MAESTRO
by
Bradley Cooper & Josh Singer
"A work of art does not answer questions, it provokes them;
and its essential meaning is in the tension between the contradictory answers."
LEONARD BERNSTEIN
OVER BLACK:
We HEAR the piano beginnings of the Postlude from A Quiet
Place...
1 INT. HALL/LIVING ROOM, FAIRFIELD HOUSE, CONNECTICUT - DAY (1989) 1
IN COLOR.
THE MUSIC CONTINUES. We find ourselves in a living room.
LEONARD BERNSTEIN (LB), early seventies, alone, seated at a
piano playing the notes we have been listening to, moving
through the Postlude to A Quiet Place. But as he continues to
play, we see a camera crew around him. He's not alone at all.
Of course, as we pan back to him, it's as though he's alone...
pushing through the discordant notes, pushing toward the
resolve...
Then he pauses, takes off his glasses and rubs his eyes.
Struggling. A beat.
Our angle shifts as LB turns, addresses our interviewer and
the cameras.
LB
It was always better on the piano, I
don't know why. So to answer your
question, yes, I carry her around
with me quite a bit. I've often seen
her in the garden working. Julia
Vega swears that she's at the top of
the stairs every morning when she
comes down to do the laundry. Making
sure she's separating the whites and
the darks. And our children are very
jealous because they've never seen
her. I... I miss her terribly.
2 2
INT. APARTMENT, NEW YORK, NY - MORNING (NOVEMBER 14, 1943)
IN BLACK AND WHITE.
Shades drawn. Near black when a phone begins RINGING. We see a
YOUNG LEONARD BERNSTEIN, 25 years old, thin, handsome,
shirtless, lumber over and pick up the phone. His eyes are
closed, he's still half asleep.
LB (INTO THE PHONE)
Hello?... Yes.
(and turning on the light)
Of course... Yes, I'm aware... Oh.
Can you hold on one second, please?
2.
He puts the phone to his shoulder. He reaches for a cigarette
and lights it.
LB (INTO THE PHONE)
Well, that's terrible news, is he
going to be okay?... No, I
understand... And no chance for a
rehearsal?... Yes. Alright...
(then)
May I get three tickets for
today?... Yes... Alright, alright,
yes, thank you.
LB hangs up. Processes.
WIDE as he climbs onto the window sill and throws open the
drapes. We hear the DRUMS from the open to his Symphonic Suite
from `On The Waterfront': Andante.
Light pours into the one room apartment. A kitchenette in the
wall, some striped wall hangings, a Steinway, composition
paper everywhere and... a YOUNG MAN, sprawled face down on the
fold out bed. Naked.
LB
You got `em boy!
LB jumps from the window sill onto the naked man, drums his
buttocks and rolls off as he grabs his robe and we MOVE WITH
LB as he throws on the robe and...
ANGLE ABOVE LB [in a G-D POV we'll hold for most of this next
sequence] as he heads out the door into --
3 3
INT. HALLWAY - CONTINUOUS
A long hall in a bit of daze. He gets to a door, opens it and
runs through to --
4 4
INT. BALCONY BOX, CARNEGIE HALL - CONTINUOUS
He leans over and the drums PUSH THE CAMERA past him... flying
into the empty house, FALLING toward the stage....getting our
first view of CARNEGIE HALL - four balconies, 2804 red seats
in a white jewel box of a house; it's at once intimate and
imposing. And far away, up in the high balcony, we see... LB.
We PUSH BACK towards him as the drums drive him back out the
door he came and into --
5 5
INT. BACKSTAGE, CARNEGIE HALL - EARLY AFTERNOON
A hallway floor with the shadow of LB coming toward us now
dressed in a double breasted suit and bowtie.
3.
The heavy bass of the drum beats pounding. He continues to
walk as a man - BRUNO ZIRATO, 59, a Neapolitan, greets and
walks along with him talking and gesticulating.
LB
Hello. BRUNO ZIRATO
Did you get any sleep?
LB
No, I didn't get any sleep, Bruno.
Manfred starts with a down beat rest
and you didn't give me a rehearsal
with the orchestra.
BRUNO ZIRATO
I told you you were going on!
LB
No, you told me it was a
possibility, Bruno!
They reach the edge of the curtain. LB peers out at the
PACKED HOUSE... and starts to sweat. The drums still blaring
reaching what feels like a summit!
CBS ANNOUNCER (OVER PA)
Good afternoon. United States
Rubber Company again invites you to
Carnegie Hall to hear a concert of
the New York Philharmonic Symphony
Orchestra of which Artur Rodziski
is musical director.
And BAM! The last drum beats and the music ends.
CBS ANNOUNCER (CONT'D)
Bruno Walter, who was to have
conducted this afternoon, is ill and
his place will be taken by the
young, American-born assistant
conductor of the Philharmonic
Symphony, Leonard Bernstein.
We hear grumbling and groans from the audience. LB goes a bit
PALE. A beat. Then he walks out onto --
6 6
INT. STAGE, CARNEGIE HALL - CONTINUOUS
The long walk to the podium. We feel the audience now, LB
sweats more with every step... We WIPE AROUND LB, maybe
catching a few skeptical looks from the orchestra before we
ISOLATE ON LB, leaving us only with the silent auditorium,
LB's breathing and the sound of his hands opening the score.
He peers down at it. A BEAT.
4.
HE LOOKS UP AND MAKES EYE CONTACT WITH EVERY ORCHESTRA MEMBER.
We see a GLINT in his eye as he confronts this challenge...
and rises to it... He lifts his hand with shocking self-
assurance.
CLOSE ON that hand as it drives through the downbeat rest then
jerks back up, seizing the moment.
BRUNO ZIRATO (PRELAP)
Today, you were here for an historic
performance...
DISSOLVE TO:
7 7
INT. STAGE, CARNEGIE HALL - LATER
LB next to Bruno Zirato, who addresses the audience, rapt,
still standing from their ovations. The energy is palpable.
BRUNO ZIRATO (CONT'D)
This performance, that was
fantastic, was broadcast all over
the world. And I feel obliged to say
that Maestro Bernstein was called
this morning at nine-thirty and he
was told that he would actually
conduct here, for the first time,
after many years --
LB
With no rehearsal! BRUNO ZIRATO
...without rehearsal...
The audience laughs, simply captivated by LB.
BRUNO ZIRATO
...but he loves the music, he
doesn't need rehearsal, he feels it
so much! And after many years, and
he really wanted this, it has
happened and I'm so proud, Carnegie
Hall is so proud of you, and New
York is proud of you.
He turns to the audience, introducing the world to --
BRUNO ZIRATO (CONT'D)
Leonard Bernstein!
The audience erupts in applause.
5.
8 8
INT. LB'S APARTMENT, NEW YORK, NY - DAY (1943)
The sun pours into the downstairs area of LB's apartment.
There is a man, JERRY ROBBINS, who seems to be almost
stretching by the way he is seated on the piano bench. Another
man, who we recognize from the bedroom, DAVID OPPENHEIM, now
in a suit, is seated in a chair reading from a newspaper. In
the far right, there is a door left ajar. LB is behind it, on
the toilet with what looks like a score on his lap.
LB
Well, I'll tell you fellas, I don't
remember a thing after that downbeat
rest. I must have blacked out, and
then when the audience applauded, I
came to.
JERRY
Listen, don't let this get in the
way. We are on a roll here, baby,
and I want to be able to choreograph
the last segment with the dancers
while I'm in Cincinnati.
LB
Okay, but Jerry, I'm in love with
the music. I told you, as soon as I
have something that I'm cooking up,
I'm going to record it and send it
to you.
David reads from the paper.
DAVID
This the new ballet he's composing
for you? The one about three sailors
on leave in New York getting up to
no good?
JERRY
That's the one.
DAVID
Don't argue with him, Jerry.
(off the Times)
He is a young man, "to be reckoned
with!" You can read it right here!
LB
Oh, David, please...
But David holds up the paper.
6.
DAVID (CONT'D)
"Bernstein shows mastery of
score. Youthful conductor LB
carries out an exacting David, please!
program in sudden emergency."
JERRY
Sure, right next to Hitler's
bombing of Poland.
There is a KNOCK at the door.
LB
Come on in, it's open!
ISAAC, the assistant stage manager to the NY Phil, enters. But
as he opens the door, it hits the other open door to the room
LB has been in. Isaac looks over to LB on the toilet.
ISAAC
Sorry, gentlemen...
DAVID
No, no, he likes leaving the door
open.
ISAAC LB
Oh for god's -- Oh hey, Isaac how are you,
you know David, and that's
Jerry Robbins.
JERRY
Hi, Isaac.
ISAAC
Hello.
(to LB)
Listen, listen, we've gotta get you
downstairs, you're an hour late
Lenny--
LB
I'm coming, I'm just working on the
score and--
ISAAC
I understand, Rodziski's
coming in at 11:30 to LB
rehearse -- Rodziski's here?
ISAAC LB
Yes... Ok well, I'll be down in a
second, I promise.
7.
JERRY
Isaac, Isaac, don't forget your
show pony here is a composer.
We begin to hear a four hands piano piece and we cut to --
9 9
INT. LB'S APARTMENT, NEW YORK, NY - DAYS LATER
Four hands come down on a piano, play us through Fancy Free
Ballet: VI. Three Dance Variations: Var. I (Galop).
Find LB at the piano, in a sleeveless undershirt, a cigarette
dangling from his mouth, alongside AARON COPLAND, 46, sad eyes
and a receding hairline, in a shirt and tie. The two of them
play four hands off a handwritten score, a microphone beside
the keyboard wired to an early, piano disc recorder, where
David, in a robe, tends to the disc. They finish with a
flourish.
10 10
INT. LB'S APARTMENT, NEW YORK, NY - LATER
David Oppenheim lays back while getting a foot massage from
LB.
LB
I'm learning not to do it so hard,
right?
DAVID
It's perfect. Whatever you're doing
right now, it's perfect.
LB
I always do get a bit too
overzealous.
David laughs as we hear romantic notes from The Lonely Town
Pas de deux from On The Town, which continues throughout.
LB
I get too excited. Both your feet
went up, I don't know what to do
with myself. It's just too much!
It's too much for one man.
DAVID
I think it's just because it LB
was on a liver spot-- No, no, it's just too much
for one man to take.
Honestly, David.
8.
DAVID
You're too much. LB
I mean, I'll never leave the
apartment, I just won't.
That's just the reality.
DAVID
Please don't...
Then LB leans into frame, revealing the piano disc microphone.
He talks into it while gently continuing the massage.
LB (INTO MICROPHONE)
Dear Jerry, this is an impromptu
apology for the record, which isn't
so very bad, but it's not so very
good either.
(perusing the score)
I'm looking through the score now,
exhausted, and, uh, everything's
okay up to number three, when all
the counterpoint comes in with the
two pianos. I'm afraid it's sort of
messy there.
David sits up and tends the recording.
LB (INTO MICROPHONE)
At any rate, it's hard to do on two
pianos, so with an orchestra I think
you will be able to be very clear.
And pardon all the mistakes...
(laughing)
...but it was all Aaron Copland's
fault...
AARON COPLAND (O.C.)
It was all my fault! LB (CONT'D)
...and there he sits now!
AARON COPLAND (O.C.)
It's not true!
LB
Anyway, I'll leave it to you to
figure out, Mr. Robbins, how to
dance to this type of music... but
give my love to everybody, in the
thing, and I hope you like it. Good
luck, Jerry.
LB nods to David, who turns off the recorder.
9.
LB
Well, I've got to get to rehearsal
and--
DAVID OPPENHEIM LB
I've got it. (off David)
You do? Aw you're such a
chap!
AARON COPLAND
It's downstairs, you're still gonna
be late.
LB grabs a blazer and bowtie, rushing out.
DAVID LB
Put in a word for me with (strokes David's hair)
Rodziski for me, will you? I will. I'm not his favorite,
but I will. Love you baby.
DAVID
Love you.
The Lonely Town Pas de deux continues, taking us to...
11 11
EXT. SUBURBAN STREET, QUEENS, NY - NIGHT
The MUSIC CONTINUES. 23-year-old FELICIA MONTEALEGRE steps off
a city bus, onto a triangulated suburban street in Queens.
She begins to walk toward us as the music swells then fades as
we switch to her POV and move across the street toward a
house. We hear music and voices from within, which grow louder
as we approach a front door left ajar.
12 12
INT. LIVING ROOM, CLAUDIO ARRAU'S HOUSE, QUEENS, NY - NIGHT
We are with Felicia as she enters a packed, smoke-filled
living room. There is a congregation around a piano. Felicia
makes her way there as we find a man and a woman performing
Carried Away from On the Town.
Felicia reaches the edge of the small crowd, but we hold on
her as the music ends and everyone roars with laughter. A
woman enters frame, SHIRLEY BERNSTEIN.
SHIRLEY
Brilliant, but... but what no one
here knows is how he beat the
Soprano out of his poor baby sister
performing all those Operas when we
were children. Let that be fair
warning to you and to everyone!
(to Felicia)
(MORE)
10.
SHIRLEY (CONT'D)
Hello, I thought you might be here.
You've certainly been making the
rounds. Have you met the gang?
FELICIA SHIRLEY
No. (turns to)
Betty and Adolph, they're
just a riot...
Now we ANGLE on the woman and man who were singing Carried
Away, BETTY COMDEN and ADOLPH GREEN...
FELICIA
Hello.
BETTY COMDEN
Hello. ADOLPH GREEN
Hey there.
...and now we pan to a young ELLEN ADLER, draped over the
piano player who is facing away from us, a familiarity which
comes from a sexual history together.
SHIRLEY
...Ellen, of course you've run into
her at her mother's studio, no
doubt.
ELLEN ADLER SHIRLEY
Hello, Felicia. (tongue in cheek)
Who did I miss? Have I missed
anyone?
LB
Just the piano player.
And as the piano player turns toward us, we reveal it's a
young LB. He looks at Felicia.
SHIRLEY
Well, I figured you needed no
introduction.
LB
Hello. I'm Lenny. FELICIA
Hello, Felicia.
LB
Bernstein.
(points to Shirley)
Like that one.
FELICIA
Montealegre.
11.
LB
Montealegre?
FELICIA
Montealegre-Cohn.
LB
Cohn? Montealegre-Cohn... well,
that's an interesting marriage of
words.
He plays Loesser and Hollander's You've Got That Look and we --
13 13
INT./EXT. LIVING ROOM, CLAUDIO ARRAU'S HOUSE, QUEENS, NY - LATER
CLOSE ON Ellen Adler, who sings the Marlene Dietrich classic
which will play through the scene. From a window, we reveal
we're outside with LB and Felicia mid-conversation.
LB
...fascinating, because you come
from an aristocratic European family
on your mother's side and your
father is American, and he's Jewish,
and then you moved to Chile because
your father... It's amazing I
remember all this, isn't it?
FELICIA
I know!
Felicia laughs, flush with excitement at having LB's full
attention, yet desperately trying not to reveal it.
LB
I remember everything... FELICIA
I don't know how!
LB
So you moved to Chile because of
your father's business, and now, now
you're firmly planted in New York
City studying piano...
FELICIA
Yes.
LB
...but you're actually studying
acting and that is a career which
demands the versatility to play a
panoply of characters and that is my
conclusion... that you, my dear, are
very similar to me.
12.
FELICIA
How?
LB
Because you had to take all the
pieces of all the bits of you that
are scattered across these varied
landscapes and form, create the
veritable person that stands before
me now.
FELICIA
And how is that similar to LB
you? You just asked me and I just
told you!
FELICIA
I know, I know, I know! Okay, LB
Russian Orthodox Jew growing Oh, someone else was
up in Boston... listening.
FELICIA
Child of immigrants... LB
Yes.
FELICIA
Your father a self-made businessman
steeped in Talmud. Harvard, then
Curtis School for Music...
LB
Institute.
FELICIA
Institute of music in Philadelphia.
Now firmly planted here...
LB
Very firmly.
FELICIA
...in New York City, pursuing
composition and conducting... LB
...under the guise of a
concert pianist, drawn to
this artistic mecca, fleeing
my puritanical origins. Just
like you.
FELICIA
Come now, surely your family was a
tad more supportive.
13.
