THE TREATMENT
THE TALE
Music by Phillip Keveren
Book and Lyrics by Barbara Heimburger and Charles Lehnbeuter
In London, it was
the best of times
In Paris, it was
the worst of times
ACT ONE
To hear musical numbers, click on bolded song title
Sydney Carton, a hard-drinking, womanizing lawyer, cavorts with his rowdy pals in a local Dover pub (“Liberty!”). But when the beautiful, refined Lucie Manette enters, their crude antics come to a halt. Lucie has traveled to Dover to meet Jarvis Lorry, a London banker who will accompany her to Paris. Attracted to Lucie, Carton makes a clumsy, drunken pass at her. Realizing, however, that he was out of line, he apologizes and kisses her hand. In a watershed moment, their chemistry is undeniable.
Upon arriving in Paris, Mr. Lorry and Lucie go to Ernest Defarge’s wine shop where Lucie’s father, Doctor Alexandre Manette, waits. For eighteen years, Doctor Manette was imprisoned in the Bastille without knowing that he had a daughter (“I Never Knew of You”). Watching their reunion, Mme. Defarge, Ernest’s Defarge’s fierce wife, projects an ominous presence. This is a woman to be reckoned with.
Outside the shop, a wine cask falls off a cart and spills wine into the street. Gaspard, one of the peasants, takes a wine-soaked cloth and writes BLOOD on a wall. When Defarge sees this, he smears the word and says: “Wait until it is time. Soon, Paris will run red with blood!” While Marie, Gaspard’s six-year-old daughter, plays and sings to herself (“Frere Jacques”), Gaspard haggles
with an apple vendor. Suddenly, a fancy carriage hits the little girl and kills her. Gaspard is distraught, especially when one of the wealthy passengers exits the carriage and picks up Marie’s body. The passenger is the aristocratic Charles Darnay, son of the despised Marquis St. Evremonde. The Marquis, who is also in the carriage, is only concerned that hitting the child might have harmed his horses. Upon hearing the commotion, Lucie emerges from the wine shop, but when Darnay sees her, he tells her to return to safety. During their brief conversation, they learn that they are both leaving for England that very night.
At the Marquis’ estate, Gabelle, the estate manager, begs Darnay to help him and his family leave France. Although Darnay refuses, he promises to help Gabelle if revolution comes. Outraged by his father’s cruelty, Charles says that he intends to assume his mother’s maiden name (Darnay), renounce all claim to the Evremonde name and fortune, and move to London. The Marquis St. Evremonde decides that his son has become a liability. To handle the situation, the Marquis hires two British hoodlums, John Barsad and Roger Cly, to commit a crime while Darnay is on the boat to England and then to frame him for it. After dismissing the thugs, the Marquis enjoys a sumptuous banquet (“Have Our Cake and Eat It Too”).
The Marquis’ plan nearly works as Darnay is arrested and brought to trial (“Trial Today”). But when John Barsad identifies Darnay as the killer, Sydney Carton, one of the defense lawyers, removes his wig and reveals the physical resemblance between Darnay and himself. Totally confused, Barsad recants, and the jury acquits Darnay.
After the acquittal, Carton takes Darnay to a local tavern for a drink. At first, their encounter is polite, but it grows heated when Carton taunts Darnay about his attraction to Lucie. Disgusted with Carton’s crude manner, Darnay leaves. While sitting alone in the pub, Carton ponders whether he could change his lifestyle and win Lucie for himself (“The Glass Half Full”).
Jerry Cruncher, Mr. Lorry’s hired man, finds himself pondering life in general. Times are hard, and he needs money to feed his wife and son. To get it, Jerry has become involved in an illegal nighttime venture. Suspicious of her husband’s behavior, Mrs. Cruncher prays ceaselessly that God will intervene (“Floppin’ on ’er Knees”). Even though Jerry and his son, Young Jerry, ridicule Mrs. Cruncher, she continues to “flop.”
With new-found confidence, Sydney Carton tells Lucie that he loves her. (“The Last Dream of My Soul”). Because of his resemblance to Darnay, Carton asks Lucie whom she sees when she looks at him: Sydney Carton? Or Charles Darnay? There is no contest; Lucie is in love with Carton, and their passion ignites. But it is not to be. Promising her a “life for a life you love,” Carton turns away for fear that his reformation will be temporary. When Darnay proposes, Lucie accepts, even though Carton will always be the “last dream” of her soul.
Back in Paris, John Barsad pays a visit to Defarge’s wine shop. He brings news from London: Lucie Manette is going to marry Charles Darnay, an Evremonde by birth. Feverishly, Mme. Defarge knits Charles Darnay’s name into her death list (“Knitting”).
