''Marie Christine'' is a

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

with music, lyrics, and book by

Michael John LaChiusa Michael John LaChiusa (born July 24, 1962) is an American musical theatre and opera composer, lyricist, and librettist. He is best known for musically esoteric shows such as '' Hello Again'', '' Marie Christine'', '' The Wild Party'', and '' See W ...

. It opened on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

in 1999. While loosely based on the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

play ''

Medea In Greek mythology, Medea (; ; ) is the daughter of Aeëtes, King Aeëtes of Colchis. Medea is known in most stories as a sorceress, an accomplished "wiktionary:φαρμακεία, pharmakeía" (medicinal magic), and is often depicted as a high- ...

'', it is set in the 1890s, in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

and Chicago, and draws heavily on the biographies of (and the mythology about) a historical mother and daughter, both named

Marie Laveau Marie Catherine Laveau (September 10, 1801 – June 15, 1881)''Marie Laveau The Mysterious Voodoo Queen: A Study of Powerful Female Leadership in Nineteenth-Century New Orleans'' by Ina Johanna Fandrich was a Louisiana Creole practitioner of ...

, who were famous practitioners of voodoo.

Development

Following the success of Michael John LaChiusa's 1993 musical '' Hello Again'', which premiered at

Lincoln Center Theater The Vivian Beaumont Theater is a Broadway theatre, Broadway theater in the Lincoln Center complex at 150 West 65th Street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. Operated by the nonprofit Lincoln Center Theater (LCT ...

directed by Graciela Daniele, LaChiusa and Daniele decided to develop a new musical work based on a classic text for

Audra McDonald Audra Ann McDonald (born July 3, 1970) is an American singer and actress. Primarily known for her work on the Broadway stage, she has won six Tony Awards, more performance wins than any other actor, and is the only person to win in all four acti ...

(who won her first

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...

in the acclaimed 1994 Broadway revival of

Rodgers and Hammerstein Rodgers and Hammerstein was a theater-writing team of composer Richard Rodgers (1902–1979) and lyricist-dramatist Oscar Hammerstein II (1895–1960), who together created a series of innovative and influential American musicals. Their musical ...

's ''

Carousel A carousel or carrousel (mainly North American English), merry-go-round (International English), or galloper (British English) is a type of amusement ride consisting of a rotating circular platform with seats for riders. The seats are tradit ...

'', produced by Lincoln Center Theater). The musical was in development for three and a half years and was workshopped a handful of times before its initial staging. When a production was eventually mounted, it was at the Vivian Beaumont Theater, where it followed ''

Parade A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually some variety ...

'' - another large, new musical created at LCT and written by a young composer,

Jason Robert Brown Jason Robert Brown (born June 20, 1970) is an American musical theatre composer, lyricist, and playwright. Brown's music sensibility fuses pop-rock stylings with theatrical lyrics. He is the recipient of three Tony Awards for his work on ''Parad ...

. Both works shared similar themes and stories of racism, misogyny, and redemption in the

American South The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is census regions United States Census Bureau. It is between the Atlantic Ocean and the ...

Productions

One of the last new musicals to open in the 20th century, it opened on

at the

Vivian Beaumont Theater The Vivian Beaumont Theater is a Broadway theatre, Broadway theater in the Lincoln Center complex at 150 West 65th Street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. Operated by the nonprofit Lincoln Center Theater (LCT ...

on December 2, 1999 in a limited run and closed on January 9, 2000 after 42 performances and 39 previews. Directed and choreographed by Graciela Daniele, it starred

as Marie Christine, Anthony Crivello as Dante Keyes, Vivian Reed as Marie Christine's voodoo priestess mother, and

Mary Testa Mary Testa is an American stage and film actress. She is a three-time Tony Award nominee, for performances in revivals of Leonard Bernstein's '' On the Town'' (1998), '' 42nd Street'' (2001) and'' Oklahoma'' (2019). Early life Testa was born in P ...

as Magdalena. While billed initially as a limited run by Lincoln Center Theater, any chance of further extension of the production was severed with the theater's announcement that the musical "dance play" '' Contact'' would transfer to the Beaumont from the smaller,

Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater in March 2000. ''Contact'' would go on to play 1,010 performances and win the Tony Award for Best Musical in 2000. The production was nominated for several

s, including Best Book of a Musical (LaChiusa), Best Score (LaChiusa), and Best Leading Actress in a Musical (McDonald). An original Broadway

cast album A cast recording is a recording of a stage musical that is intended to document the songs as they were performed in the show and experienced by the audience. An original cast recording or OCR, as the name implies, features the voices of the sho ...

was released by

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic ...

following the show's closing. Columbia Stages presented the first New York City revival of the piece. Directed by Raymond Zilberberg, it ran from March 6 through March 9 of 2013 in a raw space at 3LD Technology and Art Center.

Synopsis

; Prelude (A Prison) In

in 1899, Marie Christine, a racially mixed woman, is in prison without a trial to face death. The prisoners ask her to tell her story ("Before the Morning"). Three of the prisoners, acting as a

Greek chorus A Greek chorus () in the context of ancient Greek tragedy, comedy, satyr plays, is a homogeneous group of performers, who comment with a collective voice on the action of the scene they appear in, or provide necessary insight into action which ...

, follow her as she tells of her mother, also named Marie Christine, who was a practitioner of voodoo magic and used it to help people who believed in the craft ("Mamzell' Marie"). Her mother warned her that although they know magic, they are still human and can make great mistakes ("Ton Grandpère est le Soleil (Your Grandfather Is the Sun)") ; Act I (1894) In 1894, Marie meets Dante Keyes at Blue Rose Park on

Lake Pontchartrain Lake Pontchartrain ( ; ) is an estuary located in southeastern Louisiana in the United States. It covers an area of with an average depth of . Some shipping channels are kept deeper through dredging. It is roughly oval in shape, about from w ...

