New World Symphony by Antonín Dvořák
Yes, this was part of the Brass Union songlist
in 1971 ... although the arrangement might
have been slightly different.
For the two writers of the Fairytale, Len Blum and Bruce Ley,
this would be a preview of things to come for them. Bruce
would go on to writing and producing in Canadian Television,
and Len would become a very successful Hollywood
screenplay writer, with credits such as: 'Meatballs', with Bill
Murray (based on a Brass Union summer camp adventure),
‘Stripes’, ‘Heavy Metal’, ‘Beethoven's 2nd, ‘Private Parts’
with Howard Stern, ‘The Pink Panther’ (co-written with Steve
Martin), and the Dreamworks animated hit, ‘Over the
Hedge’. The idea of bringing this stage production to the
Brass Union was for the band to perform the entire 60-
minute show live, with costume changes, different props,
special effects and all done while the musicians played the
music. This was an immense undertaking, just even what
music would be played and by whom, and co-ordinating this
with who would be acting at the time. The entire production
was all original, all with music written specifically for the
Fairytale and performed by the nine band members and the
three additional road crew. The story is as follows ...
The stage is set up so there is a centre ‘acting’ area down the middle, with
the drum kit to the left on one side of the stage and the organ to the right.
The three guitars are set up behind the drums and the four horns behind the
organ. The play opens with just the guitars, horns and drummer on stage.
The CAMAL, played by Bruce Ley (who is essentially, the moderator)
enters from the wing, walks to centre stage and begins to conduct the
band. He is dressed in a white cowboy hat, brown suit and long western-
style coat. There is an opening piece, with strobe and other lighting
effects, done in time to the music, a brief bit by the WILGROVE character,
played by Bruce Wilson, who jumps into centre stage dressed as a rock
star and plays a brief frenetic piece on his guitar, then jumps back into
place with the other guitarists. Once this opening piece has ended, the
stage fades to black and a single spotlight is cued to the CAMAL, who
begins to speak.
“I am CAMAL, the good spirit and I see the good in a man’s heart”
Immediately, John Hannah, dressed in black tights, black cape and bright-
blue knee boots, jumps out from behind his drums, into the centre-stage
spotlight and interrupts the CAMAL:
“Shaddup. You with your good-in-man’s-heart bullshit. I am BONAR, the
evil spirit, and I see the evil in a man’s soul … and I love it. And let me tell
you something, Mr. Good Fairy, your side is going to lose.” As he lets out
a scowling mock-laugh, the good/evil stage is set.
Following this opening scene, the CAMAL continues his story:
“Three ships of sacred oak, pursued by the wind, proudly from battle go, return to their king.”
He describes ancient boats, slaves at the oars, chained together in the galley, while BONAR
times it with the beat of his drums. The spotlight dims on CAMAL and goes up over the drums
and guitars. While still playing, the guitarists simulate oarsmen with their guitars as BONAR
becomes the slavemaster, saying: “Row, you bastards!”
At the end of the rowing sequence, all motion stops and the CAMAL continues to sing his story.
He tells of three sailors, returning from afar to their families, the townspeople rushing to greet
them with praises for their champions of war. The CAMAL moves over to his organ, out of the
spotlight as three sailors enter from the horn section: Cliff Hunt, John Willett and Don
Berryman. One sailor is drinking from a wineskin, obviously drunk, as the second sailor is
kicking him. The third sailor is wearing brighter clothes than the other two. He is FLOYDO,
played by Cliff Hunt, and the hero of the story. They all tell stories of war, plundering, their
banners flying over each conquest:
“Who can retell the things that befell us? Who can count them? At every turn our warriors
earned sweet victory.”
The sailors and the band party and drink to celebrate their return.
Finally, as the song ends, centre stage clears leaving just FLOYDO to
sing an emotional song which ends with: “Why do all eyes seem to
turn away? Why do all faces look cold? Where is my wife? God, I’ve
missed her so. Where is she? I’ve got to be told?”
