Thomas Clark

Synopsis

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Setting: A mining camp in the California Sierras during the Gold Rush, 1849.

 

ACT I – The Polka Saloon

 

At the Polka Saloon, gold miners unwind after work, playing cards and drinking whiskey. The traveling minstrel Jake Wallace sings a song so sentimental that it moves Jim Larkens to tears. The men take up a collection to send him home. The miners resume their card play, but it turns violent when Sid is caught cheating. The miners want to kill him. Sheriff Jack Rance spares Sid’s life, but marks him with shame by pinning a card on his shirt. Wells Fargo agent Ashby arrives and warns that the Mexican bandit Ramerrez is lurking in the area. Rance and Sonora argue over who will win Minnie, the saloon owner they all adore. Minnie arrives and the men calm down. All the miners declare their love for her. She gives them a bible lesson and hears of their letters from home. Rance later confesses his love to Minnie (“Minnie, I couldn’t stand my wife”) but she spurns him and recalls her happy childhood (“Down there in Soledad”).

 

A stranger, Dick Johnson from Sacramento, enters. Minnie recognizes him as someone she once met on the road, and vouches for him, though the men are suspicious. As he and Minnie dance, Castro, one of Ramerrez’s gang, is dragged in. He tricks the miners into chasing a false trail, and then secretly tells Johnson—who is actually Ramerrez—that the path is clear to rob the saloon. The men depart, and Minnie and Johnson are left alone. She tells him about her simple life and that she is still waiting for her first kiss. She shows him the miners’ hidden gold and he swears to protect it. She invites him to her cabin later that evening. When he tells her she has “the face of an angel,” she is hopelessly smitten. 

 

ACT II – Minnie’s Cabin

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Later that night in her mountain cabin, Minnie excitedly awaits for Johnson. Her servant Wowkle sings a lullaby to her baby. Her lover, Sid, admits he tried to cheat at cards so that he could provide for her and their baby. Johnson arrives and she gives in to his declarations of love. As snow falls, Minnie asks him to stay. Shots ring out. Johnson hides. Rance appears and reveals to Minnie that Johnson is really the bandit Ramerrez. Minnie scoffs at this news and the men leave. Furious and heartbroken, she confronts Johnson. He explains that he gave up the life of a bandit the day he first met her. Unmoved, Minnie orders him out. Another shot. Johnson staggers back, wounded. Minnie, still deeply in love with him, hides him. Rance returns, certain he has found his man, and searches the cabin, despite Minnie’s protests. The sheriff is about to give up when he notices fresh blood on the furniture. The wounded Johnson reveals himself and surrenders. In desperation, Minnie challenges Rance to a game of poker. If he wins, she will give herself to him; if she wins, Johnson goes free. After two hands where each has won, they play the third and decisive hand. Rance believes he has won, but Minnie has other ideas. She fakes a fainting spell and asks Rance to fetch her some water, whereupon she pulls two secretly hidden cards and lays down the winning hand, joyfully declaring victory. Rance leaves in disgust.

 

ACT III – A Clearing in the Forest

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Johnson is again on the run from Rance and his men, who relish in his eventual capture and hanging. Johnson is finally captured in the mountains and is brought back to be hanged. Rance and the miners accuse him of various crimes, all of which he denies, and they proceed to hang him. Johnson has one last request—that Minnie be told he has escaped and is free (“Let her believe that I have gained my freedom”). As the noose is readied, Minnie rides in, wielding a pistol. She reminds the miners of all she has done for them: teaching, nursing, burying their dead. She begs for Johnson’s life as payment of the debt. Moved, the miners release him, leaving the two lovers to ride away and start a new life together.