The Story

THE STORY OF THE OPERA

A year ago, Hurricane Belle nearly destroyed Crescent City.

Now, a bigger one gathers darkly in the distance. Will the freshly resurrected “Voodoo Queen” Marie Laveau be able to save the city from the storm—let alone the psychotic Revelers, the roving ghosts of murderers, and the ambivalent Loa, voodoo gods summoned by Marie?

As the sun sets on the city’s washed-out ruins, the Cop and his mysterious partner Jesse attempt to maintain order over the savage, drunken Revelers, nocturnal creatures who tear nightly through the streets and call the Junk Heap their home.

Jesse has a vision of the future: Another hurricane is coming. Soon. The voices of Crescent City’s drowned overwhelm Jesse.

Emerged from her tomb, the freshly resurrected voodoo queen Marie Laveau takes in the sight of her devastated city. Even the ghosts are fleeing the cemetery, and from the Bound Ghost, Marie learns of the coming storm. Determined to save her city, she summons the Loa (voodoo gods) for divine help: Papa Legba, Erzulie Fréda, the twins Marassa Jumeaux, and Baron Samedi. Yet in her desperation and growing exhaustion, Marie forgets to say “please,” offending Baron Samedi. The Loa refuse help, considering the city unworthy of salvation, but Marie offers to sacrifice herself, believing that one good soul can be found to make the city deserving of saving. The Loa agree to save the city if that one good person can be found. Marie begs them to keep the mission a secret from their brother Baron Carrefour who “in all light, seeks the dark.” Exhausted from the effort, Marie collapses, and the Cop and Jesse take her depleted body to the makeshift hospital.

Nearby, grotesque burlesque performer Deadly Belle curses out a violent audience. The Good Man obsessively builds and deconstructs his flood-ravaged home. On the hospital’s helipad, two nurse’s aides, Annie May and Susie, indulge in their recreational drug habit, fantasizing that a helicopter will whisk them away from their dismal lives. A haunted Homesick Woman makes a desperate bus journey into the eye of the storm to persuade her tortured husband to leave in time.

After leaving Marie at the hospital, the Cop returns to the street, only to find his body being possessed by Baron Samedi, spoiling to sabotage Marie’s hopes. The Baron forces the Cop away from his beat to Deadly Belle’s sleazy club, where the music’s so intense you can’t hear the ill winds troubling the air, heavy with the scent of hard rain and the steady approach of the cold boss of the crossroads, Baron Carrefour.