LB
No, my father imagined me a Klezmer
playing for Kopeks on a street
corner. He was desperate for me to
join the family business so I could
make a living.
FELICIA
What was the family business?
LB
Samuel J. Bernstein Hair Company.
FELICIA
(laughing)
Really?
LB
Yes. So I had no choice but to
become a composite of adopted
speech, manner, outlook on life, a
composite which enables me to be
many things at once. And that's why
we, you and I, are able to endure
and survive. Because the world wants
us to be only one thing, and I find
that deplorable.
(then)
I find you very attractive, Felicia.
FELICIA COMDEN AND GREEN
Me? (sing, through window)
Carried away! Carried away!
They're interrupted by Comden and Green, belting a reprise of
the chorus to Carried Away up against the window.
COMDEN AND GREEN
(pointing at LB)
You get carried, just carried away!
LB
(to Felicia)
It's really too much. I'm very
sorry.
14 14
EXT. SUBURBAN STREET, QUEENS, NY - LATER
We hear the Prelude from LB's Trouble in Tahiti. LB and
Felicia laugh and shout as they race to catch a CITY BUS. They
make it just before it pulls away...
14.
15 15
EXT. STREET, GREENWICH VILLAGE, NY - NIGHT
The MUSIC CONTINUES as Felicia and LB walk in step together,
rounding a corner heading toward the Provincetown Playhouse.
FELICIA LB
...Oh, I like that. You have a lot of energy I
have to tell you.
They reach the door and as they disappear into the theater...
16 16
INT. STAIRWAY, PROVINCETOWN PLAYHOUSE, GREENWICH VILLAGE - NIGHT
We are below the two of them coming down the stairs.
LB
I'm just following you, I don't know
where, I never go to this part of
town.
FELICIA
I know-- I can't imagine you ever
being in a place like this. Now you
go in here, just on the stage...
LB
Oh, okay.
She points him onto...
17 17
INT. STAGE, PROVINCETOWN PLAYHOUSE - CONTINUOUS
A stage lit by a lonely ghost light. LB heads in as Felicia
continues off camera, leaving LB alone on the stage.
FELICIA (O.C.)
Take your shoes off!
LB
Oh, okay, where do I put them?
FELICIA (O.C.)
Over on the other side.
LB takes his shoes off, tiptoes across the stage, calls out...
LB
Where are you going?
FELICIA (O.C.)
I'm just getting the script!
LB pulls out a cigarette, lights it and calls out again.
15.
LB
The script?
FELICIA (O.C.)
Yes!
LB
What, I have to act, too? FELICIA (O.C.)
What?
LB
Do I have to do something?
FELICIA (O.C.)
Well... Maybe!
LB
Well, now I'm nervous.
FELICIA (O.C.)
You should be nervous.
LB looks around.
LB
Well, this is just lovely. This is
just lovely.
ANGLE ON the ghost light, Felicia appearing behind it out of
the backstage shadows with a copy of the script.
FELICIA
If I'm going to read a scene with
Maestro Bernstein, I better make a
show of myself.
LB FELICIA
Maestro Bernstein? That (laughs)
sounds very fancy. Yes.
She handing him the script, Lorca's When Five Years Pass.
FELICIA
Here.
LB
Okay... we're going to read it?
We're actually going to do it?
FELICIA
Yes.
LB
And I'm the king?
16.
FELICIA
You're the king and this is your
castle.
LB
Oh wonderful.
FELICIA (CONT'D)
Now, even though you're the king,
you're quite taken with me...
LB
Yes.
FELICIA
...and so you've decided to give me
a white rose from your crown.
LB
Of course I did.
LB makes to hand her his pretend flower.
FELICIA
No, no, you don't have it yet. I
have to give it to you!
(hands him a pretend flower)
Here's your flower.
LB FELICIA
I didn't read the play. (laughs)
No, I know.
LB
Now, hold on... Can you hold this,
please?
He hands her back the script, takes off his jacket, throws it
off stage and then gets down on one knee.
LB
Alright, since I'm the king, FELICIA
who's in love... Mmm.
And now, he extravagantly hands her the flower.
FELICIA
A gift for me, my liege?
LB
Oh, that's very good.
FELICIA
It's your line.
17.
LB
(reading, ACTING)
Oh, uh, with your little spots of
wax, white rose, you look like, the
extravagantly hands her the flower --
FELICIA LB
No, no... (realizes, ACTING)
You look like the eye of a
broken moon.
Felicia can't help but laugh at him.
FELICIA
You are terrible.
LB
Well, it's your line.
FELICIA
You're always changing, my love.
(pulls him up)
I didn't see you yesterday, but I
looked at your horse. He's so
beautiful, but not as beautiful as
you are. Because you are a dragon.
She leans in and kisses him. LB's surprised. He returns the
kiss, passionately... but she pulls back, still in character.
FELICIA (CONT'D)
I believe you could break me in two
with your arms, as weak as I am,
like frost, burned in the sun.
We hear an electrical surge as bright stage lights flicker on.
JOSEPH
That's a bit better, isn't it, Miss
Montealegre? A little more light?
A janitor (JOSEPH) walks through the house towards the stage,
stopping to pick up the jacket LB flung into the aisle.
FELICIA
Why, thank you, Joseph.
LB
Oh, Joseph, I apologize. I got
nervous, I thought there was a
spider and I... tried to kill it
with my jacket.
18.
JOSEPH
Give the stage door a shove on your
way out. It'll lock on its own.
LB
Thank you, Joseph. FELICIA
Good night, marvelous. Thank
you, Joseph.
He goes. LB turns to Felicia.
LB
You didn't tell me your father owns
this place.
She laughs, moving off and lighting a cigarette.
LB
Is this how you lure in all your
male suitors?
FELICIA
No, I rarely stay out past nine.
LB
Well, hold on a second, you made an
exception for me?
FELICIA
I thought maybe you were worth
making an exception for.
LB
Oh, well, I hope it doesn't cost you
too much. How can I make it worth
your while?
(then)
Oh, I've got it. Something's wrong.
FELICIA
What?
He moves to her, takes her hand.
LB
What's your character's name?
FELICIA
Uh... Margaret.
LB
Margaret?
(laughs, spins her centerstage)
Margaret.
19.
FELICIA
Yes? LB
And you're the understudy?
FELICIA
Yes.
LB
No, I think you should be Margaret.
I think you should be Margaret eight
shows a week. That's what I think.
Front and center...
FELICIA
No, no, no... LB
...and if it's fear that's
stopping you, Felicia...
FELICIA
There are many things stopping me,
Lenny, but fear isn't one of them. I
wouldn't be standing here in front
of you, heavens I wouldn't even be
in New York City if fear had gotten
the better of me. It's just not that
easy. We'd be fools not to think
that luck plays a part as well as
talent and determination.
LB
I'm a perfect example of that.
FELICIA
Oh, you must be joking.
LB
If Bruno Walter hadn't gotten sick
that fateful day and Rodziski
snowed in upstate, I never would
have had my debut at the
Philharmonic.
FELICIA
That, my sweet boy, is an
attempt at humility, but the LB (CONT'D)
truth is if it wasn't that I'd be teaching piano to
day, it would have been little eight-year-olds who
another... complain...
LB
Oh, is that what you think?
FELICIA
Yes, I know it.
20.
LB
Really?
FELICIA
Of course. And don't forget you are
a man.
LB
I never do.
FELICIA
Right.
PRELAP a roar of applause and the open of Paris Waltz from
Candide. Felicia walks past LB, who wipes frame and we're --
18 18
INT. STAGE, BROADWAY HOUSE, NEW YORK, NY - NIGHT
The MUSIC CONTINUES. Felicia, now in costume, walks downstage.
We pan around her to see a theater now crowded with people on
their feet, clapping and cheering...
FELICIA
Oh my God!
Felicia bows, back to us, taking in the standing ovation as
the cast joins her and a young man with flowers runs up. She
takes his flowers...
We come round front. She holds out her hands and the cast of
When Five Years Pass joins her. The applause continues. They
take one final bow and move below frame as we MATCH TO --
19 19
INT. STAGE, CARNEGIE HALL, NEW YORK, NY - NIGHT
LB rises into frame from his own bow, absorbing the adulation
of the even larger full house, an immense and ecstatic crowd.
LB takes it all in then gestures to his orchestra, inviting
them to join him.
20 20
INT. DRESSING ROOM, BROADWAY HOUSE - NIGHT
A long mirror. The post performance melee. The women each sit
at their stations to take off their makeup. Shirley sits down.
SHIRLEY
You were marvelous.
Felicia turns to Shirley.
FELICIA
Oh my goodness. Shirley Bernstein!
It's very kind of you to come!
21.
SHIRLEY
I brought Richard Hart and FELICIA
his wife, Lil. No, you didn't.
SHIRLEY
Dick is rehearsing his new broadway
show with Eva Gabor and he is not
long for this marriage, and, well, I
think he's your type.
FELICIA
What type is that?
SHIRLEY
Same as mine, unavailable.
DICK HART, 30s, a handsome young actor, walks in with his
wife. Felicia's taken with Hart, who's captivated by Felicia.
DICK HART
Marvelous.
He reaches out, kissing her hand.
FELICIA
It's so kind of you to come. I just
loved Dark of the Moon.
DICK HART
Oh, stop. You're marvelous. The
production is better for you being
in it.
FELICIA
Well, it's only for the week, but
it's so kind of you to say.
DICK HART
If they had any sense, they'd tell
Miss Jones to stay in bed. You
really are wonderful.
He's forward, seductive. Dick's wife (LIL) doesn't like it.
And as Felicia responds, she reaches in for him.
LIL HART FELICIA
Dear. Oh, thank you, it's so kind
of you to come.
DICK HART
My pleasure. FELICIA
Thank you.
Lil pulls Dick away from Felicia and out the door.
22.
SHIRLEY
Come have a bite with us.
FELICIA
Oh I, I can't, I'm catching the
train to Tanglewood in the morning.
SHIRLEY
Tanglewood? You're going to see my
brother?
FELICIA
Well, don't look so surprised.
SHIRLEY
(a bit flustered)
I'm not, I just... he didn't mention
it.
FELICIA
Well. Perhaps he was being discreet.
SHIRLEY
My brother? I doubt it.
Shirley exits, leaving Felicia slightly embarrassed. She turns
toward the mirror as we DISSOLVE TO --
21 21
EXT. TANGLEWOOD, LENOX, MA - DAY
HIGH AND WIDE as we CRANE DOWN upon LB and Felicia sitting in
the grass under the shade of a large oak tree. LB is laughing.
FELICIA
...no, try again.
LB
Oh gee, it's six! FELICIA
No.
LB
Eight.
FELICIA
You're terrible at this.
LB
It's four. FELICIA
No.
LB
Three. FELICIA
No.
23.
LB
Well, it has to be seven, then.
FELICIA
Can you try to... just concentrate.
LB
Maybe I should stop and think for a
second.
FELICIA
You should stop and think because I
am sending it to you. Right now.
A beat, then --
LB
Twenty. FELICIA
No.
They laugh, comfortable together.
LB
So how long do we have to do this
for?
FELICIA
Oh, we need to build up a very
strong connection.
LB
I can't-- I don't know what FELICIA
you're doing. Hmm?
LB
You could be building a bomb FELICIA
back there for all I know. (laughs)
Blow the whole place up. I'm just very, terribly,
terribly relaxed. Aren't you?
LB
Yes, I am.
FELICIA
Are you?
LB
Yes.
FELICIA
I've never seen you sit still for so
long. Are you itching to move?
24.
LB
No, I'm not... FELICIA
Good.
LB
Actually, at all.
We hear the haunting clarinet from Facsimile - Choreographic
Essay for Orchestra: Part I - Molto Adagio and we...
22 EXT. 2ND FLOOR BEDROOM/TERRACE, SERANAK HOUSE, TANGLEWOOD - DAY 22
MUSIC CONTINUES as Felicia puts clothes from a small suitcase
on the bed. She notices LB fumbling with his tie, grabs
another tie and reaches for his hand.
FELICIA
Come here, I'll do it. My goodness.
LB takes her hand and lets her lead him to the terrace.
LB
I'm useless, aren't I?
FELICIA LB
You are! (she turns him around)
Where am I going?
FELICIA
Here, stand there. Not this one.
She pulls off the tie haplessly hanging from his neck and lays
it on the bannister. She puts the other tie on him.
LB
Oh, why not?
FELICIA
Well, a little garish maybe. Also,
you were fumbling so much...
LB
I like this.
She pulls the tie through and gently begins to knot it.
FELICIA
I love your smell...
LB
You do?
25.
FELICIA
I do. It's my father. Isn't that
odd? I used to just love wrapping
myself up in his trench coat when he
would walk in the door at night from
work. That smell would intoxicate
me. I always associate it with
feeling safe.
She finishes his tie but her eyes are still locked on his.
KOUSSEVITZKY (PRELAP)
She's so beautiful, tell me about
her.
23 23
INT. FOYER, SERANAK HOUSE, TANGLEWOOD - DAY
Follow LB and SERGE KOUSSEVITZKY (KOUSSEY), 70s, as they walk
through the foyer trailing behind OLGA KOUSSEVITZKY, 44, and
Felicia walking toward a table set for lunch...
LB
Oh, she's wonderful, she's a lovely
girl and we're just happy to be here.
KOUSSEVITZKY
Yes, where did you meet? LB
We met at a party, at Claudio
Arrau's.
24 24
EXT. DINING TERRACE, SERANAK HOUSE, TANGLEWOOD - LATER
On Koussey, at the head of a long table, eating lunch with LB,
Felicia, Aaron Copland and Olga.
OLGA
So, Felicia, are you an actress?
LB
Marvelous actress.
FELICIA
I am. Well, sort of. Well, LB
no, I am. I am! Of course you are!
FELICIA
Unbelievably, I am. And he is LB
not. No, horrible.
FELICIA LB
I'm just finishing up a play-- Screen tested in LA and it
was horrible.
26.
FELICIA
No, he's a terrible actor.
LB
Terrible. They sent me all the way
to Hollywood, then they put me on
camera and they said, `Thank you...
FELICIA LB
They sent him straight home! ...here's a one-way ticket
back to New York City.'
FELICIA
Oh no. COPLAND
Oh, no is right.
Copland beams at Felicia.
COPLAND
He was a student here our inaugural
summer. And now he's everyone's
favorite teacher and you can't even
get into the shed when he's
conducting the student orchestra
because it's so full.
LB
Oh, it's only because I love KOUSSEVITZKY
them so much, that's all. Tell what happened with,
Lenny, Lenny, Lenny...
LB turns to Koussey, smiles. But Koussey's dour.
KOUSSEVITZKY
Tell me what happened with the
Rochester Philharmonic.
LB
Oh, they passed me over.
KOUSSEVITZKY
Yes, I know.
LB
They thought I was spending too much
time with you in Boston.
KOUSSEVITZKY
Is that the reason?
LB
I believe it was.
LB's unusually quiet. Copland tries to change the subject.
27.
COPLAND
Koussey, we should really discuss
Our Town if you have--
KOUSSEVITZKY
Running off to Hollywood,
wasting time on musical LB
theater... I promise you I'm giving up
that musical theater stuff.
KOUSSEVITZKY
Lenny, you are responsible on
account of your gifts.
(to Felicia)
He can be the first great American
conductor...
OLGA
Serge --
KOUSSEVITZKY
...but he would have to conduct his
life in such a way that when he
comes out on stage to lead his
orchestra, he can truthfully say to
himself, my life and my work are
clean.
OLGA
Serge.
Olga speaks to him in Russian; he responds in Russian, then...
KOUSSEVITZKY
And the name... to a Bernstein they
will never give an orchestra. But a
Burns? Leonard S. Burns.
LB
I'd have to sleep on that.
Koussey quiets. It's a bit awkward. He leans into Felicia.
KOUSSEVITZKY
I used to entertain people on the
train going back and forth to Moscow
and upon every arrival, I had to
return straight away because, of
course, as Jews, we weren't allowed
to live there. I never saw the city,
not once. But I got to play.
A pause at the table. Olga turns to Koussey, talking in
Russian once more, running interference for LB.
28.
As Koussey turns and responds in Russian, we see Felicia reach
for LB's hand. Felicia leans in to LB, sotto --
FELICIA
I want to see them.
LB
See what?
