The director is drunk in the foyer Can't find the exit door And the star hears her five minute call Slumped on her bathroom floor And the paint in the green room is peeling And I'm feeling it's time to be gone Why Why Why Why must the show go on? The writer has notes for a cast Who refuses to learn its lines They stumble all over the shop Props never appear in time So they've silenced all of the critics Who said their motivation was wrong Why Why Why Why must the show go on? The producer can't rally the troops But he won't admit defeat Just when he should be cutting his losses He's casting a brand new lead He's paying off all of the judges But the world isn't singing along Why Why Why Why must the show go on? Why won't they just call it curtains? How long is a piece of string? Who'll pull the plug on the giant marquee? Why won't the fat lady sing? The circle fell down on the stalls Landed on all of us The audience streams down the aisles Ghosts in our suits of dust And that's what we get for our talking And leaving our cellphones on Why Why Why Why must the show go on? I gave my advice to the stagehand Whose never allowed to go home I said "just get out while you can" As she swept up the stage with a comb She just smiled, said "What and leave showbiz?" And I knew this circus had won Why Why Why Why must the show go on? I know this is what we all live for So no one admits they are wrong Why Why Why Why must the show go on?