KIJE!
A MUSICAL FAIRY TALE
by
Scott L. McGregor
Lyrics by
Arthur Benjamin
Music by
Arthur Darrell Turner
© Copyright
1980, 1986, 1990, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2005 by Scott L. McGregor
All rights
reserved. No portion of this book may be
reproduced in any form without the express permission of the publisher. All characters are fictional. Any resemblance to living persons past or
present is purely coincidental.
Printed
Kije! Company
Act
I: Wednesday in Wuz: Birth of Kije
Scene i: Afternoon: The
Wizard's Laboratory
Scene ii: Afternoon: The
Great Hall
Scene iii: Evening: The
Princess' Chamber
Scene iv: Night: The Great
Hall
Song:
The Grand and Glorious Kije
Act
II: Thursday in Wuz: The Story of Kije.
Scene i: Dawn: The
Wizard's Laboratory
Song:
A Simple Story (reprise)
Scene ii: Morning: The
Dungeon
Scene iii: Noon: The Great
Hall
Scene iv: Afternoon: The
Great Hall
Scene v: Evening: The
Great Hall
Scene vi: Night: Larsen's
Room
Scene vii: Midnight: The
Princess' Balcony
Song:
A Vision, a Heart and a Feeling
Act
III: Friday in Wuz: The Death of Kije.
Scene i: Dawn: The
Wizard's Laboratory
Song:
A Simple Story (reprise)
Scene ii: Morning: The
Great Hall
Scene iii: Noon: The
King's Balcony
Scene iv: Afternoon:
Various Rooms of the Castle
Song:
Punch's Dream (reprise of Love at Last)
Scene v: Various Rooms of
the castle
Scene vi: Evening: A Room
in the Castle
Scene vii: Night: the
Wizard's Laboratory
Song:
A Little Bit of Magic (Reprise)
Scene vii: Midnight: The
Great Hall
(In Order of
Appearance)
Murphy, the Wizard
Ms. Wiz, the Wizard's wife
Punch, the Jester
Dom, the King
Robin, the Minstrel
Charity Less, a lady-in-waiting
Merrilee Ouigaux-Alon, a lady-in-waiting
Faith Holsom, a lady-in-waiting
Hope, the Princess
Sonny Dey, a courtier
Larsen E.
Quivocator, a villainous courtier
The Count Ur-Monet, a courtier
Sir Render, a courtier
Guards, Messengers, Peasants, Servants, Soldiers &
Townspeople
Characterizations
WUZ, the land
WUZ is a
kingdom under a curse. Things in the
kingdom are pretty confused. One of the
effects is that most everyone in the kingdom feels lost and without a sense of
direction. They think that they want
something but they already have it and don't realize it.
Murphy, the Wizard
An
absent-minded but somewhat clever old man.
Kind and likable. A bit of a wise
acre, with fairly bad jokes. Inside him
there is great magic, but he has yet to find it; instead he blunders about with
poorly executed "tricks". Like
Schmendrick in Peter Beagle's The Last
Unicorn, he wants to find the true magic within himself, but he has
confused magic with prestidigitation. His
true magic is in his psychology, his ability to see into people's characters
and thus predict and manipulate their actions.
Ms. Wiz
A real sexpot.
This woman is a sort of Mae West figure whose mind is always on one thing:
sex. Ironically, she is married to the
cerebral Wizard who encourages her to fulfill her desires through her houseboys
and slaves. She married the wizard out
of an urge for power and domination, but found that his wizardly powers don't
seem to run in that direction.
Frustrated, she seeks to dominate in other ways. The wizard's reason for marrying her: alas,
another case of Murphy's Law, he drank his own love potion.
Punch, the Jester
A fairly
morose character whose grief comes from being a de facto failed comic. Still, a true friend who tries to cheer up
the minstrel when he is glum. Punch
wants to touch people, but he thinks he can't do this because he can't be
heard. In fact, his tragedy touches
everyone deeply. Since he doesn't
realize this, he has turned to drink.
Dom, the King
A tired old
man. His only joy is in his
daughter. Short-tempered, he frequently
wields the power of his office harshly and has intimidated many members of his
court. He wants loyal subjects. He sees everyone as lying to him and is thus
disappointed with them. He doesn't see that it is their fear of disappointing
him and their loyalty to him that makes them try to deceive him, to tell him
what they think he wants to hear, in the first place.
Robin, the Minstrel
A bit of
Quixote, the minstrel is a romantic young man who lives too much in dreams and
is the victim of reality. He is
idealistic and struggles to be good and true and comes off as a bit of a
"goody-good". He is a