This is a synopsis I wrote of the show – if there’s anything that’s confusing, please let me know!
Act One
A 34-year-old Alex stands in a train station. He sings to a woman, who we later find out is Guilietta (Love Changes Everything).
Flashback to 17 years prior. A touring company of The Master Builder is just finishing a performance, with Rose in the leading role. The play has been poorly received, and after the performance, the cast is informed that they won’t be performing at all for the next two weeks. To distract Rose, who is understandably upset, the producer, Marcel, introduces her to Alex, then 17, who is a big fan of hers. He invites her for coffee, and she goes.
At the café, Rose and Alex talk (Parlez-vous français). When he learns of the company’s hiatus, he invites Rose to spend the two weeks with him at his villa in Pau. She is reluctant, but agrees. They meet at the train station, and take the train to Pau (Seeing is Believing).
When they arrive at the villa, they have to break in to the house because Alex has no key – the house is his uncle’s, not his. The gardener sends word of Alex’s presence to his uncle, George, who is in Paris with a young woman, Guilietta. He takes his leave of her to return to Pau.
Meanwhile, Alex and Rose are enjoying their time at the villa (Chanson d’Enfance). They explore the house, and come across one of Rose’s favourite plays, and a beautiful dress that belonged to George’s wife, who is now dead. They decide to perform the play later that evening. As they are doing so, George enters. Alex apologizes for his deception, while Rose goes to change. She re-emerges in the dress they found before, causing George to lose his composure, almost fainting.
He apologizes for his reaction, and soon he and Rose are getting along wonderfully. He decides to leave, and tells Alex to savour the time that he has with Rose (A Memory of a Happy Moment).
The next day a telegraph comes for Rose, saying she must leave to join the tour again. Alex lets her go, but after she’s gone, realizes that nobody would have known where she was to send the telegram. She must have sent it herself.
Three years pass. Alex has served his time in the army, and is on his way back to the house in Pau until he can find Rose (Everybody Loves a Hero). George’s maid greets him, and tells him George is not there, but she will get “madame”. Alex expects Guilietta, but it is Rose who appears. Furious, he accuses her of using him and being after his uncle’s money. She tells him that she did love him, but she also loves George. They spend the night together.
When Alex wakes the next morning, Rose is gone. When he finds her, she tells him to leave before George returns. He is even more angry now, and their argument mounts until he shoots her in the arm just as George arrives. Rose’s wound is tended to while George and Alex discuss what should be done (She’d Be Far Better Off With You). In the end, it is decided that Rose should be with Alex, and George leaves to go back to Guilietta. But Rose has a different plan, and tells Alex good-bye.
George and Guilietta resume their relationship in Italy (Stop, Wait, Please). Rose is brought to them, with debts piled up for George to pay. They take her in, and before long she and Guilietta are close friends. George receives word that his financial situation has been ruined, and when he tells Rose, she asks him to marry her. He accepts. They are married, and word is sent to Alex, who has rejoined the army.
Act Two
Twelve years later. Rose is performing in a hugely successful play in Paris. She has become a famous actress (Leading Lady). After the show, Marcel brings forward Alex, whom she has not seen in years. Shocked, she invites him to come home with her, to the house in Pau, to see George and their daughter Jenny.
In Pau, father and daughter eagerly await Rose’s return. George finally manages to get Jenny to bed, and wonders at the miracle of a child (Other Pleasures). Rose arrives with Alex in tow. After the initial shock, George invites him to stay, and he is introduced to Jenny.
In Italy, Guilietta composes a letter to Rose and George, saying she won’t be able to join them as planned. Another love affair of hers has taken a turn for the worse (There is More to Love).
Alex is overwhelmed by the memories and feelings that he discovers at Pau. He finds a distraction in Jenny, who has taken a keen interest in him as well (Mermaid Song). Three years pass quickly, with Alex spending a great deal of time at Pau, and especially with Jenny.
The family assembles for dinner during harvest. Alex and George want Jenny to go to school in Paris, but Rose is against the idea. She is beginning to question Alex’s motives. Jenny appears for dinner, wearing the same dress that Rose wore years before, the one that belonged to George’s wife. Alex and Rose fear George’s reaction, but he is perfectly calm. He asks Jenny to dance (The First Man You Remember).
Jenny is falling in love with Alex. Rose warns him against hurting her, but he swears he has no ill intentions. Jenny kisses him one night though, and he does nothing to prevent it. George is also getting worried. He feels Alex is trying to steal Jenny away from him.
The family goes to the circus for Jenny’s 15th birthday (Journey of a Lifetime). She and Alex are whispering together, and George loses his temper. Alex leaves, and Jenny is angry with George for making him go. Things are reaching a breaking point (Falling).
Alex goes to Jenny’s room to say goodnight to her. He can’t deny that he does have feelings for her, but he knows it’s wrong. George is frantic when he learns Alex is in her room. He has a heart attack outside Jenny’s door. Rose and Alex try to move him before Jenny finds out, but it is too late.
Guilietta gives the oration at George’s funeral (Hand Me the Wine and the Dice). George had planned his own wake, and it is a party. Jenny refuses to dance, though. Alex is finally introduced to Guilietta, who he had never met. They are instantly attracted to each other, and go off alone together.
Rose is broken-hearted by George’s death. Alex returns to the house and talks to Jenny – he tells her that there can’t be anything between them. She has seen him with Guilietta, and begs him to reconsider. Before he can go, Rose enters, and asks him to stay with her (Anything But Lonely). This time he is the one who refuses to stay, and he and Guilietta leave together.