Allées du Meilhan

ACT ONE

The musical opens in the horrid squalor of the island prison Chateau d’If. The prisoners sing of their torment (DAMNATION!) One of the convicts, Edmond Dantes, becomes violent and demands to be set free. As punishment he is banished to a lower solitary dungeon, Number 34.
That night Dantes is wakened by the sound of someone digging. A stone pops out of his wall and he meets Abbe Faria, an Italian Bishop who has been in solitary confinement for years. When questioned of the crimes which brought him to Chateau d’If, Dantes sings (WHO I WAS) and in a flashback it is six years earlier and Young Edmond Dantes is seen aboard the ship Pharaon returning from Italy to Marseilles.
Upon his arrival, Dantes informs M. Morrel, the owner, that the ship’s captain died of brain fever during the voyage. The other sailors recount in song how Dantes saved their lives (SAVIOUR OF THE SHIP).
Danglars, the ship’s purser who had hoped to be made Captain, sees his dream burst as Morrel declares that Dantes will be the new Captain of the Pharaon. The sailors sing a toast (TO YOUR HEALTH!) Dantes makes a hasty exit to check up on his father. An embittered Danglers, in an attempt to claim the job of Captain, tells Morrel that Dantes made an unscheduled stop at the island of Elba, where Napoleon is kept captive by the British, and went ashore by himself.
Dantes returns to his home to find his father in very poor health. His father insists it is nothing though Edmund disagrees (BUT YOUR HEALTH). Mssr. Caderousse, a neighbor who runs a tavern and was to look after Dantes’ father in Edmund’s absence, arrives to collect a debt. Caderousse claims he continued to feed Pere Dantes even after the money Edmund had left to care for his father had run out. Edmund refuses to pay the shady innkeeper accusing him of pocketing the money and letting his father nearly starve to death. Dantes threatens to go to the authorities and report Caderousse. The innkeeper exits in a huff. Dantes begs his leave from his father so he can go meet his love, Mercedes.
In the countryside, Fernand Mondego is pressing Mercedes to marry him. She refuses his offer since she says her heart is pledged to another. Dantes arrives and Fernand exits angrily as Dantes and Mercedes sing of their love (AND SO OUR DAYS SHALL PASS).
Later that evening, Caderousse and his wife are serving the customers at their tavern (YOUR FRIEND AND NEIGHBOR). Both Danglers and Fernand are drowning their sorrow and anger in drink. Dantes and Mercedes pass by the tavern and stop to invite the two men and Caderousse to their wedding. Dantes announces he and Mercedes will go to Paris for a honeymoon. While in Paris he is going to deliver a letter the dying captain of the ship made him swear to deliver to someone. After the the happy couple has left and the tavern has closed, Caderousse, Danglars and Fernand hatch a plot to seek their revenge on Dantes (A HELPING HAND).
The next days the villagers turn out for the wedding of Dantes and Mercedes (TO HAVE AND TO HOLD). Constables show up to arrest Dantes. Before the vows are taken he is dragged away in chains to the offices of Judge de Villefort, a staunch anti-Napoleonist.
Edmund learns he has been accused in an anonymous letter of being part of a plot to help Napoleon reclaim control of France. Villefort questions Dantes about the ship’s stop on the island of Elba (THE INTERROGATION). Dantes explains he was asked by the captain who was on his deathbed to stop there and pick up a letter to be delivered to an address in Paris. Dantes swore he would carry out this mission to the dying man.
Villefort asks if Dantes knows the address and the name of the man in Paris to which it was to be delivered. Dantes tells him the name and the address, which seems to shake Villefort. Villefort asks for the letter, telling Dantes that if he reads it he can declare Dantes innocence. Dantes gives Villefort the letter which he reads. After having Dantes verify no one else has seen the contents of the letter, Villefort yells for guards and tells them to take the prisoner to Chateau d’If immediately. Protesting his innocence, Dantes is dragged from the office by soldiers.
Villefort summons his father to his office. It turns out that Monsieur Noirtier, the man to whom the letter was addressed is no other then Villefort’s father! Monsieur Noirtier is an assumed name the elder Villefort uses. Villefort berates his father for taking part in a Napoleonistic plot which would seriously undermine Villefort’s position in the government (NOTHING WILL STAND IN MY WAY).
The action shifts to back in the prison. Having told the Abbe his side of the story, Dantes despairs of ever being released. He still cannot figure out who would have framed him for a crime he did not commit. The Abbe tells him it is obvious, rather a puzzle he must put together (YOU DO THE MATH.) The Abbe asks who stood to gain from Dantes’ imprisonment.
Dantes realizes that Danglars who wanted to be Captain and Fernand who loved Mercedes and Caderousse who had misspent the money he had left for his father all had something to gain from his disappearance. He swears he will have revenge. The Abbe points out the only way to get revenge is to escape.
The Abbe teaches Dantes several languages (LIFE LESSONS) as the two of them spend the next eight years digging a tunnel through which they will escape. Finally they reach the end and everything is in place for their escape (A LIFE AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL.)
