The Unforgettable Summer on the Island of the Gogottes
- Script and songs by Jzin Teng and Elena Roussanova. Adapted from “Zephyr and Babar” by Jean de Bruhoff. July 10, 2024.
- Castle of Costa Mesa Summer 2024 Felting, Crafting and Puppet Show Workshop 7/8/24 – 7/12/24
- View puppet show here: https://castleofcostamesa.com/castle-of-costa-mesa-workshops-and-events/island-of-the-gogottes-summer-2024-puppet-show-workshop/
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- CastleofCostaMesa.com
Scene 1. Pascal’s Bedroom – Summer Cottage in the Country 1
Scene 3. Fishing in the Cove 2
Scene 4. Beach – The Hunt for Princess Isabelle 2
Scene 6. Cliff overlook to the Open Sea 4
Scene 7. Crustadele’s Grotto 4
Scene 8. Island of the Gogottes 5
Lyrics: Golden Helmet of Mambrino 10
Scene 1. Pascal’s Bedroom – Summer Cottage in the Country
Pascal in bed
Bird
Pascal’s school is closed for the entire summer. What fun to go home and see his family again, and how lovely to sleep in his own comfortable bed! Pascal falls asleep almost as soon as his head touches the pillow, and at dawn, a small sparrow wakes him with his song: “Trou-lala, tiou-tiou-tiou! Tidi! Tidi!”
Pascal gets up gaily, and runs to the window.
“Hello, old chap!” he says.
“Do you know what?” says the sparrow breathlessly. “There’s a big package for you at the station — on the label is written: ‘From King Babar’.”
“Maybe it’s a piano,” answers Pascal. “I won first prize in music, you know.”
Pascal hurries to the station. What a wonderful surprise! King Babar has sent him a real rowboat.
Scene 2. Beach
Boat with big bow
Father, General Huc, Princess Isabelle, soldiers, people
Pascal with fishing rod
Pascal, with his father’s help, rolls the boat by into the water. He is going to go fishing. The other children admire Pascal’s courage, for they themselves are afraid of the water.
Princess Isabelle turns to her father, General Huc, and says: “Oh, what a daredevil that fellow Pascal is!”
Scene 3. Fishing in the Cove
Pascal, boat, fishing rod
Mermaid Eleonore
What a pleasant day to be out on the water! It isn’t too long before Pascal feels a tug on his fishing line.
“What’s this I’ve caught?” Pascal asks himself, greatly surprised. And then the beautiful creature speaks:
“Oh, Mr. Human,” she says, “don’t squeeze me so hard; you’re choking me. Listen to me, I pray. I’m a tiny little mermaid, and live in the sea. I have a head and arms, just like you; but see, I have a fish’s tail. I’m accustomed to my life in the ocean waves. If you carry me off into the forest, I’ll surely die. Leave me here to swim about with my sisters. My name is Eléonore. Maybe, some day, you’ll have need of me. If so, throw three pebbles into the water, and repeat my name three times. No matter where I am, I’ll hear you and come to you. I will never forget you.”
Pascal listens to the mermaid, and then gently frees her from the fish hook. He has just let her go, but is a little sad at having lost her.
Pascal goes to bed for the night
Scene 4. Beach – The Hunt for Princess Isabelle
Pascal in bed
Newspaper boy
General Huc
Colonel Aristobald
Next morning, a most shocking news travels to Pascal. The newsboy shouts in the streets: “Extra! Extra! Princess Isabelle vanishes!”
“Poor little thing,” thinks Pascal. “It can’t be true! She was on the beach this morning when I started out to fish.”
He listens to the passersby, and this is what he hears:
Isabelle was playing in the palace gardens, when suddenly she was surrounded by a green cloud which wrapped itself around her, hiding her from her friends.
Then the cloud rose, leaving behind it a strong odor of rotting apples. The princess hasn’t been seen since.
General Huc, full of anxiety and despair, calls out his guardsmen, and gives Colonel Aristobald his orders.
“General,” this brave officer replies, “I promise we will do our very best to find your daughter, the princess.”
By air, by water, from the treetops and the mountain peaks, even through the underbrush, Aristobald and his soldiers hunt for the princess. In spite of all their efforts, they find no trace of her.
Scene 5. Pascal’s Bedroom
Make sure all 6 items are in the closets
An assistant helps Pascal keep the closet doors open or close
Pascal is the only one who doesn’t give up hope. Swiftly, he returns home, for if he is to find the princess, he must make preparations. Pascal opens the first closet in his room.
