNHARDT
(holding up her wine glass)
You must try my favorite wine. Mariani Corsican wine! The finest Mediterranean vines laced
with the leaves of some exotic plant leaves from Perú they call “coca”…
GUESTS
(in appreciation of the novelty)
Aaah!
SARAH BERNHARDT
A most invigorating elixir, perfect for before and after each performance! Now, a toast to an
evening of engaging conversation, on any topic, except theatre, politics and me.
[She laughs and her guests follow suit. The doorbell
rings]
SARAH BERNHARDT
Lucien, la porte!
42
[Lucien, her butler, goes to the door and opens it,
revealing Martí and Fermín, both wet]
LUCIEN
(announcing)
Señor Fermín Valdés Dominguez and Señor José Martí!
SARAH BERNHARDT
(walking towards them)
My gifted young men from the Tropics! And fittingly wet!
(aside to some guests)
A poet and a medical student. Handsome and well-versed…
(to Fermín and Martí)
Welcome, Gentlemen! Your presence graces my salon.
(she extends her hand to be kissed)
Perhaps, José, after Lucien brings something dry for you to wear, you can recite for us one of
those verses you write so well in the fashion of Rimbaud and Verlaine…
MARTÍ
(kissing her hand)
Oh, romance, beauty, and most of all most glorious feminine goddess—you make my soul
tremble.
SARAH BERNHARDT
(aside to some guests)
This one’s a romantic like no other.
(to Martí)
Where was it that we met?
MARTÍ
At the benefit for the flood victims of Murcia, where you also met my friend, Fermín.
Madame.
Ah, yes!
FERMÍN
(kissing her hand)
SARAH BERNHARDT
(she extends her hand again to be kissed)
(walking towards the center of the room)
Get a glass of Mariani wine and come meet my guests. This marvelous man right here is a
Spanish actor, Enrique Guasp de Péris, am I right?
ENRIQUE GUASP DE PÉRIS
For the Divine Sarah to remember my name is an honor. However, please, I beg you to
remember that I am Catalonian and not Spanish….
SARAH BERNHARDT
(interrupting)
¡Rien d’importance! Do entertain these young men while they change.
(walking away)
Oh, there’s poor Alexandre Dumas looking quite forlorn. I must tend to him!
[Martí, Fermín and Enrique are left center stage as
she moves toward Alexandre Dumas]
43
[Lucien appears with two luxurious robes and two
pairs of slippers, obviously costumes worn by the
Divine Sarah. He helps them change as they talk to
Enrique Guasp de Péris]
FERMÍN
(removing his wet coat)
We saw her in Phaedre last night.
MARTÍ
(removing his wet coat)
She’s magnificent!
FERMÍN
(removing his shoes)
Have you seen it?
Seen it? I’m in it!
MARTÍ & FERMÍN
Oh!
[Martí removes his shoes, which have fallen apart.
He tries to hide them sheepishly under his coat]
(jovial)
No offense. When Sarah Bernhardt is on stage, we expect all eyes to be on her.
[A waiter goes by with more Mariani wine]
To the Divine Sarah!
FERMÍN
(taking a glass to distract attention from Martí)
[They drink]
So you’re both from Cuba? Deported?
MARTÍ
Yes. And proud of it!
A patriot?
(looking over Martí)
FERMÍN
(stepping in, grandiosely)
A patriot, a poet, a journalist, a playwright…
A playwright!
FERMÍN
And a lawyer of consummate ability… Not to mention a highly ethical, decent and decorous
man. With a spotless record!
44
Then you haven’t been a lawyer too long. Any of your plays been performed?
MARTÍ
No. But they play in my mind. Many times.
That doesn’t count.
MARTÍ
But Alfred de Musset in his Spectacle dans un fauteuil…
[A letter suddenly falls from Fermín’s coat as he
hands it to Lucien]
FERMÍN
(picking up the envelope from the floor)
Pepe. I forgot. A letter arrived from your mother.
[Suddenly, one of the guests, a woman in a plain
black dress who until now had kept her back to the
audience, turns around and is revealed to be Doña
Leonor]
[Music begins: “The Letter”]
[Lights go out in the salon, except for two spotlights
on Doña Leonor and Martí. He opens the letter and
reads it]
DOÑA LEONOR
(singing)
I don’t know why your father came
To take me away from the Canary Islands
And bring me to this other God-forsaken island
Where everything goes wrong.
Son, it’s time for us to move away
And seek decorous living elsewhere
We hear there’s work for decent folks
Like us, across, in Mexico.
We’ve got passage and we’re sailing
And we hope you’ll join us soon
Now we can no longer blame ideas
For keeping us apart.
From the bottom of my heart I beg you
Help me learn to love you, son.
[Doña Leonor turns her back to the audience, as if
rejoining Sarah Bernhardt’s salon, and is lost in the
crowd. The room is fully illuminated once more]
[Music ends]
45
SARAH BERNHARDT
The Parnassian poets are such a bore! Just technique. No substance, no feeling… Verses
must come from the heart and not the brain. Don’t you agree Monsieur Martí?
MARTÍ
(coming back to reality)
Come from both, Madame. You know that what holds us entranced with your presence on
stage is how masterfully you project what your heart feels with your technique.
SARAH BERNHARDT
(chastising him in jest)
You’ve broken one of the rules of my salon by speaking about me, Monsieur Martí. You must
pay a fine. Why don’t you regale us with something recent from your pen, whether it be
connected to your heart, or your brain.
MARTÍ
With pleasure.
Monsieur José Martí!
SARAH BERNHARDT
(to the room)
[Everyone quiets down and faces Martí]
MARTÍ
But first, I would like to call your guests’ kind attention to the plight of my nation, Cuba, an
island in the Caribbean now in its seventh year of a bloody war of independence.
SARAH BERNHARDT
(interrupting)
Politics! You break another of my rules, young man. That’s two!
(holding up her glass to a passing waiter)
More wine! And more for him too, who’s about to recite.
MARTÍ
(graciously)
Then I’ll speak of our war some other time when you invite me for that purpose. Now, I’m
here to oblige you, Madame, with my verse.
(taking a sip of wine and assuming an inspired pose)
A winged cup: who has seen one
before me? Yesterday I saw one, rising
slowly, majestically, dripping from it
holy oil: and I pressed my hallowed lips
against the sweetness of its rim:
and not a single drop did I miss
of the nectar of your kiss!
SARAH BERNHARDT
(enamored)
Ahhh!
MARTÍ
(continues)
Your locks of black hair
--remember?—I curled tightly in my hands,
to keep your gracious lips from
from leaving mine—soft as the kiss
that infused me into you the space became
around us: and I felt I was embracing all of life,
46
as I embraced you, embracing me!
I lost sight of the world and its chatter,
its envious and barbaric battles!
A cup soared in mid-air
and I, collapsing in arms unseen,
clinging to its sweet rim:
through the blue of space I rose!
SARAH BERNHARDT
Ohhh!
MARTÍ
(continues)
Oh love, you enormous, accomplished artist:
into a wheel or a rail the blacksmith casts his iron:
a flower or woman, an eagle or angel,
on gold or silver the jeweler engraves:
but only you, you alone, know the way
to reduce the Universe in a kiss!
[Sarah Berndhart applauds and everyone follows
suit]
Génial!
SARAH BERNHARDT
Bravo!
SARAH BERNHARDT
You must come every Wednesday from now on and bring us a new poem!
MARTÍ
I’m afraid not, Madame, for I have just received disturbing news that forces me to return to
America soonest.
[The crowd reacts in faint dismay upon hearing this
and resumes their chit chat]
SARAH BERNHARDT
I hope it’s nothing serious…
(holding her glass to a passing waiter)
S’il vous plaît?
[Fermín approaches Martí]
Is your mother ill? Is it your father?
FERMÍN
(taking Martí aside)
MARTÍ
(quietly)
My sister Ana is ill and my family moved to Mexico. I must go join them, Fermín.
(having overheard)
I, myself, am sailing with my company to Mexico next week on the ship City of Mérida.
I hear there is still passage available aboard…
47
[A musical chord and everyone freezes]
[Cuba appears dressed in a sailor’s uniform carrying
Marti’s luggage, notebooks and pens]
CUBA
(to the audience)
How convenient! Make of this what you will, but this actor had suddenly taken quite a liking
to Pepe and soon they were sailing off together to Mexico. However, Fermín had to slip him
the money for Pepe’s ticket—Martí, as always, was broke.
[Fermín hands a wad of bills to Enrique Guasp de
Péris and exits]
[Cuba opens one of the suitcases, takes out a coat for
Martí and helps him out of the robe Lucien had given
him]
[Music begins: “Your Friends/Reprise”]
[The lights dim on Sarah Bernhardt’s salon, leaving it
lit by a faint blue light. Some of the guests exit to the
wings as music plays]
CUBA
(singing to Martí)
These are your friends
You already know them
They hold all your belongings
They hold all that you are.
These are your bags
[Some of the few remaining guests begin to remove
fancy articles of clothing, acquiring a very humble
appearance. They are revealed to be Don Mariano, Doña
Leonor and four of Martí's sisters, who approach him as
a Mexican landing dock slowly rolls in before the
audience’s eyes]
CUBA
(continues singing)
Travel the world
Now, go with God
But go!
[Cuba quickly leaves the stage, which is suddenly
brightly lit, representing the port of Veracruz.
Several street vendors enter to greet the arriving
passengers and sell their wares]
48
[On the scoreboard: “Veracruz, Mexico 1875”]
[Martí puts down his luggage and rushes into Doña
Leonor’s arms. Don Mariano and his sisters circle him as
Enrique Guasp de Péris looks on the family reunion]
[Music climaxes and ends]
DOÑA LEONOR
José Julián!
DON MARIANO
Son!
MARTÍ
(hugging each of his sisters)
Antonia, Carmen, Amelia, how you’ve grown… And Ana, how is she?
Much better. Waiting for you at home.
Have you found work?
DON MARIANO
MARTÍ
(to his father, with optimism)
DOÑA LEONOR
No. He hasn’t.
DON MARIANO
No. Not yet. You know how hard it is when you don’t know anyone with influence…
(approaching Martí, putting his arm around him)
Then, if nothing’s tying you here now, perhaps your whole family should continue with us to
Mexico City. I’m sure in the capital they’ll find suitable means…
[Doña Leonor gives Enrique Guasp de Péris the onceover. Martí realizes an introduction is in order]
MARTÍ
Father, mother, sisters… Let me introduce you to Enrique Guasp de Péris, a Cuban, and an
accomplished man of the theater I met in Paris.
(extending his hand)
Enchanté! Your son is a gifted poet and playwright. You should be very proud of him.
During the crossing, he has written a most magnificent play “Love is Paid with Love in Kind.” I
intend to produce it this season in Mexico City. You must come with us.
DOÑA LEONOR
To Mexico City? It’s cold there, I hear. Ana is ill and we don’t know anyone there.
And do you know anyone here? In the Capital you’ll know me, and your son!
49
DOÑA LEONOR
(to Martí)
You’re going on to Mexico City? I thought you had come to be with your family…
DON MARIANO
(conciliatory)
Leonor, The gentleman is right. Perhaps we have a better chance of finding work in the
capital…
MARTÍ
As soon as I get there I’ll look for a big house for us all and I’ll send you the tickets.
[A Stevedore crosses pushing a cart with Enrique’s
luggage. Enrique takes Martí's luggage from him
and piles it on the cart]
Then it’s all set!
To the train station!
(to the family)
(to the Stevedore)
[Music up: La Morena—a traditional huypango
Mexican folk dance from Veracruz]
[A group of Mexican Folk Dancers appears
performing “La Morena.” They take center stage as
Martí, his family and Enrique exit left]
[The dancers continue performing the typical dance
until it ends with a flourish]
[The curtain comes down]
[Lights out]
50
SCENE NINE
A PLAY PREMIERES IN MEXICO
CALLING ON CARMEN ZAYAS BAZÁN
[The scoreboard flashes: “Mexico City, 1875”]
[Lights up on Cuba, as she steps in front of the
curtain, downstage. She appears exhausted wearing
bloody rags]
CUBA
(to the audience)
So off they go to Mexico City, singing and dancing… And as for me, look at me! I’ve been in
the most excruciating war for eight straight years and still counting. A savage war!
(she leans forward, as if about to pounce on the audience)
Ever seen a machete charge?
(building a crescendo)
Men running, wielding shining silver blades, sharpened by the campfire all night long the
night before the charge, with their blades held high on their flaying arms, ready to slash and
whack their way through flesh, through a rainstorm of blood and body parts.
(she fusses with her bloody rags, as if to make them appear elegant)
Oh, never mind. I didn’t mean to get gruesome. Words never do justice to the horror of war,
and this is a musical, not Grand Guignol. We have a beautiful waltz coming up.
[Martí parts the curtains in front and steps down to
the footlights]
MARTÍ
(wistfully looking at Cuba)
But I’ve never forgotten you, Cuba.
CUBA
I know. Exiles never forget. But memories and nostalgia are no consolation when you’re
bleeding to death.
MARTÍ
(defensive)
I’m not talking about nostalgia! I splashed our cause in headlines all over Mexico City. I
condemned the infamies perpetrated against you in El Universal. I rallied the Mexican
intellectuals in support…
CUBA
(interrupting)
I know, my love. But it hasn’t mattered… Look at me!
