Original Broadway Cast of If/Then
A Map of New York
[STEPHEN]
Think of each plaza, pier, and public park
How many sit there empty, lonely, dark
Think of it, for tomorrow's sake
Think of how you and I can make our mark
You and I
We can draw a brand-new grid
Everything that you dreamed of as a kid
Give it a year, and go with me
Soon enough, you'll say "Look what we two did"
You've always had the right dream
We've always made a tight team
Now at last you're back
Exactly where you ought to be
So let's make a map of New York you and me
[NEW YORKER]
Twenty-two Reade, a building, sidewalk, shade
[ANOTHER NEW YORKER]
Now a memory that for Beth will never fade
[BETH]
And I could be planning city sites
Where memories just like this one might be made
[WRITER]
Thirty-three Bond
Where I wrote my first book
[CHEF]
Greenwich and Moore
Where I learend how to cook
[YOUNG WOMAN]
The Center Street courts
I intern there
[BETH]
The joy of this job is everywhere I look
[MESSENGER]
That market was my first job
[ELENA]
That diner was my worst job
[THOSE SIX]
And everywhere around me are these lives I left behind
[FOREMAN]
The tunnel where I laid rail
[REALTOR]
The co-op where I made my first sale
[ALL EIGHT]
They make a map of New York in my mind
[ANNE]
Put a sticker on the map where you landed that first day
[KATE]
Put a pin on the bridge
[LUCAS]
On the train
[ANNE]
On J.F.K
[BETH]
On the street where I swore I'd afford a place some day
[KATE, ANNE, LUCAS & NEW YORKERS]
Ev'ry avenue and place
Ev'ry building, ev'ry face
Of the lovers and the friends
The beginnings and the ends
Make a map of NYC
Where I've been and who I'll be
And you'll find me
[LIZ]
And you're feeling adrift, alone, apart
Then suddenly life will somehow start
And a map of New York is written on your heart
[NEW YORKERS]
On your heart
On your heart
[BETH]
I'm too old for all that shit
To be told I'm selling out
Then again, all these years
Did I lose what I'm about?
On the street, in the cold
It's so hard to fight the doubt
[BETH & NEW YORKERS]
Then you hear the tunnel hum
With a rain about to come
And you surface to the street
And you fall into the beat
You can trace a line to me
On that map of NYC
Right where I should be
[STEPHEN]
Think of how human life will ebb and flow
[STEPHEN & BETH]
People, and how they'll come and how they'll go
Remember the things we hoped and planned
[STEPHEN]
Remember them, and believe them, and you'll know
[BETH & STEPHEN]
We'll know
[BETH, STEPHEN & NEW YORKERS]
We never walk a straight line
We never check a street sign
[BETH & STEPHEN]
But it's in the detour that we truly find our way
[STEPHEN & NEW YORKERS]
We always know the way home
[BETH & NEW YORKERS]
As long as we can stay here we're home
[BETH]
And we make a map of work
[NEW YORKERS]
Love and loss and life
[STEPHEN]
And we make a map of play
[NEW YORKERS]
We find our way
[STEPHEN & NEW YORKERS]
And we make a map of New York ev'ry day
[NEW YORKER]
Ending the night at 23rd and Third
[ANOTHER NEW YORKER]
Liz and her date
Who's hanging on every word