“A sword, a gun”
Pascal thinks for a moment, then closes the cupboard.
“No,” says Pascal, “not these.”
Pascal opens the second closet. This one kept even more dangerous weapons.
“… battle axe and mace”
“No,” says Pascal, “not these.” He shakes his head and moved on to the third and final closet, within it are kept his most prized possessions: his violin and clownsuit.
“Aha! Just what I need!” Pascal exclaims and takes them from the cupboard with no time to waste.
Pascal takes violin, clown suit
Now that he is equipped for his journey, Pascal starts off toward the sea.
Scene 6. Cliff overlook to the Open Sea
Pascal with violin, clown suit
On the beach, Pascal quickly finds three pebbles and throws them into the water. He calls out three times: “Eléonore, my friend, Pascal awaits you here!”
Instantly, just as she had promised, the little mermaid appears.
“Isabelle is lost! Can you help me find her?” asks Pascal.
“That will be difficult,” she answers. “But for your sake I’m willing to try. Wait here; I’ll go and get my carriage.”
Eléonore returns in her sea going shell. Assistant helps to hold seahorses
A few minutes later Pascal is happily seated in a gigantic sea-going shell. They are off! The racing seahorses pull them along speedily. Eléonore guides them toward a wild-looking island, and points it out, saying: “That’s where my Aunt Crustadele lives. Let’s visit her in her grotto; she will give us good advice.”
Scene 7. Crustadele’s Grotto
Crustadele
Black cat making potion
traveling sack, invisible robe
“My children,” said Crustadele, after listening to them in silence, “he who smells of rotting apples, he who carried off Isabelle, must be Polomoche.”
“Who is Polomoche?” asks Pascal.
“He is a monster who lives on his island with his friends the Gogottes. They live on herbs and fruits, and are not savage. But they are bored.
“From time to time, in order to amuse himself, Polomoche goes off for a trip in a little green cloud. If he meets anyone he likes, he carries them off to his cave. That’s what has happened to Isabelle. He is capricious, impatient, and has a bad habit of turning those who anger him into crystal.
Crustadele takes some freshly made potion from her cat
“Little boy, if you want to save your princess, there’s not a moment to lose. Cats! Here, take this old sack and this potion; they will prove useful.
Crustadele handed Pascal a little sack
“And remember, in order to succeed, you’ll have to make Polomoche laugh. You’ll recognize him by his ______ and _______.
“Leave at once, and good luck to you!”
Scene 8. Island of the Gogottes
Invisible sack
After a good crossing, Eléonore and Pascal land without being seen by the Gogottes. The country looks bleak, and the two friends silently take leave of each other.
”Be safe, my friend!” Says Eleonore as they part.
Pascal puts on Crustadele’s sack. It covers him and his few belongings completely, and he immediately resembles the crystals which are scattered all over the island. He walks cautiously to the top of the hill, while working out his plans.
When he gets to the top, he hears voices singing.
All:
We’re restless and rowdy, it’s making us pouty, this day has been boring and bland
If you can’t amuse us, then you’re no use to us, we’ll turn you to crystal — Cha – zam!
Polomonche:
Human, don’t bore me!
Gogotte group 1:
Tell us a story!
Gogotte group 2:
Show us some karate…
Baby Gogotte:
…or eurythmy!
Gogotte group 1:
Human, act funny! Hop like a bunny!
Gogotte group 2:
Else you’re no better than crystal to me
All:
All Gogottes present, want some entertainment
All Gogottes lament, entertain us please!
Quickly removing the sack, Pascal peeks out from behind a clump of crystals. There is Isabelle, right in the midst of the monsters!
“Little girl,” growls Polomoche, “I carried you off because I thought you’d be amusing, and here you do nothing but cry! I’ve had enough of this. I’m going to change you into a crystal!”
“Lord Polomoche, and you, Ladies and Gentlemen, permit me to salute you!” says the brave Pascal, politely, as he suddenly emerges from behind the crystals. “I am a clown-musician by profession. Pray allow me to stop here a while, to try to entertain you.”
Isabelle, recognizing him, drops her handkerchief and thinks to herself: “Ah! He has come just in the nick of time!”
Pascal begins his performance by telling a joke.
“Why was six afraid of seven?”
“Why?”
“Because Seven eight (ate) Nine!”.
