Marie Christine

Marie Christine
Original cast recording
Music	Michael John LaChiusa
Lyrics	Michael John LaChiusa
Book	Michael John LaChiusa
Basis	Loosely based on Medea
Productions	1999 Broadway

Marie Christine is a musical written by Michael John LaChiusa. It opened on Broadway in 1999. Set in 1890s New Orleans and then 5 years later in Chicago; the story is loosely based on the Greek play Medea, and uses elements of voodoo rituals and practices. The title character was based in part on the historical figure of Marie Laveau – specifically, her daughter, who took the same name – and the myths surrounding them.

The musical opened on Broadway at the Vivian Beaumont Theater of Lincoln Center on December 2, 1999 and closed on January 9, 2000 after 42 performances and 39 previews. Directed and choreographed by Graciela Daniele, it starred Audra McDonald as Marie Christine, Anthony Crivello as Dante Keyes, Vivian Reed as Marie Christine's voodoo priestess mother, and Mary Testa as Magdalena.

The production was nominated for several Tony Awards, including Best Book of a Musical (LaChiusa), Best Score (LaChiusa), and Best Leading Actress in a Musical (McDonald).

Columbia Stages presented the first New York City revival, opening on March 6, 2013 through March 9th and was staged in a raw space in at 3LD Technology and Art Center directed by Raymond Zilberberg.

In New Orleans in 1899 Marie Christine, a racially mixed woman, is in prison without a trial to face death. The prisoners ask her to tell her story ("Before the Morning"). Three of the prisoners, acting as a Greek chorus, follow her as she tells of her mother, also named Marie Christine, who was a practitioner of voodoo magic and used it to help people who believed in the craft ("Mamzell' Marie"). Her mother warned her that although they know magic, they are still human and can make great mistakes ("Ton Grandpère est le Soleil (Your Grandfather Is the Sun)")