Les Starwarbles IV

[matril]

It was definitely a challenge to come up with songs that worked for the romantic bits of Star Wars, both for the prequels and for the original trilogy. There are only a few pieces that could be legitimately considered love songs in Les Mis (it explores charitable, selfless love far more thoroughly than romantic) and Marius and Cosette's relationship doesn't match up much with either Anakin/Padmé or Leia/Han. But let's be honest - I love a challenge.


First, here's what I did with the middle section of Episode II, which intercuts between Padmé and Anakin's secluded romantic moments and Obi-Wan's investigation of Padmé's mysterious attacker, leading to the cloning facilities on Kamino. I decided to divide the romance into two songs, with an Obi-Wan interlude in the middle.

The first song is a rewrite of A Heart Full of Love, because its fluffy, almost sappy tone is a fair match for the initial, more innocent stirrings of romance on Naboo. There's just a bit of an angstier edge toward the end, where I have Anakin singing the moody counterpart that Eponine takes in the original. Um, it's really hard to convey who's singing what and when if you don't have the sheet music to illustrate it, so it might not make a ton of sense. But I'm preeeetty sure I put all the syllables in the right place. Oh, and one other peculiar feature of songs in musicals is that sometimes the characters are talking/singing to each other, and sometimes their words are a part of an inner monologue. Hopefully it's clear which is which, but occasionally I'll put "aside" for further clarification. Yeah, I'm overthinking this.

A Kiss and a Scar

(Original)

Padmé: When I was a girl
We’d come to this place
I loved the sunlight on my face
We bathed in the sea
My heart was giddy and free
As I lay there
Warm and safe
On the sand...

Anakin: When I was a boy
The sand choked my world
I learned to dread that desert land
And longed to flee
I always hoped that it could be
And now I’m here
In this world
soft and dear...

(They kiss; Padmé pulls back)
Padmé: No, this cannot be
I’ve made a mistake

Anakin: Forgive me; (he leaves her) now from this dream
I must awake

Padmé: My passion burns; I must resist
I cannot yield
But this heat
Still persists

There once was a boy

Anakin: (Aside) When she smiles, I am undone

Padmé: In starry-eyed days

Anakin: (Aside) How can I deny my heart?

Padmé: I can still see his dreamy gaze

Anakin: That’s enough!
Oh how you tease with your eyes

Padmé: (Aside) These same words I could say of him

Anakin: What of him?
(Aside) What of me?

Padmé: I became the queen
He turned to art

Anakin: So he was smart

Padmé: And what of me?
Anakin: I still can’t say

Padmé: But this isn’t a dream (Anakin: Since I was a boy)
I can’t deny (I have always)
How I care! (Felt this way)

Then I gave Obi-Wan Javert's part from Fantine's arrest, as he arrives on Kamino looking for answers. It's not a perfect choice, but it gives a nice long piece for exposition and such.

KAMINO

(Original; the relevant part starts at about one minute in)

(Arriving on Kamino)
Obi-Wan: Tell me quickly what’s the story
Who is plotting in the dark?
Who has tampered with the records
Who has hid Kamino’s mark?

On this world of storm and water
Does the dire assassin hide?
I’ll at last reveal this myst’ry
If the Force will be my guide

Taun We: Good Jedi, you are welcome
After such a long delay
We had feared you’d never come here
Now please follow me this way

(He follows her inside)
Obi-Wan: (Aside) Now this mystery grows deeper
Somehow I’m expected here
Though I only sought to find
Who made this planet disappear

Taun We: May I introduce our leader
Noble Jedi; Lama Su

Obi-Wan: I am Obi-Wan Kenboi

Lama Su: I am honored to meet you

We are happily on schedule
Many thousands ready now
And a million more in progress
Sifo-Dyas will be proud

Obi-Wan: (Aside) Watch your step, Obi-Wan
Steady till your mission’s done

One moment, sir, if you’d explain
Why Sifo-Dyas you have named

Lama Su: Why, it was he who ordered soldiers
For your grand Republic’s cause

Obi-Wan: (Aside) Can it be?
This mystery
So much that I can’t see
(To Lama Su) I’ve heard that name before
He was a Jedi Master
But he was killed, alas
Full ten long years ago

Lama Su: Oh, that is sad to hear indeed
But we have made his army still
And they will serve in every need
Servile as droids, yet far more skilled

It’s such a wondrous sight

Obi-Wan: (Aside) Is it true that this was done?

Lama Su: They grow so strong, so quickly

Obi-Wan: (Aside) By a Jedi’s command?

Lama Su: These clones are trained to fight
We now await your word

Obi-Wan: Show me now, the man whose clones these are

Lama Su: Ah, Jango Fett

Obi-Wan: Can I meet this man?

Lama Su: Yes, of course

Obi-Wan: (Aside) I will see this through
I will see this through!

And then back to the love story. I decided that On My Own was the right fit for the second part of the Naboo romance, first because Anakin fears that his feelings are unrequited, and then even when it's clear they both care for each other, they have to acknowledge that such love must remain unfulfilled. So they're both kind of taking up the Eponine part, which was fun to write. The scene picks up directly after their last song, with the intro covering their little argument about politics, building up the tension that leads into the main part of the song. Ah, delicious melodrama. :)

IT CANNOT BE

(Original)

Padmé: I never knew you had such scorn
For people serving in the Senate

Anakin: I’d like it better if the Senators
Were truer to their tenets
But that is no surprise
They need a leader; someone wise

Padmé: That sounds like tyranny at best

Anakin: Well, if it works, then what’s the quand’ry?

Padmé: Is this a tease? You hide a smile

Anakin: I’d never dare tease you, M’lady
(Aside) Her laughter fills my head
Amid my hopes and endless dread

It cannot be
This joy so sweet and fleeting
Though she smiles
Her heart is unrelenting
Though we laugh
And rollick in the flowers
I know the end comes near for us
With every passing hour

Padmé: Evening comes
What promises it offers
As I taste
This fruit he coyly proffers
Though I know
This cannot last forever
I find that I am bound to him
With cords I would not sever

Anakin: From the start
The very day we met
Ever so
My heart is with you yet
And the pain
Grows stronger hour by hour
I can’t breathe
I am in your pow’r

Padmé: It cannot be
Whatever we are feeling
My duty calls
And you must heed your training

Anakin: So you share
This fire ever burning

Padmé: No, I will not give in to this
My purpose is unyielding

Anakin: It could be
Our bond could be a secret

Padmé: Such a lie
No, we could never bear it
What of you?
Oh, Anakin, speak truly

Anakin: I see this path before us
And our ruin I foresee

I love her

Padmé: I love him

Both: I love her/him
But this can never be