Most of the Gogottes laugh, but some are not convinced.
“Boo!” shouts a rowdy Gogotte, throwing a rotten banana peel at Pascal’s head. At this, all the Gogottes cackle loudly.
“Hahaha!” calls out a Gogotte, “the silly clown-musician was hit by a rotten banana peel!”
“A rotten banana peel?” gasps Pascal, in mock disbelief. “Know thou what this really is?!”
All:
The Golden Helmet of Mambrino,
With so illustrious a past,
Too long hast thou been lost to glory,
Th’art rediscovered now at last!
Golden Helmet of Mambrino
There can be no hat like thee!
Thou and I now, ere I die now,
Will make golden history!
Pascal:
Isabella, take this potion, it will set the prisoners free
While the Gogottes are distracted, give each crystal droplets three
Isabella:
Do not worry, dearest Pascal, I will do just as you say
Once I’ve rescued all the prisoners, we’ll meet you at the bay
All:
Thou Golden Helmet of Mambrino,
Thy deeds the world will not forget,
Pascal:
Now I, the clown-musician Pascal,
Will bring thee greater glory yet!
All:
Golden Helmet of Mambrino
There can be no hat like thee.
Thou and I now, ere I die now,
Will make golden history!
Golden Helmet of Mambrino
Will make golden history!
Pretty soon, thanks to Pascal, everyone is at ease. A pleasant air of gaiety prevails. As Princess Isabelle quietly frees all the prisoners on the island who have been turned to crystal, Pascal tells the Gogottes stories: one about the rat with an elephant’s trunk; one about the blind huntsman; one about Captain Hoplala and the gun made of macaroni; and one about Percefeuille and Filigrane. Each time he finishes a tale, Polomoche and the Gogottes cry: “Tell us another! Tell us one more!”
Tired of talking, Pascal now dons his clown costume. What luck to have brought it with him!
“Presto!”
“There he is!”
“I’m now going to show you a game, ‘the chase of the magic hat’?”
Having said these words, Bang! Crash! he falls down and turns several somersaults at top speed, Polomoche bursts out laughing heartily.
“That’s fine! That’s fine!” he calls out.
“One more little stunt,” thinks the crafty Pascal, “and the time will be ripe for action. My plan is a good one. By tomorrow we will be far away.”
Then, picking up his violin, he plays waltzes and polkas, one after the other. Carried away by the music, they all jump and whirl about giddily.
At last, tired out, the Gogottes roll over in a heap to go to sleep, and start to snore peacefully.
Pascal takes off his costume and prepares to escape.
“The moment has come!” he whispers to Isabelle, and they prepare to dash off to the sea, as fast as their legs can carry them.
But alas! Pascal does not see that hidden behind Polomoche, the smallest Gogotte is still awake!
“Wait,” she calls out, “Don’t go! Sing us another song!” At this the other Gogottes awaken.
Chorus of “don’t go!”, “stay here!”, “It’s so boring on this island without you!”, etc.
“I have to go,” says Pascal, “But now that you have learned new songs and dances, you can entertain each other! There is no reason to kidnap people and turn them to crystal! That is a very bad thing to do.”
“Hmph, not turn people to crystal?” says Polomonche. “But what if they’re very boring, is it alright then?”
“No!” says Pascal.
“But what if I don’t like them because they have squeaky voices and pointy toe nails?” piped up another Gogotte. “Then, can I turn them to crystal?”
“Nay!” says Pascal.
“But what about… just on Tuesdays, birthdays, and special holidays?” asks another Gogotte.
“Never!” cries Pascal.
“I can’t remember all that!” says the baby Gogotte.
“Don’t worry!” says Pascal, “I’ll teach you a song to help you remember. This song is called ‘No, Nay, Never’.”
(1)
I’ve been a wild rover for many’s the year
and I’ve spent all me money on whiskey and beer
but now I’m returning with gold in great store
and I never will play the wild rover no more
And it’s no, nay, never
no, nay never no more
will I play the wild rover
no never no more
(2)
I went to an alehouse I used to frequent
I told the landlady my money was spent
I ask her for credit, she answered me nay
such a custom as yours I can have any day
And it’s no, nay, never
no, nay never no more
will I play the wild rover
no never no more
(3)
I brought from me pocket ten sovereigns bright
and the landlady’s eyes opened wide with delight
she said:’I have whiskeys and wines of the best
and the words that you told me were only in jest’
And it’s no, nay, never
no, nay never no more
will I play the wild rover
no never no more
(4)
I’ll go home to my parents, confess what I’ve done
and I’ll ask them to pardon their prodigal son
and when they’ve caressed me, as oft times before
I never will play the wild rover no more
And it’s no, nay, never
no, nay never no more
will I play the wild rover
no never no more
And it’s no, nay, never
no, nay never no more
will I play the wild rover
no never no more
The Gogottes are sad to see Pascal go, but they promise to —
Gogottes: “NO! NAY! NEVER!