BONAR then gestures to FLOYDO and sings: “Listen, the lady’s left you. Where did she go? She left
with the magician, not long ago.” Soon the entire chorus of singers begins to sing: “She left with the
magician, not long ago, not long ago.” FLOYDO looks dismayed, walks over to the CAMAL, who confirms
that his lady has left with the magician. As the musicians continue to sing, FLOYDO packs a knapsack
with a map and some food. He is ready to go get his wife back. As the song winds down, the chorus
starts singing: “Go see the king”. FLOYDO agrees and walks to stage left and exits. When he re-enters
stage again, he is in the king’s castle and awed by it’s size. Terry Bramhall, as KING ELMO EBO, makes
a magnificent entrance, dressed in a purple cape and matching toga and struts proudly around the stage.
ELMO: “I am ELMO!!” – CHORUS: “He is ELMO!”
ELMO: “I am the king!!” – CHORUS: “He is the king!”
ELMO: “You are my subjects!!” – CHORUS: “We are his subjects.”
ELMO: “And you shall do as I command!!” – CHORUS: “Right!”
ELMO: “Now, entertain me.”
Len Blum jumps to centre stage with his guitar and plays for the king. But the king is displeased and beats
Len, as the guitar notes are obviously sarcastic. The king continues to beat him and finally tosses him
back to his place with the other guitar player. FLOYDO then takes the microphone and sings his plea to
the king: “ELMO EBO majesty, Harken to a subject’s plea. Grave injustice done to me, While I served you
overseas. Came a demon, Cast a spell upon my house. Took my woman. Took her for his very own.”
Between verses, ELMO continues to strut around as the musicians bow each time he comes near them.
ELMO then eats a banana, files his nails and generally ignores our hero. FLOYDO finally sings: “ELMO
EBO, king of men, Listen to me once again. Grant me leave to follow them. I will find this sorceror’s den.
I will slay him!”, to which the king replies: “Go!!”, and exits triumphantly. Floydo then stares at the horizon
dramatically, and BONAR and CAMAL sing about the situation from their positions at the drums and
organ. They conclude that FLOYDO needs a friend to go with him. But who will be his friend?
While FLOYDO scans the horizon for a friend, a spearhead emerges from left wing,
followed slowly by a 12-foot spear. This is carried by a ridiculous-looking court jester
in two-tone leotards and a fashionable black turtleneck jersey, played by Don
Berryman. The JESTER sings to FLOYDO that he will help him. The rest of the stage
pokes fun at the JESTER, calling him incredibly useless. At one point the JESTER
drops his lance on his foot and he continues to sing on one foot, continuing with how
brave and bold he is. In another, to prove how brave he is, the JESTER produces his
knife, drops it and FLOYDO has to bend over and pick it up for him. As the chorus
sings “Useless”, the JESTER continues with: “I will help you. Just you wait and see.”
The two team up and perform a series of comedic acts as they begin their travels, first
off the front of the stage into the audience, then back to the stage as FLOYDO climbs
on the JESTER to get back on stage. FLOYDO just walks to the centre of the stage a
lets the JESTER climb up himself. Finally, they are seated in front of the drums to
have lunch but FLOYDO doesn’t give the JESTER any food.
While FLOYDO and the JESTER sit by the drums, a MONK, played by Darrell
Nameth and dressed in a white cloak, hood and an embroidered cross enters
the stage from the wings and begins to sing his song: “What brings you to
these dark moors? What brings you here? Only exiled men or fools would
sojourn by these misty pools.”
A somewhat ridiculous scene with the MONK, FLOYDO and the JESTER follows:
JESTER: “FLOYDO went to fight for the king” – CHORUS & MONK: “Good!”
JESTER: “Magician did a foul thing.” – CHORUS & MONK: “Bad!”
JESTER: “Burned his house and stole his wife.” – CHORUS & MONK: “Simply awful!”
JESTER: “We journey now to take his life.” – CHORUS & MONK: “Good!”
