“Queen of Swords,” an original rock musical six years in the making, will have its debut as a live, in-concert reading at the Timucua Arts Foundation in Orlando March 24-25.
The musical tells the story of Julie D’Aubigny — played by actress Ema Pava — an openly bisexual opera singer and sword fighter who lived towards the end of the 17th century. Among her many adventures, she was known for being the Prima Dona of Opera Paris, successfully dueling three men at once and burning down a convent to rescue her girlfriend from nuns.
“Her life was a series of just fantastical exploits that have been copied down in history,” says Thom Mesrobian, “Queen of Swords” writer, lyricist and producer.
Most details of D’Aubigny’s life are unknown and many of the stories that are known during her life may or may not be completely accurate. What is known is she was born in 1673, the exact date and place of birth are a mystery, and she had several different names. Her stage name in the opera world was Mademoiselle Maupin — while her married name was Madame de Maupin, opera singers traditionally used the title Mademoiselle — or La Maupin.
Mesrobian wanted to pursue the story of D’Aubigny’s life as a musical because so many people seem to think being LGBTQ is a new concept when in reality it has been around since the beginning of documented history. He adds that a lot of people who have negative feelings towards the LGBTQ community do so because, whether personally or historically, claim they’ve never known an LGBTQ person.
“It’s really easy to categorize people when you don’t know any of them, so my idea and my hope is to introduce people who may not be aware that this has been the way people are and always have been,” Mesrobian says. “If they’re not aware of that, [I want to] make them aware of that because, in my own life, awareness led to acceptance which leads to action.”
Among D’Aubigny’s most fantastic tales, is the time she attracted the attention of a young woman in Marseille, France. The girl’s parents put her into a convent to keep D’Aubigny away from her; however, D’Aubigny conned her way into the convent, stole the body of a dead nun and placed it in her lover’s bed, setting the room on fire to mask their escape. The relationship lasted only three months before the girl returned to her parents and D’Aubigny returned to Paris.
D’Aubigny died in 1707 at the age of 33 but accomplished a great deal in the short amount of time she lived. Mesrobian says while “Queen of Swords” is telling D’Aubigny’s story, it also carries an underlying message about struggling with personal demons.
The musical is dedicated to Stacy Fulford, who was an actor at the Walt Disney Company. Mesrobian says Fulford struggled greatly with her own demons and is tragically no longer with us. He says the show is dedicated to her memory because the world loses too many people to depression.
“When I saw that in Julie, that gave me a key to give the show more than just a show about a badass woman, but about a badass woman who had problems and had struggles,” Mesrobian says.
D’Aubigny isn’t the only character who is struggling. Séranne, who is D’Aubigny’s fencing master and lover — played by Matt Stevens, also struggles with his own demons.
“People don’t always do the right thing, they don’t always draw the lines where they need to draw the lines, and he is so obsessed with [Julie],” Mesrobian says. “[He gives up] his own freedom, his own happiness, his own future; he gives everything for her. Which is not healthy.”
Stevens says when he first heard about the musical, he was shocked no one had done this story before. He says he was immediately on board and was willing to play anything as long as he was cast, even a tree if he had to.
When Mesrobian first heard Stevens singing “This Is What You Do,” he knew this musical was going to work.
The most important element of any musical is the music, and Mesrobian says when he first learned about D’Aubigny he knew her story needed to be a rock musical.
Ben Shepler, composer for “Queen of Swords,” says he is no stranger to the rock scene as he was a member of a pop-punk band in high school. While Shepler and Mesrobian were working on another show — the “Hamilton” parody “Simpleton: The Legend of Donald Trump” — together in 2015, Shepler showed Mesrobian some of the songs he wrote. Mesrobian heard one of his pop-punk songs and immediately knew this was the tone for “Queen of Swords.”
“He sent me about four or five things, it was all good, but one of them really caught my ear,” Mesrobian says. “I was like, ‘this is the sound of the show. That’s the way I hear it.’”
The show is be presented as a live in-concert reading at the Timucua Arts Foundation. Along with Pava and Stevens, the cast features Juan Cantú, Cathy Colburn, McKenzie Jo Frazer, Mark Gray Miller, Jarrett Poore, Kari Ringer, Eduardo A. Rivera and Fredy Ruiz as the various characters in her life. Sarah Lockard serves as the narrator.
“Queen of Swords: A New Rock Musical” will debut at Timucua Arts Foundation, located at 2000 S. Summerlin Ave. in Orlando, March 24-25, starting at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $25 with special 50% discounts for students, teachers, frontline workers, veterans and seniors. The show will also be available to live stream and through video on demand at a cost of $7.50. To purchase tickets and for more information, visit Timucua.com.
