Louis Braille: The World at Your Fingertips (musical)
- Full Length Musical, Drama, 19th Century
- 6M, 5F, 10M or F
- ISBN: LG8
This uplifting musical shows the power of a teenaged Louis Braille's belief and determination to change the expectations of the world.
More information
Description
- Full Length Musical
- Drama
- 55 minutes
- Time Period: 19th Century
- Target Audience: Adult, Pre-Teen (Age 11 - 13), Teen (Age 14 - 18), Children (Age 6 - 10), Appropriate for all audiences
- Set Requirements: Unit Set/Multiple Settings
- Performance Group:
- Community Theatre, College Theatre / Student
With an uplifting story and a vibrant score, this musical shows the power of a teenaged Louis Braille's belief and determination to change the expectations of the world. It is an ambitious musical with a strong story line.
Young Louis Braille, blind since age 3, enrolls in The Blind School of Paris hoping to learn to read and write. He dreams of becoming a diplomat. When Louis protests broom-making class and exposes a fake display of reading at the annual presentation for donors, he nearly gets expelled. Thankfully, Marie deVries, an instructor, introduces him to music and supports his creative mind by arranging a meeting with the French captain who invented a rudimentary method of nightwriting for soldiers.
The method's absurdity and impracticality are clear to Louis, but it gives him the springboard for a burst of creative genius. The result The Braille system, a code to be scanned under the fingertips, opening a world of literature and musical notation previously closed to the blind.
Young Louis Braille, blind since age 3, enrolls in The Blind School of Paris hoping to learn to read and write. He dreams of becoming a diplomat. When Louis protests broom-making class and exposes a fake display of reading at the annual presentation for donors, he nearly gets expelled. Thankfully, Marie deVries, an instructor, introduces him to music and supports his creative mind by arranging a meeting with the French captain who invented a rudimentary method of nightwriting for soldiers.
The method's absurdity and impracticality are clear to Louis, but it gives him the springboard for a burst of creative genius. The result The Braille system, a code to be scanned under the fingertips, opening a world of literature and musical notation previously closed to the blind.
Premiere Production:
Successfully produced by Theatreworks/USA in New York at Town Hall and the Promenade Theatre, and subsequently toured throughout 20 states east of the Mississippi, including the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington. Selected as a finalist by the National Children's Theatre Festival and given a special feature presentation at the Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre in Florida.
Characters
- Casting: 6M, 5F, 10M or F
- Casting Attributes: Reduced casting (Doubling Possible), Room for Extras