JESTER: “And to retrieve FLOYDO’S beautiful house” – CHORUS & MONK: “House?!?”
JESTER: “So I draw my deadly lance” (which he drops) – CHORUS & MONK: “Heavy!”
JESTER: “To slice apart the magician’s pants.” – CHORUS & MONK: “Groovy!”
JESTER: “I”ll carve asunder that villain’s crass!” – CHORUS & MONK: “Right on, man! Far out!
Oscar! Bravo!”
They all cheer the JESTER’s effort in his speech, then the MONK grabs his saxophone and plays
a solo. The JESTER grabs a cowbell and is so off-beat that the MONK has to stop his solo, grab
the cowbell and throw it away. After a bit of this, FLOYDO stops everything and tells his story in
his own words. He’s recounts a heart-warming story, ending on his knees. The MONK blesses
him and when the JESTER kneels to be blessed as well, everyone ignores him. The MONK
picks up his sax again and plays a marching theme, joined by the JESTER on his trombone, then
FLOYDO on his trumpet. They play a few phrases, then the music stops and the JESTER turns
to the MONK: “Now will you bless me?”, followed by the MONK’s reply: “Bless you? I don’t even
know you!” The music starts up again and continues until the Traveling Theme is replaced by the
Dragon’s Theme. As soon as the music changes, the MONK, FLOYDO and the JESTER look
toward stage right, cower in fear, then look for a place to hide amongst the drums and vibes.
There’s a period here where the music signals the DRAGON’s entrance – a jumpy passage in 7/4
time, the Traveling Theme, is replaced by a 3/4 time part that is the DRAGON’s Theme. The music
continues to change from one to the other before the DRAGON appears – each time with the MONK,
FLOYDO and the JESTER looking stage right, cowering a bit and hiding behind the drums again.
After the third time, the DRAGON, played by John Willett, walks out from off-stage. He is wearing a
green costume with a long stuffed tail. He is very ferocious-looking and snorts and stomps all over the
stage. He doesn’t see the three hiding behind the drums at first, and as the three huddle together, the
MONK and FLOYDO begin to push the JESTER out to confront the DRAGON. The JESTER is
shaking and tries to backpedal. The two almost succeed, but the DRAGON begins to dance again and
they all scurry back behind the drums. The DRAGON then gives a speech about once being conned
by a man that said he’d make him famous. So he followed him to the city and was put in a cage and
people laughed at him. And to prelude the DRAGON’s song, he says: “But do you know what I did to
that man? I ate him, and now I’m going to eat you!!”
"This was one of my favourite parts", John Willett told me recently. And it's not hard to
see why. The music was very slapstick, with a vaudeville feel to it – with stage action to
match. The MONK and FLOYDO continue to push the JESTER out to face the
DRAGON, and as the DRAGON says: “Going to eat you too!!”, he points at FLOYDO and
begins to sing: “ I ... want ... to eat you. I want to chew you. I want to munch you. I want
to spew you. I want to kill you. I want to beat you. But most of all, I want to eat you.”
FLOYDO, the MONK and the JESTER pick up their horns and accompany him, and as
they play, they also do a corny choreography. At the end of the song, the DRAGON
screams, the JESTER jumps into the MONK’s arms and the organ plays to signal the
Chase Scene. The DRAGON chases FLOYDO as the MONK and the JESTER chase
the DRAGON. At one point, the MONK and the JESTER jump on the DRAGON’s back,
but he throws them off into a pile beside the drums. Just as the DRAGON is about to
catch our hero, FLOYDO pulls out a gun and shoots him. The DRAGON falls. All lights
go to black to see just the pistol flash and as they come up again, FLOYDO is standing
over the DRAGON costume, which lays beside the organ in a way that lets John exit the
costume and still appear that the dead DRAGON is laying there.
