Something Just Broke

[HOUSEWIFE]
I was out
In the yard
Taking down the bed sheets
When my neighbor yelled across:
I remember where I was
Just exactly where I was
In the yard out back—

[OFFICE CLERK]
I was getting me a shoeshine—

[HOUSEWIFE]
—Folding sheets—

[CLERK]
—When I heard—

[COUPLE]
We were waiting for a carriage—

[CLERK]
—Newsboys—

[COUPLE]
Suddenly there's shouting in the street—

[HOUSEWIFE]
—Lizzie's sheets...

[VOICE, spoken]
"The president's been shot."

[CLERK]
I'll remember it forever—

[HOUSEWIFE]
...And I thought:

[CLERK]
—Where I was, what I was doing—

[HOUSEWIFE]
Something just broke

[VOICE, spoken]
"The president's been shot."

[CLERK]
My God—!

[HOUSEWIFE]
Something just broke

[STOCKBROCKER]
I was down at the Exchange...

[HOUSEWIFE]
Something just made a little dent

[LADY]
I'd been shopping...

[OLD MAN]
I'd been sick...

[HOUSEWIFE]
Something just broke—

[PAWNBROKER]
All I know, it was a Friday...

[HOUSEWIFE]
—Only for a moment

[OTHERS]
I remember it exactly...

[HOUSEWIFE]
Something got bent

[WAITRESS]
I'm taking the order—

[HOUSEWIFE]
Something just left a little mark

[SCHOOLBOY]
I was getting dressed...

[WAITRESS]
—Two potato soups...

[HOUSEWIFE]
Something just stirred

[VARIOUS]
And I thought—
And I thought to myself—

[WOMAN 1]
Something just woke

[VARIOUS]
And I thought—
I kept thinking

[ALL]
Something just spoke
Something I wish I hadn't heard
Something bewildering occurred
Fix it up fast
Please—
'Til it's just smoke
'Til it's only something just passed
Nothing that will last

[VARIOUS]
Where I was, what I was doing

[ALL]
Nothing but the moment
Just an awful moment
But—
Something just broke
Something just broke
Something just—

[STEPHEN SONDHEIM, spoken]
The show that's closest to exactly what the book writer and I wanted, I'd say is Assassins. Every time I see it I can't think of ways to improve it. And I can't say that about any other show.