Maggie appears, and, when George defends Max's motives, Maggie is outraged. George presents Maggie with a portfolio as a wedding gift: He has bought her movie, and thus Max now works for Maggie. Maggie runs off to find Max, and George, left alone, ponders Maggie's feelings for him. At Bessie's barn on the Hudson, Max and his cohorts load the Egyptian scenery on a truck and prepare to skip town with it to California. Bessie suggests that Max's feelings for Maggie are serious, and he is upset. Maggie arrives and gloats, but, when Max makes an impassioned speech about the value of movies, Maggie lets Max keep what is now, in effect, her scenery. Max's friends are jubilant that they don't have to leave town after all and remind themselves how important they are to their boss. George throws a party at his town house following the wedding rehearsal. When Max arrives, he tells Maggie that he loves her and that she's only marrying George because "he happens to fit in with your idiot dream of yourself." Alone in the empty ballroom, Maggie acknowledges that she must face the truth about her feelings for George. At dawn on a chilly April 23, with the Egyptian sets in place, Max's long-dreamed-of epic is about to become a reality. Shooting begins with a sacrificial pyramid dance and choral chant. Lois, Max's new leading lady, quickly proves a disaster in the scenes. Maggie and George arrive, having decided to "send back an awful lot of salad bowls." A relieved Lois lets Maggie take her place in the picture, and this time George comforts Lois. But Maggie declares that only a sign from heaven would persuade her to marry Max. Although it's April, snow begins to fall in what is supposed to be a scene of intense Egyptian heat: Maggie interprets this as the heavenly sign, and she and Max embrace as the curtain falls. Ken Mandelbaum CAST - (in order of appearance) Maggie Harris Clown George Randolph Brown Max Grady Lois Lee Pete Andy Max's Assistants Bessie Deputies Chauffeur Singers and Dancers SCENES AND SETTINGS Act 1 Scene 1: Onstage, New York City, 1913. (Finale of Lazy Moon.) Scene 2: Maggie's Dressing Room. Immediately following. Scene 3: Max's Lot. Next morning. Scene 4: Outside Max's Lot. That evening. Scene 5: Max's Lot. Four days later. Scene 6: The Fat Cat Roof Garden. Later that night. Scene 7: Huckleberry Island. Several days later. Act 2 Scene 1 A Rest Home on the Mainland. Two days later. Scene 2: Bessie's Barn, up the Hudson. That afternoon. Scene 3: Ballroom, George's Town House. Scene 4: Egypt on the Hudson. Next morning.
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