In this part, FLOYDO is standing over the dead DRAGON, one foot up on his stomach. The
MONK and the JESTER are bandaging their wounds and BONAR enters to survey the
situation. Looking like Dracula, BONAR begins to speak: "So FLOYDO killed the DRAGON,
eh? I can tell you exactly what he's thinking right now." He then sings: "I felt the bloodlust
arise in my limbs. It's good to be home again, Mama. I laughed as I hacked his head from
him. It's good to be home again, Mama. I slit his tongue, cut his throat, pierced his lung. Oh
it's good, it's so good to be home."
At the end of the song, FLOYDO has his arm around BONAR's shoulder and is smiling,
nodding agreement. The CAMAL is standing at the drums, looking over the situation. In an
interesting twist of good and evil, BONAR convinces FLOYDO to leave his injured friends
behind. "They'll only slow you down," to which FLOYDO agrees. The JESTER and the
MONK try to get FLOYDO to take them with him, but to no avail. BONAR is happy, the
CAMAL is sad, the JESTER and the MONK are left behind and FLOYDO continues his quest
as the CAMAL and BONAR sing together: "Men are what they are."
The CAMAL recaps the action: "Well, FLOYDO's killed the DRAGON, and like a true hero,
deserted his companions. But as he continues his search for the Magician, sleep
overtakes him. And while FLOYDO sleeps in the enchanted forest, strange things happen.
The GEEK and his HELPERS come out and sing their song to the moon." The GEEK,
played by Bruce Wilson, is a three-foot tall creature, covered in brown fur. His three
HELPERS are dressed as a policeman, a primitive ape and a drag queen. Their song is
mostly gibberish with organ accompaniment, joined by a cowbell, a woodblock and an out
of tune saxophone. The GEEK and his HELPERS all perform different antics and dances
as they sing their song. As the song ends, FLOYDO enters from the wing and laughs at
the GEEK. The CAMAL frowns at FLOYDO and criticizes him for laughing at the GEEK.
CAMAL (sings): "Oh dammit laugh at a GEEK. Hmm, go on and laugh at a GEEK."
FLOYDO (speaks): "C'mon, everybody. Laugh at a GEEK."
CAMAL (speaks): "Sure, and I suppose everyone goes off to war and leaves their wife
behind too, huh?"
FLOYDO: "I'd sure like to leave you behind ... face down in a ditch!"
CAMAL: "Well, give me enough wine and maybe I can arrange it."
The CAMAL’s song is old-style blues, and as it ends, the lights dim.
The music to this part of the story varies greatly as a ‘magical fantasy’ mood is set. There are four
parts to ‘Magic’. In the first, BONAR recaps the story – his view of the triumph of evil over good. The
audience hears a bird cheeping overhead; BONAR pulls out a gun, shoots it, and an old running shoe
falls from the ceiling to centre stage. The guitarists are doing the hula, while they play. The whole
thing has an air of lunacy as the last passage involves a musical conversation between the band, a
whistle, a balloon and a slide whistle. Throughout this, BONAR continues with his plot recap: “… he
kills the DRAGON. What a guy! And after that, what does my boy FLOYDO do next? He deserts his
companions. Well, that’s not all as there is more evil to come. More evil, evil, evil!! Ah, ha ha ha ha!”
This is followed by one of the guitarists moving to centre stage and performing a beautiful classical-
style acoustic guitar solo, while the rest of the musicians count from one to nineteen. The drums and
organ back up the count with bits of dissonance as they hit each note. The idea is to have two totally
dissimilar passages running concurrently.
The next section is even more wild, as it gathers and then mutilates all the musical themes
previously played in the show, ending with two very loud notes. The final part is played to the
MAGICIAN’s entrance, the character played by John Willett – who was also previously the DRAGON.
This is a slow organ solo with a minor guitar accompaniment, done while the MAGICIAN performs his
magic tricks. The MAGICIAN’s entrance is about halfway through this section, from the back of
stage, walking through a puff of smoke. He performs a few ‘parlor’ magic tricks – coloured scarves
appearing, changing colours, pulling out a bouquet of flowers, etc. Finally, synchronized with full
band accompaniment, the MAGICIAN tosses explosions of flame from his hands.
