This is a lyric sung in chorus at two different times by members of the Minter family, the decaying aristocratic clan whose home is invaded by a revolutionary in my show, THE ANARCHIST GIRL. In the context of the musical, it is a poem written by Jack Minter, the family patriarch, an aged former scientist, philosopher, statesman and poet. It is imagist verse, written in the style of William Carlos Williams, and unlike any other lyric I’ve written for a musical. It is intended to represent the fragmentary thoughts in the brain of a man suffering from dementia but at the same time stand on its own as an evocative and concrete verbal and musical object. –J. Linn Allen
“RED DOOR” from
THE ANARCHIST GIRL
RED DOOR.
ON THE RED DOOR.
ON THE RED DOOR OF THE SHED
THE NEW BRASS LATCH
SHINES AS SHE EMERGES
FRAMED IN SHADOW.
THE NEW BRASS LATCH
SHINES ON THE RED DOOR
OF THE SHED
AS FRAMED IN SHADOW
SHE EMERGES.
SHE EMERGES FRAMED IN SHADOW
FROM THE RED DOOR OF THE SHED
AS THE NEW BRASS LATCH
SHINES AND SHINES AND SHINES.