FELICIA
All the things Maestro Koussevitsky
wants you to give up. All the music
you have made.
LB
You do? FELICIA
Yes.
LB
Well, we can't just leave.
FELICIA
Oh, yes we can.
As she pulls LB by the hand, and us along too, away from the
table, we hear the four drum beats that mark the open to
Bernstein's ballet, Fancy Free: I. Enter Three Sailors, and we
DOLLY BACK, leading them as they walk underneath the terrace
balcony and we MATCH CUT TO --
25 25
INT. HOUSE/STAGE, ADELPHI THEATER, NEW YORK - NIGHT
The MUSIC CONTINUES. LB and Felicia emerge from underneath the
balcony of the Adelphi theater, the music louder now as LB and
Felicia head down an illuminated path surrounded by darkness.
They sit in the house for a moment...
...then Felicia pulls LB up onto the stage where the Ballet is
underway and we see the iconic set of Fancy Free; the three
sailors dancing under the New York street lamp next to that
bar. LB and Felicia rush to take their seats in the bar at the
table. The three sailors start to strut about the stage...
Felicia smiles, loving the performance.
FELICIA
Unbelievable.
LB watches her, appreciates how much she's enjoying it.
Felicia catches LB looking at her, leans into him.
FELICIA
Why would you ever want to give this
up? It's so wonderful.
29.
LB
It's not serious music, is it?
FELICIA
Well, what does that mean?
LB
It means... he thinks I could be the
first great American conductor.
FELICIA
Is that what you want?
LB
I want a lot of things...
He smiles at her. A smile that'd make another woman blush.
Felicia pulls back up against her seat to watch the ballet.
We've jumped later in the piece to Fancy Free: VI. Three Dance
Variations, Variation III (Danzon) and one of the sailors is
dancing solo, like a serenade for the other two sailors. We
PUSH IN on the dancer; the movements are sensual.
And we see the sailor is now LB himself, through Felicia's
eyes, lost in his own movements, the eroticism of it all,
titillating both to himself and his audience. We see this land
on Felicia's face, this recognition of this complicated man.
On stage, LB moves through the end of the Variation, closer
and closer to Felicia. First coming up to the barstool,
drumming on his knee. Then standing on top of one, pounding
on his chest, gorilla style, declaring his art form and then
leaping up, landing almost in front of her as the music stops.
Felicia shoots up from her chair and claps energetically for
LB breaking free and expressing himself fully. LB beams, and
moves right toward her, and they embrace and kiss.
We go into the kiss, close on them, the passion of their
embrace as the top stage lights flair and BAM!!!
We hear the horn wail that marks the beginning of On the Town:
Act 1: Opening: New York, New York. This breaks them apart.
We PULL BACK and now the horns wail three more times, LB takes
Felicia's hand and begins to pull her across the stage,
seemingly away from all this, but as they move, dancers pass
us in the foreground, and we see the entire set has
transformed into the original production of `On the Town.'
EXCITED SAILORS on leave dance along with FEMALE CIVILIANS
under what seems like a night sky filled with stars.
They are now enmeshed in one huge choreographed dance piece.
30.
Within this, we realize one of the sailors staring at Felicia
is Dick Hart. He looks knowingly at her and she reacts... but
she is pulled away as the tubas begin chortling through the
familiar base line, dancers spinning around LB and Felicia,
bewildered.
Dancers begin running toward them from downstage, holding huge
white sheets, the sheets billowing up and around them,
enveloping the two of them and everyone else, including the
frame, until it backs away as if pulled off the stage, now
revealing just Felicia and LB stranded alone.
And as the music crescendoes into the familiar open, we PUSH
IN as LB and Felicia run and cling to each other, followed by
all the dancers too, everyone coming together!!
THREE SAILORS (SINGING)
New York, New York!
26 26
INT. BEDROOM, SERANAK HOUSE, TANGLEWOOD - NIGHT
TWO FEET, a sheet rolling off them to reveal LB and Felicia,
smoking, half-naked, sprawled on the floor, post-coital.
THREE SAILORS (SINGING)
It's a helluva town!
The music cuts out. Beat.
FELICIA
How do you feel?
LB
I think it's better.
FELICIA
(her head on his shoulder)
Is it okay if I put my head like
this?
LB
It's terribly embarrassing.
FELICIA
No... no. LB
If I don't, I just don't
breathe, I'll be fine.
FELICIA
No!
LB
It happens every time.
31.
FELICIA
Every time, what? What do you mean?
LB
Every time, I go to bed, that
I-- What are you trying to FELICIA
imply? Oh, I see. Well, I don't know
what you meant.
LB
I just-- Oh... FELICIA
Oh, goodness.
LB
The lower spine is just FELICIA
always-- You take any pills or
anything?
LB
Pills? I take plenty of pills.
FELICIA
No, I'm sure you do, but I mean
specifically for this.
He winces in pain.
FELICIA
Oh, dear. Sorry. You poor thing.
LB
That's much better actually, FELICIA
being on the floor. Yes.
LB
Much better. Thank you, it FELICIA
was a great idea. Well.
LB
And you set it all up with the
pillows, you really do take care of
me, don't you?
FELICIA
I wanted to make you comfortable.
LB
Well, I have a game we can play.
Envy and secrets, you know that
game?
FELICIA
No.
32.
LB
We both tell each other a secret,
then we both tell each other
something that we're envious of, and
then we become closer.
FELICIA
I feel pretty close already.
LB
Well, you certainly seemed FELICIA
close twenty minutes ago! (laughs)
Okay, I'll play...
LB
I saw different sides of you that I
only sort of dreamt about.
FELICIA
Oh, goodness. Okay, you go first.
LB
So, do you want to say something
you're envious of or something
that's a secret?
FELICIA
Tell me a secret.
LB
I'm going to tell you a FELICIA
secret? Okay. Yes.
LB
(takes a drag) FELICIA
Did I just ash on you? No.
LB
Okay. Well, when I was a boy, I used
to have dreams where I would kill my
father. And the thing of it is, I
would wake up from the dream and I
would sit in bed and then I would
just fantasize about it. Because he
was so cruel. Sometimes... I just
can't seem to find myself.
FELICIA
Well... I agree, by the way.
LB
About what?
33.
FELICIA
About the name. Felicia Burns has
absolutely no luster. It just sounds
wrong.
LB laughs, as her head rests down on his chest.
LB
Your sound soothes me, God. FELICIA
Does it?
LB
I actually envy the air that gets to
funnel its way through you.
FELICIA
Out of my mouth, I hope.
LB
Any which way, actually. I FELICIA
never thought about that. (laughs)
No!
LB
But there would definitely be
some tonal and pitch
variations if it came out the FELICIA
other end, wouldn't it? (laughs)
Just as pleasing, I assume. Oh, no, disgusting...
LB
Am I shaking? FELICIA
Yes.
They look into each other's eyes. She puts a hand on his
cheek. And in whispers...
FELICIA
Those eyes... You don't even know
how much you need me, do you?
LB
I might.
27 27
INT. HOUSE/STAGE, THE SHED, TANGLEWOOD - DAY
LB strides down the aisle of an empty auditorium toward the
stage where the orchestra starts to disperse.
LB
Sweetie! That was better than
Philadelphia.
34.
DAVID
Really?
We see a familiar face, David Oppenheim. LB affectionately
cups David's face in his hands.
LB
Oh, it took everything not to leap
right into the orchestra!
DAVID
You're too kind.
David appreciates his enthusiasm, but is distracted by Felicia
walking in, Aaron Copland not far behind her.
LB
Oh, did I tell you about the girl?
That I wrote letters about?
(calling out to her)
Felicia!
David watches Felicia walk towards the stage.
LB (CONT'D)
The one I wrote about... DAVID
Yes, yes...
Felicia reaches the stage. LB makes introductions.
LB
So, this is David and he, he plays
the clarinet... What else?
FELICIA DAVID
Hello! Yes, I can see. (laughing)
I play clarinet.
LB
And he's extraordinary...
FELICIA
Yes, oh, well, I was listening. You
were wonderful.
DAVID
You as well. Broadway star.
FELICIA
Oh, no...
35.
LB
Well we're going to have lunch with
Kouss, otherwise, we'd meet up with
you now, but what about later? Have
a drink or something?
DAVID
I would love that, yeah, yeah...
Oppenheim seems a bit uneasy, more so as LB isn't at all.
LB
I didn't mean to spring that on you.
DAVID
No, that's alright.
LB
Maybe that was insensitive of me.
DAVID
No, not at all.
LB
So, we'll see you later on?
DAVID LB
Yes. (to Felicia)
Okay, let's go.
They head back up the aisle, away from David. LB pulls Copland
in, patting his behind as he ushers them out.
LB
Come on, come on little birdie!
DAVID FELICIA
Lovely to meet you! (calls back)
Lovely to meet you!
We HOLD on David, as we begin to hear the orchestrated version
of LB's Anniversaries: X. For Felicia Montealegre...
28 28
EXT. FIELD, BEYOND SERANAK HOUSE, TANGLEWOOD - DAY
The MUSIC CONTINUES. We're looking over a wide field of grass,
the expanse of Tanglewood and the town of Lenox off in the
distance. We PUSH IN, revealing LB and Felicia, arm in arm,
walking away from us.
29 29
EXT. TOPIARY MAZE, TANGLEWOOD - DAY
The MUSIC CONTINUES as LB and Felicia walk through a large
topiary maze, his arm around her.
36.
FELICIA
Oh, life is not that serious, honest
it isn't. What age are we living in?
One can be as free as one likes,
without guilt or confession, please.
What's the harm? I know exactly who
you are. Let's... give it a whirl.
He pulls her in for a kiss. And when they pull back, face to
face...
LB
Yes. FELICIA
Yes?
LB
I mean...
He drops to one knee...
FELICIA
No!!!
LB
No, not here, no... FELICIA
No, not here. No... That's
not how I meant it to be.
And as the music swells, we FADE TO --
30 INT. HALL/STUDIO, OSBORNE APARTMENT, NEW YORK, NY - DAY (1955) 30
LB, now 37, carries YOUNG JAMIE, three years old, with
Felicia, now 33, in their hallway -- LB with a hint of gray in
his hair and Felicia blonde, both dressed in evening attire.
MURROW (O.C., ON TV)
Leonard Bernstein is a composer,
conductor and pianist. His wife,
Felicia Montealegre, is an actress.
Both lead full professional lives
but they're seldom apart.
And as we hear the voice of EDWARD R. MURROW, LB sets Jamie
down, leaving her with the nanny, JULIA VEGA.
MURROW (O.C., ON TV)(CONT'D)
Mr. Bernstein is thirty-seven years
old, but he has been in the public
eye for a dozen years, from the time
he substituted for Bruno Walter to
conduct the philharmonic symphony at
the age of 25.
(MORE)
37.
MURROW (O.C., ON TV)(CONT'D)
Since then, Leonard Bernstein has
conducted or played all over the
world, and he's written Symphonies,
Ballets and Opera, as well as scores
for the Broadway musical `Wonderful
Town' and the motion picture `On the
Waterfront.'
We TRAVEL WITH THEM through and into LB's music studio, now
converted into a makeshift television studio with TWO LARGE TV
CAMERAS with accompanying OPERATORS; TWO MEN holding large
BOOM MICROPHONES; another PERSON holding a clip board and
wearing a headset; and large, powerful lights facing the
direction of an L-shaped couch they have both landed on. They
are currently getting camera ready to respond to a TINY
MONITOR where we see an IMAGE OF MURROW.
MURROW (O.C., ON TV)(CONT'D)
Felicia Montealegre came to Broadway
and American Television from
Santiago, Chile. She is one of
television's first full-fledged
dramatic stars.
And as we begin this interview, we are struck by the harshness
of the light on them, as if they are staring into the sun.
MURROW (O.C., ON TV)(CONT'D)
The Bernsteins, Leonard, Felicia and
their children, Jamie and two-month-
old Alexander, live in New York City
near Carnegie Hall and Broadway.
They've been here for about three
years.
And now...
MURROW (O.C, ON TV)
Good Evening, Felicia. FELICIA
Hello, Ed.
MURROW (O.C., ON TV)
Good evening, Lenny. LB
How are you, Ed?
MURROW (O.C., ON TV)
Good. Lenny, it's always for me
rather difficult to classify you
professionally since you do so many
things at the same time. What do you
consider your primary occupation?
We see the beginning of this as if on TV.
38.
LB (ON TV)
I guess I'd have to say that my
primary occupation is musician.
Anything that has to do with music
is my province.
(to Felicia)
Wouldn't you say? Whether it's
composing it or conducting it or
teaching it, or studying it, or
playing it, as long as it's music, I
like it and I do it.
MURROW (O.C., ON TV)
Uh, Felicia, do you have any trouble
keeping up with Lenny's activities?
FELICIA (ON TV)
Well, it gets pretty hard, Ed. He's
taken on a great many activities.
This season promises to be a very
hectic one. Among them, he's writing
two musical shows, one of them is an
adaptation of Romeo and Juliet,
that's West Side Story with, uh,
Jerry Robbins and Arthur Laurents
and wonderfully talented young
lyricist Stevie Sondheim; and then
he's doing four feature
presentations in Omnibus, the CBS
television program...
And now we're back in LB's music studio with LB and Felicia.
FELICIA
And, um... Was that right? LB
You know my schedule better
than I do.
MURROW (O.C., TV)
Felicia, what about you? Are you
engaged in other things besides
acting?
FELICIA
Well, it gets pretty hard to do much
more than take care of this
household-- my husband, the
children. And acting takes the rest
of the time that's left over.
LB FELICIA
And memorizing my projects! (laughs)
Well, I can't help that.
39.
HOLD ON Felicia as Ed quickly moves back to LB...
MURROW (O.C., ON TV)
Lenny, what's the big difference in
the life of composer Bernstein and
conductor Bernstein?
Felicia's heard this answer before, but she forces a smile.
LB
Well, I, I suppose it's a difference
-- it's a personality difference
which occurs between any composer
versus any... or any creator versus
any performer. Any performer,
whether it's Toscanini or Tallulah
Bankhead or whoever it is, leads a
kind of public life, an extrovert
life, if you will. It's an
oversimplified word, but something
like that. Whereas a creative person
sits alone in this gray studio that
you see here and writes all by
himself and communicates with the
world in a very private way and
lives a rather grand inner life
rather than a grand outer life.
(then)
And if you carry around both
personalities, I suppose that means
you become a schizophrenic and
that's the end of it.
LB laughs at his own joke, glancing at Felicia, who smiles;
it's genuine, her delight in him.
MURROW (O.C.)
Felicia you must be interested in
music too, aren't you?
As the interview fades, we hear the second measure of LB's
Songfest: Three Solos. IV. To What You Said and FADE TO --
31 31
INT. STAIRWELL/LOBBY, OSBORNE APARTMENTS, NEW YORK, NY - DAY
The MUSIC CONTINUES. We're in a beautiful, carved-wood
stairwell, looking up toward a skylight overhead, sun
streaming toward us from way, way up in the distance...
...along with something small and white, floating down through
the center of the stairwell. We hear footsteps coming down the
stairs as a little girl shouts out...
40.
YOUNG JAMIE (O.C.)
Daddy, Daddy, catch!
And now we see the small white floater is a paper airplane. It
swoops down, a hand reaching into frame, catching it and
unfolding it to reveal a message. I [HEART SYMBOL] YOU, JAMIE.
Find LB, smiling down at the note. He calls up to Jamie.
LB
Well, I love you too, darling, so
much. Thank you!
He tucks it into his pocket, picks up his briefcase and walks
through the lobby, pushing through glass doors into the city.
32 32
EXT. STREET BY CENTRAL PARK, NEW YORK, NY - DAY
The MUSIC CONTINUES as LB crosses a crowded avenue; we are in
his POV coming towards a very handsome man, who we see is
David Oppenheim. David stands at the entrance to the Park with
his wife, Ellen Adler, and a NEWBORN; but the look on David's
face as LB approaches tells us just how much he loves him.
LB
Well hello, children of Zeus!
DAVID OPPENHEIM ELLEN ADLER
My man. Hello, Lenny, what a lovely
surprise.
LB grabs both of them, planting a kiss on each one's mouth.
LB
That's why I love New York city, you
come right out of your apartment and
all of a sudden you just run into
people that you love.
