L'Histoire
The Show
What makes life worth living? A musical of magic, revenge, and time
Synopsis
Act One · Beaune, 1452
On the night of the consecration of Les Hospices de Beaune, a mysterious woman, Madame Morelle, casts a spell upon the family Rolin to avenge her husband and three sons lost in the Hundred Years' War.
Chancellor Nicolas Rolin, his wife Guigone, their daughters Louise and Claudine, and Louise's fiancé Laurent are drawn into the spell's chaotic wake. Time fractures. Memory slips. Louise dies.
Alone with her body, Laurent is approached by Morelle: she will restore Louise's life, using three magical grape leaves, if Laurent becomes her son in a new reality. Heart-broken, he agrees. In the final moment, Morelle, already shown as accident-prone, is heard to say: "Oops."
Act Two · Beaune, Present Day
The story leaps 600 years. Laurent wakes disoriented, greeted by his new "mother." Louise wakes in a modern apartment, her sister rushing off to the museum. Guigone is being treated for dementia: she believes she is mistress of a great medieval household. Nicolas weeps without knowing why.
As the day unfolds and memory returns, Laurent and Louise find each other, and begin to fall in love again, as if for the first time. Morelle, witnessing this, remembers everything, is overcome with remorse, and visits the Rolins to beg forgiveness. She keeps her promise. She makes things right.
The World
Inspired by a Brothers Grimm fairy tale and the true story of the 15th-century Burgundian family who built Les Hospices de Beaune, a musical of magic, revenge, and time, asking the question: what makes life worth living?
The show is set at one of France's most storied venues: Les Hospices de Beaune, consecrated in 1452 and sustained to this day by proceeds from Burgundy wine.
The Score
The Company
Premiere cast and orchestra: seven principals and an ensemble of eight, with an orchestra of 24–30 musicians. Casting to be announced.