As they prepare to flee, the Abbe has a heart attack. He urges Dantes to go on without him. Dantes refuses. Touched by his friend’s devotion, the Abbe tells him of a great fortune buried on the island of Monte Cristo. He tells Dantes how to find the island and treasure. He then dies. Hearing the prison guards approaching, Dantes hurriedly returns to his cell. He later returns to find the Abbe’s body wrapped in a shroud.
Dantes decides to take the place of the Abbe and dig his way out of a shallow grave to freedom. However, when the two constables come to remove the body they tie an anchor to the bundle with Dantes in it and toss it from the cliff into the sea! After cutting himself free using the Abbe’s cross, Dantes struggles to make it to shore. Once there he vows his enemies will pay and he will have justice (SALVATION!).
ACT TWO
Dantes has been to Monte Cristo and found riches beyond his wildest dreams. He reinvents himself as The Count of Monte Cristo. Disguised as Abbe Bussino, and accompanied by Sister Marie, the Count reappears at the Inn of Caderousse, who has fallen on hard times.
”The Abbe” tells Caderousse that he has a huge diamond which was given to him when he heard the final confession of a prisoner at the Chateau D’If named Edmund Dantes. Dantes entrusted the priest to deliver the diamond to be divided up between his father and his old friends Morrel, Villefort, Danglers and Fernand.
Madame Caderousse warns her husband to be quiet but he is drunk and reveals (NO FRIENDS OR NEIGHBORS) that Dantes’ father has died; that Morrel, whose shipping business is in trouble, tried to have Dantes freed and took care of Pere Dantes till his death; that Villefort has gotten wealthier and is entrenched in Parisian society, despite his father having been arrested when his father was discovered to be a Bonapartist who used the name “Noirtier”; and worst of all Mercedes has married Fernand who is now the Count de Morcerf.
Having learned what he needed to know, Dantes departs and leaves the diamond with Caderousse whose wife is overjoyed that their financial problems are over. He kills her, vowing to lead a high life from that point on (THE HEN THAT PECKS.)
Two years later in Rome, Albert de Morcerf, the son of Mercedes and Fernand, is visiting his friend Franz d’Epinay. Maximilien Morrel shows up and tells them that miraculously his father’s shipping business was saved by an anonymous financial gift.
Franz tries to train the two other young men the art of being a proper young man of breeding (CLOTHES MAKE THE MAN). Taking his leave from Franz , Albert is the victim of an attempted kidnapping by a masked man on the street. The Count happens by and rescues the young man and the assailant escapes. Albert introduces himself and offers his gratitude to his savior. When he learns the Count has a home in Paris he insists the Count pay a call on the Morcerf family when he returns to France so they can express their thanks.
The Count returns to his hotel in Rome to congratulate Bertuccio, his butler who was the masked assailant, on a job well done. The Count’s beautiful Greek serving girl, Haydée, appears and offers to make the Count’s evening an enjoyable one but he declines the offer and leaves. Left alone she sings of her unrequited love (ONLY HIM, LONELY ME.)
Back in Paris, The Count is presented to Albert’s parents. Fernand Mondego is now the wealthy Count de Morcerf, having purchased the title with riches secretly gained by pillaging a community in Greece while in the army. He does not recognize the Count as Edmund Dantes, but Mercedes does. After the Count, her husband and son have left she sings of opportunities missed (THE LIFE I’LL NEVER KNOW.)
In Paris, de Villefort and his second wife, Heloise, discuss the mysterious Count of Monte Cristo who has deposited millions of dollars into the same bank where they have their money deposited. Their young son, Edouard, runs through the room destroying everything in sight. Heloise calls Valentine, de Villefort’s daughter from his first marriage in and tells her to take her younger half brother for a walk. Valentine insists she must instead leave for church and rushes out of the house to meet Maximilien Morrel, the man she loves, in a public garden (NEVER APART.)
The Count meets Danglers in a gentleman’s club. He suggests that Danglers invest some money in a venture the Count has invested heavily in. Danglers agrees, since word of the Count’s financial acumen has spread through Paris.
Bertuccio (in disguise) is trailing Heloise de Villefort and follows her into an apothecary. She is buying some poison. He strikes up a conversation with her and she tells him the poison is good for eliminating pesky household vermin. After she has purchased it and left the proprietor tells Bertuccio the poison is odorless and leaves no trace and was quite popular in wartime to assassinate people. On the street on her way home Heloise sings of her plan to do anything necessary to insure her son is the only heir to the family fortune (ANYTHING FOR HIM.)
During a brief meeting, Valentine complains to Maximilien that she is feeling sick. They encounter the Count who offers to escort Valentine home. She tells him of feeling poorly but that her step mother has been taking good care of her, bringing her tea to help her feel better. The Count suggests she not drink the next cup of tea but let him test it for poison. She refuses to believe her stepmother capable of such actions; however, she agrees to let him test it only to prove his theory is wrong.
Having made a fortune on his last tip from the Count, Danglers is beside himself with joy when the Count informs him that he is investing all his money in a new venture. Danglers contacts his banker and invests all his money in the new venture as well. (THE WORLD’S WITHIN MY REACH.)