MARTÍ
I had a large family to support, a sick sister…
CUBA
(interrupting)
Who’s going to die very soon…
You’re cruel!
MARTÍ
51
CUBA
Not cruel. I’m steadfast. I’m not judging you, Pepe. And I’m not asking you to go to war for
me now, either. Not now anyway. Because now… Ta dah!
(she assumes the tone of a gameshow host)
It’s time to celebrate your triumph! Your play is a hit. You’re the flavor of the month in
Mexico City! Come on, take bow!
[The curtains open behind Martí to reveal a line of
costumed actors holding hands, as if about to take
their curtain calls. Enrique Guasp de Péris and
Conchita Padilla, an actress in the play, take Martí by
the hand and walk forward. They all bow]
CUBA
(she incites the audience once more to applaud)
Applause!
(to Martí)
Now it’s your time to drink from the cup of success and romance…
[Music begins: “How Can You Resist Romance”]
[The company of actors leaves Martí and Conchita
Padilla alone on the stage. Conchita takes Martí by
the hand and leads him upstage, where they are
bathed in dappled blue light, as if under moonlit
trees. Conchita puts her arms around Martí and they
waltz in time to the music. Cuba observes from afar]
[On the scoreboard: “ConchitaPadilla”]
CUBA
…like the one you had with your actress, Conchita Padilla:
(singing to the audience)
How can you resist romance?
When your play’s leading lady
Takes you somewhere that’s shady
And then asks you to dance?
[Martí lets Conchita go when he notices Eloisa
Agüero, appearing under a spotlight, stage left. She
is another attractive actress]
[On the scoreboard: “Eloisa Agüero”]
CUBA
(continues singing)
When Mexico’s literati discourse
Turns to catty intercourse
About your latest dalliance?
[Martí lets Eloisa Agüero go when he sees Rosario de
la Peña under a spotlight, stage right. She is an
overly dressed mature woman of incredible carriage
and beauty]
52
[On the scoreboard: “Rosario de la Peña”]
CUBA
(continues singing)
When the lady you’re courting
Is well known for exhorting
Writers to commit suicide?
[Martí dances with Rosario de la Peña]
[From the darkness, La Madrileña, Blanca de
Montalvo, and Doña Leonor appear. They surround
Martí and Rosario]
[The Waltz now becomes a fast tempo version of “The
Ladies’ Lament”. Martí and Rosario stop dancing]
Resist!
Pepe, resist romance!
LA MADRILEÑA, BLANCA DE MONTALVO AND
DOÑA LEONOR
LA MADRILEÑA
(a warning)
Pepe, that woman’s been the ruin of many a man!
BLANCA DE MONTALVO
(another warning)
Pepe, what are you doing, falling into her lap?
It’s a trap!
DOÑA LEONOR
(third warning)
Nothing but death and misfortune can come out of that!
Leave her.
[The women come between Martí and Rosario]
LA MADRILEÑA, BLANCA DE MONTALVO AND
DOÑA LEONOR
Pepe, now that you’re a success
And Mexico’s listening to you
Why risk throwing it all away for sex?
Or don’t you love us who love you best?
[Rosario de la Peña goes back into the shadows]
[Carmen Zayas-Bazán, a twenty one year old
haughty brunette in a patrician pose, appears
standing on a pedestal far upstage, center]
53
[All the women on stage form a path to the
pedestal, pointing Martí toward Carmen and singing
“Someone You’d Love To Meet”]
DOÑA LEONOR
There’s a sweet Cuban girl…
LA MADRILEÑA AND
BLANCA DE MONTALVO
A very sweet Cuban girl…
CUBA
(joining the women’s chorus)
From Camagüey…
DOÑA LEONOR
She’s been living in Mexico
For a year and a half…
Running away from the war in Cuba…
Just like we have.
LA MADRILEÑA
She comes from a good family.
Los Zayas-Bazán
DOÑA LEONOR
BLANCA DE MONTALVO
They had a lot of cattle
when the long war began…
CUBA
But that was eight years ago.
Now all that’s left is burnt earth
and charred bones.
LA MADRILEÑA
Pepe, they tell me she has seen
that play of yours so many times
That she’s got the thing
completely memorized!
BLANCA DE MONTALVO
And I have it from good sources
She was mesmerized
When she heard you speak
at the Liceo Hidalgo last night!
[Martí starts walking toward Carmen Zayas-Bazán
on the pedestal. At the same time, an ornate colonial
wrought iron gate descends in front of her, creating
an obstacle for Martí]
54
LA MADRILEÑA AND
BLANCA DE MONTALVO
Why don’t you go and call on the family?
They live just down the street
Her father’s well read and plays chess.
You’re someone, I’d guess,
He’d certainly love to meet!
[Martí arrives and pulls a bell at the gate]
DOÑA LEONOR
He’s someone you should to meet!
[Music ends]
[A corpulent, opulent man appears behind the gates.
He is Don Francisco Zayas-Bazán, who keeps Martí
on the other side of the gates during the scene while
Carmen remains attentively listening from the
pedestal]
DON FRANCISCO ZAYAS-BAZÁN
So you’re that passionate compatriot who writes for Revista Universal?
MARTÍ
The same.
You’re stirring things up. Good! And you’ve written that play everyone’s talking about.
MARTÍ
I see that you’ve been inquiring about me.
(pacing)
And I’ve also heard you are a bit of a demimondaine… Let’s see: Conchita Padilla, Eloisa
Agüero, Rosario de la Peña—infamous since she spurred Acuña to commit suicide—all of
them ladies of a certain class, in which I hope, you wouldn’t place my daughter.
MARTÍ
I’ve been known to be both volatile and free. Sometimes a man must take flight, but soon he
returns to roost at the nest he has built, always wiping his feet before coming in. My
intentions, Don Francisco, are to build my nest with Carmen, if she will have me.
[Carmen reacts on the pedestal]
CARMEN ZAYAS-BAZÁN
(singing)
He’s so daring! So dashing! So decisive!
I’m so flattered, but I hardly know him.
He’s got heart; he’s got passion;
He can talk his way around my dad;
He’s a Cuban and a lawyer
Who writes beautiful romantic plays
I’m so flattered that he likes me
But what does he see in me?
55
(to Martí)
Isn’t this rather sudden? Or have you two already been meeting behind my back?
MARTÍ
No sir. I’ve never addressed a word myself to your daughter! Wouldn’t dare without your
blessing. My friends told me of her upon my arrival. And what they said of her was true.
She is a vision.
A vision? A vision you’re not about to see, Martí. Instead, you’ll see me. Because among all
the things I’ve heard about you, I’ve heard you’re a formidable chess player!
[Don Francisco opens the wrought iron gates to let
Martí in]
[The gates fly away and the men are silhouetted as a
table and two batwing chairs come into view. Don
Francisco and Martí sit at opposite sides of the table]
[A chessboard is projected above them, showing
every move they make during the forthcoming
match. Martí is “White” and makes the first move]
[Music cue begins: “The Chess Game”]
MARTÍ
(singing)
Pawn to King Four.
[The screen above them shows that the pawn in
front of the king has been moved forward two
squares by Martí]
(singing)
Pawn to King Four.
[His move mirrors Martí’s]
[Martí moves the king’s bishop diagonally to the left
three squares, looking at the board from his
viewpoint]
MARTÍ
(spoken quickly)
Our liberation army needs support. Who do you know here in Mexico who can help us?
(singing)
King Bishop to Queen Bishop Four.
(spoken quickly)
Not so swiftly… We are already supporting the rebels in Cuba. What do you have in mind?
(singing)
King Knight to King Bishop Three.
56
[He moves the king side knight two squares
forward and one to the right, looking at board from
Don Francisco's viewpoint]
MARTÍ
(spoken quickly)
A continuous supply line for Antonio Maceo, funneling men and ammunitions. We need
money and someone who is sympathetic in the Mexican army.
(singing)
Queen to King Rook Five.
[Martí moves the queen diagonally to the right four
squares]
[Don Francisco moves the knight’s rook one square
to the right, looking at board from black's viewpoint]
(singing)
King Rook to Knight One.
(spoken quickly)
But you underestimate Spain. And you underestimate Cuba’s value to Spain. The Spaniards
are entrenched in their fortresses…
MARTÍ
(spoken quickly)
Those fortresses will come tumbling down.
(singing)
Queen takes King Pawn. Checkmate!
[Martí moves the queen diagonally two squares to
the left and takes the pawn in front of the king's
bishop]
[Music ends]
Checkmate? You do move swiftly…
MARTÍ
I am surprised you didn’t know the Fool’s Mate. It’s a classic play.
Maybe I did. And maybe, in this match, the real Fool’s Mate has been you.
(yelling upstage)
Carmen, come down here. There’s someone I want you to meet.
[Carmen Zayas-Bazán, who had been listening all
along, rushes down the steps off the pedestal. She is
graceful, yet intense, as she approaches the men at
the table]
57
Someone you want me to meet?
CARMEN ZAYAS-BAZÁN
[The men rise to greet her]
This is José Martí. He’s from Havana.
CARMEN ZAYAS-BAZÁN
(extending her hand)
Oh! I’ve heard you speak! I’ve been looking forward to meet you…
[Carmen Zayas-Bazán curtseys. Martí rises and
kisses her hand. The scene freezes]
[Cuba, still wearing her bloody rags, appears in a
spotlight downstage]
CUBA
(to audience)
Checkmate again! Capture is made.
(she pauses)
But, who captured whom? Will the free bird fly no more?
(looks upstage, resigned)
Ah, Martí, why do you constantly play this game with all these women, when you know
damn well that for you in the end, there is only me.
[Musical arpeggio]
[Sigmund Freud, now age 23, appears downstage]
FREUD/AGE 23
(to the audience)
Martí’s constant preoccupation with seduction only points to his nature of an artist, a poet,
whose ego needs to be free. Free to express his heart, mind and body, which flow and flower
in that freedom.
CUBA
Did I ask you for your opinion?
FREUD/AGE 23
(to Cuba)
By loving every woman, he sublimates his love for you. Yet all you show him is contempt.
CUBA
Contempt? Why shouldn’t I? Look at him! Is he serious about me? Always chasing after
every skirt that comes along, playing the game…
[A spotlight falls abruptly on Martí and Carmen,
who are in an embrace. Upset at the intrusion, Martí
turns away from Carmen and goes downstage
toward Cuba]
[Carmen disappears in the darkness]
58
MARTÍ
(lashes defensively at Cuba)
And what about you, Cuba? Aren’t you playing? What do you want? My head or my heart?
CUBA
I want them both.
MARTÍ
But you already know you have them!
CUBA
(breaks down)
Do I? Then what are you waiting for? Look at me, Pepe! Do something. I’m bleeding…
As if I didn’t know!
MARTÍ
[Carmen Zayas-Bazán reappears with a parasol and
joins Martí downstage. Cuba walks away]
CARMEN ZAYAS-BAZÁN
(overhearing him)
As if you didn’t know what, darling?
MARTÍ
(taken aback by Carmen)
Ah… Didn’t know so many things! How much longer our army can fight without a steady
supply of money and arms. They need me in Cuba. I must go!
[She takes Martí by the arm and begins to promenade
with him, twirling her parasol]
CARMEN ZAYAS-BAZÁN
I will not let you go to Cuba. It’s dangerous for you there. Besides, we’ve just become
engaged!
(holding his hands)
Look at these hands. These are not hands that kill with a swash of the sword, but with a
stroke of the pen…
(she brushes her fingers over his lips)
And with your voice you can move mountains…
[Cuba enters carrying Martí’s luggage]
CUBA
(to Carmen, who cannot hear her)
And you’re not the only one who’s noticed that, Carmen Zayas-Bazán.
(she puts down the luggage and talks to Martí)
The President of Mexico doesn’t want your articles and speeches causing any more friction
between Mexico and Spain. So he’s arranged for you to take a position at the University of
Guatemala.
Guatemala?
MARTÍ
59
What about Guatemala?
CARMEN ZAYAS-BAZÁN
[Martí breaks away from her and goes toward Cuba,
leaving Carmen Zayas-Bazán behind in the dark]
CUBA
Grant you, it’s not Mexico City, nor Havana, but it’s nice and quiet. At least, it’ll be until you
arrive. Come, you’ve got to catch a boat, then a canoe, and then you ride a donkey for three
days. So you better say goodbye to her!
MARTÍ
(matter-of-factly to Cuba)
Say goodbye to her just like that? We’re engaged! You barge in with my things, acting like
you’re running the show… And you’re not even going to sing your little song about the
luggage?
Now, who’s the one that’s being cruel?
CUBA
(provocatively)
[The lights go out]
[The Trio appears downstage, singing]
Todo es hermoso y constante
Todo es música y razón
Y todo, como el brillante,
Antes que luz es carbón.
TRIO
(singing)
All is beautiful and constant
All is music that makes sense,
And everything is like a diamond,
Before it sparkles, it’s coal.
[The lights go out]
60
SCENE TEN
LA NIÑA DE GUATEMALA
BACK HOME TO CUBA
[Lights come up on the Ladies’ Chorus, now
composed of La Madrileña, Blanca de Montalvo,
Doña Leonor, Conchita Padilla, Rosario de la Peña
and Carmen Zayas-Bazán. They arrange themselves
in various configurations throughout the scene]
[Music begins: “Ladies’ Lament/Reprise”]
LADIES’ CHORUS
(singing)
Pepe, tell us what it’s like in Guatemala
Oh, we miss you so!
