| Estie enter along with Molly, Pepper, Tessie and all the orphans |
| Estie: The king, the king…… I’ve heard so much about the king of Persia. Yeah, I think it would be great to live in a palace, but I ain’t got no parents. |
| Molly: Ain’t, ain’t a word cause it ain’t in the dictionary! |
| Pepper: Pipe down, Molly, Estie’s just makin’ a point. We get tired of hearing ‘bout all these well to do folks when we ain’t (looking at Molly) got nothing! |
| Estie: Pipe down everyone! We don’t want Hamanigan (PAUSE, BOO) to hear us! |
| Mr. Munchels enters with his hamentashen tray |
| Munchels: Hamentashen! Get your Hamentashen! I got prune, I got poppy, today I got chocolate! |
| All of the orphans hear the word chocolate and run to gather around Mr. Munchels |
| Jules: Chocolate hamentashen! I want one. |
| Isabella: I found this shiny nickel on the ground! Is that enough for one Mr. Munchels? |
| Munchels: Today happens to be your lucky day. The hamentashen are free so save your nickel and run right over here to get the one you want. |
| Isabella: Come on everyone, let’s go! |
| Hamanigan enters |
| Hamanigan: Did I hear someone say, “Rum?” (Hamanigan sees Mr. Munchels and puts on the charm). Mr. Munchels, it’s always so nice to see you and your hamentashens! |
| Munchels: Right, well… (Munchels is feeling uncomfortable) I must get going now. There are a lot of children waiting for delicious hamentashen all over the shtetel. |
| Hamanigan: Why don’t you stay for a while Mr. Munchels? |
| Orphans gather together and make kissy kissy sounds |
| Duffy: She don’t got a chance with him. |
| Pepper: No more than any of us have a chance to find our parents! |
| Munchels: Bye, bye kids! See you soon! |
| Mr. Munchels exits |
| All Orphans: Bye Mr. Munchels! |
| Hamanigan: Did I hear all of you talkin’ about findin’ your parents? None of ya’s is gonna find your parents and none of ya’s is gonna amount to nothin’ cause ya aint’ got nothin’. |
| Tessie: See Estie whadda we really got? |
| Hamanigan: I’ll tell you what you got… A closet full of mops and brooms so you all can get busy cleanin’ this place up. You're supposed to clean the bathroom and the kitchen before lunch, my little pig droppings, and if you skip the corners, there will be no lunch. And we're not having warm Goulash today... |
| All Orphans: Yay! |
| Hamanigan: We're having *cold* goulash! |
| All Orphans: Urghhhhhh! | All Orphans: Yay! | All Orphans: Yay! |
| Hamanigan: What? |
| All Orphans: We love you Miss Hamanigan (PAUSE, BOO)! |
| Hamanigan stumbles off and exits The orphans go to ‘closet’ and grab brooms and mops |
| Duffy: Ya see Estie, this is what we got. An orphanage in a Shtetel! |
| Molly: Chanukah passed and we got nothin’. I didn’t even get anything for my birthday. (pausing while thinking) Did I even have a birthday? Oh my goodness, Oh my goodness… |
| Jules: It’s not an easy life….. |
| Estie and Orphans Sing… |
| SONG: We Got Lots Of Strife (to the tune of, “It’s A Hard Knock Life”) |
| We Got Lots Of Strife All Orphans Sing |
| All Orphans: What we got is lots of strife What we got is lots of strife |
| Estie: ‘Stead of Dreidles |
| All Orphans: We get dreck |
| Estie: 'Stead of latkes |
| All Orphans: We get decked |
| All Orphans: We got lots of strife |
| All Orphans: We got tzuris don’t you know Jewish guilt we have in tow |
| Estie: We get matzo |
| All Orphans: All year long |
| Estie: Now we know why |
| All Orphans: Something’s wrong (ALL rubbing bellies) We got lots of strife |
Estie - Scene 1a - In back alley
