Scene 5
 
  In one, from stage left, a very exhausted VASILY enters, carrying MARIANNE and staggering across stage.
 
MARIANNE
Can't you go faster?

VASILY

I am going as fast as I can.

MARIANNE

You call this fast?

VASILY

I did not realize a Princess weighs so much.

MARIANNE

You address a Princess in such a manner?

VASILY

It is the size of her head that does it.

MARIANNE

And you could lose your head for a statement like that!
        VASILY
          What difference does my head make? I have already lost the use of my left shoulder.   (As THEY exit, curtain rises and we are back in the gypsy camp. A pause. NIKKO appears stealthily from the right. HE motions to MARITZA who now enters dressed in boy's clothes. Her hair is pulled up under a gypsy cap.)
 
MARITZA
Couldn't you find something a little more feminine?

NIKKO

Isn't that funny, your grace. I was all out of women's clothes in my wardrobe.
               MARITZA That's nice to know…I think. And stop calling me your highness and your grace. My name is Marianne.

NIKKO

All right, Marianne. That's why we're here, Marianne. I'm going to try to steal some clothes for you, Marianne.
               MARITZA You're a gypsy. That should come easily to you.
  (HE regards her with disdain. Voices from offstage. NIKKO motions to her to hide downstage right behind the wagon, but MARITZA is defiant. HE grabs her around the waist and pulls her to the hiding place. ANGELU and STEFANA enter from upstage. STEFANA is wearing Maritza's dress. ANGELU is pursuing her.)
 
ANGELU
I tell you, I saw it first!

MARITZA

That's my dress! Those beasts stole my clothes!
  (NIKKO places his hand over her mouth to silence her, as ANGELU starts to rip the dress off Stefana's back. THEY fight, and the dress winds up in tatters.)
 
NIKKO
That was your dress.
  (HE now appears from behind the wagon, separating the two roughly. MARITZA moves from the hiding place. ANGELU sees her, regards her with sensual interest.)
 
ANGELU

Eh! Who do we have here? A new boy in camp?

NIKKO

(whispering) I told you to stay hidden.

ANGELU

He no gypsy, although he's dressed like one. From whence does this new boy come?
NIKKO
Oh…over that way.

STEFANA

Over which way?

NIKKO

Near Bratwurst.

ANGELU

Bratwurst, eh?

NIKKO

Between Bratwurst and Knackwurst.
  (ANGELU regards Maritza seductively. SHE pulls out a tambourine and slowly begins a dance of allurement. As it becomes more passionate, STEFANA, not to be outdone, picks up her tambourine and executes her own dance of seduction. Now it becomes a competition between the two, in which the dance grows wilder and more frenzied. It builds to a mad crescendo with the TWO WOMEN falling to the ground.)
 
                                                        ANGELU I saw him first!
  (STEFANA slaps her. ANGELU slaps her back. STEFANA punches her then runs off stage right with ANGELU in pursuit. MARITZA watches all this in shock. Suddenly, ALL THE OTHER GYPSIES rush on stage singing and dancing as we saw them at the beginning of the act.)
 
NIKKO
Too late.

MARITZA

What's too late?

NIKKO

They've already seen you. We can't get the clothes now.

MARITZA

And this was a gypsy dawn? Wait till I get my hands on Marianne.
  (TWO of the GYPSIES grab MARITZA and force her into the dance.)
 
 
 
 
BLACKOUT
 
 
 



 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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