We haven’t heard a word
from anyone in Havana…
Oh, and Ana passed on.
DOÑA LEONOR
[Martí steps into a spotlight]
MARTÍ
Ana!
[A photo of Ana flashes on the screen]
LADIES’ CHORUS
She’s gone…
But, Pepe, tell us how do you like teaching?
Literature, no less!
DOÑA LEONOR
You better stay far away
from politics
and actresses…
[The Teatro Griego flashes on the screen]
MARTÍ
(waxing poetic)
There’s the most beautiful Greek theater here in Guatemala. A replica of the Parthenon. The
Progressive Society meets there.
(forcefully jutting his index finger)
Did you hear that, mother? Politics! And, being a theater, there are always plenty of…
(taunting and counting with his fingers)
Actresses! That place has become my second home!
(angry, to the Ladies’ Chorus)
Why are you always trying to change me? What do you take me for? A libertine? Is that who
you think I am?
61
[Music segues to:
“Is That Who You Think I Am?”]
MARTÍ
(singing)
Do you take me for a Casanova,
the proverbial latin-lover
making of seduction an art form?
Is that who you think I am?
Or an unrepentant Don Juan,
Looking to satiate my hunger
Each time with a younger one?
[The Ladies’ Chorus continues singing, oblivious to
Martí’s protestations]
LADIES’ CHORUS
Pepe, now that you’re teaching school
A university no less!
Why won’t you settle down with those who love you best?
CARMEN ZAYAS-BAZÁN
Why don’t you come, marry me
And take me with you
to Guatemala?
[A photo of the University flashes on the screen]
MARTÍ
(waxing poetic)
The University, where I teach, is a Spanish classical building with a touch of the Rococo,
bordering on the excessive. But my students apply themselves. They are motivated.
LADIES’ CHORUS
Of course they are motivated…
With your voice, you can move mountains!
DOÑA LEONOR
But why try to move mountains?
Don’t you realize, Pepe, that mountains
do not want to be moved?
CARMEN ZAYAS-BAZÁN
You won’t be unfaithful to me, Pepe,
in Guatemala?
Oh, why is it that I am so afraid?
[During Martí’s following speech, the salon of Don
Miguel García Granados materializes in projections
right before our eyes. An Empire Room in gold and
dark mahogany with French doors opening into a
jungle]
62
MARTÍ
(matter of factly)
I met former President Don Miguel García Granados. A man of books. A man of words. His
salon brims with intellectuals, artists and academics. The literary evenings are most pleasant.
He has a daughter, who plays the piano and needs urgent tutoring in writing composition.
But what’s best of all is that Don Miguel plays chess!
CARMEN ZAYAS-BAZÁN
(a scream in premonition)
No!
[Martí joins Don Miguel García Granados in a chess
match. The Ladies’ Chorus changes some of their
wardrobe and blend in with those present at the
salon]
[A stunningly beautiful 16-year-old girl is playing a
waltz at the piano. She finishes, rises, and everyone
applauds]
MARÍA GARCÍA GRANADOS
Thank you.
[Polite conversation is heard as María makes her way
to Martí and her father]
(leans, putting her arms over her father)
Father, are you too engrossed in your chess match to applaud for your own daughter?
DON MIGUEL GARCÍA GRANADOS
I’ve been hearing you practicing that waltz so often I didn’t realize that…
MARTÍ
(interrupting)
…that she’d perfected it already?
(rising)
Thank you, you’re much too kind, Professor.
Professor Martí is going to tutor you in literature, María. Now if you’ll only apply yourself to
your writing as you do to your music…
I will apply myself, I promise.
[Cuba appears exhausted, still in tattered, bloody
rags. The lights at the salon dim]
CUBA
She also had promised to herself, since she first laid eyes upon you, Martí, that she would
seduce you.
MARTÍ
That child?
63
[A spotlight falls on Martí and, with a music cue,
another one falls on Carmen Zayas-Bazán]
CARMEN ZAYAS-BAZÁN
(singing)
Resist!
Pepe, resist!
Why don’t you come and take me with you
to Guatemala?
Let’s build our nest of love today!
MARTÍ
(rising from the chess game)
I promise I’m going to get you
And bring you to live with me
In Guatemala.
Carmen, you know,
You’re the only one for me.
[Martí walks downstage to join Carmen, but María
García Granados, now with a school notebook and a
pencil in hand, leaves the salon behind her and
intercepts them. The salon now goes totally dark]
(showing Martí her notebook)
Professor Martí, I have a nagging doubt…
Yes, María.
MARTÍ
CUBA
(to the audience)
A doubt? When she’s so self-assured? And there he goes again, falling for a woman’s charm.
MARTÍ
(to Cuba)
Not this time. I am a man of my word. I said I’d marry Carmen and I’ll be faithful to her!
CUBA
But, in the meantime, this lovely girl is here for you to take…
MARTÍ
For me to take? As if I were an animal, a hungry beast? Is that who you think I am?
[Music Up:
“Is That Who You Think I Am?”/Reprise]
MARTÍ
(singing)
Do you take me for a Casanova,
the proverbial latin-lover
making of seduction an art form?
Or an unrepentant Don Juan,
Looking to satiate my hunger
Each time with a younger one?
64
MARTÍ
(spoken)
But my word, Cuba, always takes precedence over my appetite.
[Music ends]
MARTÍ
(to the audience)
With María García Granados, I learned the horrific consequences of true love and honor.
CUBA
Poetic justice!
[Cuba exits. Martí is left alone onstage]
[Music begins: La Niña de Guatemala]
MARTÍ
(recitative to the audience)
Here, in this garden of Allah
I’ll tell you of a love in bloom
Of the Girl from Guatemala
For whom love spelled doom.
[Bells toll. A funeral procession begins upstage, in
silhouette, behind Martí]
MARTÍ
(continues recitative to the audience)
To bury her we placed in our baskets
wreaths made of white Calla lilies,
and jasmines arranged in a helix
curling around her silk casket.
[María appears with Martí’s Dance Double to enact
the poem]
[They begin to dance slowly. She gives him an
embroidered pillow as a gift and, waiving goodbye
to each other, they part—dancing in opposite ways]
[Behind them, the funeral procession continues]
MARTÍ
She gave him a scented pillow
earlier, as he departed.
He went away and forgot her…
When he returned, he was married.
[The dancer playing Martí appears with Carmen
Zayas-Bazán, now wearing a wedding gown. They
kiss, then dance into María who reacts dejected.
They all exit dancing]
MARTÍ
65
Bishops and ambassadors
Were among her pallbearers
And behind them, people followed,
Throwing at her coffin roses…
[María and the dancer playing Martí, enter to enact
the rest of the poem in a dramatic, genuinely
touching ballet]
MARTÍ
To meet him in the moonlight
She went out on a cold night
But he was faithful to his wife
And she went on to take her life.
[The dancing María and Martí embrace. She is
passionate, yet demure. He is guarded and rebuffs
her, only giving her a cautious kiss on her forehead.
They resumes the safe distance of the dance]
MARTÍ
That innocent kiss was my farewell
My lips brushed her feverish head…
Oh, that feverish forehead so fragrant,
In my life it’s the one I’ve loved most!
[María appears hurt and exits dancing]
MARTÍ
She went wading late in the river…
And with the current, her soul also went.
The doctor told us that she died of cold,
But I know well that she died of love.
[Bells toll. The funeral procession eventually arrives
at a mausoleum where the casket is opened, propped
up, and its content displayed. María is now seen
inside it]
[Martí goes toward the casket in tears]
MARTÍ
Sunset came, and the gravedigger
came and said I had to go.
That was the last time that I saw
The one who for me… died of love.
[Lights dim. A spotlight lingers on María in the
casket, surrounded by flowers]
[Cuba appears, now in a plain, utilitarian white dress
with a broad, pleated skirt]
66
CUBA
You said that you’ll love her forever, yet you never…
Never!
MARTÍ
CUBA
And, of course, the irony is, that she is the one for which you pay.
Pay?
MARTÍ
CUBA
(looking backstage)
Yes! And what does he pay with, Ziggy?
[A 25-year-old Sigmund Freud steps in]
FREUD/AGE 25
Guilt. The currency of salvation. Guilt can be so powerful in someone as sensitive as Martí
that it can exist independently of cause. And the fact that he discouraged the girl’s advances
made it even worse! It is rumored in Guatemala that he virtually led her by the hand into the
river. And figuratively, he did. He conjured this tragedy to find out his real worth. And his
self-love, enormous, monstrous, exacted a virgin sacrifice…
CUBA
(to Freud)
That’s too much information. Thank you, and go backstage!
[Freud steps back into darkness, peeved]
CUBA
(to Martí)
This is Guatemala, Pepe. Don’t you realize the magnitude of the scandal? The daughter of a
former president takes her own life because of you, a married man whose wife is pregnant…
[Orchestra arpeggio]
MARTÍ
Carmen is pregnant?!
[Carmen Zayas-Bazán, noticeably pregnant in a
modest dress, enters and stands next to Martí]
CARMEN ZAYAS-BAZÁN
(to the audience)
I think I’m on my sixth month.
(looks up at Martí)
If it’s a boy, I’d like to call him José Francisco. You know, yours and Father’s names
together… And if it’s a girl…
…we’ll call her Carmen!
MARTÍ
(interrupting with joy)
(embracing his wife)
Carmen! My favorite name in the world!
67
[Martí picks up Carmen and gives her a twirl. She
cautions him to be careful. He puts her down gently]
CUBA
Hello? Remember me… Cuba?
(to the audience)
Haven’t you noticed anything in particular?
(she flays her white skirt)
I’m all in white. And, no, I’m not getting married, not yet…
(tapping Martí’s back)
Ta dah! There’s peace in Cuba!
MARTÍ
(incredulous, breaking from Carmen’s embrace)
Peace in Cuba? What’s the date? First you tell me we’re having a baby and now you’re
telling me Cuba is finally free from Spain?!
[Martí gives Carmen another twirl]
CUBA
Well… Not quite. The Spaniards have sent a new General to Havana. He talks of peace.
Peace with honor. He’s offered autonomy, as long as Cuba remains with Spain.
Autonomy? What about independence?
Autonomy, he says.
MARTÍ
CUBA
MARTÍ
But Maceo, García, Máximo Gómez, they’ll fight for independence to the end!
CUBA
This is the end. Ten years of fighting has been enough. It’s over. You can all come back now.
As a matter of fact, your parents are already sailing from Veracruz to Havana. And you know
who’s already on his way back from Spain?
[Fermín Valdés Domínguez appears on a platform
upstage. The spotlight only reveals his face, looking
straight at the audience]
MARTÍ
Fermín! My good friend!
[Music up: “Back Home”—an optimistic hymn to the
joy of returning to one’s native land]
FERMÍN
(singing)
Now that we’ve won our struggle
And have been granted autonomy
Now that we’re all grown up…
and gotten married…
It’s time for us to come home
Back home, to Cuba
Back to Cuba to make a home
Back home.
(spoken enthusiastically to Martí)
We can publish a paper, like we did in the old days, but without censorship!
68
[Images of Cuba begin to appear on the screens: a
landscape with Royal Palms, a colonial street]
CARMEN ZAYAS-BAZÁN
You can begin your practice as a lawyer in Havana… Father can arrange it.
(singing)
I’m so full of hope, love
I am so elated…
Elevated by your love, love
And the child expected
And this child that will be born and grow
In his home in Cuba
Where he belongs
These years of exile are through
We can now begin anew in Cuba, Pepe
We can all go back
Back home, to Cuba
Back home.
FERMÍN
(singing)
We’ve heard you’ve caused a lot of pain,
back there in Guatemala, Pepe.
It’s not safe to remain there for you
It’s time now to come back home.
Back home, to Cuba
Back home
(singing)
I don’t need to seek satisfaction,
Or present you with my calling card
Meet you at dawn in the dark field of honor
I know you to be blameless of my pain
But my daughter now lies in the graveyard
And I’ll never see her face again…
And I don’t ever want to see your face again
You remind me of how love is cruel and even kills.
Your mere presence here makes me gravely ill
So I’ve arranged for you to leave…
(spoken)
A man will come for you and your wife tomorrow with two donkeys. He’ll take you through
the jungle to the coast where you will board a ship and…
(singing, and throwing him out)
Go back to Cuba!
Where you belong!
[Don Miguel exits, upset]
69
FERMÍN & CARMEN ZAYAS BAZÁN
(singing)
Back home, to Cuba
Back home.
[Everyone but Martí leaves the stage. The multiple
screens, with images of Cuban landscapes and
colonial streets, part to reveal Cuba on a platform
upstage. She is draped in a Cuban flag and beckons
to Martí]
CUBA
(singing)
I’m at peace
The war is over
Come to me, my sweet
There’s no more need
For you to be a martyr
Come to me, Martí.
[Martí walks upstage towards Cuba. The screens
close-in behind him]
guitars and maracas, appears downstage, singing]
Oigo un suspiro, a través
De las tierras y la mar,
Y no es un suspiro,--es
Que mi hijo va despertar.
TRIO
(singing)
I hear a sigh flying swiftly
Over many land and seas,
But it’s not a sigh—it’s my son
About to awake from his sleep.