, just outside of New Orleans ("Beautiful"). She is instantly drawn to him, although he is a white sea captain who, while charming, is often rude ("In An Instant"). Marie tells him of her two brothers, Jean and Paris, who are her caretakers since both her parents are dead. Their mother is held in low esteem in the brothers' eyes, due to her use of magic, which they disapprove of. Their white father left their mother and had Paris and Jean work as his servants, which made them quite wealthy. The brothers also have care of the dowry left to Marie, and they want her to marry a man worthy of her. Marie feels trapped by them. Jean is having a party later in the month to celebrate his engagement to Beatrice, a woman of class and stature befitting a man of his social standing. Both brothers are leaving for a month to resolve other matters. After they leave, Marie confides in her maid, Lisette, that women can control men if they know how ("Way Back to Paradise"). Marie is increasingly enthralled by Dante ("When You Look At a Man"), who arrogantly tells of his skills as a sea captain ("The Storm"). His ship being driven off course by a storm, its cargo of fruit has spoiled due to the time lost. He is trying to get the money he and his crew are owed, and Marie offers to get it for him. She reveals her magic and how, like her mother, she helps those who ask her for her services ("C'est L'Amour" / "To Find a Lover"). Dante is skeptical of magic, and tells her of his travels ("Nothing Beats Chicago"). Marie has never left New Orleans and wishes to explore the world. In a rare moment of vulnerability, Dante reveals the loneliness of life at sea, although when he is on land, he hears the ocean calling to him ("Ocean Is Different"). To cover up his inner feelings, Dante tells Marie of his sexual exploits, and as they dance, he seduces her and they make love in the park ("Danced With a Girl"). Lisette attempts to find Marie ("Tout Mi Mi") and Marie realizes that Dante could be her means of escaping her confining life. An apparition of her mother warns her of the dangers of giving into her passions ("Miracles and Mysteries"). Lisette discovers Marie and Dante together ("Tout Mi Mi (Reprise)") and Marie sharply orders her away. Marie invites Dante to live in her guest house while her brothers are away, and Dante reveals that he can no longer hear the ocean calling to him, as he has fallen in love with Marie ("I Don't Hear the Ocean"). A month later, Marie's servants gossip in code about Dante ("Bird Inside the House"). Paris and Jean return home and confront Marie about Dante. The town is abuzz with the scandal, and they implore her to send him away. She refuses, and Paris harshly reminds her of how their own father forced them to be servants. Paris leaves, and, alone with Marie, Jean pleads with his sister ("All Eyes Look Upon You"). She agrees to his wishes and rushes out. Lisette walks in on the servants gossiping about Dante's imminent departure and Marie's newly-discovered pregnancy. As the servants leave, Dante corners Lisette and attempts to seduce her ("Danced With a Girl (Reprise)"). As Lisette, attempting to foil Dante's advances, reveals (in French) Marie's pregnancy, Marie walks in, commands Lisette to leave, and tells Dante (who, not understanding French, still does not know that Marie is carrying his child) that he must take her with him. He initially refuses, but she reveals that she has the key to Jean's study, where her dowry is kept, so Dante agrees to bring the ship closer and return on the night of Jean's engagement party, when they will steal the money and escape to Chicago ("We're Gonna Go to Chicago"). That night, Marie finds Lisette ("Never Fall Under the Spell" / "Dansez Calinda") and vengefully casts a spell that kills her. Marie is completely in love with Dante and will do anything for him ("And You Would Lie" / "I Will Give"). At the engagement party, Marie and Dante are caught and Paris and Jean beat Dante. To save him, Marie stabs and kills Paris. Marie and Dante escape to the docks, and as they sail away, Marie wordlessly reveals that she is pregnant ("Finale of Act I"). ; Act II (1899) Marie and Dante now have two boys and have been sailing happily along the Eastern seaboard for five years ("Opening (Five Years Up and Down the Coast)" / "I Will Love You"). They finally start a home in Chicago, where Dante, always ambitious, becomes interested in entering politics. At a brothel run by Magdalena ("Cincinnati"), Dante, advised by political boss Charles Gates, campaigns for the position of alderman ("You're Looking at the Man"). Dante leaves Marie and becomes engaged to Charles Gates' daughter Helena. Dante wants to have custody of his children, but Marie will not allow it ("The Scorpion"). Dante wants Marie to leave Chicago, telling her that she will be well provided for. Marie has nowhere to go - she has killed her brother and has left her mark in New York due to Dante's gambling. She reveals how she cast a spell on the daughters of the man who cheated Dante to make them kill their father ("Lover Bring Me Summer"). Dante will not return to her, so she reminds him of her enduring love and her magic, which she can use for him or against him ("Tell Me"). Magdalena meets Marie ("Billy Was Sweet" / "There's a Rumor Going Round") and offers to help her. Marie refuses her, but Magdalena advises her to give up her children now to give her more options. Magdalena can help Marie keep her boys if Marie will help Magdalena conceive a child, which she and her husband have been unable to do ("Paradise Is Burning Down"). That night, Marie uses her magic to entangle herself with Dante and Helena - although she is not physically there, they can feel her and they engage in a dangerous ménage-à-trois ("Prison In a Prison"). Charles Gates' workers find Marie at her home and tell her she must leave ("Better and Best"). Gates himself soon appears and, using force, convinces Marie to give her boys to him ("Good Looking Woman"). Marie is worried her children will end up servants like her brothers and decides to take Magdalena up on her offer ("You Can Taste the Blood"). Marie is haunted by her family and Lisette, who tell her she has gone too far ("No Turning Back") and cannot return ("Silver Mimosa" / "Before the Morning (Reprise)"). Marie meets Dante and asks him to allow the boys to give Helena a wedding gift to show how well-brought-up they are. She admits that she will always love him, and that she is doomed to life alone, reliving her past and unable to change it ("Beautiful (Reprise)"). The boys will return to her after the wedding to say goodbye before they start their new life with Dante. Magdalena arrives with the boys and recounts the wedding ("A Lovely Wedding"). Marie gives her a gift that will allow her to conceive. Magdalena tells Marie that she has friends with whom Marie can stay, and that the boys will be brought to her within the month. Before they return to Dante, Marie wishes to bathe them, and she sings them a farewell lullaby. ("I Will Love You (Reprise)"). Dante runs in and reveals that the present Marie had given Helena turned out to be cursed and burned her alive ("Your Name"). Marie returns and Dante begs for his boys. He discovers that Marie has killed them. Horrified, Magdalena throws Marie's magic gift to the ground and runs away. Back at the prison, Marie's mother is heard, followed by the prisoners, who tell Marie that innocence has died by her hand. As dawn arrives, Marie's mother asks, “Is love too small a pain for a woman?”. Marie Christine walks towards the rising light and into the burning sun ("Finale of Act II").

