Welcome to the Renaissance

Plot
The opening song, Welcome to the Renaissance, introduces the audience to the setting of the musical.

Lyrics (Soundtrack).
War of the Roses, Chaucer's tales The brutal feudal system Holy Crusades, Bubonic Plague Can't say that we've really missed 'em So dark and barbaric, so dull and mundane That was so Middle Ages, that was so Charlemagne

[Pre-Chorus 1: MINSTREL (ENSEMBLE)] Welcome to the Renaissance With poets, painters, and bon vivants And merry minstrels who strolled the streets of London Strummin' their lutes (in puffy pants and pointy leather boots)

[Chorus 1: MINSTREL (ENSEMBLE)] Welcome to the Renaissance Where we ooh and ahh you with ambiance We're so progressive (the latest and the greatest) (We bring it to you) with much ado (Welcome to the Renaissance) Where everything is new

[Verse 1: ENSEMBLE (MINSTREL)] Here we've made advances in the sciences We have the latest gadgets and appliances Our mugs are made of pewter, our houses all are Tudor (Decorated with a modern flair) See us in our petticoats and farthingales Our trendy beards we trim to look like swallowtails We're called Elizabethans,

[BROTHER JERIMIAH (PURITANS)] they're all a bunch of heathens (Heathens headed straight for you-know-where).

Bridge 1: MINSTREL (ENSEMBLE)] While witches are burning and wars tend to start We bring you moments of culture and art (Culture and art)

[Chorus 2: ENSEMBLE] Welcome to the Renaissance Where our printing press has the fancy fonts That's right, we're fancy and very literary Theatrical too, it's what we do Welcome to the Renaissance Where everything is new

[Bridge 2: ENSEMBLE (MINSTREL)] Hey, look, it's Francis Bacon with a chicken, what's he making? Well, I think he's found a way of freezing meat, that's new Hey, look, it's Walter Raleigh, found a new world, by golly And he's brought us all tobacco, what a treat, also new (And we have a list of writers who are always writing something new) It's true! We do! Like who? (Like who?) (Like Dekker!) Whoo! (John Webster!) Whoo! (Ben Jonson!) Uh-huh! And Christopher Marlowe! Thomas Kyd, Thomas Middleton Thomas More (and our brightest star) Whoo! He's the bomb, the soul of the age The wiz of the Elizabethan stage He's incredible Unforgettable He's just so freakin' awesome! Shakespeare! Shakespeare!

[Bridge 3: ENSEMBLE] We love him, we love him, we love him, we love him We love him, we love him, we love him, we love him His brains are so brilliant, his writing's first-rate His acting's incredible, isn't he great? We love him, we love him, (isn't he great?) we love him, we love him We love him, we love him, we love him

[Pre-Chorus 2: ENSEMBLE (MINSTREL)] Welcome to the Renaissance Not the one in Italy or in France No, the one in England, the one where William Shakespeare Is cream of the crop (the one where William Shakespeare is the top)

[Chorus 3: ENSEMBLE (MINSTREL)] Welcome to the Renaissance (Renaissance) The 16th-century experience (Experience, yeah) In the age that's golden, the olden days are over We bid them adieu, well, Hallelu' Welcome to the Renaissance Where everything is new

[Outro: ENSEMBLE (Spoken: MINSTREL)] Everything is new Welcome to the Renaissance Everything is new (Cause "Renaissance" means rebirth)

Characters

 * The Minstrel
 * Brother Jeremiah

Trivia

 * Francis Bacon, and Thomas Middleton later appear at Shakespeare's after party, after Will Power.