Bertuccio (disguised as a doctor) tests a cup of tea Heloise has prepared for Valentine. It appears that the Count was right and Heloise is slowly poisoning her stepdaughter. Bertuccio tells Valentine not to fear, the Count has a plan.
Caderousse shows up trying to blackmail Villefort about his part in the plot against Edmund Dantes. Such a scandal could ruin Villefort politically and socially. Villefort threatens Caderousse, telling him he is friends with the Count of Monte Cristo, one of the most powerful men in Paris and that he never wants to see Caderousse ever again or something bad will happen to the ex-innkeeper.
Later that evening, Caderousse arrives at the Count’s home with a letter outlining Villefort’s part in sending an innocent man to jail years ago. The Count thanks him for the letter and then reveals he is really Edmund Dantes (GUESS WHO I AM.) Caderousse has a heart attack and dies. One down, three to go.
The next evening all is prepared for a dinner the Count is hosting for the Villeforts and Danglers. The guests arrive (THE DINNER PARTY.) Heloise insists on pouring the wine for Valentine. Valentine pretends to sip it and falls to the floor, pretending to be dying. Bertuccio (disguised as doctor) carries her seemingly dead body out. A heartbroken Maximilien and M. de Villefort follow them .
A maid enters with a hand delivered letter to the Count saying she was told it was extremely urgent. The count reads it aloud. It seems the venture in which Danglers invested all his money has failed and all the money is gone. Danglers rushes from the house and runs in front of a carriage and is killed. M. de Villefort re-enters, saying the doctor is afraid Valentine may die and sinks into the seat in which she had been seated. The Count removes the letter written by Caderousse. Villefort sees it and mistakenly grabs the poisoned glass of wine intended for Valentine. The dosage in it is strong enough that it kills him.
Madame Villefort is triumphant thinking Valentine and her husband are dead and her son is now heir to a fortune. Valentine and Maximilien enter the room and she is told that her attempts to poison her stepdaughter are known and she will go to jail for murdering her husband. She and her son are detained to wait for the authorities to arrive at the Count’s. The Count then leaves for the home of the Morcerfs, who have invited him for drinks that evening.
The Count and Haydée arrive at de Morcerf’s residence. Haydée is wearing a veil and the Count introduces her as a friend from the middle east. Over drinks, The Count tells Morcerf and Mercedes of an interesting tale (A TÊTE À TËTE) he has heard of a corrupt army officer who once was on a military campaign in Greece. Apparently a Greek Pasha surrendered his town to this army officer after being assured there would be no violence against his peo ple. The army officer accepted the terms and then killed the Pasha, raped his wife and sold their daughter into prostitution. The officer had everyone in the town slaughtered and stole all their gold and jewels to make himself wealthy.
Count de Morcerf is becoming agitated. Mercedes remarks that she finds this conversation ghoulish and sees no point for it. At this point, Haydée drops her veil and reveals that she is the daughter of the Pasha and that the Count de Morcerf is the one who slaughtered her family and raped her before selling her to a pimp. Aghast, Mercedes asks her husband if this is true. He leaves the room. A gunshot is heard. Albert comes running in to tell his mother and her guests that his father has just committed suicide. He challenges the Count of Monte Cristo to a duel the following morning when he learns the Count provoked his father’s suicide. The Count sends Haydée home and is left alone with Mercedes who pleas for her son’s life. He tells her Albert is the son of the man who ruined both their lives and he will do what he must. She throws him out of her home.
Upon arriving home, the Count learns that while Madame de Villefort and Edouard were being detained for the police to arrive, she used the poison from the apothecary to poison and kill herself and her son. Tormented, the Count spends the night wondering if he has gone too far (THE CHILDREN ARE THE FUTURE.)
The next morning before the duel, the Count tells Bertuccio he plans to shoot wide and not hit Albert. He has decided to let Albert end his life. He instructs Bertuccio to divide his estate between Maximilien and Valentine, Haydée, Mercedes and Bertuccio himself. Albert arrives and surprises the Count by dropping on his knees and asking for forgiveness. His mother has told him the whole story and he is filled with shame and sorrow for the actions of his father. He rescinds his challenge for a duel. Mercedes briefly appears to inform the Count she has donated all their money to charity to make amends for the crimes her husband committed. Albert is enlisting in the army to try to make the name Morcerf an honorable one and she herself is going to enter a convent. They sorrowfully part (AND SO OUR TIME HAS PASSED.)
The Count summons Maximilien and Valentine to his home. There he signs over the majority of his wealth to them as a wedding gift. He says he views Maximilien as the son he never had and he is happy to provide for him since Maximilien’s father tended to the Count’s father until he died while the Count was in prison.
The Count reveals that he and Haydée are to be married and that they will sail off with money to help right wrongs perpetrated against innocent people, as God would want them to do. In parting, he tells the newlyweds that the two wisest words are WAIT AND HOPE, for that is what helps people keep living. Behind him a heavenly choir takes up the song as Haydée and The Count wave good bye and board the ship which will carry them away.

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