People Like Us.

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People Like Us
by Michael John LaChiusa


QUEENIE
Oh, the city. So many lights you can actually pretend one of them's shining on you.

Always wanted to see the lights of Broadway.
I always wanted to hear the traffic roar.
I always wanted to be a part
Of New York City's great big heart.
And now I am. I couldn't ask for..

I was that girl. I'm all of them. Trapped in a room full of shadows and not enough light. And soon we will fade away, into the walls, into nothingness. The end.

BLACK
People like us: We get through the day
Surviving the city way better than most.
We go through the motions
From nightcap to nightcap:
Here but not here.
With the heart of a ghost.
People like us: We meet up some night
In a room full of strangers who call themselves friends:
It feels like a dream
But it's too hard to tell
Where the dream begins
And the real world ends-
And where- where do we belong?
We might have to ask ourselves:
Where- where do we belong?
People like us:
Private stock.
Where?

QUEENIE
People like us. We take lovers like pills.
Just hoping to cure what we know we can't fix.
And we'll lay in their arms
And we'll say pretty things:
We'll be there but not there
But we'll still get our kicks-
People like us: We sure get our kicks:
And we heal awful fast and we don't even scar:
We are here but not here
Ina roomful of friends
We could join in the fray
Or stay here where we are-
And where- where do we belong? BLACK: Where?
Do we need to ask ourselves
Where- where do we belong? BLACK: Where?
People like us:
Damaged goods. Where? BLACK: Where?

BLACK
We dance alone on a crowded floor.

QUEENIE
We weren't given much.

BLACK
And we don't expect much more...

QUEENIE
-"More" is not a word we use.

BLACK
"More" would never be enough

BOTH
People like us: We slip by through the cracks
We'll never be famous. So who's gonna care?
Nobody needs us
And everyone's had us-
We're here but not here:
We've been there but not there-
And where- where do we belong?
We only have ourselves.
Where- where do we belong?

QUEENIE
People like us.
Lost.

BLACK
And found.

BOTH
Where...?
Where...?