Samuel French, Inc. The House of Plays & Musical Plays for Over 175 Years

American Tales
[29031]

$8.95

ISBN 978-0-573-69619-0

Book and Lyrics by Ken Stone. Music by Jan Powell.

Musical in two acts, based on stories by classic American writers

4m, 1f

Running Time: 90 minutes plus intermission

Period costumes and set pieces, mid to late 19th century

Ovation Award nomination for Best Book/Lyrics/Music
Kleban Award winner, Libretto (Bartleby, the Scrivener)

Act I, The Loves of Alonzo Fitz Clarence and Rosannah Ethelton, is from Mark Twain's story of two people falling in love at a great distance with the aid of that brand-new invention, the telephone. Alonzo in Maine and Rosannah in California meet by the accident of crossed wires and each falls in love with an imagined ideal of the other. So complete is their self-deception that even when brought face to face they cannot recognize each other. Love is found, lost, and found again. Played as period melodrama, but the relevance to 21st century dating habits is clear.

Act II, Bartleby, the Scrivener, is dramatized from Herman Melville's slyly funny but ultimately tragic story. Building on the theme of human connections made and missed, this act takes a darker turn, looking at people who occupy the closest of quarters and yet don't really communicate at all. Bartleby, employed as a copyist in a law office of the 1840s, inexplicably begins to refuse to work, forcing his colleagues to ask themselves the transforming question that ends the play: What do we owe to the people who come into our lives?

"Excellent new musical." - Critic's Choice, LA Times

"Extraordinary ... skillful and unusually thoughtful ... succeeds brilliantly." - Variety

"Marvelous adaptations ... stylish and enthralling ... haunting score ... brilliant." - Critic's Pick, Backstage

"Striking ... absolutely first rate work.” - EDGE Los Angeles

Character Descriptions:
ACT I
ALONZO FITZ CLARENCE - a poetic soul, an idle young man transformed by true love into a tireless, steadfast lover
ROSANNAH ETHELTON - a lovely young woman of high spirits and high ideals
SIDNEY ALGERNON BURLEY an unwelcome suitor to Rosannah, a born villain
DOCTOR - a compassionate man of middle age, owner of a private madhouse in New York
UNCLE CHARLES - uncle of Rosannah, middle aged, missionary in Honolulu
MAID - (doubled by “Uncle Charles”) an old and sour retainer at Rosannah’s house

ACT II (actors double)
THE LAWYER - 55, affluent and self-satisfied
BARTLEBY - a fairly young man, enigmatic, turned almost entirely in upon himself
TURKEY - clerk, an Englishman near 60, something of a drinker
NIPPERS - clerk about 25, high-strung and restless
GINGER NUT - 12, law student, errand boy, sweeper, most often a brat

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