(then)
Well, I'm going downtown.
DAVID OPPENHEIM
So am I.
LB
Oh.
ELLEN ADLER LB
Well, we are cutting across (to the baby)
the park to Saks before the And who are you?! Hello,
deluge. hello! You are so beautiful.
You're so precious.
LB leans in close to the baby.
41.
LB
Can I tell you a secret? Do you know
I've slept with both your parents.
Off David and Ellen's laugh, he looks to them.
LB
It's too much, isn't it? Too much. I
love too much, what can I say, but
I'm reigning it in.
(extravagant)
I'm reigning it in!
33 33
EXT. STREET ALONG CENTRAL PARK - MOMENTS LATER
The MUSIC CONTINUES as LB and David walk. Neither of them say
a word. After some time, LB stops. This is where it ends.
David turns to him.
David extends his left hand and caresses LB's cheek. LB takes
in that moment of intimacy while simultaneously glancing
across Central Park South at some people looking at him.
LB
You see those people across the
avenue, staring at us? Saying, `It
can't be him, he's much better
looking on television, isn't he?
Certainly has Leonard Bernstein's
ears, though, doesn't he?'
They laugh together.
LB (CONT'D)
`Can that be him? Is that possible?'
LB still glancing across the street, has nothing more to say.
34 34
EXT. 2ND FLOOR TERRACE, FAIRFIELD HOUSE, CONNECTICUT - DAY
LB stands out on the terrace smoking. Felicia steps out
through the double doors to join him.
FELICIA
How embarrassing. We don't even have
silverware...
LB
Oh, I'm sorry, darling. What's wrong
with the silverware, we don't need
it. I ordered Chinese food,
remember? The problem is I need
those fucking curtains so I can
sleep.
(MORE)
42.
LB (CONT'D)
I walk around like a zombie, scare
our children. Do we have children in
this house?
FELICIA
We do, we do.
LB
I don't know how the Burkes do it,
three children.
FELICIA
Three? I know. It's unbelievable,
unreasonable.
LB
Alex doesn't make any noise, FELICIA
so I think we'll be fine. No, for now...
LB
Sleeps all day. Alexander,
our sleeping little baby... FELICIA
He won't sleep for long.
LB
It's like he isn't even real.
FELICIA
No, he's a dream baby.
LB
I'm sad, darling, and I don't know
why.
FELICIA
Darling, you're so tired, you just
need to sleep.
LB
Yes.
(quoting)
"Summer sang in me a little while,
that sings in me no more." Edna St.
Vincent Millay.
FELICIA
If summer doesn't sing in you, then
nothing sings in you. And if nothing
sings in you, then you can't make
music.
LB takes that in. Kisses her.
43.
SHIRLEY (PRELAP)
There is a price for being in my
brother's orbit, you know that...
35 35
EXT. YARD, FAIRFIELD HOUSE, CONNECTICUT - DAY
Felicia is mid-conversation with Shirley, lounging on a quilt,
the remnants of a picnic around them. Deep in the background,
we see LB and YOUNG JAMIE and her friend RORY playing. We will
see them throughout the scene coming closer and closer to us.
SHIRLEY
...as much as he would love to
believe the opposite is true.
FELICIA
I suppose I do understand what you
mean. You know, it's very strange,
but I do believe there is that in
everybody. One wishes to make
adjustments to one's self but having
this imposition of a strong
personality is like a way of death,
really. Yet the moment I see that
that is making him suffer, I realize
that it's not worth it. No, what
for? It isn't going to kill me,
really, and if it's going to give
him pleasure or stop him from
suffering and it's in my power to do
it, then what the hell, you know?
LB crashes down next to her on the picnic blanket.
FELICIA
But one has to do it completely
without sacrifice. And if it is
going to be a sacrifice, then I
disappear.
We hear St. Louis Blues as played by Louis Armstrong with the
Lewisohn Stadium Symphony (LB conducting) and we CUT TO --
36 36
EXT. YARD, FAIRFIELD HOUSE, CONNECTICUT - DAY (MONTAGE)
The MUSIC CONTINUES. LB is prostrate on the grass. Felicia and
Jamie balance atop his back in their socks as Julia Vega
watches in amusement, holding baby Alex.
FELICIA
Is that good?
LB lifts them in a push up and they topple over laughing.
44.
LB
That's how I really mess up my back!
FELICIA
No, you really do -- LB
I tried to become Hercules.
LB snatches up Felicia's shoes to entertain Jaime and takes
off running. Jamie laughs...
LB FELICIA
I'm gonna steal mommy's (grabbing LB's shoes)
shoes! Now I've got your shoes!
37 37
INT. SALON, FAIRFIELD HOUSE, CONNECTICUT - NIGHT (MONTAGE)
The MUSIC CONTINUES. A group has gathered, dinner party now in
full swing, everyone dancing, LB and Felicia locked in a sweet
embrace as the jazz transitions to Mahler's Symphony No.5 in C-
Sharp Minor: IV. Adagietto.
38 38
EXT. YARD, FAIRFIELD HOUSE, CONNECTICUT - DAY (MONTAGE)
The MUSIC CONTINUES. LB walks towards us with baby Alex
swaddled in his arms, Young Jamie and her friend chasing each
other in the b/g. LB joins Aaron Copland on a tree swing where
Aaron Copland. They look upon baby Alex, LB a doting father.
39 39
INT. BACKSTAGE, CONCERT HALL - NIGHT (MONTAGE)
The MUSIC CONTINUES. HIGH AND WIDE on Felicia in the wings,
dwarfed and engulfed by LB's shadow while conducting,
summoning Mahler No.5 in C-Sharp Minor: IV. Adagietto.
40 40
EXT. YARD, FAIRFIELD HOUSE - CONNECTICUT - DAY (MONTAGE)
The MUSIC CONTINUES as LB and Felicia dote on baby Alex
bouncing in Julia Vega's arms and on Jamie, staring back at
them. She smiles, then turns and runs from them, away, down
and through the garden pergola.
41 41
INT. STAGE, CONCERT HALL - DAY (MONTAGE)
The MUSIC CONTINUES. We go LOW AND TIGHT on LB, 40s, in tails,
conducting with everything he's got, and as the music swells --
42 42
INT. BACKSTAGE, CONCERT HALL - NIGHT (MONTAGE)
LB comes offstage to Felicia, in her elegant gown. He crashes
into her, full embrace. Pure joy. A deep kiss before he heads
back out for the encore. Mahler No.5 in C-Sharp Minor: IV.
Adagietto nears its end as she takes a drag from her
cigarette, watching him take his applause from the wings as
the backdrop fades, morphing into yet another backstage wing.
45.
Felicia, resigned with a cigarette in hand, can only watch on
as we SMASH TO --
43 INT. LIVING ROOM, DAKOTA APARTMENT, NEW YORK, NY - NIGHT (1971) 43
IN COLOR.
Felicia, cigarette in hand, holding the same position but
she's faced away from us at a bay of windows.
The MUSIC FADES as we hear sounds of a jovial party. We are
WIDE in this very airy, high-ceilinged, two-floor apartment,
which is filled with familiar and new faces. We hear a shout --
MENDY (O.C.)
Wicker!
It startles Felicia. She turns as MENDY WAGER, mid 40s, gay
and dapper, crosses to her. They sit under the bay window.
MENDY
White antique wicker, with FELICIA
pierre deux cushions... I love it.
MENDY
It will give it that whimsical
Victorian conservatory look.
FELICIA
So you want to lock me up in a glass
cage like some sort of exotic bird?
ANGLE ON the other side of the room. It's noisier here, LB and
Shirley surrounded by a crowd. LB lights a cigarette.
SHIRLEY LB
I'm surrounded by men and it (leaning into Shirley)
feels so right. They are I think Felicia... I don't...
really better. I just can't make heads or
tails of it.
SHIRLEY
She's fine. She's just, you know, I
mean...
LB sees someone has spilled a drink.
LB
Are you alright? Do you need to get
a towel or something?
(to no one in particular)
Can we get him a towel?
(shouting)
(MORE)
46.
LB (CONT'D)
Julia, Julia... Julia! I think we
need a towel.
SHIRLEY LB
It's that you're so (kisses her forehead)
distracted all the time. I'm going to go take a big
dump.
SHIRLEY
Okay, wonderful.
He walks off, leaving her, as we...
ANGLE BACK ON Felicia, still mid-conversation under the window
with Mendy and her friend CYNTHIA O'NEAL, mid 30s, pretty.
JAMIE BERNSTEIN, now a precocious Harvard student, rushes up.
FELICIA JAMIE
Oh my God. Has Daddy mentioned anything
to you about Harry and
Amberson this summer?
FELICIA
No.
JAMIE
Harry's offered me a job at Amberson
this summer. What do you think?
FELICIA
What does Daddy say?
JAMIE
Daddy thinks it's a great idea.
FELICIA
Well, then I think it's a great
idea.
JAMIE
So I have your blessing?
FELICIA
Yes, you do.
JAMIE FELICIA
Okay, thank you! Bye! (laughs)
Okay, bye.
Jamie beams with excitement, heads back across the apartment.
47.
CYNTHIA
She looks so grown up. FELICIA
Yes, well, looks can be
deceiving...
ANGLE ON JAMIE as she marches across the room, right up to
HARRY KRAUT, portly, glasses, amish beard.
JAMIE HARRY
I got the go-ahead! Thank you (happy for her)
so much. Be really good at this. Be
really good. So happy you're
doing this.
JAMIE LB
You're intimidating me but I (joining them)
will try my best. I just got trampled on.
JAMIE LB
Alright, Daddy. I almost got trampled on in
my own house
Jamie walks off as Harry leads LB across teh room.
HARRY
Come here, I want you to meet a few
people.
LB
Literally, this guy almost HARRY
trampled me. I was almost Yeah, listen, I want you to
decapitated, I wouldn't have meet...
any-- Please, I'm too tired, (to Jim)
please God no... Excuse me... Jim? Jim? Jim,
this is Lenny...
LB turns on a dime --
LB
Hello! How are you!
(hands full)
Sorry, all my hands are taken, and
now, your big paw... Wow, you're a
grand man, you're a huge fellow.
LB puts his cigarette away, shakes hands.
JIM CHARLIE BASSETT
Jim. (hand out to shake)
Charlie.
LB
(shaking Charlie's hand)
Hello Charlie, pleasure to meet you.
(MORE)
48.
LB (CONT'D)
How are you, are you having a good
time?
ANGLE BACK ON Felicia, Cynthia and Mendy at the window.
FELICIA
Lenny should be composing. You know
Harry just loves to play to that
side of him with the appearances and
the recordings and the cookie cutter
boys, you know, it's not my
favorite.
MENDY FELICIA
My favorite. (laughs)
No, I know, it's not my
favorite.
CYNTHIA
Well, you're taking it like a champ.
MENDY
You are...
CYNTHIA MENDY
I would never know. ...handling it quite well,
our little Joan of Arc.
CYNTHIA
Yes, but remember what happened to
Joan at the end, it didn't work out
so well.
ANGLE ON LB, across the room.
SCOTT (O.C.)
So bored.
LB turns to SCOTT, a bleary man we may have seen at the bar
earlier. At this point, Scott is so blotto, he's just standing
there, hands touching his face.
LB
Hello, Scott. SCOTT
Hello.
LB
We don't say that in our family,
Felicia doesn't like it.
Scott stares at LB, a mixture of strange and somewhat
terrifying emotions.
49.
SCOTT
In your family?
LB SCOTT
In my family, yes. (begins to laugh)
In your FAMILY, Lenny?!
Harry quickly intercedes, moving Scott off.
HARRY
Okay, okay, okay, that's enough.
That's enough.
Scott heads off toward the bathroom. Harry watches him go.
HARRY
We've been together for ten LB
years. Oh, believe me, I know three
of them.
HARRY
I guess denial is not just a LB
river in Egypt. That was the crossword last
week, three letters. Do you
know what it is?
TOMMY
Pun.
LB turns and finds TOMMY COTHRAN, 25.
LB
(delighted)
Yes, it is pun.
TOMMY
Yes, it is.
LB
Did you do the Thursday?
TOMMY
Yes, I did.
LB
It's quite easy, but--
It catches LB, he resets.
LB
Hello.
TOMMY
Hi, I'm Tommy.
50.
LB
Did you just appear out of... out of
my handkerchief?
TOMMY
Oh, yes, I live here now!
LB
Are you a genie?
TOMMY
I wish!
LB
Do I get three wishes? TOMMY
What's your first wish?
LB
Oh, my first wish is...
Tommy finally sees Harry there, gives him a warm hug.
HARRY
(to LB)
Good luck!
(to Tommy)
Bye, Tommy.
LB
Sorry... I don't even know TOMMY
you, I feel like I've known (off LB's pocket square)
you for years... This is beautiful.
LB
Oh, thank you. I have to be honest,
Felicia puts it together.
TOMMY
Well, she's done a good job.
LB
If I was left to my own
devices, I would be dressed TOMMY
as a clown. That's the truth. (laughs)
But don't tell anybody. You're very funny.
LB
Do you mind if I just walk in the
other room?
He pulls Tommy toward the foyer.
51.
LB
Where do you live? Who are TOMMY
you? I'm from San Francisco.
LB
Oh, so you're from earth! You're not
an angel...
TOMMY LB
Yes... (touching his hair)
Your hair is just glorious,
my God.
LB (CONT'D)
Listen, I have to go to the roof, I
just need some air, would you like
to come with me?
TOMMY
I'd love to.
LB
Okay, well, that's wonderful.
(taking his hand)
Come here, come here, come here,
Tommy is it?
ANGLE ON Felicia on a couch now, speaking with Comden and
Green, as LB and Tommy slip out of the party.
FELICIA
The toast of the party... BETTY COMDEN
The bell of the ball!
FELICIA
Bell of the ball! Oh my god, ADOLPH GREEN
are you kidding me? Both, both at the same time.
Somehow! A high-wire act!
Toast bell! Toast bell!
Felicia laughs.
44 44
INT. FOYER, DAKOTA APARTMENT, NEW YORK, NY - LATER
Shirley stands just inside the door, looking out towards where
LB and Tommy disappeared. Felicia finds Shirley.
SHIRLEY
Hi.
FELICIA (CONT'D)
Have you seen Lenny anywhere?
52.
SHIRLEY
Uh, do you want me to fetch him?
FELICIA
No, I don't mind.
We hear the ding of an elevator and we CUT TO --
45 45
INT. HALLWAY, THE DAKOTA, NEW YORK, NY - MOMENTS LATER
LB and Tommy come in from the elevator, laughing mid-
conversation.
LB (CONT'D)
That's what I'm saying. That's why
I'm saying that I needed the
turtleneck, you know I needed the
turtleneck and you didn't. You know
what I'm saying?
Tommy laughs as they crash to the hallway wall, face to face.
LB
You know, that's the fact-- as I
break this fucking wall! So how are
we going to solve your problem?
The two men, their back to us, one's arm around the other, a
cigarette dangling from his hand.
TOMMY
I don't know what to do.
LB
Well, I'm worried about it, TOMMY
we have to figure it out. I don't know what to do, my
producers are so pissed.
LB
Well, don't they... do they take, do
your listeners know what you look
like? The problem is that you're in
radio and you need to be in
television, that's the...
TOMMY
Stop that. LB
No, you're gorgeous... May I?
May I? God...
LB reaches for Tommy, then kisses him. The feeling is mutual.
As they kiss, Felicia rounds the corner, walks toward the
elevator and sees them. LB spots her.
53.
LB
Darling, this is Tommy.
Felicia looks at him, then turns and walks back toward the
apartment. LB takes Tommy's hand and follows her.
TOMMY
Is everything okay?
LB
It's okay.
(to Felicia)
Darling.
They turn the corner, walk towards the apartment.
LB
Why don't you go in. It's fine...
46 46
INT. FOYER, DAKOTA APARTMENT, NEW YORK, NY - CONTINUOUS
Tommy disappears into the party as LB catches up with Felicia.
LB
Darling, darling, I'm so sorry. I'm
so sorry.
FELICIA
Fix your hair, you're getting
sloppy.
Felicia leaves him. Alone.