Songs

; Prelude (A Prison) * "Before the Morning" – Women * "Mamzell' Marie" – Marie Christine and Company * "Ton Grandpère est le Soleil (Your Grandfather Is the Sun)" – Marie Christine's Mother ; Act I (1894) * "Beautiful" – Marie Christine * "In An Instant" - Prisoners * "Way Back to Paradise" – Marie Christine and Lisette * "When You Look At a Man" - Prisoners * "The Storm" – Dante Keyes * "C'est L'Amour" / "To Find a Lover" – Marie Christine and Company * "Nothing Beats Chicago" / "Ocean is Different" / "Danced with a Girl" – Dante Keyes * "Tout Mi Mi" – Lisette * "Miracles and Mysteries" – Marie Christine's Mother and Prisoners * "Tout Mi Mi" (Reprise) - Lisette * "I Don't Hear the Ocean" – Dante Keyes and Marie Christine * "Bird Inside the House" – Maids and Valets * "All Eyes Look Upon You" – Jean L'Adrese * "A Month Ago He Comes Here" – Maids * "Danced With a Girl" (Reprise) – Dante * "We're Gonna Go to Chicago" – Dante Keyes and Marie Christine * "Dansez Calinda" – Lisette * "And You Would Lie" - Prisoners * "I Will Give" – Marie Christine and Prisoners * "Finale of Act I" – Paris L'Adrese and Company ; Act II (1899) * "Opening (Five Years Up and Down the Coast)" / "I Will Love You" – Prisoners, Dante Keyes and Marie Christine * "Cincinnati" – Magdalena and Daughters * "You're Looking at the Man" – Leary, McMahon, Dante Keyes and Company * "The Scorpion" – Dante Keyes and Marie Christine * "Lover Bring Me Summer" – Olivia Parker and Grace Parker * "Tell Me" – Marie Christine * "Billy Was Sweet" / "There's A Rumor Going Round" - Magdalena * "Paradise is Burning Down" – Magdalena * "Prison in a Prison" – Marie Christine, Prisoners, Helena and Dante Keyes * "Better and Best" – Leary and McMahon * "Good Looking Woman" – Gates, Leary and McMahon * "You Can Taste the Blood" - Prisoners * "No Turning Back" – Paris, Mother, Jean and Lisette * "Silver Mimosa" / "Before the Morning" (Reprise) - Lisette, Marie Christine's Mother, Paris, Jean, and Prisoners * "Beautiful" (Reprise) – Marie Christine * "A Lovely Wedding" – Magdalena * "I Will Love You" (Reprise) – Marie Christine * "Your Name" – Dante Keyes * "Finale of Act II" – Women

Instrumentation

The Tony-nominated original production was orchestrated by

Jonathan Tunick Jonathan Tunick is an American orchestrator, musical director, and composer. He is best known for orchestrating the works of Stephen Sondheim, their collaboration starting in 1970 with ''Company'' and continuing until Sondheim's death in 2021. ...

for 17 musicians. * Strings: 2

Violins The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino pic ...

, 1

Viola The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...

, 1

Cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

, 1

Double Bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

Brass Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, in proportions which can be varied to achieve different colours and mechanical, electrical, acoustic and chemical properties, but copper typically has the larger proportion, generally copper and zinc. I ...

: 2

Trumpets The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard B o ...

, 2 French Horns, 1

Cornet The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B. There is also a soprano cor ...

