"Fin Demonium Razz" -- THE END OF THE DEVILS
a floating opera in one act by Cassandra von Braun
with Gennaro Cavacio and and Robert J. Mooney
Vocal by Cassandra von Braun
The Onion Rag
copyright 2003 by Cass von Braun, all rights reserved
Figurative elements operate within the dreamlike vignette of a theatrical company who have come to the house where props and sets are stored to pack what they need for a show they are taking on the road, but the river is flooding and they wonder if they are to be stranded. While contemplating their escape, they rehearse numbers from the age of empire, and Carmen.
As he awaits the arrival of the rest of the cast, Tonion contemplates the joys and sorrows of that most real of real estate, womankind, whose capture and cooperation are paramount to the male seeking the paradisical state promised by the west, "Every man a king in his own castle."
James Jackson Jr. as Tonion
L Y R I C
verse
As long as we remembered, the onion made her cry
But she was too good a cook to ever deny
The spice and sweetness -- enchanting
We didn't care it left her ranting
She blinked and slashed and I got splashed with tears
She is just building the famous cassoulet
She's been working on it for years
She said the onion is a remedy, a cure for melancholia
[instrumental line]
With pain that's this tremendous
The smallest things upend us
I'd have to get five tattoos to feel this much relief
And feel like I have grieved to the end of all my grief
I do love her so, like the onion, you know,
I can't help it -- I make her cry
When melancholia's all she feels, the onion is the one she peels
It's spicy and sweet
And layers and layers and layers and layers to eat
Laugh and the world laughs with you, cry alone
Oh, get out the knife and the sharpening stone
I'm going to peel it, slice it, chop it and dice it
Til all our tears are done
I'm shallot, a scallion, an onion, you know
I can't help it if I make her cry
Perhaps the sadness darkly lurking in the corner of her brain
Will be expunged with onion here to serve the pain
And I don't really know why
I think she likes to cry
She blinks and laughs and I get splashed with tears
She's just building the famous cassoulet
She's been working on it for years
The perpetual stew got a bad rapscallion and grew
Sometimes it's going to make her cry
When melancholia's all she feels, the onion is the one she peels
It's spicy and sweet
And layers and layers and layers and layers to eat
Laugh and the world laughs with you, cry alone
Oh, get out the pan and the crackling bone
When we have stuffed it, basted, trussed it, tasted it
All our tears are done
When we have salted, braised it, sauced it, praised it
All our tears are done