Vanity Fair

Book and Lyrics by Brian Vinero

Music by Seth Weinstein

Based on the Novel by William Makepeace Thackeray
  

Synopsis

Act One

May to June 1965   As a group of polished, privileged young ladies graduate from a convent school (Bless Your Path), the orphaned, impoverished BECKY SHARP finds herself free and eager to climb her way into New York Society. She sees her sweet, generous classmate AMELIA SEDLEY as her ticket to Park Avenue and finagles an invitation for an extended stay with her family and a brand-new wardrobe (The Legend of New York). Becky immediately ingratiates herself with Amelia's family, but the servants aren't fooled (The Master Doesn't Know). At a cocktail party, Becky meets Amelia's playboy fiance, GEORGE OSBORNE, his West Point classmate WILL DOBBIN, and Amelia's confirmed-bachelor brother JOSEPH SEDLEY. Becky makes a quick pass at Joseph, and they make plans to go out dancing. As Will - a member of the working class - gets a dance lesson from Amelia, it becomes clear that they are the ones who are actually meant for each other (A Little Romantic). At the dance hall, Becky gives Amelia a crash course on the birds and the bees and convinces her to go “all the way” with George, lest she lose him. George, alarmed at Joseph's plans to propose to Becky, gets Joseph drunk to keep him from popping the question to a girl of such a lowly station (The Kind of Girl (Quintet)). Her plot to snare Joseph thwarted, Becky is exiled to New Jersey to work as a nanny (OK, OK).

June to September 1965   Becky makes quick work of taking over the estate of her new employer while Amelia finds herself pregnant just as her family loses its fortune. Will forces George to take responsibility and marry her, despite his family's wish that he break the engagement (So Hard to Say Good-Bye (The Auction)). Becky celebrates her triumphs in New Jersey by throwing a party, where she meets her employer's dashing naval-officer son RAWDON CRAWLEY and wealthy sister AUNT TILDA, both of whom find her irresistible (The Lady Was Made for Dancing). Becky has finally met her match in Rawdon (Don't Call It Love), and she leaves the estate and returns to New York to be a companion to Aunt Tilda and to be nearer to Rawdon.

November 1965   Becky marries Rawdon, and a very pregnant Amelia marries George, as Will looks on. Both couples find themselves cut off from their families as the specter of the Vietnam War approaches.

March 1966   The newlyweds meet up at a U.S.O. dance in Atlantic City (Atlantic City, New Jersey) as the boys prepare to ship off. Becky, still vengeful toward George after he prevented her from marrying Joseph, seduces him as Will comforts a helpless Amelia (Say Farewell for Now). As the sounds of war drums are heard, Becky finds herself at the end of one era and the beginning of another and uses her ability to procure drugs for the wealthy and powerful to restart her climb to the top of New York society (This Is the Time).

Act Two

March 1969 to October 1971   One step ahead of fashion and two steps ahead of creditors, Becky is the queen of New York's young, hip and mod (The Legend of New York (Reprise)/She's the Life of the Party (And the Party Goes On and On)).  Rawdon, changed from his experiences in Vietnam and now a father to their young son, deals drugs to Becky's society friends to keep them afloat. Amelia lives in poverty, barely able to support her young son and (to Will's great frustration) unable to give up the ghost of George, who died in Vietnam (After the Day). Becky's all-too-frequent trysts with powerful men prove too much for Rawdon, and when she wickedly reveals that the son he adores is really the offspring of George, he shoots himself and her lover in a rage. The resulting scandal sets New York on its ear, and Becky is shunned from society and flees the city (Today Is the Day That the Circus Came to Town).

December 1979 to January 1980   Becky is discovered by Amelia to be working as a prostitute in much-changed Atlantic City (Atlantic City, New Jersey (Reprise)/Let the Dice Roll). Once again, Becky tries to use Amelia (now living comfortably, as her son has inherited a fortune) as her means of getting to New York. Both women look at how their disparate childhoods poorly prepared them for the world, and they come to an understanding (There Was You). Becky finally tells Amelia the truth about George's lecherous ways, leaving her at last free to marry the faithful Will (A Little Romantic (Reprise)). Becky finally snares Joseph, her joy cut short by his death immediately following the wedding. He leaves her with nothing, save for stock in a computer company...

May 1985   One of the richest and most famous women in America, Becky has written a tell-all book and muses about her success on a talk show (Just an American Fairy Tale).