In this final scene, FLOYDO meets the MAGICIAN. The music is full, fast-paced and
exciting as the whole band except the two characters are playing. As soon as the
music starts – ‘explodes in our ears’ – FLOYDO explodes onto the stage, discovers
the MAGICIAN and confronts him.
FLOYDO: “You’re the one who stole my wife and child.”
MAGICIAN: “I don’t need you in my life. Go back to your war, filthy war.”
FLOYDO: “You’ve done evil. You’ve done me wrong.”
MAGICIAN: “Who are you to judge?”
FLOYDO: “Don’t deny you stole her from me. While I fought for justice and the king,
you snatched her off.”
MAGICIAN: “Winning battles overseas, you lost her too me.”
FLOYDO: “You’re a liar. Stand and fight. I’ll take back my lady.”
MAGICIAN: “Don’t you see that leaving you was her choice ??
The MAGICIAN then unfolds the truth as he sees it. He is very involved and emotion
fills his every gesture.
“Oh, you fool! They needed someone and you left them starving in the cold. She
was lovely. I was lonely. Your son needs a father, not a hero with a sword. You
have your sword, you won’t be bored. Let us live in peace."
“I can’t accept this. It is not true.”, says FLOYDO, shaking with rage. “You are an outrage. I
must kill you. Stand and prepare to … die !!!!” He then leaps and draws his sword in mid-air,
landing in front of the MAGICIAN. The lights alternate between red and blue until just a strobe
light is going. FLOYDO beats the MAGICIAN with his sword in time with the music, but the
MAGICIAN stands unyielding, unmoving, unflinching, as FLOYDO goes wild in his attempt to
overcome him. The music continues to build as FLOYDO increases the energy of this efforts,
but finally … in seven mystic gestures, the MAGICIAN levitates, disarms, throws back,
paralyzes and beats our hero.
FLOYDO crawls off the stage, shamed, confused and beaten. The MAGICIAN bends over to
pick up FLOYDO’s sword, but looks at it and tosses it to the floor. BONAR and CAMAL, from
their places on the drums and organ, respectively, sing: “Go back to your war. You won’t be
bored. You have your sword.” The lights dim and the MAGICIAN fades back into the band.
In the original script, the Fairytale is called ‘A Sweetened Skin’, and the music in
this part is the theme song of the show. It is slow and majestic, outlined on the
vibraphone, with band accompaniment. The last few chords peak to a tense
dominant seventh chord (i.e. suggesting a ‘hanging, unfinished’ feel). Three
voices sing from the blackened stage and as the lights come up, the audience
notices that it is BONAR, CAMAL and the MAGICIAN. They sing: “So goodnight.
Blessed be your dear ones. Stay in their sight. Make them your near ones.
Night’s falling. I’m calling it a day.”
As the song continues, the band begins to chant as a CHORUS with long
‘Aaaahhs’. The passage is majestic, haunting, and backed up by hypnotic drums
and low ominous guitar chords. After a few verses of this, the chanting stops, the
organ holds one tone, and the spotlight cues to the CAMAL, sitting at his organ.
He offers the final prayer to the audience. His voice is strong and moving, as the
band sits motionless and listens:
“Now you will feel no rain. For each of you will shelter the other.
Now you will feel no cold. For each of you will be warmth to the other.
Now there is no loneliness for you. There is no more loneliness.
Now you are many bodies, but there is only one life before you.
Go now, to your dwelling places to enter into the days of your togetherness.
And may your days be good, and long, upon the earth.”
The music builds to a crescendo and resolves to a conclusion as the lights go
black. A few minutes later, two small organ notes leak out and the entire band
crashes into the chant again. Everything builds and builds, louder than it has
been before. The lighting builds with the music, the horns blaring and the
organ and guitars building to a peak. The band bows under full lights. Then
black, and silence.
