Act One, Scene 1

Segment 1.4



(Zacharias and Elisabeth’s home.)

EZRA (running in): Elisabeth! Elisabeth! Elisabeth!

ELISABETH (entering): What?

EZRA: It’s Zacharias!

ELISABETH: Zacharias?

EZRA: He was in the temple and the lot—it fell to him.

ELISABETH: Oh!

EZRA: And he went in to burn the incense . . .

ELISABETH: The lot fell to him? Truly?

EZRA: Yes!

(Zacharias enters, leaning on the shoulder of Benjamin. Elisabeth runs to them.)

ELISABETH: Is it true? Did it? Oh my love! Finally after all these years it fell to you. Tell me, Zacharias, tell me all about it.

(Silence.)

ELISABETH : Zacharias . . . Zacharias?

BENJAMIN: Elisabeth, he can’t speak.

EZRA: He can’t hear either.

ELISABETH: Oh mercy. I knew it. It was too much for you!

BENJAMIN: We tried to talk to him, to ask him what happened . . .

ELISABETH: Here, sit here. You must lie down.

BENJAMIN: . . . But he can’t hear what we’re saying.

ELISABETH: Ezra, the blanket! Benjamin, go for your mother, quickly!

BENJAMIN: Elisabeth! He’s not sick. He saw something.

EZRA: He saw the Lord!

BENJAMIN: Or someone like Him. He was in the temple a long time. Some say he saw a vision.

ELISABETH (pausing, suddenly subdued): A vision.

[Music cue: “I’ll Give God Forever — Reprise” underscore MP3, PDF ]

ELISABETH: Oh, my beloved. A vision.

(Zacharias takes Elisabeth’s hand. He gazes deeply into her eyes. He folds the blanket and places it in Elisabeth’s arms as if it were a baby. As he does so, Elisabeth understands and begins to weep.)

ELISABETH: Oh, Zacharias. I know. I know.

BLACKOUT


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