* Keyboards: 1

Piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

Woodwinds Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the greater category of wind instruments. Common examples include flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and saxophone. There are two main types of woodwind instruments: flutes and re ...

: Reed 1:

Flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

, Bb

Clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

Piccolo The piccolo ( ; ) is a smaller version of the western concert flute and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. Sometimes referred to as a "baby flute" or piccolo flute, the modern piccolo has the same type of fingerings as the ...

, Alto Flute, Soprano Saxophone * Reed 2: Bb, Eb & A

* Reed 3: Bb

Oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double-reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common type of oboe, the soprano oboe pitched in C, ...

English Horn The cor anglais (, or original ; plural: ''cors anglais''), or English horn (mainly North America), is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family. It is approximately one and a half times the length of an oboe, making it essentially ...

* Reed 4:

Bassoon The bassoon is a musical instrument in the woodwind family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuosity ...

Bass Clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common Soprano clarinet, soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays no ...

, Bb

Percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

: (2 Players) * On-stage percussion:

Kalimba Mbira ( ; ) are a family of musical instruments, traditional to the Shona people of Zimbabwe. They consist of a wooden board (often fitted with a resonator) with attached staggered metal tines, played by holding the instrument in the hands and ...

, Caxixi, Shakers, Bones, Bamboo, Clic Clak, Floor Bells, Legs,

Ashiko The ashiko is a drum, shaped like a tapered cylinder or truncated cone with the head on the wide end, and the narrow end open. It is made of hardwood and generally has a calfskin hide. Nowadays, goatskin is sometimes used, in imitation of the h ...

, Bells, Bell Chimes, Rattle, Sleigh Bell, Chime, Ciyes, Talking Drum, Vibratone in C, Vibratone in E

Response

The production received mixed reviews.

Ben Brantley Benjamin D. Brantley (born October 26, 1954) is an American theater critic, journalist, editor, publisher, and writer. He served as the chief theater critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1996 to 2017, and as co-chief theater critic from 2017 t ...

wrote in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'': "When Audra McDonald sings her first notes as the Medea-like heroine of ''Marie Christine,'' Michael John LaChiusa's solemn, sometimes somnolent musical tragedy at Lincoln Center, there is clearly sorcery at work.... ''Marie Christine'' ... is a resounding confirmation of Ms. McDonald's status as a vocal artist of singular skills and sensibility.... As a musical portrait of an individual, ''Marie Christine'' is stunning; as a compelling, complete production, it still feels oddly unfinished. Despite ravishing orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick, the score rarely achieves much momentum or intensity on its own, and its recurrent motifs don't haunt the imagination as they should."

Michael Feingold Michael E. Feingold (May 5, 1945 – November 21, 2022) was an American critic, translator, lyricist, playwright and dramaturg. He was the lead theater critic of ''The Village Voice'' from 1982 to 2013, for which he was twice named a Pulitzer Pri ...

, reviewing for the ''

Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Ma ...

'', wrote: "Proficient, skilled, and imaginative, LaChiusa marshals an enormous panoply of approaches to tell his tale, but it doesn't hold together, even with the towering talent of Audra McDonald at its center, because the myth won't supply what he needs from it; his constantly shifting strategies only diffuse it further. Though LaChiusa's blurry conception is often conveyed in equally blurry lyrics, his music, with its constant restless invention, probably deserves a fairer hearing than it gets here. More than any new score I've heard recently, it wants unplugging."Feingold, Michael
"Women's Stresses"
, ''Village Voice'', December 7, 1999

Awards and nominations

Original Broadway production

References

External links

Internet Broadway Database listing"Michael John LaChiusa Makes the Story Sing", November 30, 1999
* ttp://www.rnh.com/show/67/Marie-Christine ''Marie Christine'' production notes, composer's notes, review summaries, song list at rnh.com {{Medea 1999 musicals Broadway musicals Musicals based on plays Works based on Medea (Euripides play) Modern adaptations of works by Euripides Musicals set in Chicago Musicals set in New Orleans Musicals set in prison