[The lights go out]
70
SCENE ELEVEN
A HOME IN CUBA
ARRIVAL IN NEW YORK
[On the scoreboard: Havana, 1879]
[A baby is heard crying. Lights come up downstage
where Carmen Zayas-Bazán appears on a rocking
chair holding the crying baby. The screens show
sections of the modest interior of Martí’s home in
Havana]
[A knock is heard at the door]
CARMEN ZAYAS-BAZÁN
(bothered)
Come in.
Come in, I said!
[The knock is heard again]
CARMEN ZAYAS-BAZÁN
(louder)
[Fermín enters the room, followed by Juan Gualberto
Gómez, an imposing, determined and noble Mulatto.
The baby stops crying]
FERMÍN
Good morning, Carmen. You shouldn’t leave your front door open.
CARMEN ZAYAS-BAZÁN
With all the comings and goings in this house, I can’t leave the baby every time I’d have to
tend to that front door. Besides, what’s there to steal here? How are you, Fermín?
I’m fine. And you? And the boy?
FERMÍN
CARMEN ZAYAS-BAZÁN
We’re fine. But times are hard. Sometimes I think it would have been better if we stayed in
Guatemala—suicide scandal and all.
And Pepe?
FERMÍN
CARMEN ZAYAS-BAZÁN
Pepe is sleeping. He was up all night… writing. You know how he is.
FERMÍN
Could you wake him? We’re going to be late to the luncheon.
CARMEN ZAYAS-BAZÁN
(loudly)
Pepe! Fermín is here! And he’s come with…
71
[The baby starts crying again]
FERMÍN
(realizing his faux pas)
I’m sorry, Carmen. This is Juan Gualberto Gómez.
CARMEN ZAYAS-BAZÁN
Juan Gual… What?
JUAN GUALBERTO GÓMEZ
Juan Gual-bert-o Gómez, I’m honored, Doña Carmen.
[Carmen gives him the once-over]
CARMEN ZAYAS-BAZÁN
Charmed. Another veteran of our former liberation army, no doubt.
[The baby stops crying, She puts him in a crib]
FERMÍN
Juan Gualberto is a journalist and a member of the Liceo of Guanabacoa. That’s where Pepe is
giving the luncheon address.
CARMEN ZAYAS-BAZÁN
And, tell me, Mr. Gual-bert-o Gómez, is there an honorarium for your speaker?
Honorarium?
Carmen, Pepe gets… lunch!
FERMÍN
(coughs, sottovoce)
CARMEN ZAYAS-BAZÁN
Lunch! There’s no food on our table but he goes out to give a speech for his lunch. And what
are we supposed to do? Subsist like orchids in this fetid humid air?
[Martí appears, disheveled, but dressed. Maybe he
slept in his clothes]
MARTÍ
An orchid would pale in comparison to you, Carmen. And rest assured, I intend to return
with ample provisions, for you… and for my king.
[He kisses her cheek and picks up the baby, who
gurgles, from the crib]
There’s always plenty left over. I’ll tell the ladies to fix up…
CARMEN ZAYAS-BAZÁN
Leftovers…
(she takes the baby from him)
I thought I married a lawyer but I got me a dreamer instead! Ah, if father only knew… But
can I tell him? No. Pepe won’t even let me mention our situation to him.
MARTÍ
Those who live, with no shame or regrets, from the money and the glory earned by their
parents, are vultures.
72
CARMEN ZAYAS-BAZÁN
At least vultures bring carrion to their nests.
[Carmen takes the baby offstage, muttering to
herself]
Well, I guess your honeymoon is over…
FERMÍN
(to Martí)
MARTÍ
Women are never more beautiful than when they suffer.
(noticing Juan Gualberto)
Good morning!
Martí, I am deeply honored.
Juan Gualberto Gómez.
Good to meet you.
(extending his hand)
MARTÍ
(shaking his hand)
(then turns into a mirror, patting his hair in place)
I’ve read your articles. And you fought with Maceo, didn’t you?
No. I’m still fighting.
MARTÍ
(he quickly turns around from the mirror)
Still? He did sign the Treaty of Zanjón and went into exile in Costa Rica…
(excited)
Maceo is outraged. The Spaniards have not kept a single word of that treaty. They got us to
put our arms down, and now everything’s worse than before. Maceo is planning another
expedition. He’s coming back to fight for total independence.
MARTÍ
And you’re coordinating the internal uprising?
Yes.
FERMÍN
And we need you to help. Will you?
MARTÍ
(to Fermín)
Remember what happened at the gate to your house, seventeen years ago, Fermín?
FERMÍN
Seventeen years… We fought, because I didn’t trust you. But you know that that has
changed now.
73
Then, why do you have to ask now?
MARTÍ
(smiles)
[Fermín embraces Martí]
(enthusiastically, to Martí)
The Captain General, Ramón Blanco, is coming to this luncheon. He must be forced to admit
Spain’s betrayal of the peace treaty. Let him know Cubans will not stand for it!
MARTÍ
(taking the challenge)
You’ll see! Today we will put him on notice. The War of Independence is not over!
[Lights dim. A pulpit rolls onstage and Martí starts to
climb it. Long benches, with people sitting on them,
roll onstage to form the meeting room of the Liceo]
[Doña Leonor enters alone in a spotlight downstage]
[Music begins: “Don’t be a Crusader”]
DOÑA LEONOR
(singing)
He who sets out to be a redeemer
Your own kind.
[Doña Leonor exits and the lights come up on the
Liceo, where Martí is giving an impassioned speech
from the pulpit. The audience includes Fermín, Juan
Gualberto Gómez and Ramón Blanco, the Captain
General, in full Spanish military regalia, with his
wife]
MARTÍ
(addressing the members of the Liceo)
The man who claims his rights is worth more than the one who begs for them. There are men
who live content, though they live without respect; while others feel nothing but shame when
they see those around them, living, without respect.
[The audience applauds, except for Captain General
Ramón Blanco and wife. The lights dim on the Liceo
as Carmen Zayas-Bazán appears in a spotlight
downstage]
[Music segues to: “It’s All The Same”]
CARMEN ZAYAS-BAZÁN
(singing)
He comes and goes
All night and day
He doesn’t know
And doesn’t care about
How I feel…
74
[Carmen Zayas-Bazán is silhouetted as the lights
come up on the Liceo. The Orchestra continues
under Martí’s speech]
MARTÍ
(continues)
In this world, there must be a fixed amount of honor. Because when there are many men
without it, there are always others who compensate for it by having the honor of many.
Those are the ones who rebel against those who steal from the people their liberty, which is
the same thing as stealing their honor and respect.
[The lights dim on the Liceo as a spotlight falls again
on Carmen Zayas-Bazán downstage]
CARMEN ZAYAS-BAZÁN
(singing)
He goes with other men
To plan another war
I made a home for him
But he’s never at home
Because he says there are greater things…
[Carmen Zayas-Bazán is silhouetted as the lights
come up on the Liceo. The Orchestra continues
under Martí’s speech]
MARTÍ
(continues)
Spain has not lived up to the treaty it signed at Zanjón. Cuba is still exploited by Spain and
therefore the war that we had hoped had ended, must go on! Nothing has changed!
[For an instant, spotlights single out Martí and
Carmen]
MARTI
(singing)
It’s all the same!
CARMEN ZAYAS-BAZÁN
(singing)
It’s all the same!
[Music down and out]
[Carmen disappears as the Liceo audience applauds.
Captain General Ramón Blanco and wife rise in
disgust]
CAPTAIN RAMÓN BLANCO
(rising, to the audience at the Liceo)
I’d rather forget what I’ve just heard—something I thought would never be said to my face—a
representative of the Spanish government! I’d rather think that this man, Martí, is insane.
(to himself))
But this kind of insanity is… dangerous!
(making a pronouncement)
If he publicly vows total allegiance to the Spanish crown, he may remain in Cuba; if not, he is
to be exiled at once!
75
MARTÍ
(from the pulpit)
Tell your Captain General that Martí is not for sale!
[The lights go out. Cuba appears in a spotlight
downstage carrying Martí’s luggage. Music begins:
“Your Friends/Reprise”]
CUBA
(singing)
These are your bags
Travel the world
Now, go with God
But go!
[Cuba quickly leaves the stage as Martí takes his bags
and goes down into the orchestra pit]
[The empty stage is suddenly transformed into New
York City. Screens come down with images of Lower
Manhattan in 1880: Broadway, Wall Street, the
pointed steeple of Trinity Church, the Equitable
building, the New York Tribune, etc…]
[“Your Friends” segues into an upbeat jaunty
American musical theme: “This is the U.S.A”]
[The scoreboard flashes: New York 1880]
[The sounds of the bustling city become deafening,
obliterating the music with urban cacophony. An
Elevated Train rumbles. Louder and louder]
[All the lights on stage gradually fade out as the roar
of the passing train subsides]
END OF ACT ONE
76
a musical biography
ACT TWO
77
ACT TWO
SCENE ONE
ARRIVAL IN NEW YORK
[The Elevated Train rumbles. Louder and louder.
Music begins as the train fades away: “This Is The
U.S.A.”]
[Martí rises from the Orchestra Pit, luggage in hand]
[The curtains open. The screens descend with
projections of New York City in 1880: Trinity Church,
Wall Street, Broadway…]
[New Yorkers busily dance about: a Flower Vendor, a
Butcher, a Baker, a Cop, a News Boy, etc. They clear a
path for Martí that leads him to a Brownstone
Boarding House…]
[Martí knocks at the front door]
[Carmen Miyares, a vivacious woman in her thirties
comes to open the front door wiping her hands with a
towel]
[Music ends]
Martí! Bienvenido!
CARMEN MIYARES
MARTÍ
Señora…
We’ve been expecting you.
I’m Carmen Miyares de Mantilla.
CARMEN MIYARES
(leading him inside)
[Music Sting]
MARTÍ
(kisses her hand)
“Carmen”--my favorite name!
It’s your wife’s name also, isn’t it?
CARMEN MIYARES
MARTÍ
Yes, it is.
[Music Sting]
78
CARMEN MIYARES
We know all about you. It’s good that you’ve come to New York. We need you to stir things
up around here.
I’ve been known to do that quite well.
MARTÍ
CARMEN MIYARES
We’ve heard…
(cutting herself off)
Let me show you to your room.
[Carmen Miyares leads Martí upstage, where the
outlines of four bedroom doors appear. She
comes to a stop at the first bedroom door]
CARMEN MIYARES
My husband has a delicate condition. Lately, he stays mostly in here… in his room.
reveals Don Manuel Mantilla, reading a
His room?
[Through the first bedroom door (a scrim) a
light
newspaper and smoking a pipe in his room]
MARTÍ
CARMEN MIYARES
(indicating the second door)
Yes. I sleep with my son and daughter in here…
[A lighting change behind the second door (also a
scrim) reveals a boy and a girl in the room]
CARMEN MIYARES
(indicating the third door)
And in here lives a hero from our War of Independence, General Calixto García.
[A lighting change inside the third room reveals
General Calixto García, a short old man with long
white hair and a long white mustache wearing the
white rebel Mambí uniform. He is blindingly
white, standing at attention in his
spotlight]
MARTÍ
Could you please let General García know of my arrival and tell him that I look forward to
meeting him.
CARMEN MIYARES
(walking downstage)
He’s been expecting you. You’ll meet him at dinner tonight.
MARTÍ
I’ll be honored.
79
[She now has come a full circle and is again
downstage, facing the audience through a doorframe.
She pantomimes opening the
door as lights come
on inside the room. There’s a single bed, a window, a
desk and a chair]
CARMEN MIYARES
(walking inside)
Your bedroom, Martí. If you don’t like it, don’t feel obligated…
The room is fine.
MARTÍ
(walking in the room)
(opening the bedroom window)
Is that the new bridge to Brooklyn?
CARMEN MIYARES
It will be… If they ever finish it…
And the rent is?
MARTÍ
CARMEN MIYARES
Oh. It’s all been taken care of by the...
No. I insist, Señora de Mantilla.
MARTÍ
CARMEN MIYARES
Carmen.
MARTÍ
(charmingly)
Yes, Carmen Miyares de Mantilla, a name so musical…
[Music Sting]
[Carmen Zayas Bazán walks into a spotlight
carrying her baby and looking quite distraught]
CARMEN ZAYAS BAZÁN
(spiteful)
Musical, ah! You left me alone, with a child… And not even a penny or a word.
MARTÍ
(caught by surprise)
You are always foremost on my mind, Carmen.
CARMEN MIYARES
(leaving and closing the door behind her)
Well, since you insist, it’s five dollars a week. Dinner’s at seven. You’ll meet everyone at the
table.
[Carmen Miyares exits, leaving Martí, with his wife
and baby onstage]
[Music Sting]
80
CARMEN ZAYAS BAZÁN
(stepping on her line)
Everyone at the table? Well, there is no one at my table, Martí, because there’s nothing on my
table. Nothing for your wife and child to eat!
[Music begins: “This is the U.S.A.”]
MARTÍ
(sung)
Isn’t it funny…
That with you it always
Comes right down to money?
I think it’s sad
That with you it always is
About that.
CARMEN ZAYAS BAZÁN
(a bit of kindness escapes)
Not always, Pepe,
You know that there was a time
When you and I loved each other
What happened to that?
