Napoleon (musical)

Napoleon is a musical by Timothy Williams and Andrew Sabiston. It premiered at the Elgin Theatre in Toronto on 23 March 1994 with Jérôme Pradon in the title role and Aline Mowat as leading lady Josephine. Directed by John Wood and orchestrated by David Cullen, it was the largest ever Canadian-created musical. It was nominated for a Dora Award for Best Musical.

The musical had a second production at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London's West End with previews from 30 September 2000. It officially opened on 13 October 2000, and starred Paul Baker and Uwe Kröger (who performed three of the eight a week in the title role), with Anastasia Barzee as Josephine. It was directed by Francesca Zambello and produced by Duncan C. Weldon. The orchestrations were by Jonathan Tunick. The London production ran for six months.

Work on a new version of the musical began in 2009 when director Richard Ouzounian helmed a concert version 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, Blythe Wilson, and Chip Mitchell.

This marked the beginning of a complete reimagining of the musical as an intimate, behind-the-scenes political drama with a cast half the size of the original productions and a new book and score. The new Napoleon opened at the New York Musical Theatre Festival in July 2015 under the direction of Richard Ouzounian. Modern parallels with the making of leaders today figure strongly in the narrative, in which Napoleon as a young and promising rising star is discovered, latched onto, then managed and manipulated. The story charts Talleyrand's pride in taking a common man and placing him on the throne of an empire vaster than Rome. His machinations impact every aspect of Napoleon’s journey, over which Talleyrand sees himself as the master. But what Talleyrand isn’t prepared for is Napoleon’s sheer force of character, and his obsession with Josephine.

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