Napoleon is a musical by Timothy Williams and Andrew Sabiston. It has had seven productions in four languages: English, French, Korean and Dutch.
Productions The musical premiered at the Elgin Theatre in Toronto on 23 March 1994 with Jérôme Pradon as Napoleon and Aline Mowat as Josephine. It was directed by John Wood, and produced by Marlene Smith and Ernie Rubenstein, with orchestrations by David Cullen. It was nominated in 1994 for a Dora Award for Best Musical.
The show's second production opened at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London in September 2000 and ran for five months. It starred Paul Baker and Uwe Kröger as Napoleon, with Anastasia Barzee as Josephine. It was directed by Francesca Zambello and produced by Duncan Weldon, with orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick.
Work on a new version of the musical began in 2009, when director Richard Ouzounian helmed a concert version of the show in Barrie, Ontario with the story narrated by the character Talleyrand, the political mastermind who helped shape Napoleon's career. The concert starred Adam Brazier as Napoleon, Blythe Wilson as Josephine, and Cameron Mitchell Jr. as Talleyrand. This marked the reworking of the musical as a behind-the-scenes political drama with a new book and score.
The new Napoleon debuted at the New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) in July 2015, under the direction of Richard Ouzounian. The new narrative seen through the eyes of Talleyrand, shared modern parallels with the making of leaders of today.
The NYMF debut received glowing notices, praising the show as having "a phenomenal, operatic score" and being "first and foremost an emotional experience that will keep you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end". Deemed a "thrilling drama" that is "riveting, compelling, and deeply moving" its run at NYMF was sold out.
The musical has continued to change in subsequent productions:
Seoul, South Korea - A large-scale production of Napoleon ran at the Charlotte Theater from July 15 to October 22, 2017. It featured a cast of 54 including B.A.P's Daehyun and BTOB's Changsub alongside Korean musical theater stars Lim Tae Kyung, Michael Lee, Han Ji Sang and Summer Jeong. It was directed by Richard Ouzounian, orchestrated by Kim Sungsoo (the artist known for the iconic theme Pink Soldiers from Squid Game (soundtrack)), produced by Show Media Group, and performed in Korean.
Zoetermeer, Netherlands - A small-scale production of the show ran at the open-air Buytenpark Theater from June 29 to July 10, 2022. It was directed by Sebastiaan Smits, who also adapted it into Dutch.
Seoul, South Korea - A large-scale production of the show ran at the Kyung Hee University Grand Peace Palace from May 5–21, 2023. It featured an international cast from France (leads and ensemble) and Korea (dancers and chorus), and was performed in French with Korean subtitles. Laurent Bàn directed, starred as Napoleon, and wrote the French adaptation. It was produced by Park Young Seok. The cast included John Eyzen (Napoleon/Lucien), Chiara di Bari (Josephine), Tatiana Matre (Josephine/Thérèse), Christophe Cerino (Talleyrand), Jerome Collet (Talleyrand/Barras), Romain Fructuoso (Lucien), Emilien Marion (Anton), Pierre Etienne (Anton/Paoli/Barras), Anne-Marine Suire (Clarice), Mathilde Fontan (Clarice/Ensemble), Linda Latiri (Thérèse/Ensemble), Antoine Lelandais (Fouché), Eloi Horry (Garrau), Nollane (Henri), and Elisa Lys, Camille Viel, Lucas Mong-Mane, Gauthier Herbin and Rémi Torrado, as part of the ensemble. Orchestrations were once again by Kim Sungsoo.
Synopsis The musical is a behind-the-scenes account of the Corsican man who rose from nothing to become Emperor of France. It is told through the eyes of an unreliable narrator, Talleyrand, a Machiavellian career politician who latches onto the young Napoleon and places him on the throne of an empire vaster than Rome. The narrative is Talleyrand's version of events, coloured and skewed by his own opinions as he steps in and out of scenes, offering comments and manipulating the plot. He spins facts to his purpose, has things he wants the audience to know, and others he struggles to keep hidden. Talleyrand thinks he can manage the extraordinary man he’s groomed for greatness. What he isn’t prepared for is the sheer force of Napoleon’s character - and his obsession with Josephine. In the battle to come, Napoleon and Josephine will play out one of the world’s most iconic love stories, while Talleyrand will emerge as the devil incarnate.
Act I
The curtain rises on a nightmare vision of the Battle of Waterloo. Napoleon’s inability to command shocks his marshals who beg him to give the order to advance but can only watch helplessly as their troops are slaughtered (“Waterloo Opening”). This vision is revealed to be a memory of Talleyrand, first seen as a troubled old man grappling with the question of how Napoleon went from a blazing comet of passion and virtue to the ghost of a once-great man (“What’s Wrong with Him?”). The guilt Talleyrand feels for his role in that transformation consumes him. He takes us back in time to tell his story.
He introduces us to Napoleon at 24: a firebrand of shining ideals. He has returned to his native Corsica to lead an uprising against the government of Pasquale Paoli (“Throw Him Out”). Napoleon has been attending the École Militaire in Paris, witnessed the Revolution unfolding in France and wants to bring its values of equality and justice to his homeland, but his coup attempt fails, and he and his family are banished to France (“Brothers”). Napoleon’s brother, Lucien, struggles to understand why Napoleon would risk his life for a cause. Napoleon explains that in this cruel world, a vendetta against those who keep the masses oppressed is the only path to change (“Wounded”).
