Face to Face by Patti LuPone Lyrics

[HELENA]
Will I ever escape my shadow?
Still attached as we always were?
Her, my nemesis and my lifelong rival
Now we're fighting the world for our survival

Do I dare to breach the wall of silence
This insanity has brought us both disgrace
There's so much I would wish to ask her
For who better to appreciate my case?

Reveal what's real beneath the war paint
Just us two, talking face to face

[ELIZABETH]
Why endeavor to end the standoff?
I have nothing to learn from her
She, my enemy and my would-be equal
Dueling actresses in our umpteenth sequel

Though if only we could pool our knowledge
Make an armistice and hold the fort in place
With chaos raining down upon us
Could we reach beyond the mirror, time, and space?
And wipe away the mask of makeup
Just us two, talking face to face

[HELENA]
Does she ever stare through empty air, awake and lonely?
Regret how we came to shed each other's one and only?

[ELIZABETH]
Does she know how good I think she is, enough to goad me?
Or get how I overcame the obstacles life showed me?

Or why I moved mountains?

[HELENA]
Or why I crossed oceans?

[BOTH]
Or put my ambitions above my emotions?
The day I decided I would live the life
Life owed me
Owed me

[HELENA]
And yet, even so...

[ELIZABETH]
Yet, even so...
[BOTH]
One wonders, you know...

[ELIZABETH]
Which Impressionist is her favorite?

[HELENA]
Which French perfume does she prefer?

[ELIZABETH]
Could we possibly ever bridge the distance?

[HELENA]
Fight united for once, in coexistence

[BOTH]
Far too obstinant to man defenses
Too competitive to let her win the race

[HELENA]
We cling to our instinctive grudges

[ELIZABETH]
Like two horses in an endless steeplechase

[BOTH]
I'll wipe away the mask of makeup
[ELIZABETH]
Just to talk

[HELENA]
Not to spar

[ELIZABETH]
Man to man

[HELENA]
Queen to queen

[BOTH]
On our par
In our fall from grace
As we are
Star to star
Standing face to face