“METROPOLIS: THE SILENT MUSICAL”

A WORK-IN-PROGRESS

Gretchen Greene School of Dance

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SCENE 1: THE MARCH OF THE WOLF-MASTERS
Light up on a bustling street high within the Metropolis.
There is a mix of humans and androids. The androids are
noted by their clothing, silly servant’s clothes (maids,
butlers, mechanics, traffic cops, merchants, etc.,) which
are cartoonish in contrast to the gritty clothing of the
humans. They are also marked by a glowing brand which shows
their service number.
SONG
Vocals begin.
All turn their attention towards the screen, which shows
“vocal waves”. A dancer enters and dances out the message,
a little like a flight attendant demonstrates emergency
procedures.
SONG
Vocals complete. Music begins to fade.
The dancer exits. The screen goes black. The humans shrug
their shoulders, shake their heads in disgust, and go on
about their business. The androids, however, stare a bit
longer at the screen. Some slowly begin to look around,
looking sheepishly at the other androids. They eventually
move on, though a few must be pulled along by their humans.
SCREEN
During transition, “Later that night…”

BLACK OUT

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SCENE 2: VIOLENT STARS HAPPY HUNTING!!!
Open with tight spot on Cindy in the lower level of
scaffolding. She looks around fearfully.
SONG
The beat drops.
Lights up on street with busy foot traffic. At the highest
point of the scaffolding sits Anthony. The Bounty Hunters
make their entrance and begin to search for Cindy. They
tear apart places that look like a hiding spot and question
and harass the people on the street. One of them has a neon
sign with Cindy’s # on it, showing it to people to see if
they recognize it.
SCREEN
“I must find him. I must find Anthony.”
She clutches her heart.
SONG
Chorus 1
As the all the Hunters except one temporarily exit, Cindy
makes a break for it, leaving the scaffolding and entering
the crowd, where she eludes the hunter for a while. A small
group of dancers dance a gritty, aggressive dance opposite
the stage from this action.
SONG
Verse 2
As the lone hunter spots her, she begins to climb the
scaffolding. He is in hot pursuit. The other hunters slowly
re-enter. Dancers dance on occasional phrases of the music.
SONG
Chorus 2
(Same small group of dancers, dance the chorus in unison.)
They chase her as they climb the scaffolding. Sometimes
exiting and re-entering.
SONG
Interlude
(Larger group of dancers get down in dim light while the
following actions occurs at higher levels) While Cindy is
off-stage, a Bounty Hunter approaches Anthony. There is a
struggle, and although Anthony escapes he leaves behind

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ambiguous evidence as to his survival.
SONG
Chorus 3
(Dance is full blown and full lit now.) Cindy reaches
Anthony’s place, and finding him gone cries out in pain.
She pulls herself together, and with a new found anger,
decides to “Hit the Floor” to avoid the Bounty Hunters. As
she descends the long ladder, the focus moves to the
dancers. By the last chorus, all have exited except the
original small group of dancers. They move to the
scaffolding and dance in silhouette.
SCREEN
“They’re after you… for loving too… You know
the rules… nowhere to run… but underground…
don’t let your feet… make a sound…”

Fade to Black.

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SCENE 3: MANY MOONS
BLACK Lights up on the Floor, the actual ground level of
the city, Metropolis’s sprawling ghetto, where few humans
fear to tread.
SCREEN
“Metropolis’s Underground…where few humans fear
to tread… home of the tired… the poor… the
androids.”
The androids dance a wild robotic, but passionate dance.
One android, The Shadow, is set apart with an ornate
costume and prominent positions in the dance. A follow spot
picks up Cindy as she slowly descends to the ground.
SONG
“We march all around til the sun goes down”
The other androids notice someone in their midst, and turn
lights on one at a time to investigate. They soon recognize
Cindy and point her out in panic as the human-lover.
SCREEN
“It’s her… she’s the one… she’ll have us all
dis-assembled… horrible, abusing the freedom
her maker gave her”
Everybody walks around suspiciously, building tension.
SONG
“You’re free but in your mind…”
She points at them all while shooting daggers with her
eyes.
SONG
“Your freedom’s in a bind.”
A signature turn that will be repeated later.
During the next verse, she dances first (on the call), then
stands as the screen gives the responses shown below.
SCREEN
“Will they kill me for loving?... Didn't they
make us this way?... Will you be next?... What
will happen to us when we're all afraid to
love?... are you bold enough to reach for love”
During the next bridge, the other androids stand and listen
as Cindy takes a tour of the stage, pleading through her

