SYNOPSIS

I

Act 1  Evening  

The women who live in the house are sitting on the steps, complaining about the heat (no.1, introduction and ensemble, ‘Ain’t it awful the heat!’). They talk to the janitor, Henry Davis, who comes up from the cellar singing his blues song (no.2, ‘I got a marble and a star’), and they gossip about Mrs Maurrant’s love life (no.3, scene and trio, ‘Come in, come in wherever you are’). They also make fun of Daniel Buchanan, whose wife is having a baby, and sing with him ‘When a woman has a baby’ (no.4, arietta). Mrs Maurrant expresses her troubled mind and her secret desires in the aria ‘Somehow I never could believe’ (no.5). This is followed by a scene and quartet, ‘Get a load of that!’ (no.6) and the Ice-Cream Sextet (no.7, ‘First time I come to da America’). Maurrant wishes to ‘Let things be like they always was’ (no.8, aria). The young girls come home from their graduation exercises (no.9, scene and ensemble, ‘Hail to the school’, ‘Wrapped in a ribbon and tied in a bow’) and Sam Kaplan sings of adolescent melancholy (no.10, arioso). Rose Maurrant’s ‘boss’, Mr Easter, is trying to lure her into a different sort of life (no.11, scene and song, ‘Wouldn’t you like to be on Broadway’), but Rose decides to go her own way (no.12, cavatina and scene, ‘What good would the moon be’). Dick and Mae sing and dance, ‘Moon-faced, starry-eyed’ (no.13). The act ends with a love duet and ‘Finaletto’, in which Rose and Sam dream of lilac bushes and happiness (no.14, ‘Remember that I care’).

Act 2.i  The following morning  

The scene opens with the morning music, the awakening of the house and the Children’s Game (no.15, ‘Fat, Fat the Water Rat’). After a scene and trio for Maurrant, Mrs Maurrant and Rose (no.16, ‘There’ll be trouble’), Mrs Maurrant sings touchingly of her little son (no.17, ‘A boy like you’). In a passionate duet, Sam and Rose tell of their decision to take life into their own hands (no.18, ‘We’ll go away together’). This is followed by an interlude (an orchestral reprise of no.17).

Act 2.ii  Afternoon, the same day  

The two Nurse-maids are trying to sing the babies to sleep with a lullaby (no.20, ‘Sleep, baby dear’) while gossiping about their parents. The Finale (no.22) begins as Rose sees her father for the last time: he has killed his wife (but sings ‘I loved her too’) and is being taken away by the police. Rose and Sam reminisce (‘Do you remember’), but Rose realizes that she has to say goodbye to Sam too (‘Don’t forget the lilac bush’). The opera ends with a reprise of the opening ensemble.

Hinton, Steve:  Street Scene, Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy, (Accessed, 23 May 2007), http://www.grovemusic.com.