Orpheus, Revisited

I don’t have the heart to tell them yet

That it’s closing

We’ve been bought out

By…I don’t know exactly

What the company does

My only hope is that it isn’t interested

In turning my father’s theater

Into a parking lot

I won’t be around to see what they do with the place anyway

I’ve taken a job

In London

I’m getting as far away from here as possible

People say you shouldn’t run from your failures

But I fail to see the benefits

Of living across the street

From them either

I don’t know when I’m going to make the announcement

Just saying the words…

The Orpheus Theater is Closing

My father would have died

Before he’d let that happen

But my father was always in the present

That’s what made him such a great artist

But a lousy businessman

He could never see the storms ahead

And fifty years

Means a whole lot of storms

Am I embarrassed

That the theater

Is falling apart

Under my supervision?

Well, I take responsibility

If that’s what you mean

It was my job to keep the place going

And obviously

I haven’t been able to do that

I could blame the economy

Or the culture

But the truth is

At the heart of every problem

Is a person

Not doing their job

Theater is no different

I guess, if I need to stay upbeat
I could tell myself
That fifty years
Isn't a bad run

This theater meant a lot
To a lot of people

I used to think my mother hated this place
Because it essentially destroyed her family
But the first time she heard me say
That I hated the Orpheus Theater
She sat me down
And said 'No, no, no'

It's easy to blame a place
But a place can't take the blame
For the things
The people in it do

My mother was a wise woman
But she put a little too much stock
In happy endings

Never liked a play
If it didn't end happily

She wouldn't admit that
To many people
But it was true

So what kind of happy ending
Could I give you now, huh Mom?

Well...

Dad always said
People don't remember the shows
They remember the pictures
What the pictures tell them to remember

Out in the lobby
There's a photo of the acting company
The first acting company
All standing together outside
At their production of Orpheus Descending


Mom was beyond pregnant with me
And Dad was smiling that smile
That meant--as soon as they take this photo
I'm going to fire somebody

Kidding--sort of

And it was a beautiful day
And it was going to be a beautiful night
And this group of people--

They were going to do something important
That day

They were going to make something
Where nothing had been before
And then they were going to wash it all away

That's what I'd like to remember
That's all I'd like anybody to remember

Just a bunch of smiling actors
Ready to put on a show