And I can’t help but to feel humiliated
In front of my sisters and my dad!
He will pay you well if you come back
To work by his side.
But, tell me…
Are you well?
[Martí reacts with strained patience]
MARTÍ
(spoken)
Other than for missing you and my boy, I am well. And I’m in good spirits!
(sung)
I’ve found a good place to stay
It’s on 29th and Broadway
It’s run by a lady who cares for our cause
She makes it like home here for us.
[The lights reveal General Calixto García and a
group of men around a table]
MARTÍ
(continues singing)
We meet in her parlor at night
And talk of resuming our fight
We plan an invasion
To free our poor nation
Of ruthless oppression
From Spain.
CARMEN ZAYAS BAZÁN
(spoken)
So, what else is new! You should be looking for work...
81
MARTÍ
(spoken)
But, Carmen, I am working!
(singing)
I’m now the art critic for “The Sun”
And it brings me a good monthly sum
Plus I write for “The Nation”
And I’m getting translations…
And I’ll send you some money real soon…
Send it soon!
CARMEN ZAYAS BAZÁN
(spoken)
[Carmen Miyares enters Martí’s bedroom
carrying his Derby hat]
CARMEN MIYARES
So where are you going tonight, Martí? A speech at Hardman Hall?
MARTÍ
No, Carmen. I’m covering an exhibition at the National Academy of Design. French painters.
Impressionists, they call themselves…
[Martí takes his hat from her]
[Screens descend with projections of various
impressionist paintings at the 1886 National Academy
of Design exhibition. Among them: Manet’s Horse
Race, Absinth Drinker and Beggar, Roll’s Study, and
Laurens’ Dead Marceau]
MARTÍ
(continues singing)
There’s a movement of painters in France
Who paint as if under a trance
With brushstrokes applied with such might
They give the impression of capturing light!
Make it soon!
CARMEN ZAYAS BAZÁN
(spoken)
[Carmen Miyares is spotlit carrying Martí’s
overcoat]
CARMEN MIYARES
So what is it tonight, José? A gallery opening?
MARTÍ
No, Carmen. A prizefight… Giant of Troy Ryan versus Boston Strong Boy Sullivan!
82
[Carmen Miyares puts Martí’s overcoat on him]
{Martí’s demeanor during this number begins to
resemble that of a midway mountebank, an
enthusiastic carnival barker hawking postcards of his
newly adopted nation]
[Screens now feature projections of the famous 1882
prizefight between heavyweight boxers Giant of Troy
Ryan and Boston Strong Boy Sullivan]
MARTÍ
(continues singing)
I witnessed the major prizefight
Of two famous heavyweight boxers
Both fought with such power and might
No one could say they were hoaxers!
And I’ll send you more money real soon…
CARMEN ZAYAS BAZÁN
(spoken)
Make it more than what you sent last time.
[Carmen Miyares is spotlit carrying Martí’s
overcoat]
CARMEN MIYARES
So what is it today, Pepe? Another boxing match?
MARTÍ
No, Carmen. Look out the window! They have finished the Brooklyn Bridge. The Mayor is
cutting the ribbon today.
CARMEN MIYARES
(can’t contain her pride)
And you’re invited!
MARTÍ
Well, I’m covering it for The Nation.
[Carmen Miyares puts Martí’s overcoat on him.
He turns to her, they embrace awkwardly]
[Screens now show projections of the Brooklyn
Bridge]
MARTÍ
(continues singing)
The new bridge from New York to Brooklyn
Hangs from tall towers suspended
It seems like it took forever to build it
But finally construction has ended!
83
Yes, soon!
CARMEN ZAYAS BAZÁN
(spoken)
[Carmen Miyares is spot lit carrying Martí’s
overcoat]
CARMEN MIYARES
So, what is it today, dear? Another ribbon cutting ceremony?
MARTÍ
No, Carmen. They’re unveiling the Bartholdi statue today.
CARMEN
That monstrosity in the bay? It’s windy. You’ll be cold…
[She puts the overcoat on him and embracers him]
[Screens now feature projections of the arrival,
installation and inauguration of the Statue of Liberty
and a FIREWORKS show]
MARTÍ
(continues singing)
This is a great country of liberty
That welcomes all those who are seeking her
So I write in my prose and sing in my poetry
For this nation my great admiration!
[The song “This is the U.S.A.” climaxes in a gaudy AllAmerican patriotic fireworks finale]
MARTÍ
(spoken)
And my dear Carmen, I want you to come to me soon!
[Lights up on Carmen Zayas Bazán upstage with child
in hands]
[Carmen Miyares rushes to Martí]
Yes I’ll come!
THE TWO CARMENS
(together)
[Carmen Miyares and Martí embrace, then kiss under
the fireworks. The lights go out on them but remain
on Carmen Zayas Bazán]
CARMEN ZAYAS BAZÁN
With the money you sent I’m buying passage to New York. Soon you will have your child to
hold and my head will rest upon your pillow.
[Lights out]
84
SCENE TWO
THE TWO CARMENS AND CUBA
[A totally dark set. Then, a circle spotlights a
woman’s shapely leg rising straight up from a bed
wearing black stockings. It’s Cuba’s, who slithers from
Martí’s bed and puts on a robe]
CUBA
(from behind the screen)
She’s coming with the baby here? You must be mad!
(she rises from the bed)
You’ve forgotten your commitment to me, dear.
MARTÍ
She’s my wife! And I need her and my son by my side. But I haven’t forgotten you.
CUBA
You haven’t? So far, all I’ve read from you are some irrelevant chronicles on art gallery
openings, that blasted Brooklyn Bridge and some statue in the bay!
MARTÍ
I’m the art critic for The Sun, what do you expect?
CUBA
(grandstanding)
Total dedication. Which you still have not given me. You’ve been too “diverted” lately!
MARTÍ
Well, what if I told you that we’ve been conspiring right here in this house with General
Calixto García and he will be fighting Spain on Cuban soil within weeks?
CUBA
That’d be a start.
[She breaks away from him and walks downstage to
address the audience. Everything else goes dark]
CUBA
(to the audience)
And it was a start! You could always count on Pepe’s word. Within a matter of months after
arriving in New York, Martí arranged for General Calixto Garcia to land in Cuba and begin an
uprising that he led by writing dispatches from this boardinghouse room!
some food on a tray]
[Martí’s bedroom materializes upstage. Martí
appears depressed and dejected at his desk. He
pours himself a glass of Mariani wine from the
bottle on his desk. Carmen Miyares enters
with
MARTÍ
Any news from Cuba?
CARMEN MIYARES
No… but you still have to eat. I wish you wouldn’t drink so much Mariani wine.
85
It fortifies me.
MARTÍ
CARMEN MIYARES
Nonsense. Just cuts down on your appetite. You’re too thin!
[She sets the tray before him]
MARTÍ
Carmen, you care for me as a wife and a mother.
CARMEN MIYARES
Because you’re in need of both.
Not with you around me.
MARTÍ
[They embrace. Then, she pushes him back]
CARMEN MIYARES
(hesitant)
I… I have to think of my husband… I’m going to have a child.
[A doorbell rings]
MARTÍ
(a pause)
That is the most wonderful news. And you will have it when?
CARMEN MIYARES
In winter.
[The doorbell rings again]
I must get the front door.
CARMEN MIYARES
[Carmen Miyares breaks away from Martí]
I hope it’s not bad news from Cuba.
CARMEN MIYARES
[She opens the front door and finds Carmen
Zayas Bazán surrounded by luggage and a trunk,
with a baby in her arms]
{Lights out]
86
SCENE THREE
GOSSIP AND CESAR ROMERO
[Cuba appears by the footlights]
CUBA
Now, you may ask yourself, how is Pepe going to handle this? Planning an insurrection and
having his wife, his newborn son and his pregnant mistress living under the same roof? Talk
about multi-tasking! Why does he always have to work himself into a corner? No wonder
people talk…
[Music begins: “Talk, Talk, Talk”]
CUBA
(singing)
Hush!
People talk, people listen,
People pay to hear the talk
They want to hear…
And there’s been talk
Over coffee, over tea
Talk of Carmen and Martí…
‘Cause she’s pregnant
And they say it’s his!
[Music ends]
She’s radiant with child!
CUBA
(spoken with mock envy)
[A long, sustained arpeggio on harp, then the
melody of “Talk, Talk, Talk” continues vamping
under the scene]
[An art-deco make-up table, with a mirror shaped
like a seashell surrounded by light bulbs, rolls
onto
the set. Seated in front of it is César Romero,
who wears a tuxedo, top hat and cane. He
rises
and joins Cuba downstage]
[Posters for movies starring Cesar Romero fill the
screens behind him]
CESAR ROMERO
(to the audience)
And that child was my mother. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, regardless of what you may hear
from hypocrites, whose twisted concept of morality won’t let them admit the truth; I am Cesar
Romero, Hollywood star, the son of María Mantilla and grandson of José Martí. And it’s from
him that I got that “Latin Lover” gene.
[Music begins: Cesar Romero sings to the ongoing
melody of “Talk, Talk, Talk.”]
87
CESAR ROMERO
(singing)
Yes!
I am Cesar Romero
En amor soy el primero
Mister Suave and debonair
Slick with brilliant pomade hair
And sombrero.
Señoritas,
I am at your beck and call
I will please you
Like I’ve always pleased them all
You can ask Carmen Miranda
That it’s not just propaganda!
No siree!
Pretty ladies,
Please, I’m not a gigolo
I can please you
Without sinking oh so low
Betty Grable, and Alice Faye,
They both have great things to say
About me!
Yes!
I am Cesar Romero
From my grandpa
I got that gift
The great poet
José Martí.
Yes!
I am Cesar Romero
Mister Suave and debonair
Slick with brilliant pomade hair
And sombrero.
[Cesar Romero, waiving top hat in hand, sits back
at the make-up table and is wheeled off-stage]
[Cuba resumes her dialogue with the audience]
CUBA
Where did he come from?
[A thirty-two year old Sigmund Freud walks
onstage by the footlights]
FREUD/AGE 32
Same place I did: backstage.
88
Not you again, Ziggy.
CUBA
FREUD/AGE 32
I just thought it opportune if I intruded to answer your question.
CUBA
Oh, come on, I knew he’d come from backstage!
FREUD/AGE 32
No. The question you had posed earlier.
Which was…
CUBA
FREUD/AGE 32
Why does he work himself into a corner, Martí?
CUBA
Ah! You have an answer for that one too?
FREUD/AGE 32
I most certainly do. I’ve made analysis my life’s work. You see, Martí is in love with you.
And he goes from woman to woman because he can’t consummate that love for you… with
you! Because you are not real!
CUBA
(defensively)
What do you mean that I’m not real?
FREUD/AGE 32
You’re an ideal—a dream. His vision. A part of his gifted, twisted, and obsessive mind.
But that part of him is very real!
CUBA
(protesting)
FREUD/AGE 32
As you wish.
[He exits the stage]
CUBA
(to audience)
Just when the plot was thickening and getting good we get all these interruptions. César
Romero—by the way, no one has ever proven that he was Martí’s grandson. And then Freud?
Nowadays?! Gimme a break.
(to audience)
Where were we? His wife and son arrived in New York just as the uprising he was directing
in Cuba was collapsing into a footnote in history. It came to be known as “The Little War,”
since it didn’t amount to much of anything… But another, bigger war, was brewing in the
high command of the boarding house…
[She walks offstage]
[Lights out]
89
SCENE FOUR
BOARDINGHOUSE BLUES
[On the Scoreboard:
New York, September 1880]
[Martí’s bedroom now seems cramped with his wife
and son’s belongings. A clothesline with diapers
hangs across the room]
Carmen Zayas Bazán is restless and bored, rocking the
crying baby’s crib. Martí, trying to write at his desk,
seems to pay little attention to them. Carmen Miyares
walks in an overcoat with a baby’s milk bottle in hand.
Martí turns to her]
MARTÍ
Any news from Cuba?
CARMEN MIYARES
Yes. Bad news. They’ve arrested General García and his men.
MARTÍ
So it’s all over then.
CARMEN ZAYAS BAZÁN
(to Martí)
You see? Forget about this, Pepe. Let’s go back to Cuba. We can live quietly in Camagüey.
My brother-in-law has just been appointed provincial governor by the crown. You’ll be
forgiven!
MARTÍ
You don’t understand, Carmen. I will make no act of contrition in front of the Spanish
Crown. What I must do now is order the troops to stop fighting.
[He begins writing furiously]
CARMEN ZAYAS BAZÁN
And you too must stop fighting, Pepe. Cuba is Spanish. Let it be…
[Martí stops writing for an instant, then resumes
CARMEN MIYARES
(stepping in to prevent a confrontation)
I’ve brought Pepito’s milk bottle. It’s still warm. May I give it to him?
Sure. Maybe he’ll stop crying…
CARMEN ZAYAS BAZÁN
CARMEN MIYARES
They usually do when you give them warm milk.
[She picks up the baby, who stops crying]
90
CARMEN ZAYAS BAZÁN
(defensively)
So, you’ve two children and now a third one on the way. This is my first one.
CARMEN MIYARES
(conciliatorily)
Carmen, how about a walk to Union Square after he finishes his milk?
Go shopping?
CARMEN ZAYAS BAZÁN
CARMEN MIYARES
Just window-shopping. I’ll treat you to hot chocolate.
