The play opens on the day after Verdi's opera 'A MASKED BALL' had its world premiere in Rome. We're in the Italian home of famed American actress Charlotte Cushman (a notorious lesbian, noted for playing men's roles) who, with her almost all-female household, reads through a new version of this story that claims to tell the shocking, unvarnished truth about that King, that masked ball, that assassination. And Charlotte, naturally, plays the part of the King.
*
TIME: The late morning of February 18th, 1859, and the very early morning of March 16th, 1792.
PLACE: The garden terrace of a comfortable house in Rome, and the King's bedchamber in the Royal Palace of Stockholm.
*
CAST (in order of appearance):
EUGENE SCRIBE / Old Rudy / Dr. Hartley / Chief Of Police Olson -- Youthful, successful playwright/librettist
CHARLOTTE SAUNDERS CUSHMAN / King Gustav III -- Internationally famous lesbian American actress; middle-aged, living abroad
SUSAN WEBB CUSHMAN / Princess Hedvig -- Charlotte's sister; a middle-aged, attractive actress
MATILDA HAYS / Queen Sophia Magdelena -- Charlotte's companion; a middle-aged artist/sculptor of some renown
SABESTINA / Crown Prince Adolph -- Charlotte's frumpy young Italian maid/servant
EMMA STEBBINS / Count Axel Von Ferson -- Matilda's assistant; a lovely young artist/intern
LA CONTESSA DE CASTIGLIONE / Dowager Queen Louisa -- Beautiful, wealthy older woman, and longtime friend of Charlotte's
* |
