As Edgar Allan Poe grieves the inevitable death of his wife, he calls upon his past lover, the raven-esque Sarah Shelton, to help him cope with the grief. As she tries to comfort him, Poe struggles to discern his memories from his own tales of the grotesque. The poet must come to terms with his past before he can face his inevitable future: death. This musical uses Poe's poetry to merge together his life and his work, as he and Sarah navigate the painful memories hidden behind such classic tales as The Tell-Tale Heart, The Cask of Amontillado, and most importantly, The Fall of the House of Usher. This calls into question: "Does the artist create the art, or does the art create the artist?"
Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) has been given the false caricature of a drunk and raging madman, as written in his obituary by his rival Rufus Griswold. Since then, many have tried to clear his name and express the true character of the renowned poet. For a man who was haunted by death all his life, who saw many of his loved ones taken by consumption, who spent much of his life alone, and whose own death remains shrouded in mystery, how is it that we can dismiss the pangs of grieve and depression as madness? Book/Music by Morgan Hollingsworth
Lyrics based on the poetry of Edgar Allan Poe, Virginia Clemm, and Francis Sargent Osgood