CARMEN ZAYAS BAZÁN
(to Martí)
Should I go, Pepe?
[A pause. Martí doesn’t react]
CARMEN MIYARES
(hushed)
He’s writing.
CARMEN ZAYAS BAZÁN
I know he’s writing. That’s all he does all day and night! If only he got paid for it...
(loudly to Martí)
Pepe, Doña Miyares is asking me to go with her for hot chocolate at Union Square…
MARTÍ
(interrupts her without lifting his eyes)
My son’s crying is like music to my ears, but your needless disruptions tear apart at the fabric
that I weave…
CARMEN ZAYAS BAZÁN
Well, I’m going. And I’m never going to ask for your permission again.
(to Carmen Miyares)
What kind of husband doesn’t want to know where his wife is going? May I borrow one of
your overcoats?
CARMEN MIYARES
Of course. Wear this one. I’ll go get another.
[She hands her the baby then starts to remove her
overcoat to give it to her]
CARMEN ZAYAS BAZÁN
(looking her over)
Oh my, you’re already showing! Your husband must be so proud… He must have been so
surprised to sire a child in his present condition…
[A music sting]
[Martí turns and looks at Carmen Miyares, who looks
at him. Their looks betrays them and do not go
unnoticed by the wife]
91
[The stage grows dark except for three spotlights that
single out the three faces: Martí and Carmen Miyares’
eyes are locked on each other. Carmen Zayas Bazán
widens her eyes, and realizing the situation, finishes
wrapping up the baby and runs out of the room]
[Lights out]
CUBA
When she caught on to what was going on, Carmen Zayas Bazán ran away from the boarding
house to seek refuge in the Spanish Consulate, claiming that her husband had been
mistreating her and that, since she was a Spanish subject, she wanted Spain to help her return
to Cuba with her son, whom she just happened to bring along.
(a pause)
Martí was devastated.
[Martí walks into the footlights]
MARTÍ
She took my boy that very same night and furtively climbed up the steps to the Spanish
Consulate seeking protection from me!
[Martí walks back into the shadows]
[The trio of Cuban men wearing white guayaberas,
appears downstage singing]
[Music: “Simple Verses”]
He visto vivir a un hombre
Con el puñal al costado
Sin decir jamás el nombre
De aquella que lo ha matado
Rápida, como un reflejo,
Dos veces vi el alma, dos:
Cuando murió el pobre Viejo
Cuando ella me dijo adios
TRIO
(singing)
I’ve seen a man cling to life
With a knife stuck by his side,
Never mentioning the name
Of the one who wounded him.
Twice, fast as a shimmer,
I saw a soul taking flight:
When a very old man died,
And when she said to me goodbye.
[As the Trio exits, Cuba enters carrying Martí’s bags
and notebooks]
CUBA
(towards backstage)
Come on, Pepe. There’s nothing else you can do here now.
[Martí walks downstage into the lights]
[Music up: “Your Friends--Reprise”]
92
CUBA
(singing to Martí)
These are your bags
Take them and leave this behind
They’re everything you’ll have
For all your years
[She places the bags in Martí’s hands]
CUBA
(singing to Martí)
Two canvas bags,
Some paper, a pen
Travel the world
You know I’ll always be standing
By you.
[Cuba exits, leaving Martí with bags and books by the
footlights]
[A spotlight falls on him]
93
SCENE FIVE
THE STATUES
[On the Scoreboard: Venezuela, January 1881]
MARTÍ
(recitative to audience)
They say that a traveler arrived in Caracas at dusk,
And without dusting himself off from the road,
Asked not where he could go for shelter or food,
But instead, how to get to where Bolívar’s statue stood.
[The statue of Simón Bolívar on horseback from Act
One is wheeled onto the stage as Martí, bags in hands,
walks up to it in a reverential manner]
[The screens feature photos of the park in Caracas]
MARTÍ
(continues)
And it is told that the traveler in front of it stood
Alone in the plaza, among the tall fragrant trees,
Crying before the statue, which appeared to move
As a father does when embracing his son.
[Music up: “Independence Overture Reprise”-Instrumental]
[Lighting change: Everything turns into deep
shades of green and blue]
[Bolívar’s statue trembles. A door opens up at the
base of the statue. Blinding orange light escapes
from within. A silhouetted figure is perceived
coming from the base of the statue towards Martí. It
wears long robes and a starburst crown. On the left
hand it carries a book. On the right, a flaming torch.
It’s Cuba dressed as the Statue of Liberty]
MARTÍ
Bolívar?
(recognizing her)
Cuba! How obsessed am I with you that I see you everywhere?
CUBA/STATUE OF LIBERTY
Come on. I’m not Cuba. And I’m not Bolívar either, although I did spring forth from the
Liberator’s loins. Can’t you see that I’m Liberty? I am the spirit of liberation, the essence of
freedom you’ve always championed. Didn’t you come to my unveiling by the bay?
Yes, I did.
MARTÍ
(under a spell)
And did you truly mean what you said? About your commitment to me?
94
MARTÍ
You know better than I the level of my commitment!
(grandiosely)
Then now is the time for us to become one. Remember Karl Krause: when you know absolute
Liberty you will know God! Come to me and you shall be free and immortal.
(down to earth)
And you’ll have your own statue too. On horseback, next to Bolivar and San Martín.
In Cuba?
MARTÍ
No. In New York’s Central Park at the end of Sixth Avenue.
[Photos of Martí’s statue in Central Park appear
on the screens]
(with grandeur again)
But first you must do this. Take out the yoke you’ve been carrying with you in that bag for all
these years and give it to me.
[Music segues to: “Wedding of Fire”--Instrumental]
[The screens display images of deep green
jungles and sacrificial fires. Drums pound a
savage beat. A voodoo ritual]
[Martí opens one of his canvas bags and pulls out the
rusted leg yoke. He hands it to Cuba]
[As if performing some blasphemous mass, Cuba
raises the Statue of Liberty’s “burning” torch and
passes the yoke through the flames, transforming it
into a golden wedding ring]
I’m taking this yoke that enslaved you in prison, the symbol of your martyrdom, and I’m
forging it into our wedding ring.
(catty aside)
I’m engraving my name on the inside. Look, it says “Cuba”!
MARTÍ
Then you are Cuba!
Of course I am, my love. Now repeat after me: With this ring, I thee wed…
MARTÍ
With this ring, I thee wed…
That will do.
95
[She inserts the ring on his finger as a mock
wedding ensues underscored by the primitive music.
She turns her cloak inside out, revealing a red lining.
The ceremony begins to resemble a 1940s nightclub
act at El Mocambo]
[The Chained Slaves from Act One appear
dancing and mumbling jungle calls]
[Cuba, now as the African God Changó, runs up to
Bolivar’s statue and pulls his sword from its sheath.
She thrusts it into Martí’s hands who appears
apprehensive about wielding the weapon]
Do it like me, like a man!
CUBA/CHANGÓ
(showing him)
[She takes the sword and cuts one of the slaves’
chains. They break into a dance celebrating their
freedom. Martí becomes inebriated by the music and
wrests the sword from Cuba. He goes on a frenzy,
cutting chains and freeing slaves in ecstasy]
[Cuba goes to Martí and mockingly puts her
starburst crown on him. Martí is now the
proverbial drunk who wears the lampshade]
[As Cuba gyrates to the rhythms, she begins to undo
her cloak, wrapping it teasingly around Martí]
[The music becomes furious as Martí, caught in the
savage frenzy, ravishes her under her flowing red
tunic]
[Cesar Romero incongruously passes by and
glances with amusement at the bizarre act of
fornication in progress]
That’s my grandpa!
CESAR ROMERO
(ancestral pride)
[A rimshot from the orchestra pit. This has now
become lowbrow burlesque]
MARTÍ
(peeking from under her tunic)
Yes, Liberty! I am yours to keep! Forever!
CUBA/CHANGÓ
(yelling towards backstage)
Hey, Doctor Freud! Come out now and tell me that I’m not real!
[The lights go out into total darkness; then a
spotlight picks up Freud/Age 32 at the footlights]
96
FREUD/AGE 32
(looking over the audience’s head)
Of course you’re not real! You’re all in his head! You are that part of him that’s Athena, the
Greek Goddess of War. Or are you Thor, the Nordic God of Thunder and Lightning?
CUBA/CHANGÓ
Thor! Get your bearings right, you neurotic Austrian! I’m Changó, the true God of Thunder
Lightning
FREUD
(makes the connection)
Yes! In the Yoruba and Lukumí religions, that’s who you are! Demanding human sacrifice as
tribute to your ego. Inciting men to fight to their deaths. You may dress up like Liberty, but
you are Death!
[Music cue: Loud drum roll]
[The cry of a newborn is heard]
[Freud/Age 32 exits the footlights]
[Lights up in Carmen Miyares’ Boarding
House in New York. Carmen is seated on an
armchair, holding a newborn baby, surrounded by
family and well-wishers who enter bearing gifts]
[Martí appears by himself, carrying his luggage,
looking weary and forlorn. He begins to make his
way towards Carmen and the baby]
CARMEN MIYARES
(noticing Martí)
Martí! Come meet your goddaughter. You’ve arrived just in time for the baptism!
[Everyone steps aside to let Martí walk through.
Respectfully, he kisses Carmen Miyares’ hand and
she hands him the baby]
MARTÍ
(cuddling the baby)
She’s a lovely girl.
CARMEN MIYARES
María, this is your… godfather, José Martí.
[Lights out on the scene except for a spotlight,
which remains on Martí holding the baby for a
couple of beats, then all the lights fade out]
97
SCENE SIX
FUELING A NEW WAR
CUBA
(to the audience)
Upon returning to New York, Pepe found out that not only was he about to become a
godfather, but that Señor Mantilla, Carmen’s invalid husband, had recently passed away.
Sometimes things do fall into place. Now the boarding house became the home he had
always needed—with loving children and an admiring and supportive woman by his side.
Grounded in this love, he took off like a firecracker and devoted every moment to my
independence! He founded the Cuban Revolutionary Party, brought all the exiled groups
together and gave speeches up and down the East coast collecting funds for a new war.
[The scoreboard flashes:
Hardman Hall, New York 1882]
[The lights come up on Martí at a podium,
eloquently addressing the theater audience]
[On the screens are photos of Hardman Hall’s
exterior on 5th Avenue and also of the interior
meeting hall, packed to the rafters by New
Yorkers hearing Martí’s speech]
MARTÍ
(to the audience)
This new war is not against the people of Spain, but against the greed and incompetence of
Spain. Whoever intends to raise a wall of division between Cubans and Spaniards, is an
enemy of Cuba. This new war will not be about Cubans fighting Spaniards, but about the
friends of Liberty fighting her enemies!
[Applause]
[The theater house lights come on as Carmen
Miyares makes the rounds of the actual theater
audience, collecting donations from those on the
first few rows. NOTE: The audience has previously
been given token silver dollars and instructions
during intermission]
[Lights out]
Tammany Hall, New York 1884]
[The lights come up on Martí on a podium,
eloquently addressing the theater audience]
[On the screens are photos of Tammany Hall’s
exterior and the interior packed by New
Yorkers hearing Martí’s speech]
98
MARTÍ
(to the audience)
Those of us gathered here are men who cannot feel truly like men as long as there is a
miserable man among us! Those of us who will not be tempted to take the road of injustice, of
inequality or of tyranny and are in pursuit of our country’s independence! Here are the
immigrants, those who work tirelessly to forge a new Cuba, where only justice and liberty
shall reign supreme!
[Applause]
[Again, the house lights come up as Carmen
Miyares makes the rounds of the actual theater
audience, collecting donations from those on the first
few rows]
[Lights out]
[The scoreboard flashes: Pan American Congress,
Washington D.C. 1889]
[The lights come up on a Conference Hall.
Martí appears on a podium, eloquently addressing
Washington Politicians]
MARTÍ
(to the audience)
Cuba is fertile virgin soil ready to be tilled by the plow of justice! Her lands will welcome
many good men and yield fruits untainted by social inequalities. Its plentiful harvest will
come from plants rooted in a Republic—not of rivalries and personalities, but of enterprise
and hard work.
[Applause]
[Again, the house lights come up as a group of
functionaries make the rounds of the audience,
collecting donations]
[Lights out]
The League, New York 1890]
[The lights come up on Martí at a podium. Behind
him are photos of a humble storefront with a sign
that reads “La Liga—Workers’ School.” Other
photos show Black Cubans and Puerto Rican workers
listening attentively to Martí]
MARTÍ
(to the audience)
Everything that divides men, everything that sets them apart or that puts them into
pigeonholes, is a sin against humanity! To be Cuban is to be more than White, more than
Mulatto, more than Black. In the new Cuba, true men, Black or White, will treat each other
with loyalty and kindness, because of their own merits, and to honor the precious land where
we were born!
99
[Applause]
[House lights up. Carmen Miyares makes the
rounds of the audience, collecting donations]
[Lights out]
Tampa 1891]
[The lights come up on Martí at the podium. Behind
him are photos of a cigar factory in Tampa with a
sign that reads “Aromas—Los Mejores Tabacos.”
Cubans roll cigars and listen to Martí]
MARTÍ
(to the audience)
Cuba must rid itself, once and for all, of this constant life of insecurities and mistrust that
prevents men from coming together and reaping the bountiful riches of its marvelous soil!