47 47
INT. LIVING ROOM, DAKOTA APARTMENT, NEW YORK, NY - LATER
The party is over. LB sits alone under the window where we saw
Felicia sitting earlier. A drink in one hand, cigarette in the
other. Julia Vega cleans up in the b.g. LB's lost in thought.
GRUEN (PRELAP)
Well, like it or not...
48 48
EXT. POOL PATIO, FAIRFIELD HOUSE, CONNECTICUT - DAY
LB is seated with a man, JOHN GRUEN, whose voice we just
heard. It is autumn.
GRUEN
...this world is utterly fascinated,
or obsessed even, with everything
about you. Ever since that famous
phone call which led to your debut
at Carnegie Hall. And you have not
let them down, my dear.
(MORE)
54.
GRUEN (CONT'D)
Fifteen years on television,
teaching us all the magic of
classical music with the Young
People's Concerts and Omnibus,
reaching hundreds of millions all
over the world. Ten years at the New
York Philharmonic, and then there
are the compositions.
GRUEN (CONT'D)
West Side Story redefined the LB
American musical... Oh, Jesus Christ.
GRUEN
And then there's Candide and On the
Town... But what this is--
LB
Actually, when you add it up,
there's not much that I've created.
And music is, and I know this is
going to sound strange to you, it is
the most important thing that I can
do. And it's a great source of
dissatisfaction that I haven't
created that much at all. I mean,
when you add it up it's not a very
long list.
GRUEN
Well. What this is, this is an
opportunity for the world to get to
know you apart from all that. This
book, this book is to understand
what you think about in your private
moments. Your personal feelings on,
well, on life as you know it.
LB
Well I feel like the world is on the
verge of collapse. That's what I
feel like.
Gruen laughs.
LB GRUEN
I'm quite serious. (stops laughing)
Yes...
LB
The diminution of creativity, which
has come to a grinding halt. I mean,
not scientifically, that has
exploded.
(MORE)
55.
LB (CONT'D)
But as we sit here, I find it very
difficult to think that whether I'm
a conductor or a composer of any
note at all has any bearing on
anything or that my existence is
even worth talking about for this
book.
GRUEN
No, I agree. I agree, and I think
this has marked many artists, and
you can see it in their work. There
seems to be a, it seems to seep into
the subconscious so that there's
this great depression.
LB
Well, I know that Felicia, she
senses it enormously.
GRUEN
It's all pervasive.
LB
It's almost as if she can't enjoy
anything anymore.
GRUEN
I know. It just seems so sad.
LB
I know. Picnic. The water. Lunch.
Just sitting around, being together.
GRUEN
What is that?
LB
I think she has a keen sense of
futility.
GRUEN
No, I sense that too about her. And
I had no idea, because, you know, I
had this feeling of her at first,
you know incredibly, which she is,
vivacious and marvelously alert and
aware and a happy person, but
something in her seems crushed.
LB pauses.
56.
LB
She said to me in Vienna last month,
"I want to get off. I want to stop
the bus and get off."
GRUEN
And how do you feel about that?
LB
Well, I have one or two saving
factors, John. One is that I love
people. And I love music. I love
music so much it keeps me glued to
life even when I'm most depressed.
And I can get very deeply depressed.
But I have a work ethic and that
keeps me afloat. And the other is
that I do, I love people so much
that it's hard for me to be alone.
Which is part of my struggle as a
composer.
GRUEN
Yes, you are the only person I've
ever met who leaves the bathroom
door open for fear of being alone.
LB
I mean, can one really believe that
man is just this trapped animal
who's a victim of his own greeds and
follies and... Either one believes
in the divine element in this or one
doesn't. And as long as I believe
it, which I assume is why I love
people so much, then I have to
believe that in some remote corner
of my soul there is a way out.
49 INT. CHELSEA THEATER, BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC, BROOKLYN - DAY 49
CHORUS MEMBERS stand on risers, waiting to begin. We're in
rehearsal for the 1973 revival of Candide.
LB
Okay, so sopranos, you're in the hot
seat!
The chorus laughs as LB moves to the podium, cigarette
dangling from his lips, his baton at ease in his hand.
57.
LB
Take it from bar 44, just at the end
of "Make Our Garden Grow" heading to
the a cappella, and sopranos, make
sure that you make space so that the
high notes can soar.
Then with his hands up, the piano begins the chorale finale
from Candide, Act II: No. 31, Make Our Garden Grow. LB
conducts from his stool, very relaxed and filled with joy. All
74 of the chorus belt out LB's music.
CHORUS (SINGING)
Let dreamers dream what worlds they please
Those Edens can't be found.
The sweetest flowers, the fairest trees
Are grown in solid ground.
ANGLE ON Felicia, sitting in a house seat, watching. And as
the music plays, it's as if LB is conducting it for her, and
the words are meant for them. He even mouths the words to her.
There they are, the two of them, at the center of this wave of
music pouring down on them.
CHORUS (SINGING)
We're neither pure, nor wise, nor good
We'll do the best we know.
We'll build our house and chop our wood
And make our garden grow.
And make our garden grow.
LB cuts them all off. For the the chorus, it's just the end of
another rehearsal and they begin shuffling music.
THE OLD LADY
I can't get this one...
ANGLE ON the woman playing THE OLD LADY, who's sat down next
to Felicia. She points to a line of text. Felicia looks at the
libretto and reads the verse with the proper pronunciation.
FELICIA
"Me muero me sale una hernia." It's,
it means...
LB
It means I'm dying and I'm growing a
hernia.
LB crashes into the seat next to the woman. She laughs. LB
smiles at Felicia.
58.
LB (CONT'D)
It's an old Chilean
expression. I was desperate FELICIA
to find a rhyme, I couldn't -- Well, it's not your fault
your mother was from Rovno
Gubernia.
LB
...and I woke her up in the middle
of the night, desperate, and she had
this Chilean idiom right off the top
of her head.
FELICIA
Well, you woke me from a very deep
sleep and begged me to solve it!
LB smiles, takes Felicia's hand and kisses it.
LB
Thank heavens, it saved this exact
piece. In fact, all of the Spanish
here is all from Felicia, so we're
very lucky that she's here today to
help with the pronunciation...
TOMMY (O.C.)
That's why!
Tommy, the young man from the Dakota party, has been buried in
the score down the row. He stands, comes up to them.
TOMMY
Sorry, I've been, I've been looking
through Voltaire's work and I
couldn't find that place, "Rovno
Gubernia."
LB
That's because I made it up, my dear
boy.
Tommy laughs, flush with admiration. Felicia looks down at
Tommy as we PRELAP the famous horn open from the Symphonic
Dances from West Side Story: Prologue (Allegro moderato)...
50 50
EXT. FRONT YARD/DRIVEWAY, FAIRFIELD HOUSE, CONNECTICUT - DAY
The MUSIC CONTINUES. We are over 20-year-old Jamie, sitting on
a tree swing, head down, slightly melancholic. She looks up,
toward the long driveway. We SEE OVER HER in the distance a
Blue Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme convertible turn and drive up
their long winding driveway toward their red-clad house.
59.
The car pulls up. LB, Harry Kraut, and Tommy get out.
LB
Let's see what you think. TOMMY
This place is gorgeous.
LB
I know isn't it lovely?
TOMMY
Lenny, what do you want me to get?
LB
You could just get that big ass bag
of kibble...
Tommy pulls a LARGE BAG of dog food from the trunk and onto
his shoulder. LB claps him on the shoulder
LB
Oh lord, thank you.
TOMMY
Course. There's Jamie.
He waves to her. She waves back.
LB
And I want to have a drink. TOMMY
I am in awe of this place.
We see them head towards the house with luggage and a dog,
SWEET GENE. The tumultuous music continuing under.
50A 50A
EXT. POOL, FAIRFIELD HOUSE, CONNECTICUT - MOMENTS LATER
ALEXANDER, now 15, and the Bernstein's youngest child, NINA,
greet LB with open arms, happy to see him.
NINA LB
Daddy! (takes her in his arms)
Hello, darling.
POV from an UPSTAIRS WINDOW as the men continue on into...
51 51
INT. KITCHEN/STAIRS/HALLWAY, FAIRFIELD HOUSE - MOMENTS LATER
Looking from the stairs through the hall toward the kitchen,
we see the men enter the kitchen. Tommy walks into the hall
towards us, stopping to take in a painting.
60.
TOMMY LB
Oh wow! (to Harry)
Help yourself after. Help
yourself, just go right
there.
Lenny follows Tommy into the hall.
TOMMY
Lenny is this all Felicia's idea?
LB
I had nothing to do with that.
That's her painting as well.
TOMMY FELICIA (O.C.)
It's so beautiful. (calling out)
Lenny.
LB looks up. TILT UP to Felicia. At the top of the stairs.
Looking down at LB. Something amiss.
52 52
INT. MASTER BEDROOM, FAIRFIELD HOUSE - MOMENTS LATER
Felicia sits on a bench, smoking. LB enters.
LB
What is it, darling?
FELICIA
No, I just... have you seen Jamie?
LB
I have not seen Jamie.
FELICIA
Oh, you haven't seen her.
LB
No. Why, is she here?
He crosses her to the chair opposite the room. He sits down,
takes off his shoes and begins to undress.
FELICIA
Yeah, she's here. She's terribly
upset, darling.
LB
Well, what is she upset about?
FELICIA
She's been hearing gossip.
61.
LB
Excuse me? FELICIA
Gossip.
LB
Gossip about what?
FELICIA
About you, darling.
LB stops what he's doing.
LB
What about me?
FELICIA
Well, I don't know. She's been up at
Tanglewood all summer, I can't
imagine what she might have heard.
LB looks upset. He continues undressing to his underwear.
LB
Well, what did you tell her?
FELICIA
Darling, it's not for me really to
say. I said there was-- I said she
should speak to you.
LB
Well, I think she's old enough,
don't you think...
FELICIA
Well, I don't care how old she is.
I asked that you be discreet.
LB
Well, I think that she's coming into
an age where she needs to, deserves
to know what it is that --
FELICIA
Darling. She didn't ask for any of
this. It was my decision.
LB
Well, no, it was our decision. It's
not just yours.
Both let that linger. Then --
62.
FELICIA
Don't you dare tell her the truth.
LB ashes his cigarette and walks off.
53 53
EXT. PORCH, LB'S STUDY, FAIRFIELD HOUSE, CONNECTICUT - DAY
Jamie is now seated on the porch platform of LB's Study. After
a beat, LB comes from the distance toward Jamie.
LB
Jamery-Creamery!
She gets up and goes to him with open arms, crashing into him.
JAMIE
Welcome home. LB
Well, look at this welcome.
Hello! Hello!
She kisses his cheek and then they continue back to where she
was sitting on the porch.
LB
Wow. Not what I expected. Did you
write a new song or something?
JAMIE
I was just reading. Keeping my
journal. Did you have a nice trip?
LB
Did you see Tommy's here?
JAMIE
Oh yes, he waved.
LB
I thought that would make you happy.
He's going to spend the weekend...
JAMIE
Oh, wonderful.
LB
Smart as a whip that boy, keeps me
on my toes. Let's see how he does at
anagrams tonight.
JAMIE
He's a sweet boy.
63.
LB
You know your mother told me that
you, um... are very upset because
you heard some rumors about me at
Tanglewood this summer.
JAMIE
Oh, I really wish she
wouldn't have said anything, LB
I'm, it's fine. Now, Jamie.
JAMIE
It's no big deal.
LB
It is a big deal, because you are
upset.
JAMIE
I wasn't upset.
LB
So, let's discuss it. Your mother
and I have talked about it and I
said I'd come down here and talk to
you about it. Try to enlighten or
shed some sort of understanding on
what could have happened so...
`jealousy' is the word that I would
use. Jealousy.
JAMIE
What?
LB
Jealousy. When I was a student at
Curtis there was a boy, seemed like
a very nice boy, brought a pistol to
school and tried to kill me... cause
he was jealous at my musical talent.
JAMIE
Your musical talent.
LB
It just drove him to the brink of
murder. Artur Rodziski was the
musical director of the New York
Philharmonic, God told him to hire
me, tried to strangle me during a
rehearsal.
Jamie laughs.
64.
JAMIE
I remember that... LB
Because of jealousy.
LB (CONT'D)
Now I don't know what happened or
who said what, or where. But I can
only imagine that it was spurned on
by jealousy, darling. Jealousy of,
of whatever it is that I do. And
it's plagued me all my life and I
apologize for it plaguing you now.
But I hope that helps.
JAMIE
So the rumors aren't true?
LB
No, darling.
Jamie smiles with relief.
JAMIE
Thank you... for coming to talk to
me. I'm relieved.
LB looks at his daughter. Looks as though he might say
something more, but instead...
LB
Let's go inside.
They get up. He puts his arm around her and they head inside.
54 54
INT. DRAWING ROOM, FAIRFIELD HOUSE, CONNECTICUT - DAY
Felicia sits on the couch painting Nina's nails, Jamie with
them. Tommy walks over from the table, where he was with Alex.
TOMMY
Alright, what color?
NINA
Here, we have, here, let me check.
JAMIE
We've got three shades of the
exact same red that everyone
else is convinced is NINA
different. It's not the exact same red!
Tommy sits so Nina can paint his nails.
65.
JAMIE NINA (CONT'D)
This one, apparently, is (painting his nails)
blue. Here, I'm going to try... I'm
going to do stripes.
ALEXANDER (O.C.) JAMIE
Wait, so, are we just giving (to Alex)
up on anagrams guys? Uh, we're having a slight
nail session over here.
Tommy watches Nina paint.
TOMMY
Oh, you're going to make it NINA
into a design? You're an (painting)
artist. Look at this! It's a little
checker...
LB (PRELAP)
So I just thought it was a good idea
to come for the weekend...
55 55
EXT. POOL PATIO, FAIRFIELD HOUSE, CONNECTICUT - DAY
WIDE ON Felicia in her gardening attire, a full brimmed sun
hat, on the chaise lounge smoking. LB sits next to her.
LB (CONT'D)
I, I know how much Jamie FELICIA
loves being with him and... Jamie?
LB
Well, I thought, and you like him
too, don't you?
She ashes.
FELICIA
Yes. I do.
LB
Well, darling, if I've done FELICIA
something wrong, tell me. No, no, no. I don't know why
Jamie is particularly...
LB
Well, I just think that -- FELICIA
I don't know why you would
say that she was particularly
interested in...
66.
LB
Well, Tommy's a very sort of warm,
and he's highly intelligent, as is
our daughter.
FELICIA
(she laughs)
Okay.
LB
And, and I -- FELICIA
No, I'm not saying that, I'm
not saying--
LB
It's got nothing to do with, no, I
have an interest, I have an interest
in spending time with him too, I'm
not saying, I'm not trying to shove
it off that I brought him here for
her, I mean clearly not.
FELICIA
Well, no, obviously not.
LB
I'm just, all I'm saying is that's
just another reason, why, but I
think easily I can tell him not to
come.
FELICIA LB
No, not at all -- I misread, I misread, I
misread the room. Clearly I
misread the room.
FELICIA
Well, it's not really about that,
it's about...
LB
What is it about?
FELICIA
No, nothing. LB
Okay, alright. So then it's
fine. Yes?
FELICIA
Yes.
LB
Alright, darling.
67.
He gets up to leave. She's surprised he's leaving.
FELICIA
Oh, do... okay.
LB
Well, what?
FELICIA
No, I just... nothing. I thought we
were having a conversation.
He sits back down.
LB
But we were having a FELICIA
conversation. No, no, no, no, it's fine.
LB
No, I'm sorry. I thought we were
finished.
FELICIA
No, I know you're busy.
LB
I'm not busy, I just have-- I'm
desperate to finish this...
FELICIA
Well, then do it, darling. I'm not
stopping you. Do it.
56 56
INT. LENNY'S STUDY, FAIRFIELD HOUSE, CONNECTICUT - LATER
Quiet. LB at the piano. Alone. Thinking. A beat, then plays a
few keys from what will become Mass XVII. Pax: Communion - a.
Pretissimo a piacere. A long rest... then LB has a thought. He
hums the familiar B-D-C notes...
He scribbles down what we just heard and adds two more bars,
playing the piano. He pauses. Looks at what he's done. And as
LB writes it on the score...
...we HEAR A BOY SING. "Lauda, lau-au-da, lau-au-au-da-de." LB
finishes writing and the music stops. He eyes the score...