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dancing as she re-lives her love and pain. Most of them are
swayed by her, but as she comes full circle she is
confronted by the few disgruntled ones, led by The Shadow.
SCREEN
[with song] “I keep my feet on solid ground”
After each line, a group of androids jumps to Cindy’s side.
SONG
“You’re free but in your mind…”
The rest run to her side and repeat the signature turn in
unison. For the next chorus, she ends up encircled by them,
as she preaches and they chant back at her. The Shadow and
his thugs are pushed to the fringes, eventually exiting in
disgust.
SCREEN
“Tell me are you bold enough to reach for
love.”
They all jump wildly, reaching at the sky.
SONG
Interlude
They line up and ceremoniously she strips them of their
uniforms and rips out their tags, a painful and messy
event. As each one completes this ritual
SONG
Outro
Anthony appears, descending to the Floor. They run to each
other and embrace.
SONG
Reprise
The following happens in slow motion. A cloaked Bounty
Hunter appears. He pulls his hood back, and whips out an
electro-dagger. Cindy sees him over Anthony’s shoulder. She
shakes her head in panic and squeezes her eyes shut as the
Bounty Hunter lunges forward and plunges the knife into
Anthony’s back. Meanwhile, the crowd is reacting in horror,
with some running away and some rushing towards the
attacker, pulling him off of Cindy. She finally collapses
with Anthony in her arms. In pain, she clutches at herself,
and then reaches her hands to heaven, clasping her palms
together in prayer. Fade to spot on Cindy, then fade to

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black.

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SCENE 4: CYBERTRONIC PURGATORY
Pick up Cindy in spot, then magical lights up. The stage
has been cleared. She begins to look around curiously.
SONG
Vocals begin.
The ArchAndroid appears upstage in front of the screen. She
dances for Cindy, who becomes entranced. The ArchAndroid’s
arms begin to multiply. Cindy approaches and bows. The
ArchAndroid produces a lotus flower, which is passed from
hand to hand down to Cindy, who takes a deep whiff from the
flower. Lights slowly fade.

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SCENE 5: NEON GUMBO
Lights up on the exact tableaux from the ending of Scene 3.
The events of the Many Moons Reprise are now done in
reverse, leading all the way up to right when Anthony is
about to be stabbed.
SONG
Guitars and synths.
Now events begin to play forward again (still in slow
motion), but this time they play out differently. Cindy,
keeping her eyes wide open, switches places with Anthony
and takes the electro-dagger to the back. The other
Androids rush in as before. Anthony collapses holding Cindy
in his arms, rocking back and forth. She reaches up and
traces the shape of the ArchAndroid with her finger, which
is also seen on the screen, before finally going limp.

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SCENE 6: SINCERELY, JANE
Lights up on the Floor at Cindy Mayweather’s funeral. An
electro-tomb-stone stands in a corner. The androids are
mournfully gathered. The android that Cindy was arguing
with earlier stands apart, warning of the danger of acting
rebelliously as Cindy did. Some are swayed to her words and
repent. Some, however, re-iterate Cindy’s message of
freedom. The repenters skulk away.
SONG
Remix section.
The remaining who have not yet removed their uniforms, now
do so in group protest. Finally they begin to graffiti the
symbol of the ArchAndroid all over the Floor, eventually
exiting.
SONG
Tag, calling Cindy home.
Lights fade to spot on Cindy’s grave. On the CLAP her arm
bursts out from the ground. She slowly climbs out, and
crawls off into the darkness. Fade to black.

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