Shortly thereafter, Lucie and Darnay marry. As the couple says their vows, the attendees (Doctor Manette, Miss Pross, Mr. Lorry, and Sydney Carton) are awash in memories (“With This Ring”).
When the Bastille falls, Ernest Defarge and Mme. Defarge are ecstatic. Mme. Defarge and her followers, however, turn their elation into a bloodthirsty rant (“Liberty! Equality! Fraternity!”). After taking Gabelle prisoner, Mme. Defarge uses him as bait to lure Darnay to Paris. She forces Gabelle to write to Darnay and ask him to honor his promise of help.
ACT TWO
On his way to work, Jerry Cruncher decides that it’s time for Young Jerry to become his full-time helper (“The Odd-Job Man”). When a physician approaches Jerry and demands delivery of the “promised package,” Jerry tells his son that he steals corpses and sells them to doctors for money. Proudly, Jerry declares: “I’m a Resurrection Man.”
That same day, Darnay, thinking about his wonderful new life with Lucie and her father, meanders down a London street. But his happiness is short-lived when he reads Gabelle’s letter in which Gabelle begs Darnay to come to Paris and help him. Recalling his promise, Darnay knows that he must uproot his idyllic lifestyle and return to France (“Bed of Roses/The Letter”).
In Paris, the Revolutionaries herd a group of aristocrats into La Force prison. One of the prisoners is the Marquis St. Evremonde, Charles Darnay’s father. Outside the prison, Mme. Defarge and her two female cronies mock the rich and foretell their fate (“Frere Jacques”).
Mme. Defarge writes to Doctor Manette and Lucie to inform them that upon re-entering France, Darnay has been arrested. Her letter brings the doctor, Lucie, Mr. Lorry, Miss Pross, and Jerry Cruncher to Paris where Doctor Manette plans to use his reputation as a former Bastille prisoner to free Darnay. But when they arrive, an angry group of citizens taunts them (“La Guillotine Wine”).
Once more, Charles Darnay is on trial, this time in a lawless French courtroom (“Trial Today” – Reprise). Although Doctor Manette nearly persuades the judge to free Darnay, Mme. Defarge produces the doctor’s old prison diary and asks the judge to read the doctor’s final entry: “I, Alexandre Manette, in my unbearable agony, in this torturous cell, denounce the Evremondes to Heaven and to earth. God damn them all to hell.”
Doctor Manette’s diary tells of a long-ago night when the young Marquis St. Evremonde summoned the doctor to treat a dying girl and her brother, both of whom the Marquis had assaulted. After they died, the Marquis imprisoned Doctor Manette in the Bastille so that he could not report the crime. Back in the courtroom, Mme. Defarge screams that the two dead people were “My brother! My sister!” When she demands that all Evremondes die (“Never! Ever! Evremonde!”), the judge sentences Charles Darnay to the guillotine.
As Lucie starts to faint, Carton, who has followed her to Paris, steps in and carries her from the courtroom to her Paris quarters. There, in what will be their final encounter, Carton tells her that he will always love her.
At the wine shop, Carton overhears Mme. Defarge plot to accuse Doctor Manette and Lucie so that they, too, will be executed. Carton then explains his plan to Mr. Lorry. He will slip into the prison, drug Darnay, and exchange places with him. Barsad and Cly will carry Darnay to a waiting boat, which will take him and his family to England. Because of their physical resemblance, Carton believes that no one will know that he has taken Darnay’s place. He hands Mr. Lorry the necessary traveling papers and they part for the final time.
Inside Darnay’s cell, Carton’s plan proceeds. After Darnay is unconscious, Carton writes a note to Lucie and reminds her once again: “A life for a life you love.” In a contemplative sequence, Darnay, Lucie, and Carton each react to the magnitude of Carton’s upcoming sacrifice (“Reverie”).
Lusting for revenge, Mme. Defarge charges into Doctor Manette’s quarters. But Miss Pross, Lucie’s childhood nanny, confronts her. When Mme. Defarge threatens Miss Pross, the two women fight. During their struggle, Miss Pross kills Mme. Defarge with her own gun.
At the guillotine, the Marquis St. Evremonde goes to his death. Next to die is a young seamstress, whose only crime was sewing rich women’s clothes. Finally, Sydney Carton mounts the steps to the guillotine. As he climbs the stairs, he realizes that his sacrifice is “a far, far better thing” than he has ever done (“A Far, Far Better Thing”).