...then he has another thought. Strings. He adds a long viola
note under the harp's arpeggio. As he does, we hear it. So
does he. He looks at it. Good.
He looks over what he's written again and we hear the whole
thing together, the boy and the harp and the viola, a soprano
and a baritone riffing on the first phrase...
68.
LB reaches for the score and stands. The music takes us into --
57 57
EXT. BACKYARD, FAIRFIELD HOUSE, CONNECTICUT - MOMENTS LATER
HIGH AND WIDE on LB as he walks into the yard, past the pool
and toward the main house. The MUSIC CONTINUES, regaling him
with the finale to Mass, the crescendo pushing him into --
58 58
INT. DRAWING ROOM, FAIRFIELD HOUSE, CONNECTICUT - CONTINUOUS
The MUSIC CONTINUES. LB heads down the hall, passing the
kitchen, the music serenading LB with his psalm. Jamie and
Alexander are playing `WAR' -- they call out, but LB barely
notices, the music in his head overpowering their voices...
Felicia sits on the couch. She looks up at LB as he enters.
Proud and spent, he raises the score in triumph.
LB
Hello, everyone, I have an
announcement to make. I have
finished Mass.
She looks at him. Really? LB nods, smiles. The kids clap. And
now, Felicia jumps up, bolts out the open window.
NINA LB
Yay, daddy! (looking after Felicia)
Where's Mummy going?
59 59
EXT. YARD/POOL, FAIRFIELD HOUSE, CONNECTICUT - SAME TIME
The MUSIC CONTINUES as Felicia, fully clothed, jumps in the
pool. We hold high and wide over the pool, then...
60 60
INT. DRAWING ROOM, FAIRFIELD HOUSE, CONNECTICUT - SAME TIME
The MUSIC CONTINUES as LB watches her in the pool from the
window. And as the kids all rush out, his demeanor shifts. He
takes a drag and simply picks up his finished score.
61 61
INT. POOL, FAIRFIELD HOUSE, CONNECTICUT - SAME TIME
The MUSIC CONTINUES. We are underwater, Felicia at the bottom
of the pool, motionless, a sense of peace perhaps in the
escape of it all. Maybe not wanting to come back up, maybe
preferring to stay, as if she could stay here frozen in amber.
62 62
INT. CONCERT HALL, KENNEDY CENTER, WASHINGTON, DC - NIGHT
The MUSIC CONTINUES. We're LOW TO HIGH from the stage, looking
up at the balcony as the audience takes in the end of Mass.
There's some rustling of programs, some coughing.
69.
We get the sense that the piece isn't landing as we slowly
CRANE UP to the balcony, PUSHING IN on...
...LB, sitting with Tommy, in tuxedos now, with Felicia and
Harry. As we PUSH IN, closer, LB leans over, whispering
something to Tommy...
Tommy takes LB's hand, squeezes it. As LB takes solace there,
we PUSH CLOSE IN on Felicia seeing it all. We PUSH IN on
Felicia as we reach finale to Mass, Mass XVII. Pax: Communion -
c. Almighty Father. The music takes us to...
63 63
INT. LOBBY, KENNEDY CENTER, WASHINGTON, DC - NIGHT
The MUSIC CONTINUES. We're in a packed Hall with patrons now
engulfing the Bernsteins; photographers, camera crews, etc.
LB shakes hands, accept congratulations, then sees Felicia
coming towards him. He leans in. She gives says something.
It's not friendly. He looks frustrated, but she leaves...
...walking away from him, out of the melee.
64 INT. BATHROOM/BEDROOM, WATERGATE HOTEL, WASHINGTON, DC - LATER 64
We see Felicia in the mirror through the open bathroom door,
gown on. She picks up a toothbrush and toothpaste, walks from
camera left out of the bathroom into the hotel bedroom. She
glances at her watch and grabs a pillow, LB's pajamas and
slippers and walks toward us...
...placing everything in the suite outside the bedroom doors.
She shuts the double doors on us and the MUSIC ENDS.
65 65
INT. FOYER/LIVING ROOM, DAKOTA APARTMENT, NEW YORK, NY - DAY
In the vestibule, doors open revealing LB, sunglasses on as he
reaches down for something. MIKE, the doorman, follows with a
luggage cart. LB comes back into frame with a STUFFED SNOOPY,
sunglasses on. Julia Vega opens the foyer doors for him.
LB
Who left snoopy in the
vestibule? Julia, who left
the Snoopy in the vestibule? JULIA VEGA
Ah, los niños.
LB walks into the living room filled with kids and adults
leaning out the window, cheering and looking onto the parade.
LB
Hello, Brian.
LB nods to one of the kids, holds up Snoopy and calls out --
70.
LB
Alex, who left, who abandoned ALEX
Snoopy in the vestibule? Who Oh God that was me, I'm sorry
abandoned Snoopy? I mean it's daddy. I brought him in for
his day. Wallace. Wallace loves Snoopy
and then Sweet Gene started
eating it.
Young Nina, 9, rushes up.
NINA
Daddy! Daddy, but there's a
more important, Daddy, you ALEX
have to listen to me... Stop! Why are you going on
and on about this?
NINA
Shush! Because, Daddy, Daddy?
Daddy, daddy, there was a LB
woman... What? What happened? I'm
sorry. I'm so sorry...
They walk to the window, LB giving Nina his attention at last.
66 66
INT. LIVING ROOM/HALLWAY, DAKOTA APARTMENT - MOMENTS LATER
LB moves towards the bedroom, Jamie meets him in stride.
JAMIE
You're a day late to Thanksgiving.
LB still has his sunglasses on, inferring perhaps it was more
than he's letting on.
LB
I know, Harry had me going all over,
I had to do something for Deutsche
Grammophon...
JAMIE
Nina was very upset.
LB
Well, I don't think-- Nina doesn't
seem so upset to me.
JAMIE
Did you just see her
screaming about some random LB
woman on the street thinking (notices a neighbor)
she hurt herself? How are you?
LB leans in, the neighbor hugs him.
71.
NEIGHBOR LB
How are you? Happy (off neighbor's son)
Thanksgiving! Oh, you finally got him a
camera?
NEIGHBOR
It was a surprise for his 11th
birthday. Thank you for having us...
JAMIE LB
She's not upset about a (to the neighbor)
woman, she's-- Daddy! Oh, you're welcome, of
course!
Julia walks up with a carton of milk and hands it to LB.
LB
Thank you, Julia.
He begins to walk, always moving, back toward the entrance
hallway. Jamie moves in, trying to drive her point home.
LB
Tell me.
JAMIE
Daddy, Nina's not upset about the
woman in the street, she's upset
about you almost missing
Thanksgiving. We didn't know if you
were coming or not.
LB
Happy Thanksgiving, darling.
Conversation over. LB turns to Mike the doorman, heading out.
LB
Mike, please stay. JAMIE
Daddy...
MIKE
Thanks, I gotta go back down.
LB
Jamie, can you please take JAMIE
care of Mike... Of course, yeah, yeah.
Jamie pulls Mike back into the party.
JAMIE
Come on, Mike. Do you want any snacks
or anything first? You're alright?
The view is good from over here.
72.
MIKE
No I'm good, I'm good. Happy
Thanksgiving.
LB continues on down the hall, slow, head hung. He chugs the
milk from the open carton.
67 67
INT. BEDROOM, DAKOTA APARTMENT, NEW YORK, NY - SAME TIME
We SEE AND HEAR the Parade outside. Felicia sits on the window
sill, smoking and waiting. A timid knock on the door.
LB (O.C.)
Darling?
FELICIA
Hmm.
We hear LB amble in and close the door behind him.
LB (O.C.)
For a second I thought, well... It
was quite a stunt that you pulled.
FELICIA LB (O.C.)
What? That was quite a stunt that
you pulled.
FELICIA
What do you mean?
LB comes in, glasses still on. They hold both sides of the
frame on opposite ends.
LB
Well, darling, you put the pillow
outside and then my slippers and the
toothpaste and a toothbrush and I
haven't seen you since. I understand
you're angry with me...
LB moves toward the bar, but knocks into the coffee table.
LB (CONT'D)
Jesus christ... But let's be
reasonable.
He puts the milk carton on the bar cart, takes off his jacket
and makes himself a drink.
FELICIA
There is a saying in Chile about
never standing under a bird that's
full of shit.
(MORE)
73.
FELICIA (CONT'D)
And I have just been living under
that fucking bird for so long, it's
actually become comedic.
LB sits on the couch.
LB
Well, I think that you are
letting your own sadness get FELICIA
the better of you -- Oh, just stop it! This has
nothing to do with me. No!
LB
Let me at least finish, let
me finish what I am going to
say! I think you are letting FELICIA
your sadness get the better No! No! This has nothing to
of you. do with me. It's about you.
So you should love it!
LB
Okay...
LB goes for the milk again.
FELICIA
You want to be sleepless, and
depressed and sick -- you want be
all those things so you can avoid
fulfilling your obligations.
LB
What obligations?
FELICIA
To what you've been given, to the
gift you've been given. My God!
LB
Oh, please, please. The gift
comes with burdens if you
have any idea. I'm sorry to FELICIA
just admit it, but that's the Oh, the burden of feigning
truth. honesty and love? That above
all, you love people?
LB
I do love people. FELICIA
And it's from that wellspring
of love that complications
arise in your life?
74.
LB
That's exactly right. FELICIA
Wake up! Wake up! Take off
your glasses!
LB does, taking off his glasses.
FELICIA
Hate in your heart! Hate in your
heart, and anger-- for so many
things, it's hard to count-- that's
what drives you. Deep, deep anger
drives you. You aren't up on that
podium allowing us all to experience
the music the way it was intended.
You are throwing it in our faces...
LB
How dare you? How dare you. FELICIA
Oh, please, please... ...how much we will never be
able to ever understand and
by us witnessing you do it so
effortlessly, you hope that
we will know, really know,
deep in our core, how less
than we all are to you.
LB
No, that's your issue, if you
feel less than. Join the FELICIA
crowd, join the line of And it's your hubris that
people that feel `less than' kills me. You prance around
with me. with all your dewy-eyed
waiters that Harry corrals
for you, under the guise they
have something intellectual
to offer you, while you are,
dare I say, `teaching' them.
LB
Well at least my heart is open.
FELICIA
Oh my God, the audacity to say that.
Have you forgotten about the four
years where you couldn't decide if
you wanted to marry me?
LB
I think you only wanted the
idea of me, that's what I FELICIA
think, the idea. The idea of you? The idea?
75.
LB
It's like that Richard Chamberlain
movie that we saw last week and he
said `How could I ever compete with
the man that you think I am?'
LB gets up toward the bar.
FELICIA
Thank God I met Dick so that I could
fucking survive your indecision.
LB
Dick Hart. Richard Hart. Who FELICIA
fucking died, who died! Yes, who loved me. Who loved
me!
LB
Oh yeah, and he's a corpse now, and
I was the one who was a fool,
waiting outside the fucking
hospital for you like an idiot in my
truth.
Felicia finally stands, digs in.
FELICIA
Your truth is a fucking lie that
sucks up all the energy in every
room and gives the rest of us zero
opportunity to live or even breathe
as our true selves. Your truth
makes you brave and strong and saps
the rest of us of any kind of
bravery or strength. Because it's
so draining, Lenny, it's so fucking
draining to love and accept someone
who doesn't love and accept
themselves. And that's the only
truth I know about you.
They are now face to face.
FELICIA (CONT'D)
If you're not careful, you're going
to die a lonely old queen.
A beat. Then they hear Alex and Nina call out from the hall.
ALEX (O.C.) NINA
Mummy! Daddy! (O.C.)
Mom, Dad! Daddy! Look!
Knocking starts on the door...
76.
ALEXANDER (O.S.)
Snoopy's here, hurry up! NINA (O.C.)
Mummy! C'mon, you're going to
miss Snoopy!
We SEE a GIANT SNOOPY FLOAT pass the windows as it moves down
Park Avenue and in between LB and Felicia.
NINA AND ALEXANDER (O.C.)
What are you guys doing in there?
You've been in there for ages. Dad!
LB
(calls back to them)
Yes...
FELICIA
I'll go.
And she leaves him alone as the family cheers the parade and
celebration below. We stay with him alone for a beat.
68 68
INT. AVERY FISHER HALL, LINCOLN CENTER, NY - DAY (FALL 1976)
An open Thursday afternoon rehearsal, audience applause as LB
walks in from the wings. He waves, greets orchestra members.
LB
Hello! Hello, how are you? Hello.
Hello, how are you, oh wonderful.
LB walks up to the podium is in a sweater and jeans; heavier,
bearded now. LB hesitates, a bit anxious. Then --
LB (CONT'D)
What I love about these Thursday
rehearsals is that we get a chance
to talk to you about what we think
of the music. So, thank you for
coming and good afternoon. Um...
today we're studying Shostakovich's
14th, opus 135. What I realize,
about this piece, and it could be
morbid but I tend to think that it's
not, is that as death approaches, I
believe that an artist must cast off
anything that's restraining him. And
an artist must be resolute in
creating, with whatever time he has
left, in absolute freedom.
LB pauses. He looks over and we see Tommy, eyes fixated upon
LB from the wings. And then LB continues.
77.
LB
And that's why I have to do this for
myself. I have to live the rest of
my life, however long or short that
may be, exactly the way that I want,
as more and more of us are in this
day and age.
LB turns to conduct and we...
69 69
INT. SOUNDSTAGE, TELEVISION STUDIO, NEW YORK, NY - DAY
We are HIGH LOOKING DOWN onto a colorful set, a CHAMBER
ORCHESTRA forming a wave on the back wall around two circular
stages. Felicia and Mendy are in the center of one, reading
Facade (poems by Sitwell, accompaniment by Walton).
MENDY
Beelzebub called for his syllabub
In the hotel, in hell
Where Persephone first fell,
Where blue as the gendarmerie
Were the waves of the sea.
We're in the POV of a TV camera as it swoops down past the
orchestra CONDUCTOR... coming to rest close to our readers.
FELICIA
Rocking and shocking the barmaid
Like balaclava the lava
Came down from the roof,
And the sea's
Blue wooden gendarmerie...
MENDY
Took them in charge while
Beelzebub roared for his rum.
FELICIA AND MENDY
None of them come!
COLIN
And cut. Thank you, that's 15.
A bell rings, everyone breaks. Felicia turns to Mendy. The
STAGE MANAGER approaches with two aspirin and some water.
FELICIA
Oh my goodness, I don't think my
mouth has ever moved so fast.
STAGE MANAGER FELICIA
Here you are, Felicia. (taking them)
Thank you, sweet Colin.
78.
The DIRECTOR walks up. Felicia catches his eye as she takes
the aspirin.
FELICIA
I'd like to do once more if
you don't mind. DIRECTOR
Yes, of course.
As they talk, we see Cynthia O'Neal walk up from the back.
DIRECTOR
So, this thing, where...
(tapping under his chin)
Remember, if you hold the score low,
you get a better bounce up here.
FELICIA
Lower, I was doing it higher. If we
do it again, I'd love to start at
bar forty-four, and I do believe
percussion could be a little bit
quieter.
DIRECTOR
Absolutely.
He walks off as...
MENDY
Still have a headache? FELICIA
It's fine. Cynthia!
CYNTHIA
Do they realize it's only a matter
of time before you direct the
entire production?
MENDY
It's already happening, the carpet
was a different color yesterday.
FELICIA
You said I was right about MENDY
the carpet! I agree!
FELICIA
Well, I just forgot how much I love
being at work!
(to Cynthia)
We're almost finished.
CYNTHIA
Oh, the reservation can wait, this
is such a hoot, really.
79.
MENDY
Wait, I thought tonight was my night
to take you out.
FELICIA
...You both have to stop worrying
about me, I'm fine, I mean I'm
busier than ever.
CYNTHIA
Better, not "busier, although boy
that's true, isn't it? Doesn't Poor
Murderer go into previews next week?
The bell rings again.
FELICIA
God, don't remind me.
MENDY
Who said anything about worrying?
I'm just greedy to get as much of
you as I can get.
FELICIA
I'm all yours.
70 70
INT. LIVING ROOM, BUNGALOW, LOS ANGELES, CA - DAY
A party. Find LB, still bearded, in an all-white, cashmere
track suit. He sits surrounded by men, Harry and Tommy hunched
over him while he holds a serving tray of cocaine.
