Turning The Tables Lyrics

Musical by Ellen Schwartz and Laura I. Kramer
A Letter to Harvey Milk the Musical - Turning The Tables Lyrics


WAITER:
For centuries, the tyrants tried to starve us

SECOND WAITER:
In the shtetels and the ghettos and the pale

THIRD WAITER:
The cossacks and the clergy tried to carve us up

ALL THREE WAITERS:
So how come we’re still here to tell the tale?
The holy grail? Naah, the yiddishe kop

WAITER (spoken):
Get it? Kop—cup?

ALL THREE WAITERS:
Now, we’ve arrived at plotkin’s, jewish deli, usa
A shrine to old world delicacies that still survive today

SECOND WAITER and THIRD WAITER:
Turning, turning, turning, turning,

WAITER:
Turning the tables, turning the tables
Laughter is the enemy of tsouris

SECOND WAITER:
If you come in feeling schvah
You’ll walk out with ha-ha-ha!

THIRD WAITER:
It’s a recipe we learned from those before us

ALL THREE WAITERS:
Come by plotkin’s
Eat the carp and join the chorus

WAITER:
We are famous for our dishes

SECOND WAITER:
Latkes

THIRD WAITER:
Noodle pudding

WAITER:
Knishes

SECOND WAITER:
Our rugelach and cheesecake
Make you cry

THIRD WAITER:
Make you cry

WAITER:
And the whitefish salad, vell!
You could die from just the smell

SECOND WAITER:
Let’s talk turkey

THIRD WAITER:
Pastrami

SECOND & THIRD WAITER:
And

ALL THREE WAITERS:
Corned beef on rye

FIRST & SECOND WAITER:
And the slivovitz shots you can score on the sly

HARRY:
Waiter, why do you have your big, fat thumb on my brisket?

THIRD WAITER:
So it shouldn’t fall on the floor—again!

SECOND and THIRD WAITER:
Turning, turning, turning,
While your stomach’s churning, churning...

WAITER:
Turning the tables

SECOND and THIRD WAITER:
Turning the tables

WAITER:
The customer’s in charge? That’s what you know!

SECOND WAITER:
If you think you’re some big deal

THIRD WAITER:
Come by plotkin’s for a meal

WAITER:
You’ll tip extra for the insults when you go

ALL THREE WAITERS:
We make jokes much better than a vaudeville show

HARRY (spoken):
Waiter, I want a glass tea, and this time bring me a clean glass!

BARBARA (spoken):
Me too, a glass tea.

WAITER (spoken):
So, which one of you ordered the clean glass?

BARBARA:
Turning the tables, turning the tables
The way they did at stonewall in new york
All the queens stripped off their hose
And like the warsaw ghetto rose
To beat off billy clubs with peppermills and forks
They stonewalled all the cops, then popped the corks

(spoken) Waiter, taste my soup!

SECOND WAITER (spoken):
What are you talking? It’s the specialty of the house!

BARBARA (spoken):
Taste it anyway!

SECOND WAITER (spoken):
OK. So, where’s the spoon?

BARBARA (spoken):
Aha!

SECOND & THIRD WAITERS:
Turning, turning, turning,
While the horseradish is burning

ALL THREE WAITERS, BARBARA & HARRY:
Turning the tables, turning the tables

ALL THREE WAITERS:
Fortune is a wheel that has to spin

WAITER:
One day a boss, next day a waiter

SECOND WAITER:
Who’s to know what’s coming later?

THIRD WAITER:
One man’s loss is always someone else’s win

ALL THREE WAITERS:
Come by plotkin’s, have a nosh and watch the games begin

SECOND AND THIRD WAITER:
We will cater your bar mitzvah
Weddings, parties or a shiva
We’ll make a replica of rabbi goldberg in chopped liver

WAITER:
We’ll create a diet plate that only serves a sllver—
That costs a little extra... Why? So nu...
Because we yearn to turn the tables

FIRST AND SECOND WAITER:
We burn to turn the tables

ALL THREE WAITERS:
We’ve learned to turn the tables

ALL THREE WAITERS, BARBARA AND HARRY:
Turning, turning, turning, turning,
Turning, turning, tables

ALL THREE WAITERS:
On You!

WAITER (spoken):
You wanna order?


Songs from musical: A Letter to Harvey Milk the Musical Lyrics
Turning The Tables lyrics from A Letter to Harvey Milk


A Letter to Harvey Milk the Musical Lyrics

SYNOPSIS
Too Old For This
Thanks To Her
Since Then
Write What You See
Love, Harry
What A Shanda
Frannie's Hands
Weren't We?
Turning The Tables
Love Is A Woman
Honor Thy Daughter
No One'll Do For You
Too Close
I'm Gonna Do For You
A Letter To Harvey Milk
Thanks To Her (Reprise)
Finale