Let’s go to work, together, once and for all. Let’s clean our house so we may share in
peacetime what scoundrels and despots are stealing today!
[Applause]
[Lights up as a group of functionaries make the
rounds of the theater, collecting donations from the
audience]
[Lights out]
[The scoreboard flashes: Key West 1891]
[The lights come up on Martí at the podium. Behind
him are photos of the San Carlos Institute in Key
West]
MARTÍ
(to the audience)
And I want to thank you, people of Key West, for your invitation to address you at your
beautiful San Carlos Institute. But I must remind you that barricades made of ideas are worth
more than barricades made of stones. And our idea is one whose time has come and is
unstoppable: Cuba must be free!
[Applause]
[Lights out]
100
SCENE SEVEN
FERNANDINA DISASTER
CUBA
(to the audience)
Martí raised money from rich and poor alike, black or white. He brought together the three
retired generals from the previous war and the Mantilla boarding house became the
headquarters for the fight for Cuba’s freedom.
[The scoreboard flashes: New York 1894]
[The lights come up on Carmen Miyares’ Boarding
House. Martí is surrounded by a group of men around
a table]
[Carmen Miyares arrives with a money bag and
places it on the table in front of Martí. He looks at her
with complicity, love and admiration]
This is more than we need.
CARMEN MIYARES
MARTÍ
We’ll buy the three boats in Fernandina Beach. Each one can carry up to 45 men who will
land on the north coast. General Máximo Gómez is ready to sail from the Dominican
Republic and land on the east while General Antonio Maceo will come from Costa Rica and
land in the south. Our men are well-armed and well-trained…
[Lights go out on the Boarding House]
[Cuba appears downstage]
CUBA
(to the audience)
But there were many enemies about. Spain hired the Pinkerton men to spy on him and the
Spanish ambassador complained to Washington about Martí’s activities… These protests did
not go unheard.
[Music begins: “Talk, Talk Talk”/Reprise]
CUBA
(singing)
Hush!
And there’s been talk
And lots of letters in the mail
With everything spelled in detail
Of when the boats were going to sail
And how the arms you bought had left
A paper trail…
101
CUBA
(spoken to audience)
The American authorities seized the boats at Fernandina Beach, in Florida. The funds were
also seized by Uncle Sam. It made all the papers. Martí was held in ridicule. And his health
began to fail him.
CUBA
(singing)
Some are saying that Martí
Is a coward who won’t fight
Who will send good men to die
And stays behind to womanize
And save his skin.
Hush!
[Antonio Maceo, Maximo Gómez and Calixto
García appear singing The General’s Lament to the
melody of the earlier The Ladies’ Lament]
CALIXTO GARCÍA
MÁXIMO GÓMEZ &
ANTONIO MACEO
(singing in three-part harmony)
Everything’s lost!
We’re ruined!
You’re finished!
Another failure on your part, Pepe
You’ve been drinking too much wine, Pepe
You’ve been talking much too much, Pepe
Secrets leak through your loose lips, Pepe
Wars are fought by fighting men!
[The Three Generals disappear as Martí walks in
distraught]
MARTÍ
(pacing)
But it wasn’t my fault! All that work in vain… All that effort and illusion gone!
(to Cuba)
You knew about this, you know what’s going to happen. Why didn’t you tell me?
CUBA
Predetermination has its rules. This play’s already been written—and not by you.
So this is all about making me suffer?
MARTÍ
CUBA
A martyr’s Calvary is never a bed of roses.
102
MARTÍ
Then this pain shall be the fuel that drives me to my heroism. You’ll see: No one will be able
to accuse me of cowardice. I’ll go to fight in Cuba!
CUBA
Atta boy!
[Music segues to: “Don’t be a Crusader/Reprise”]
[Doña Leonor appears]
DOÑA LEONOR
(singing)
Don’t be a crusader
Don’t take up this fight…
You must remember
Since you were a child
What I’ve been telling you:
He who seeks to be a redeemer
Your own kind.
We won’t have a single day
Of peace or tranquility
Until you learn to stop
Demanding Cuba’s liberty.
[Martí walks into the lights]
MARTÍ
Mother! I think of you every day.
DOÑA LEONOR
(spoken)
Really? Your father died last night. And his only son wasn’t by his bedside. I just burnt all
your letters, José, which is all I had of you.
MARTÍ
Your love has turned to pain and anger because of the sacrifice my life’s become. And I ask
you, Mother, why was I then born of you, if not to live a life of sacrifice?
(he coughs)
I have no words to explain... A man’s duty is to be where he is most needed and useful. But
wherever that may be, I’ll always have with me, my love for you, Mother.
[Doña Leonor exits]
[The trio appears downstage singing]
[Music begins: “Simple Verses”]
TRIO
Oculto en mi pecho bravo
La pena que me lo hiere
El hijo de un pueblo esclavo
Vive por él, calla y muere.
(singing)
I’ve hidden in my brave heart
The pain that I feel inside
The son of an enslaved nation
Gives it his life, and silently dies.
[Lights out]
103
SCENE EIGHT
THE ROSE SLIPPERS
CUBA
It took him a while to recover. He found comfort taking walks with little María Mantilla. He
would spin her stories and verses to keep her amused and help him forget. He published
these in a magazine for children called “La Edad De Oro”—or “The Golden Age.” There were
only four issues.
[As Cuba leaves the stage, the baroque cover of “La
Edad de Oro” is projected on a screen]
Bath Beach, Brooklyn. January, 1895]
[More screens descend with photos of the turn-of-thecentury resort: a boardwalk, a cotton candy
stand, and pushcarts selling lemonade. Across the bay
is Coney Island. The weather is cold and gray]
[Martí enters and sits on a bench. María Mantilla,
his fourteen-year-old goddaughter, sits next to
him]
MARTÍ
Come sit by my side. I want you always near me.
MARÍA
Then, why are you always traveling so far away? Next time, will you take me with you?
MARTÍ
I wish I could. But we’ll write to each other and I’ll keep your letters close to my heart, like
the knights of yore who wore their ladies’ colors on their hearts to shield them. Will you
write to me?
MARÍA
I’ll write you many letters to keep you protected. And I’ll learn all the poems you wrote me
by heart. Why don’t you recite for me “The Rose Slippers” to see if I know it already?
MARTÍ
Sure, and if I forget something, jump in! It takes place on a beach much like this one,
remember?
[Music begins: “The Rose Slippers Ballet”]
[There is a lighting change. It’s now a sunny day at
the beach]
[Martí who earlier appeared ill and defeated, now
seems to have found a wellspring of energy He
suddenly gets up from the bench and brings to life the
poem he wrote for María]
104
MARTÍ
(recitative)
The sun shines brightly;
The sand is fine; the sea is flat.
So, Pilar wants to wear to the beach,
Her brand new feathered hat.
[Martí places a feathered hat on María’s head. She
assumes the role of Pilar and Martí that of her father,
who kisses her goodbye]
MARTÍ
“Never mind, daughter divine”
Says her father as he kisses her,
“Fetch me some sand, bird of mine,
And you’ll have a new bonnet for Easter.”
[Pilar’s Mother (a dancer) appears
pantomiming Martí’s words]
MARTÍ
“I’ll go with my lovely daughter,”
Said her loving, caring, mother.
“Just don’t ruin your rose slippers
In the sand and the salt water.”
[Dancers appear carrying a dress and beach
toys for Pilar and begin to dress her before our
eyes]
MARTÍ
She puts on a matching outfit
With a hoop, shovel and pail
The pail, a pale shade of violet
The hoop is a ring of flames.
[The stage becomes a beach scene, full of
colorful dancers, among them: Florinda, her
French Maid, Alberto the soldier, and
Magdalena burying her doll. They enact in
dance the poem as Martí continues telling it]
MARTÍ
The beach is quite lovely this morning
And everyone seems to be there;
Florida’s French maid with much flair
Wears sunglasses against the glare.
Alberto, the soldier from the parade,
Has also been seen here today;
With a captain’s cap, swift, unafraid
Launching his boat out to sea.
105
And Magdalena, meaning harm,
In spite of her ribbons and bows,
Picks up a doll without arms
And buries it deep in the sand!
[Martí jaunts towards a screen featuring several
adults on beach chairs under colorful parasols]
MARTÍ
Over there, on sprawling lounge chairs,
Women and men talk for hours;
Under their rainbow umbrellas
The ladies appear to be flowers.
[A sudden lighting change makes the beach
scene appear dark and moody again. On a
screen a sunny seaside cliff gains prominence]
MARTÍ
But suddenly the sea now turns gray
And seems to be tinged with deep sadness
The sun’s only shining on those cliffs far away
Where poor children are allowed play…
Pilar runs and asks of her mother:
“Mama, I’ll be a good and obedient girl;
Let me go over there by the cliffs to play
From here you can keep a good watch on me!”
“Ah, Pilar, my spoiled little daughter,
You are constantly making me fret.
You may go, but don’t let the salt water
Get your beautiful rose slippers wet.”
[María/Pilar dances off behind the screen
featuring the far seaside cliff. On other screens
are projected images of an eagle in flight]
MARTÍ
So she goes to play where the humble,
The elderly and sick congregate…
And soon time flies by like an eagle
Soaring high in the sky overhead.
[The images of the eagle dissolve into a setting
sun. Pilar appears from behind the screens,
limping along]
MARTÍ
And when the sun begins to set
Like a burning red ball beyond reach,
A down-turned feather felt hat is seen
Coming awkwardly from on the beach.
106
Pilar seems to move with great effort;
Taking steps like some one who is lame.
“Oh, why does my child walk like that?
With her head hanging low as if in shame?”
[Pilar arrives in front of her Mother]
MARTÍ
“I don’t see your rose slippers;
Where are they, my child, do say!
“Oh foolish girl, did you lose them?
Tell me, Pilar,” where are they?
(a pause)
“Señora,”says a woman who appears in tears
“I have them right here, they’re with me!
[An indigent, frazzled old woman appears out
of nowhere with a child bundled in blanket.
She unrolls the blanket at the feet of Pilar and
her Mother. A pale little girl is unveiled
perhaps already dead, played by a wax doll]
MARTÍ
Last night, she dreamt about going to Heaven;
And heard angels singing, understand?
This filled me with fear and foreboding,
So I brought her to sleep in the sand.
“’Your child looks to me like a painting;
Is she made out of wax?’ asked Pilar.
“And tell me, why does she have no shoes on?
Can she play? We will not go too far.”
[The Indigent Woman grabs Pilar by the wrist
and forces her to touch her comatose daughter]
MARTÍ
“’But come child, feel her hands, they’re on fire
And her feet they’re as frozen as ice!”
--“Oh, take my things, please do take them;
I have others at home just as nice!”
[Pilar takes off her shoes and puts them on the
sick little girl]
MARTÍ
“After that, my dear lady, what occurred
Is something that I can’t quite recall,
But I saw your girl’s rose colored slippers
On my girl shielding her from the cold!”
[Pilar’s Mother helps her remove her cloak]
107
MARTÍ
“Yes, indeed, dear Pilar, do give her that!
Your cloak and your ring—and that too!”
So Pilar unpins her felt feathered hat,
And with a kiss says: “They’re all for you!”
[Pilar, her Mother, the Indigent Mother and her
Sick Daughter disappear behind screens that
lower in front of them. Martí walks downstage]
MARTÍ
Overhearing this, two young lasses
Handkerchiefs pull from their purses
Suddenly, no one converses…
And the French maid wipes her sunglasses.
[Lights out on Martí. A square screen descends
with a Hallmark Card-like illustration of the
Rose-Colored slippers under a dewy glass bell
jar surrounded by glittering roses]
MARTÍ
And they say that a butterfly fluttered
Past a glass bell jar and in it observed
A pair of rose-colored slippers
Displayed and forever preserved.
[The music ends]
[The spotlight holds on the Rose-Colored
slippers for a beat, then goes out]
108
SCENE NINE
INVASION AND WAR DIARY
[Lights up on Martí’s bedroom. He is writing at his
desk]
[The doorbell rings. He continues writing]
[María Mantilla goes to open it. Fermín Valdés
Domínguez is at the doorway]
FERMÍN
Good morning. Is this Carmen Mantilla’s boarding house?
MARÍA
Yes. And you’re looking for José Martí. I can always tell his friends… Your name?
Fermín Valdés Domínguez.
FERMÍN
MARÍA
Fermín Valdés Domínguez, have a seat in the living room. I’ll see if he’s in.
FERMÍN
(to himself)
Bright, beautiful, and very well mannered!
[María goes into Martí’s bedroom. Fermín does not sit,
but follows her]
MARÍA
Godfather, sorry to interrupt, but there’s a visitor.
[Fermín is at the bedroom door behind María]
MARTÍ
(seeing him)
Fermín!
[They freeze as the lights go out]
[Lights up downstage, where Cuba enters dressed as a
Mambí soldier]
CUBA
(to audience)
Having his childhood friend by his side didn’t even begin to ease the pain of the Fernandina
disaster. But, come on, give it a positive spin: just when he was about to become mistrustful
of everyone, someone in whom he could trust came to him.
[Lights up on Martís bedroom and the action resumes]
109
FERMÍN
No, Pepe, all is not lost. Only the boats and some of the weapons and supplies. Those can be
replaced. What we cannot lose is time and momentum. Everybody in Cuba looks up to you
as their leader. We are all waiting for your next move.