LB
So... you were talking about
something, what were you talking
about?
TOMMY
I was talking bout how...
what was I talking about? LB
I can't remember.
TOMMY
I was talking about how handsome
everybody looks tonight.
HARRY
Well, there are a lot of... lotta
hombres, lots tonight.
LB snorts the cocaine off the serving tray.
80.
TOMMY
Some chickens? HARRY
Some chickens.
TOMMY
That's what we call them.
HARRY
Always good with the chickens.
TOMMY
You really like the chickens. HARRY
I love the chickens.
TOMMY
I know you do.
LB
Harry, do you wanna get, Harry?
LB lifts the tray of cocaine up, over his head. Harry goes to
take the tray...
LB
No, just do it off of there. HARRY
Yeah.
Harry snorts cocaine from the tray LB holds above his head.
LB
Did you get it? TOMMY
Like a pro.
LB
It's raining down on me from
your fucking nose. It's fine, TOMMY
it's just rained down my... May I?
LB
Yeah, here you go, I'll just serve
everybody, I'll just serve....
He holds out the tray of cocaine to Tommy who promptly snorts
what's left.
71 71
INT. BATHROOM, BUNGALOW, LOS ANGELES, CA - LATER
The room dark. LB is hunched over, a phone up to his ear.
Someone opens the door, daylight pours in as do the sounds of
the living room filled with people.
LB
I'm fine, thank you. MAN (O.C.)
Oh... sorry.
81.
LB
It's okay. Don't worry about MAN (O.C.)
it, it's okay. I'm sorry, we can use the
other one.
They exit, leaving the door slightly open, leaving some light
on LB. He holds a phone to his ear. We hear Jamie's voice.
JAMIE (OVER PHONE)
Daddy...
LB (INTO PHONE)
Jesus, Jerry Robbins was right, you
can't maintain a relationship when
you're living in various hotel
rooms.
JAMIE (OVER PHONE)
You are going to start to upset me
now.
LB (INTO PHONE)
Listen, no, no, no... darling, no.
I just wanted to-- I was calling
because I wanted to ask you what
your plans are for the weekend.
Because I was thinking we're going
to be home in a couple of days and I
thought that perhaps we could all
spend it in Fairfield, you just have
to nudge Mummy, that's all.
JAMIE (OVER PHONE)
Who's we, Daddy?
LB (INTO PHONE)
No, no, no, no, I... well he's not a
monster. He's an utterly brilliant,
delightful fellow, he's my genius
little leprechaun. He not even my
type.
JAMIE (OVER PHONE)
Daddy, please don't. Daddy, please
don't talk to me about this.
LB (INTO PHONE)
Darling, I'm in awe of you.
Just silence on the other line.
LB (INTO PHONE)(CONT'D)
I love you so, Jamie. I love you.
82.
JAMIE (OVER PHONE)
I know. I know.
LB (INTO PHONE)
I'll talk to Mummy again.
JAMIE (OVER PHONE)
Okay, daddy...
72 72
INT. PALM COURT, THE PLAZA HOTEL, NEW YORK, NY - DAY
Shirley and Jamie sit opposite Felicia, cocktails half gone.
JAMIE
I don't know if you saw it, but you
did get the most wonderful mention
in the New York Times Review.
FELICIA
Oh, really?
JAMIE
Cause I kept it for you, I thought I
could run it by the...
FELICIA
Oh no, I don't want to see JAMIE
it. Oh...
FELICIA
No, I don't want, it just makes me
feel uncomfortable. But that's so
sweet. Thank you.
JAMIE
Alright.
WIDE as we take in the opulent restaurant setting, Felicia
small in the distance at a table with Shirley and Jamie.
SHIRLEY
How was Monday night?
FELICIA
Monday, no, I don't think... JAMIE
I want to talk about it. Wait, what happened on Monday
night?
FELICIA
Nothing.
SHIRLEY
Oh, your mother has a suitor.
83.
FELICIA
No, no, no... JAMIE
Oh really! No, please let's
talk about it!
FELICIA
(demurs)
I think it's enough that you are
subjected to your father's affair.
JAMIE
Oh, come on, Mummy.
FELICIA
No, I don't think we need to, but,
speaking of your father, I do have
two performances on Thanksgiving, so
I will stay at the theater and you
will eat with him at the apartment
with Nina and Alex. I think it's--
for Nina's sake, let's maintain some
semblance of normalcy.
JAMIE
Doesn't feel normal to me.
FELICIA
Well, I don't know what to say.
Jamie nods, capitulating. She notices the time.
JAMIE
I'm, um... I'm running late to meet
Alexander.
FELICIA
Oh, come on. JAMIE
No, I really am. And you two
clearly have something to
speak about together, so...
FELICIA
No, Jaime that's not, no, no JAMIE
don't, don't do that, don't No, no, no, I'm giving you
do that. guys space to speak about --
FELICIA
No, no, no, darling, that's JAMIE
not, that's not how we do Clearly you have things you
things when, grown ups don't want to discuss without me
do that. and I did make plans with
Alexander, so I'm going --
84.
FELICIA
No, darling, no darling. We're not
leaving like this. Look me in the
eye. I can see how cross you are and
I don't want you to go like that.
JAMIE
I'm not cross with you. FELICIA
No, I don't believe you.
JAMIE
Hold on.
(she resets)
I am not angry with you, Mummy.
A tiny smile sneaks by.
FELICIA JAMIE
You're a terrible liar. (laughing)
At least you know you can
trust me!
FELICIA
Well, that's true.
JAMIE
I'm going to clear out, alright.
I've got to make fun of Alex for not
coming to see you yet!
FELICIA JAMIE (CONT'D)
I love you. Rave about your performance a
bit.
FELICIA
Well, if you must.
Jamie gets up, gives her mother a kiss, blows one to Shirley
and then exits.
SHIRLEY
Okay, now, tell me about the suitor.
FELICIA
Oh, so yes, the suitor. So, ah well,
I was very excited, as you know. I
was very excited, as you know...
SHIRLEY
I do.
FELICIA
So we went out to lunch, not dinner.
85.
SHIRLEY
Where?
FELICIA
Cafe Carlyle, nothing fancy and I
was a little nervous, I'll admit, so
was he. So half way through the meal
he leans over and, and he asks if he
can tell me a secret. He has a
little crush, you see.
SHIRLEY
Indeed.
FELICIA
So I smiled. I blushed a little.
And I push him to tell me. He has a
crush on Mendy and he wants me to
introduce them.
SHIRLEY
Mendy Wager?
FELICIA
Mendy. Oh, don't be so surprised.
Mendy's a very handsome man.
SHIRLEY
Felicia.
Felicia trying hard not to wallow. To make light of it.
FELICIA
There I was. Blushing, butterflies,
all atremble... and, well...
(trying to joke)
Seems I'm attracted to a certain
type.
But Shirley can see how deeply devastated she is.
SHIRLEY
Listen... you know, Lenny loves you.
He really does. He's just... a man.
A horribly aging man, who cannot
just be wholly one thing. He's lost.
FELICIA
I've always known who he is.
(then)
He called me, you know.
SHIRLEY
And...?
86.
FELICIA
He wants us all to go to Fairfield
together for two weeks. He sounded
different.
SHIRLEY
Felicia...
FELICIA
No, let's not make excuses, he
didn't fail me.
SHIRLEY
Felicia.
FELICIA
No, it's, it's my own arrogance...
to think I could survive on what he
could give. It's just so ironic, I
would look at everyone, even my own
children with such pity because of
their longing for his attention. It
was sort of a banner I wore so
proudly, `I don't need, I don't
need.' And look at me now. Who's the
one who hasn't been honest? I miss
him, that child of mine.
They both just look at each other.
FELICIA (CONT'D)
Any questions?
Off Felicia, we hear the mezzo-soprano aria from Mahler's
Symphony No. 2 in C Minor, "Resurrection": V. Finale. Im Tempo
des Scherzos. The music takes us to...
73 73
EXT. ELY CATHEDRAL, CAMBRIDGESHIRE, ENGLAND - NIGHT
Establishing. Ely Cathedral, in all its glory, is lit up
against the night sky as the MUSIC CONTINUES...
74 74
INT. ELY CATHEDRAL, CAMBRIDGESHIRE, ENGLAND - NIGHT
The MUSIC CONTINUES. We are now in the Cathedral at the actual
performance of what we have been hearing, HIGH AND WIDE,
looking down at 180 chorus members, 76 orchestra players, a
packed audience and one small figure at the center of it all.
The musicians, woodwinds, percussions, brass, and strings, all
swirling together in a bombardment of sound, a sound commanded
by this LONE FIGURE -- yet we can feel his energy as he sways
and moves his body and arms and hands, both athlete and dancer
delivering us the music.
87.
CHORUS (SINGS, IN GERMAN)
I shall die to find life.
You shall rise again.
Yes, you shall rise again,
My heart, in an instant.
What you have overcome...
Shall bring you to God.
And as the music crescendos, we MOVE DOWN passing first the
chorus then the orchestra then the conductor and the audience.
We keep moving into...
75 INT. STAGE, ELY CATHEDRAL, CAMBRIDGESHIRE, ENGLAND - CONTINUOUS 75
The face of the conductor, LB, clean shaven again, for the
first time emanating sheer, unabashed ecstasy.
A purity of spirit, a clarity of purpose, harnessing the power
at being at the center -- the conduit for a symphony bringing
forth this composer's work to the hall of the cathedral and
the patrons who are bearing witness.
We can't help but think what it is to be him in this moment as
he brings Mahler's Symphony No. 2 to its conclusion...
76 76
INT. WING, ELY CATHEDRAL, CAMBRIDGESHIRE - SAME TIME
The music reaching its final note, we LAND OTS of a woman in a
blue dress, revealing...
Felicia.
The audience erupts in a frenzy of applause and a smile
crosses her face.
LB turns to bow, but just as quickly barrels off stage and
collapses onto her -- the two of them almost one single form.
LB
Darling, why did you come?
FELICIA
There's no hate. There's no hate.
There's no hate in your heart.
And after a moment, LB retracts from her, grabs her head,
kisses her forehead, kisses her again and again. He pulls away
from her and rushes back onto the stage.
LB arm in arm with his orchestra, a family, all smiles and
joy, engulfing the lens.
Off Felicia, watching, ever small in the wings, the applause
takes us to...
88.
77 77
INT. WAITING ROOM, DR. KRUGER'S OFFICE, NY, NY - DAY (JULY 1977)
LB buys time with a cigarette and a magazine, in a waiting
room. A woman enters the room from down a long hallway.
NURSE
Mr. Bernstein? You can come back
now.
LB
Oh, wonderful.
78 78
INT. EXAMINATION ROOM, DR. KRUGER'S OFFICE - CONTINUOUS
Felicia's seated on an examination table, wearing only a gown
and socks. Her clothes folded meticulously on the side table.
LB paces.
FELICIA
Want to sit down?
LB
Yes.
He sits on the examination table beside her, holds her hand,
their feet dangling off the floor. She teases him.
FELICIA
You seem like you need your blood
pressure taken.
LB
No, I'm fine, I'm fine.
FELICIA
You know Betty's coming for dinner
tonight?
LB
I didn't know that, no.
FELICIA
She is. And Mendy. Which should be
so nice. And Julia is going to go
and get fennel, which you know Betty
loves.
There's a knock at the door. Felicia calls out.
FELICIA
Come in.
DR. BERNARD KRUGER lumbers in, sets down a clipboard.
89.
DR. KRUGER
Felicia. FELICIA
Hello.
DR. KRUGER
How are you?
He sits on a stool, wheels over to Felicia and takes her hand.
DR. KRUGER
It looks like you have a tumor of
the right side of the left breast
which may have metastasized to the
lung. Given the size of the tumor, I
would recommend that we remove the
breast, the underlying muscles and
the adjacent lymph nodes, as well as
do a biopsy of the lung, which will
help us confirm whether there is
spread or not. We can do all of this
early next week, if you like.
FELICIA
...ah... LB
Yes.
FELICIA
But I'm, darling I'm starting LB
a play... It's okay, it's okay.
FELICIA
No, but I should let them LB
know. I'll let them know, we'll let
them know.
DR. KRUGER
I think your recovery will be faster
than you think it will be and we can
have you ready within about one to
two weeks, I would think.
LB
That's wonderful news.
DR. KRUGER
You'll be able to do what you need
to do.
FELICIA
Oh, goodness...
LB
And how can we be sure that the--
that we get all the cancer?
90.
DR. KRUGER LB
Well... (clears his throat)
That we get all the cancer?
DR. KRUGER
We're not going to compromise on
that for the play and you'll be--
once we take off the breast, there
will be no more local cancer. We do
have to determine about the lung,
though.
LB
And how long will the biopsy take?
DR. KRUGER
The biopsy, just minutes, and
you'll be sleeping from the other
procedure and won't --
LB
Oh, so you do the, you do the...
(he takes a beat)
You do them both at the same time.
DR. KRUGER
Yes, we do the breast and it would
be easy to do the biopsy of the
lung.
Felicia nods, looks down, then gently weeps. LB pulls her in.
LB
(to the doctor)
Thank you, we'll just need a-- thank
you.
Dr. Kruger gets up and leaves. LB holds Felicia.
LB
I know. I know.
FELICIA
I feel so ridiculous. I'm so LB
ridiculous. I know, I know... there
darling, it's okay darling.
He gets up and hugs her tight.
FELICIA
Oh, I don't really think so...
He rubs her back, the two of them clinging to each other.
91.
79 79
INT. BLACK CAR, OUTSIDE DR. KRUGER'S OFFICE, NY, NY - DAY
We're in the back as the driver opens the door. LB and Felicia
approach and he helps her in, then pauses. He leans in...
LB
Darling, let's take the park and
walk.
FELICIA
Alright.
LB
Yes?
She hesitates.
LB
Yes, let's get some air.
FELICIA
Okay.
He takes her hand and leads her back out of the darkness of
the car and into the light.
80 80
EXT. CENTRAL PARK, NEW YORK, NY - MOMENTS LATER
WIDE across a green vista, over a pond we find LB and Felicia.
He helps her sit down on the grass.
FELICIA
Oh my god.
LB
You alright?
FELICIA
No, I'm fine, something's wrong with
my knee.
LB
Oh, I have an idea.
He sits behind her, back to back like the two of them were
that day in Tanglewood all those years ago. They laugh.
Felicia lights up.
LB
Oh, is that a lighter, darling?
FELICIA
You mind your own business.
92.
LB takes it all in. We hear the clarinet open of Bernstein's
Symphony No. 2 "The Age of Anxieety", Pt. 1: A. The Prologue.
LB
I'm thinking of a number...
FELICIA
(she laughs)
Oh, I don't know. Nine.
LB
No.
FELICIA
Five.
LB
No, you have to think!
FELICIA
(laughs)
I'm trying, I'm trying to.
LB
It's two, darling.
FELICIA
Two...
LB
It's two. Like us.
FELICIA
Hmm?
LB
Like us, a pair.
FELICIA
Hmm.
LB
Two little ducks in a pond.
(then)
Throw your weight on me, darling.
FELICIA
I am. I am.
LB
That's it. Put all your weight on
me, yes, that's it. Lean your head
back, that's it.
93.
81 81
INT. SITTING ROOM, EAST HAMPTON HOUSE, LONG ISLAND, NY - DAY
Felicia. Sitting in a chair, gaunt, bald underneath a frilly,
blue cotton Kenneth mobcap, tea and tissues by her side.
CYNTHIA
Oh, my dear.
FELICIA
Hello, dears. Hello.
Cynthia, in a perm, and Mendy walk in. Felicia doesn't get up
to greet them, but they kiss her where she sits and settle in
across from her on the couch.
MENDY
Gorgeous. Missed you. FELICIA
Missed you so much.
JAMIE (O.C.)
Mummy, are you alright?
FELICIA
I'm fine.
Cynthia and Mendy sit across from her.
CYNTHIA
My dear... FELICIA
Did you have a nightmare
getting here?
CYNTHIA
Of course.
(about Mendy)
This one was driving.
FELICIA
(laughing)
Oh, no...
MENDY
I don't think we could have gone
farther east if we tried.
