Waiting For The Girls Upstairs
(Stephen Sondheim)
YOUNG BUDDY:
Hey, up there...
YOUNG BEN:
Way up there...
BUDDY and YOUNG BUDDY:
Whaddaya say, up there?
(Ben. Sally and Phyllis join Buddy.)
BUDDY:
God, the four of us together back here.
Hey. up there!
Way up there!
Whaddaya say, up there?
I see it all. It's like a movie in my head that play and plays.
It isn't just the bad things I remember It's the whole show.
Waiting around for the girls upstairs:
After the curtain came down.
Money In my pocket to spend.
"Honey, could you maybe get a friend for my friend!"
BEN:
Hearing the sound of the girls above
Dressing to go on the town.
BUDDY:
Clicking heels on steel and cement,
BEN:
Picking up the giggles floating down through the vent,
BOTH:
Goddamnedest hours that I ever spent
Were waiting for the girls
Upstairs
BUDDY:
Hey, up there!
BEN:
Way up there! .
BOTH:
Whaddaya say, up there!
BEN:
That's where the keys hung and
That's where you picked up your mail.
BUDDY:
I remember:
Me and Ben.
Me and Ben.
We'd come around at ten.
Me and Ben.
And hang around the wings
Watching things
With what-the-hell-was-his-name.
You know, the old guy?
Max! I remember...
Anyway,
There we'd stay
Until the curtain fell.
And when the curtain tell.
Then all hell broke:
Girls on the run
And scenery flying,
Doors slamming left and right
BEN:
Girls in their un-
Dies, blushing but trying
Not to duck out of sight.
BOTH:
Girls by the hun-
Dreds waving and crying.
"See you tomorrow night!"
Girls looking frazzled and girls looking great,
Girls in a frenzy to get to a date,
Girls like a madhouse and two of them late...
And who had to wait?
And wait...
And wait...
And
wait...
PHYLLIS:
Waiting around for the boys downstairs,
Stalling as long as we dare.
Which dress from my wardrobe of two?
(One of them was borrowed and the other was blue.)
SALLY:
Holding our ground for the boys below,
Fussing around with our hair
PHYLLIS:
Giggling, wriggling out of our tights,
SALLY:
Chattering and clattering down all of those flights-
BOTH:
God, I'd forgotten there ever were nights
Of waiting for the boys
Downstairs.
BUDDY:
You up there!
SALLY:
Down in a minute!
BEN:
You two up there!
PHYLLIS:
Just keep your shirts on!
BEN and BUDDY:
Aren't you through up there?
SALLY and PHYLLIS:
Heard you the first time!
(Their younger counterparts appear)
BEN, YOUNG BEN,
BUDDY, YOUNG BUDDY: SALLY, YOUNG SALLY,
Look, are you coming or PHYLLIS, YOUNG PHYLLIS:
Aren't you coming 'cause Coming. We're coming, will
Look, if we're going, we You hold your horses, we're
Gotta get going 'cause Coming. We're ready, be
Look, they won't hold us There in a jiffy, we're
A table at ringside all Coming. We're coming. All
Night! Right!
YOUNG SALLY:
Hi...
YOUNG BEN:
Girls...
YOUNG PHYLLIS:
Ben...
YOUNG BUDDY:
Sally...
YOUNG SALLY:
Boy, we're beat.
YOUNG BUDDY:
You look neat.
YOUNG PHYLLIS:
We saw you in the wings.
YOUNG BEN:
How are things?
YOUNG PHYLLIS:
Did someone pass you in?
YOUNG BUDDY:
Slipped a fin
To what-the-hell-is-his-name,
You know, the doorman.
YOUNG PHYLLIS:
Al?
YOUNG BUDDY:
No.
YOUNG SALLY:
Big?
YOUNG BEN:
Fat.
YOUNG PHYLLIS:
Young!
YOUNG BUDDY:
Bald.
YOUNG SALLY:
Harry.
YOUNG BEN:
Yeah.
YOUNG SALLY:
Okey-doaks.
YOUNG BUDDY:
Come on, folks.
YOUNG PHYLLIS:
And where we gonna go?
YOUNG BEN:
A little joint I know-
YOUNG SALLY:
What?
YOUNG BUDDY:
Great new show there.
YOUNG PHYLLIS:
Hey, I thought you said tonight'd be Tony's--
YOUNG BUDDY:
This joint is just as grand.
YOUNG SALLY:
We girls got dressed for dancing at Tony's--
YOUNG BEN:
This joint is in demand.
YOUNG SALLY and YOUNG PHYLLIS:
Ta-ta, goodbye, you'll find us at Tony's--
YOUNG BUDDY and YOUNG BEN:
Wait till you hear the band!
YOUNG SALLY and YOUNG PHYLLIS: YOUNG BUDDY and YOUNG BEN
You told us Tony's,
That we'd go to Tony's. I told you Tony's?
ALL GIRLS:
Then Ben mentioned Tony's. I never said Tony's
ALL MEN:
Well, someone said Tony's. When's Ben mentioned Tony's?
There's dancing at Tony's-- It's ritzy at Tony's--
All right, then, we'll go! All right, then, we'll go!
(The young counterparts leave.)
BUDDY:
Waiting around for the girls upstairs,
Weren't we chuckleheads then?
BEN:
Very young and very old hat--
Everybody has to go through stages like that.
SALLY, PHYLLIS, BEN and BUDDY:
Waiting around for the girls upstairs--
Thank you but never again.
Life was fun but oh, so intense
Everything was possible and nothing made sense
Back there when one of the major events
Was waiting for the girls,
Waiting for the girls.
Waiting for the girls.
Waiting for the girls,
Waiting for the girls
Upstairs.
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