MARTÍ
Then there is only one move we can make. Go through with the original plan and never look
back. But this time we cannot fail.
FERMÍN
Exactly. You still have your will and resolve, the love of the Cuban people and the support of
Maceo and Gómez.
MARTÍ
Do I?
(he coughs)
I don’t think so.
FERMÍN
You’re mistaken. They’re waiting for your orders. Go see them in person if you must have
reassurance, but don’t lose any more time.
Then let’s go see them.
MARTÍ
FERMÍN
How’s your health? You seem…
[Carmen Miyares and Little María enter the
room]
CARMEN MIYARES
(interrupting)
Is everything all right? María said a man came…
(noticing Fermín)
Oh, excuse me.
MARTÍ
Carmen, this is my good friend, Fermín Valdés Domínguez.
FERMÍN
Señora Miyares, your patriotic spirit is legendary. I’m honored.
[Little María runs to Martí and hugs him]
MARTÍ
(to Fermín)
And this is my goddaughter, María, the apple of my eye.
CARMEN MIYARES
(to Fermín)
Will you be staying for lunch?
110
MARTÍ
He’ll be staying a few days and then we’ll both go together to see Maceo and Gómez.
(he rises with renewed energy and begins to pace)
The Party still has a substantial a cache of armaments. Our men are poised and ready!
(he coughs)
On the way we can stop in Tampa and Key West to let those workers, who gave us their life
savings, know that we’re going full steam ahead with the invasion —even if we have no
ships!
(he laughs and coughs)
[Martí pours two glasses of Mariani wine]
FERMÍN
It’ll be like the good old days, us fighting together.
[Fermín and Martí click their wine glasses]
Fighting for Liberty!
MARTÍ
[The lights go out, but a spot remains on Fermín and
Carmen for a beat]
CARMEN MIYARES
(aside to Fermín)
Thank you for restoring to him his faith, spirit and resolve.
[Cuba appears by the footlights with Martí’s bags and
sets them down]
CUBA
(singing)
These are your bags
They’re everything you’ve had
For all your years
[Martí appears from upstage and she places the bags
in his hands]
CUBA
(singing to Martí)
Travel the world
Tell them we’re fighting
You know I’ll be standing
Forever by you.
[Cuba exits, leaving Martí with bags by the
footlights. He picks up his luggage and begins to
walk]
Montecristi, Dominican Republic]
CUBA
After leaving Fermín in Key West to organize an expedition, he goes to the Dominican
Republic, where General Máximo Gómez lived on a farm near the town of Montecristi…
111
[The screens feature images of the farm. General
Máximo Gómez appears at a table, working. Martí
enters. He rises to meet him and they shake hands]
[This “tableau” goes dark, but lights remain
downstage on Cuba]
CUBA
Martí makes the final invasion plans with Gómez. Together, they sign “The Montecristi
Manifesto”—written by Martí to announce the goals and intentions of this rebellion about to
take place. Maceo agrees to join them and sails from Costa Rica toward Cuba.
[A screen flashes the cover of “The Montecristi
Manifesto]
[The scoreboard flashes: Playitas, Cuba]
[Upstage, a rowboat slides onto a darkened
scene. Martí and Máximo Gómez are in it,
holding kerosene lamps to light the way. The boat hits
the shore and the men jump out of it and kiss the
ground]
CUBA
On April 11, 1895, a passing freighter puts them on a boat near Playitas, on the eastern tip of
Cuba. They both kiss the ground when they land and Martí sees, for the first time in fifteen
years, the sun rising over Cuba.
MARTÍ
Until now, I never felt like a man. I have lived in shame; dragging with me my homeland’s
chain all my life! Now, we both shall be free!
guitars and maracas, enters singing in Spanish]
TRIO
No me pongan en lo oscuro
A morir como un traidor
Yo soy bueno y como bueno
Moriré de cara al sol!
Do not send me to the darkness
To my death as if a traitor
As a good man, I shall die
With my face toward the sun.
[The trio remains onstage]
CUBA
They had to make their way through the thick jungle to Maceo’s camp. It took them twentytwo days. Every night Martí writes letters and keeps his war diary—a war diary unlike any
other. Not little entries jotted down as a kind of record, but long pages, describing in detail
everything he saw and loved: the mountains, animals and trees. Painting them with carefully
chosen colorful words, as if he knew that he would never see them again.
[Cuba exits and the Trio begins to sing]
112
TRIO
(singing)
Yo quiero salir del mundo
Por la puerta natural
En un carro de hojas verdes
A morir me han de llevar.
I want to leave this world
Through its natural portals
In a carriage of green leaves
To my death, immortal
[As the trio leaves the stage, we find Martí
writing letters by a kerosene lantern in a jungle
encampment at night]
MARTÍ
(writing)
My dear Fermín: I hear that you are coming in the expedition from Key West. My heart is
exalted, and I also admit it, a bit apprehensive, at the thought of your coming to fight.
[Fermín appears in a spotlight and faces the
audience]
FERMÍN
(regretful)
Our plans were to join your column. So we could fight side by side, as always! But as soon as
we landed, we got word that you’d been killed. We fought for three more years. And you
were right: the Americans got in at the end of the war in 1898, occupied us for four years, then
set us free—with some conditions. I went back to practicing medicine until my death in 1910.
[Fermín walks toward Martí, then freezes looking
over him]
MARTÍ
(writing)
My dear Carmita: You cannot imagine my happiness at being here and finally fulfilling my
calling. And at all times your face is before me, ever so understanding and serene…
[Carmen Miyares de Mantilla appears and faces the
audience]
CARMEN MIYARES
(efficiently holding back)
I gathered your papers and your letters from your study, as you had asked; leaving nothing
behind that could stain the reputation of the kind, brave and bright man who had once lived
here. The only tracks that remain… are those you left in my heart!
[Carmen joins Fermín, watching over Martí]
MARTÍ
(writing)
My dearest María: If you could see me now in this lush Cuban jungle, walking fully loaded:
with my rifle on one shoulder and my machete and revolver at my waist. Hanging from the
other shoulder are a first aid kit and a huge tube filled with many maps of Cuba; and there’s
also my backpack, hammock, blanket and some books that weigh a ton. What doesn’t weigh
me down at all is what’s on my chest, over my heart: your portrait. You are my lady… always
protecting me—and I’m your knight of yore…
{María Mantilla appears in a spotlight and faces the
audience]
113
MARIA MANTILLA
(sweetly worried)
Godfather, be careful! I’ll turn sixteen in six months and we’ll have a big party here in New
York. We’ll all be together then. Promise me that you’ll come…
{María joins Carmen and Fermín over Martí]
MARTÍ
(writing)
My dearest son: Whenever I feel in harm’s way, I seek refuge in you. I want you to know that
I believe in the goodness of man, in a future life, in the value of virtue and… in you. You
appear to me in glistening reflections from a river, a river that runs its course deep through
my heart. May that river also reach yours…
[Carmen Zayas Bazán appears clutching a photo of
their son and faces the audience]
CARMEN ZAYAS BAZÁN
I’ve read the letter you wrote to our son the night before you were killed. Beautiful! But then,
you always knew how to write. I guess I never understood you, or him, since he was all of
seventeen when he also left me to go fight in your war.
(she looks at the photo)
You would have been proud of our son. He rose to the rank of Captain and lived in a fine
house in the Vedado until he died 1945. As for me, I died in 1928, and you know how much…
(a long pause)
…I’ve always loved you.
[She joins the others looking over Martí, who now
stops writing and rises]
[The two Carmens, María and Fermín surround Martí
and embrace him. The lights dim]
[Lights out]
114
SCENE TEN
IMMOLATION
[The Trio enters singing in Spanish]
Cultivo una rosa blanca
En junio como en enero
Para el amigo sincero
Que me da su mano franca
Y para el cruel que me arranca
El corazón con que vivo,
Cardos ni ortigas cultivo
Cultivo una rosa blanca.
TRIO
(singing)
I cultivate a white rose
In June as well as in January,
For the sincere friend
Who extends to me his hand.
And for the cruelty of those
Who tear out my beating heart
I don’t grow thistles or nettles
I cultivate a white rose.
[The scoreboard flashes: General Antonio Maceo’s
Camp, La Mejorana, Cuba]
[The screens feature scenes of a Sugar Mill and an
abandoned hut. Inside it, Máximo Gómez and Maceo
are looking at maps]
[The Three Generals rise and greet Martí, who
walks into the tent and salutes them]
MÁXIMO GÓMEZ
We were just discussing you, Martí, and we’ve come to an agreement.
(he assumes a ceremonial tone)
With the full and complete authority of the Chief Council of the Army, you, José Martí, are
being given the rank of Major General of the Liberation Army!
MARTÍ
(humbly surprised)
I’m deeply honored.
MACEO
(diligently)
Now that that’s done, we want you to return to New York and resume the fundraising efforts
as soon as possible.
MARTÍ
I am not opposed to going to New York, that is, if it is deemed necessary, my general, but not
before engaging the enemy and leading our troops in combat!
Your courage is not in question here.
MÁXIMO GÓMEZ
MARTÍ
I have made a vow to myself that I must keep.
115
MÁXIMO GÓMEZ
But we don’t want you to do something foolish.
MACEO
I’m giving you orders to stay back in the ranks. You know you are more valuable to our cause
in New York, giving speeches and raising money…
MARTÍ
Be that as it may. But as for Cuba, I am ready to be nailed to the cross!
MACEO
(raising his voice)
That’s exactly what we want to avoid.
[The Trio appears singing more “Simple Verses”]
TRIO
Cuando al peso de la cruz
el hombre morir resuelve
sale a hacer bien, lo hace y vuelve
como de un baño de luz.
When weighted down by his cross
A man resolves to face death
He sets out to do good, does it, and then
Returns bathed in a glorious light.
[Máximo Gómez motions to a young man in a
white Mambí uniform who steps forward]
MÁXIMO GÓMEZ
(conciliatory to Martí)
This is Angel de la Guardia. He will be your aide de camp and he is under strict orders to
guard you.
[Maceo and Gomez leave the stage as a spotlight falls
on Martí and Angel]
MARTÍ
Angel de la Guardia—Guardian Angel? How ironic!
(looks at him closer)
Don’t I know you?
[Suddenly, Freud appears by the footlights]
Of course you do!
FREUD
(warning Martí)
[Angel de la Guardia is revealed to be Cuba
dressed as a young man]
CUBA/ANGEL DE LA GUARDIA
(to Freud)
Shut up! You know he can’t hear you!
[Cuba/Angel de la Guardia transforms himself into
Changó by donning a red cape, and holding up a
lightning bolt]
116
FREUD
(recognizing Changó)
Changó! There you are! You’ve come to claim your sacrifice!
MARTÍ
(confused)
What?
(recognizing her)
Cuba?
FREUD
(to Martí)
He’s not Cuba. He’s not your Guardian Angel either! He’s Changó, coming to claim you as
his sacrificial prize—but do not give in! The gods and demons are fighting for your soul; but
now more than ever you cannot die, Cuba needs you!
CUBA/CHANGÓ
(to Freud)
Cuba can have him when I’m done with him. And as for you, Doctor Freud, this show is over
and I’m sick and tired of you!
[Cuba, as Changó, throws a lightning bolt at
Freud, who vanishes in a puff of smoke]
CUBA/CHANGÓ
(to the audience)
That ought to hold the little bugger!
(to the skies)
Give me more thunder, more lightning!
[The sound of thunder and flashes of lightning
envelop the stage. Then rifles are heard followed by
explosions—a battle has begun. A fire glows at
Changó’s feet]
CUBA/CHANGÓ
(raising her arms, consumed by flames)
Listen to the sweet sounds of battle, Martí! They beckon! Come to me!
[A bugle call is heard]
MARTÍ
(surrendering and fulfilled)
There’s no woman more beautiful than death.
She’s the true lady, the queen, the gleaming prize!
Open your arms,
I’m ready, Mother Death:
My judgment beckons.
[Martí rushes upstage toward Cuba/Chango and
gets lost under her flowing red cape as it is
being consumed by flames]
[A loud fusillade rings out]
117
[The famous lithograph of Martí’s death, hit by
enemy gunfire as he leads a charge on horseback,
flashes on the screen]
[The stagehand from the opening reappears to
unplug the scoreboard and take it away]
[The Trio enters singing in Spanish for the last time
downstage]
[Song: “Clave a Martí” (Traditional P.D.)]
TRIO
(singing)
Ay! de morir…
Si Martí no hubiera muerto
Otro gallo cantaría
La patria se salvaría
Y Cuba sería feliz
Ay! de morir…
Ay!de morir…
Never have died…
If Martí had not died…
Nothing would be the same
The country would have been saved
And Cuba would have been free
Never have died…
Never have died…
[The Trio leaves the stage as Cuba runs onto the
scene now dressed in her bloody rags and chains]
CUBA
(running upstage towards the darkness)
Martí! You can’t die and leave me like this! If you die, I will die too!
(she turns and lets out a plaintive cry facing the audience)
Who will fight for me now?
[A solemn note fills the air]
{Cuba falls, lifeless, to the floor]
[Lights out]
[The curtain comes down]
THE END

a musical biography book, original lyrics and translations of selected

Transcription

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