Napoleon and Lucien arrive to find Paris in chaos. The king has just been beheaded, law and order are non-existent, and a corrupt government led by the debauched Paul Barras is squandering the Revolution’s promise (“A Place Like Paris”). Witnessing the people’s suffering, Lucien becomes an activist. Napoleon meets Talleyrand, who is miserable in his job as Barras’ senior minister and relentlessly mocked for his physical infirmity – a withered leg which requires him to use a cane. Talleyrand has no patience for the hot-headed Napoleon, but when General Henri, the head of the army, is impressed by the military genius of Napoleon’s plan to defend Toulon against an attack by the British, Talleyrand sees an opportunity to improve his fortunes and attaches himself to Napoleon, claiming him as his protégé (“Providence”).
Napoleon’s brilliant defence of Toulon is a stunning success and Talleyrand introduces him to Parisian society, making him the toast of the town. At a ball hosted by the wealthy Thérèse Tallien, Napoleon meets her friend Rose De Beauharnais and is instantly infatuated (“The Victims’ Ball”). Rose is Barras’ mistress. Seeing her laughing and dancing with Napoleon, Barras violently orders her to leave and belittles Napoleon in front of the crowd. A penniless widow of the Revolution, Rose has been forced into this sordid liaison by her desperate circumstances. She escapes by imagining the life a fortune teller once predicted for her, that she would one day be greater than a queen (“One Day”). Thérèse promises she’ll find a man of means for her, but for now advises Rose to bide her time with Barras. Napoleon calls on Rose and tells her that if she were his he’d give her the world, though he thinks her name doesn’t suit her as well as the one he’d give her – Josephine (“Josephine”). Thérèse, finding her friend with Napoleon again, fears for her safety and encourages her to avoid him. Talleyrand worries that Barras will dismiss Napoleon from the army just as his career is taking off. He counsels his protégé to forget Rose and uses his two henchmen, FOUCHÉ and Garrau, to foment an uprising that Napoleon will be called upon to quell, making his dismissal impossible (“Vendémiaire”).
Lucien and Henri are shocked by the brutal tactics Napoleon employs to stop the uprising – using cannons on the protesters – but Barras is pleased and rewards him with a promotion that will send him away: the command of France’s Alpine border forces. Before Napoleon leaves, he invites Josephine to his humble apartments where they have an impassioned night together and fall in love (“On This First Night”). The next morning, Napoleon shares his battle plans with her. She marvels at his brilliance, believing he'll triumph. Meanwhile, Henri and the army, already on the march, gripe about Napoleon’s plans, calling them the scribblings of a madman (“The Road to Austria”). Napoleon proposes marriage and Josephine accepts. Talleyrand is incensed but they marry in haste.
Napoleon’s ambitious march over the Alps dispirits his troops. He intends to take the anti-revolutionary Austrian army by surprise, but his army, exhausted and demoralized, is convinced they’ll be slaughtered. Napoleon wins them over with a rousing appeal that begins as quiet words of encouragement to a terrified young soldier named ANTON the night before the battle (“The Dream Within”). Against all odds, Napoleon and his army are victorious.
Talleyrand is delighted when Napoleon receives a hero’s welcome from the people on his return to Paris (“The Day Is Won”). Barras is threatened by Napoleon’s popularity and orders Talleyrand to fix it. Talleyrand encourages Napoleon to stage a coup against Barras. (“The Journey Begins”). The plotting spreads across Paris. Josephine convinces Thérèse to fund the coup in payment for some unspecified trouble Thérèse caused Josephine while Napoleon was in the Alps (the details of which we will learn later). Lucien prints pamphlets to whip up the masses, Anton helps distribute them, and Henri agrees to give Napoleon the support of the army but cautions him not to abuse his trust. Henri’s daughter, CLARICE, meets and falls in love with Anton in the thrill and danger of the building plot which leads to the storming of the government council chamber (“The Eighteenth of Brumaire”). Barras’s guards quickly get the upper hand and for a moment all seems lost, but Lucien wins over the guards by swearing that his brother’s cause is just and dramatically vowing to kill him with his own sword if Napoleon ever betrays the principles of the Revolution. The guards arrest Barras, and Napoleon seizes the government, vowing to bring liberty, equality, and fraternity to all. Talleyrand celebrates over champagne with Fouché and Garrau who toast his brilliant political cunning (“A Cutthroat Game”).
Installed in the Tuileries Palace, Josephine berates Napoleon for his crassness and lack of table manners after a mortifying state dinner with the Emperor of Prussia. She sets out to teach him manners. Talleyrand waits impatiently for Napoleon to sign some pressing treaties. He resents the power Josephine holds over Napoleon, and is delighted when an assassination attempt on Napoleon kills her. This is quickly revealed to be his fantasy – Josephine has survived – but the assassination attempt was real, and it prompts Talleyrand to advise Napoleon to enshrine his power in a dynasty and become emperor. This idea is seductively irresistible to Napoleon (“I Am the Revolution”). Lucien is horrified and draws his sword to honour his vow to kill Napoleon but can’t bring himself to do it, and is imprisoned (“The Calm Before the Storm”). Talleyrand convinces Napoleon to exile Lucien, and arranges Napoleon’s coronation (“Timor Mortis”). As the crown is about to be placed on Napoleon’s head, we are privy to his thoughts and get an ominous glimpse of where absolute power will take him (“Sweet Victory Divine”).
Act II