CYNTHIA
You know I hate driving. Oh, I wish
I'd come earlier. Is there anything
you need? Anything I can do?
FELICIA
(after a beat)
Never get another perm.
94.
MENDY
(laughs)
That's what I said!
CYNTHIA
Ramon said it was a triumph!
MENDY
It's a gigantic triumph!
Felicia laughs, which causes her to cough up phlegm. She takes
a tissue to her mouth and discards it. Cynthia pivots.
CYNTHIA
Where's, uh, where's Lenny?
FELICIA
Oh, I don't know, he's sleeping or
something.
CYNTHIA
Do you remember that, um,
that bar mitzvah that you
dragged me to, one of
Alexander's friends, the FELICIA
little... I do, the, em... oh, what was
his name? Feldman.
CYNTHIA
(nods, to Mendy)
Yes. So we're there and I'm of
course seated next to our dear
Felicia here and she looks stunning
as usual, woe is me. And Lenny's, oh
about 25 pounds lighter, yeah? And
tanned, just tanned, all in white
from head to toe, including white
patent leather shoes with no socks.
FELICIA
That was very en-vogue. MENDY
A lie.
CYNTHIA
Well, at one point Lenny, he gets
up, you know in that all-white
attire, and makes his way up to the
lectern --
Felicia coughs violently into one of her pocket squares,
interrupting Cynthia. After an awful few moments, she finishes
and, ever graceful, tucks the square away.
95.
FELICIA
No, it's fine. The... um... Lenny in
the white suit.
CYNTHIA
Yes, yes, and he's all in white, and
um, he, he goes up to the lectern
and um, you know I don't think
anyone had even asked him to speak.
FELICIA
(smiles with effort)
No.
CYNTHIA
But, it took him oh, about twenty
minutes just to walk from our table
up there, you know, stopping at
every table he passed, chit-chatting
of course, and finally he arrives up
there next to that frightened boy
and Felicia leans over to me without
missing a beat and says...
(as Felicia)
"And now we have the Bride."
Mendy laughs. And Felicia too, wincing a bit... And then,
almost if on cue, we HEAR Here Comes the Bride over piano.
Felicia and the others look over --
MENDY
He is risen!
LB is at the piano, in his pajamas and bathrobe, easily
playing a beautiful rendition of the wedding classic. Further
back, the three grown children, Jamie, 25; Alexander, 22, long
hair; Nina, 16, a brainy teen, scramble into position, walking
down the aisle with a fern haphazard as a flower bouquet.
MENDY
Oh, a production!
As the others laugh, Felicia looks on, on a different page.
82 INT. SITTING ROOM, EAST HAMPTON HOUSE, LONG ISLAND, NY - LATER 82
LB and Felicia are mid-goodbyes with Cynthia and Mendy.
LB
We'll see you. Okay. Alright, bye.
I'll see you. Love you.
Felicia can't handle it any longer. She turns away and LB
immediately comes to her.
96.
FELICIA
I don't want any more visitors. No
more, no more, I want to go to bed.
LB
Yes, okay.
LB takes her off to bed.
83 83
INT. BEDROOM, EAST HAMPTON HOUSE, LONG ISLAND, NY - DAY
LB on the phone, sitting on a sofa chair.
LB (INTO PHONE)
Yes, no. You're going to have to
cancel it. Yes. Well... no, I'm not
leaving. Well, that's out of the
question. I've had a relationship
with that orchestra for fifteen
years, I think they'll understand.
No, that's out of the-- I'm not
leaving here, Harry, you're gonna
have to figure it out. Yes. Yes,
we're doing fine.
LB hangs up. Gets up, looks down the hallway and closes the
door. We are alone with him now, for the first time. He sits
back down and pulls up the cushion and simply screams into it.
One gets the sense this is not an environment he is
comfortable with, yet he needs this isolation to process the
prospect of what life will be like without Felicia.
84 84
INT. BATHROOM, EAST HAMPTON HOUSE, LONG ISLAND, NY - DAY
Find Felicia, sitting on a closed toilet seat, pulling toilet
paper off the roll and carefully folding pieces into little,
rectangular pocket squares.
85 85
INT. BATHROOM, EAST HAMPTON HOUSE, LONG ISLAND, NY - LATER
Jamie hands a glass of water to Felicia, who forces it down.
JAMIE
Are you using the bathroom?
FELICIA
No! I can't!
JAMIE
Well, so you have to drink your
water.
97.
FELICIA
(tries to get up)
I'm trying! Oh my God, I'm freezing
cold all the time...
Jamie takes Felicia's arm, helps her up best she can.
JAMIE
Here, let me help -- FELICIA
No, I don't, I don't need
help! I don't need it. I
don't need it. Let go!
86 86
INT. FELICIA'S BEDROOM, EAST HAMPTON HOUSE - MOMENTS LATER
Felicia sits in bed with Jamie trying to tuck her in, make her
feel more comfortable.
FELICIA
Get into bed, come on, I
don't need all this fuss... JAMIE
Are the pillows alright?
FELICIA
Honestly they're fine. Come on.
Jamie climbs into bed next to her mother.
FELICIA
Just lie down. Just lie down. JAMIE
Okay.
Felicia embraces Jamie, holding her tight.
FELICIA
I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. You
know, all you need, all anyone needs
is to be sensitive to others.
Kindness. Kindness. Kindness.
Jamie, on her shoulder, takes this in.
87 87
EXT. LIVING ROOM, EAST HAMPTON HOUSE, LONG ISLAND. NY - DAY
We hear scissors snipping hair and see LB checking his watch.
LB
Darling, it's ten minutes past half
hour, did you take your medicine?
We TILT up to see Felicia in a sundress and mobcap, cutting
LB's hair...
98.
FELICIA
No, I don't...
LB
Well, how's your pain threshold?
Felicia's a bit out of it because of all the drugs she's on.
FELICIA
I think he told me not to take it.
LB
Who? Who told you?
FELICIA
Arkell.
LB
Darling, no, Arkell is not our
doctor. It's Kruger. Bernard. Arkell
was our doctor many years ago.
FELICIA
Of course, no, I don't know LB
what I'm... Maybe you should go take some
medicine. How's your pain,
are you in pain?
FELICIA
No, it's fine. Fine.
He reaches for Felicia's hand, kisses it.
LB
No pain? FELICIA
No.
LB
Okay, well, after this, take it.
CLOSE on a record player and a few records. One of them stands
out. Nina picks it up. Shirley Ellis, The Clapping Song.
LB (O.C.)
Alright? Darling, alright? FELICIA (O.C.)
No, I know... I'm
concentrating.
NINA
Look what I found.
JAMIE (O.C.)
Oh! LB
What is it?
99.
And when they see what she is holding, they excite.
LB
Oh, yes!
NINA
Speaking of childhood memories...
JAMIE
That could be a good idea. ALEX
Far more interesting.
LB
Now is it? JAMIE
Put it on.
LB
Do you remember that song, FELICIA
dear? I do, of course.
LB
You do? FELICIA
Of course!
She puts on the Shirley Ellis single and we hear the symbols
that mark the beginning of The Clapping Song.
ALEX
Do you remember the dance? FELICIA
No...
LB JAMIE
Who remembers it? (to Alex)
Do you remember the dance?
LB
Who was the...
(points to Alex)
You were the worst at it. You were
the absolute worst at it.
We go WIDE on the living room. As the music kicks in, the
three grown children start to dance. Jamie, Alexander, with
Nina jumping in. Jamie and Nina clap hands.
JAMIE
Get your hands into it.
LB smiles as he gets up, turns to Felicia and takes her hand.
She resists, but LB pulls her into a gentle dance.
LB
(to the kids)
Come here, everybody.
100.
The family comes in for a group hug, enveloping Felicia with
love, The Clapping Song playing all the while.
88 88
EXT. SEA WALL, EAST HAMPTON HOUSE, LONG ISLAND, NY - DAY
Sweet Gene runs down the sea wall at the edge of the yard
behind the house. Julia Vega comes running, waving a dish
towel frantically.
JULIA VEGA
Sweet Gene! Come here! Vamos a casa!
89 89
INT. FELICIA'S ROOM, EAST HAMPTON HOUSE - SAME TIME
Felicia lies in bed, still. A nurse sits along the wall. We
hear LB bound up the stairs.
LB (O.C.)
Where's the patient? Where is the
patient?
He comes into Felicia's room, giddy, dressed as a doctor.
LB
The doctor is here.
(noticing a nurse)
Hello, nurse, the doctor is.,,
But as he gets to the bed, he stops. Staring. At Felicia,
prone. LB steps forward. Felicia reaches for his hand. She
wants him to lie down with her. Felicia holds onto his arm.
She doesn't want him to go. He lies down beside her...
LB
I love you.
FELICIA
You smell like tuna fish. And
cigarettes.
LB
You caught me. It's horrible.
LB kisses her cheek and spoons into her. Fighting back tears.
Her breathing heavy. And as they lie there, Felicia looking
out, she slips away.
90 90
INT. FELICIA'S BATHROOM, EAST HAMPTON HOUSE - DAY
A clean POV from the upstairs bathroom window beside Felicia's
bedroom. We're looking out at the yard.
A beat. Through he window, we see Nina run out across the
lawn. Moments later, LB runs after her.
101.
He reaches her, pulls her to him. In tears, Nina buries her
head in his neck and he picks her up, carrying her back toward
the house. Alex joins, walks them back inside.
As at the open, we hear the piano beginnings of the Postlude
from A Quiet Place and we dissolve to --
91 91
EXT. SEA WALL, EAST HAMPTON HOUSE, LONG ISLAND, NY - DAY
The MUSIC CONTINUES. LB stands at the sea wall, looking out.
92 92
EXT. DRIVEWAY, EAST HAMPTON HOUSE, LONG ISLAND, NY - DAY
The MUSIC CONTINUES. We are OVER a station wagon, looking back
toward the house. LB and the kids and Julia Vega finish
packing up the cars, closing trunks and car doors, everyone
getting in to go, everyone save for Felicia.
They drive away from us as the music ends and we dissolve to --
93 93
EXT. THE SHED, TANGLEWOOD, LENOX, MA - DAY (LATE SUMMER 1989)
As when we first saw it (P.23), we see a vast lawn leading to
a theater-like structure in the distance, centered by a
phalanx of tall, evergreen trees.
We are back at Tanglewood, looking at The Shed, but now in
color. Without music. And instead of LB and Felicia walking
past us, we just hold here for a moment...
...until we hear a car in the distance. R.E.M.'s The End of
the World As We Know It on the radio. The car comes toward us.
A vintage, gold convertible Mercedes lurches up beside The
Shed, the song mentioning LB by name...
We catch the license plate (MAESTRO1) as the car comes to a
stop. A beat, then...
LB opens the door and hoists himself out of the car.
He's flamboyantly dressed in a thin t-shirt, red hoodie and
sunglasses. An assistant gets out of the car.
LB
Get the bag.
He opens the trunk as LB barrels toward...
94 94
INT. STAGE/HOUSE, THE SHED, TANGLEWOOD - MOMENTS LATER
A dozen twenty-somethings in the front rows look with awe and
reverence at LB, glasses on, who stands by the stage speaking
to a YOUNG BLACK MAN (WILLIAM), sweaty in casual clothes.
102.
LB isn't shy about putting his hand on William's shoulder as
he speaks to him. The orchestra tunes.
LB
I think the main component of this
whole piece is becoming one with not
only the timpani in the back, but
also the violins in the front. You
have to treat them all as one
organism. If you do that, if you
just work from there, then I've got
you, so don't worry. Okay? I'm right
here and I'm going to bring you
through it, okay? Here we go.
LB sits in the front row, gives William a thumbs up as he
moves to the podium. Then LB raises his hand to introduce...
LB
William, everybody!
William stands at the podium, nervous. He eyes the score,
takes a deep breath...
WILLIAM
Bar three-eleven, please.
...and after counting under his breath, he drives the
orchestra through Beethoven's Symphony No. 8 in F-Major, Op.
93 I. Allegro vivace e con brio. They're together right up
until the fermata, and then LB stands, interrupting...
LB
Okay. Sorry...
The orchestra stops.
LB
Sorry, but now that you made WILLIAM
it clear... Yes.
LB
...that you're retarding into the
fermata.
WILLIAM
Yeah, I'm just still unclear
afterwards.
LB
No, it's fine, everything's
together, but what happens
afterwards? What are you going to
do? Cause they don't know.
(MORE)
103.
LB (CONT'D)
Are you going to bleed out of it?
Are you going to drip out of it?
What are you going to do?
WILLIAM
I'll do this.
William holds up his baton to LB as if to say he's got it.
LB
Leak out of it. That's what it
sounded like.
We hear chuckles from the orchestra and small audience.
William addresses the orchestra.
WILLIAM
Fermata.
LB
Bar before.
WILLIAM
Bar before.
William again counts off under his breath then takes the
orchestra into the fermata, but as he continues...
LB
No, that's not, that's not clear.
William cuts off the orchestra.
WILLIAM
No, I didn't feel that.
(to the orchestra)
One more time, please. Sorry.
LB
Shall I...?
But William's already begun again, closing his eyes now and
trying to lead them. But as he gets past the fermata...
LB
Okay, that's very nice, that's very
nice, but that's still a bar.
LB begins to approach. William cuts off the orchestra as LB
steps onto the stage.
104.
LB
So, if I could just show you what I
think you want and then, if I'm
wrong, you'll tell me.
WILLIAM
Yes.
LB takes William's baton.
LB
So, I think you want to do, where
you want to take them is you want to
do a cutoff and an upbeat. Quarters,
I think that's what you really mean.
(to the orchestra)
Bar before the fermata.
He dives in, taking the orchestra through the same piece but
guiding them with ease. We can hear the difference.
WILLIAM
Ah, yes.
LB
Right? Did I get it? What did I do?
William smiles, starts to recite the pattern.
LB
Ah, that's what I did...
The orchestra begins to stamp its feet, akin the clapping.
LB
Oh...
(to William)
Is that for me or for you?
(it's for LB)
Oh, more! More, more, more!
LB encourages the adulation. Everyone laughs and claps.
LB
(arm around William)
That was very good. Very good. Okay,
start back here. Okay, thank you...
LB pats William on the shoulder, steps off the stage, heading
into the house. He turns back to the orchestra.
LB
Be kind to him.
105.
And as William raises his baton to try again, we hear the beat
of the electronic bass opening of Tears for Fears' Shout.
95 95
INT. SMALL THEATER, TANGLEWOOD - NIGHT
A wild party. Red cups and bottles of liquor, passed joints
hot boxing the room of students grooving to the `80s classic.
Find LB in the middle of it all, shirt unbuttoned to reveal a
hairy gray chest and that belly. His eyes almost closed as he
dances with the conducting student, William. Close. Sensual.
Then standing alone, pounding on his chest gorilla style,
free, untamed, in his element.
LB (PRELAP)
`If summer doesn't sing in you, then
nothing sings in you. And if nothing
sings in you, then you can't make
music.'
96 96
INT. LIVING ROOM, FAIRFIELD HOUSE, CONNECTICUT - DAY (1989)
We're back to where we began, LB at the piano in his Fairfield
living room, addressing the interviewer.
LB (CONT'D)
Something she told me when I was
gloomy about something and recited
this Edna St. Vincent Millay poem,
which then became Songfest. But
summer does still sing in me. Not as
strongly as it used to or as often.
But it sure does. If not, I would
have jumped into the lake long ago.
LB takes a long drag, contemplative. Then --
LB (CONT'D)
Any questions?
97 97
EXT. FAIRFIELD HOUSE, CONNECTICUT - DAY (1955, MEMORY)
IN BLACK AND WHITE.
Felicia, young, full of life, looks directly at us.
We hear LB's Chichester Psalms: II. Psalm 23.
She looks at us with a certain enigmatic allure, a timeless,
captivating smile crosses her lips before she turns away.
Over her back, a title fills the screen.
106.
"MAESTRO"
SMASH TO BLACK.
98 98
CREDIT SEQUENCE: ARCHIVAL FOOTAGE
MUSIC CONTINUES as we fade up on archival footage of the real
Leonard Bernstein, late 60s, conducting a full orchestra.
His genius on full display, emotional, brilliant.
As the conducting concludes, Bernstein blows a kiss and we...
FADE OUT.
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