— turn people to crystal anymore.
Scene 9. Bay by the Beach
3 mermaids
Medal for Pascal
Eléonore and her sisters are waiting in the bay to bring everyone home. As they approach their homeland, some birds see them and announce their return to General Huc. The news travels fast, and by the time they reach land, people have come from all directions to meet them at the beach. Pascal and Isabelle are warmly greeted by the enthusiastic crowd, who shower them with flowers. They say good-by to the gentle Eléonore and her sisters, who return home to the ocean.
The general congratulates Pascal in front of the soldiers of his guard, and says: “My young friend, I, General Huc, President of this Republic, am proud of you, and give you this medal so that the world may know what a brave and determined young lad you are.”
Place medal around Pascal’s neck
Scene 10. Country Cottage
After this ceremony, when Pascal goes home, his father and his mother, his sister and his brothers, all make a big fuss over him too. They are so happy to see him again that they don’t scold him for having gone off without telling them and causing them so much concern.
After starting off with this astonishing adventure, the rest of the holidays pass peacefully and happily. When Pascal returns to school, Eléonore and her sisters promise to watch over Isabelle.
“Wow!” says Pascal, thinking back over his adventures. “That truly was the most —”
All: “UNFORGETTABLE SUMMER ON THE ISLAND OF THE GOGOTTES!”
The End
Lyrics: Gogottes United
All:
We’re restless and rowdy, it’s making us pouty, this day has been boring and bland
If you can’t amuse us, then you’re no use to us, we’ll turn you to crystal — Cha – zam!
Polomonche:
Human, don’t bore me!
Gogotte group 1:
Tell us a story!
Gogotte group 2:
Show us some karate…
Baby Gogotte:
…or eurythmy!
Gogotte group 1:
Human, act funny! Hop like a bunny!
Gogotte group 2:
Else you’re no better than crystal to me
All:
All Gogottes present, want some entertainment
All Gogottes lament, entertain us please!
Lyrics: Golden Helmet of Mambrino
The Golden Helmet of Mambrino,
With so illustrious a past,
Too long hast thou been lost to glory,
Th’art rediscovered now at last!
Golden Helmet of Mambrino
There can be no hat like thee!
Thou and I now, ere I die now,
Will make golden history!
Pascal:
Isabella, take this potion, it will set the prisoners free
While the Gogottes are distracted, give each crystal droplets three
Isabella:
Do not worry, dearest Pascal, I will do just as you say
Once I’ve rescued all the prisoners, we’ll meet you at the bay
Thou Golden Helmet of Mambrino,
Thy deeds the world will not forget,
Pascal:
Now I, the clown-musician Pascal,
Will bring thee greater glory yet!
Golden Helmet of Mambrino
There can be no hat like thee.
Thou and I now, ere I die now,
Will make golden history!
Golden Helmet of Mambrino
Will make golden history!
Lyrics: Wild Rover
(1)
I’ve been a wild rover for many’s the year
and I’ve spent all me money on whiskey and beer
but now I’m returning with gold in great store
and I never will play the wild rover no more
And it’s no, nay, never
no, nay never no more
will I play the wild rover
no never no more
(2)
I went to an alehouse I used to frequent
I told the landlady my money was spent
I ask her for credit, she answered me nay
such a custom as yours I can have any day
And it’s no, nay, never
no, nay never no more
will I play the wild rover
no never no more
(3)
I brought from me pocket ten sovereigns bright
and the landlady’s eyes opened wide with delight
she said:’I have whiskeys and wines of the best
and the words that you told me were only in jest’
And it’s no, nay, never
no, nay never no more
will I play the wild rover
no never no more
(4)
I’ll go home to my parents, confess what I’ve done
and I’ll ask them to pardon their prodigal son
and when they’ve caressed me, as oft times before
I never will play the wild rover no more
And it’s no, nay, never
no, nay never no more
will I play the wild rover
no never no more Sing chorus 2x