A Tale of Two Cities
The musical opens with Lucie Manette as a child, en route from France to England. She is delivered by Mr. Jarvis Lorry, an employee of Tellson's Bank to the home of Miss Pross, who had been nanny to Lucie's now-deceased mother. Later, Mr. Lorry returns to the Pross household to tell the now-adult Lucie that her father, Dr. Alex Manette, has been found alive in the Bastille after 17 years (Prologue: The Shadows of the Night). Dr. Manette, Lucie and Lorry set sail for England and meet Charles Darnay. Upon arriving, Darnay is arrested as a spy as he is discovered in possession of papers showing British troop placements. It is later found that the papers were dropped by John Barsad, henchman of Darnay's uncle, the Marquis St. Evermonde's (Dover). Lucie requests that Mr. Lorry arrange for a lawyer to defend Darnay in exchange for the kindness he has shown her and her father during their journey and Lorry agrees. We are then taken to the law office of Mr. Stryver and Sydney Carton - who arrives clearly intoxicated (The Way it Ought to Be - London). Carton decides with his friend, grave robber Jerry Cruncher, to attempt to blackmail Barsad by visiting several local taverns (No Honest Way). The next day, the trial commences (The Trial). Darnay is acquitted after the blackmail attempt succeeds and prompts the key witness to assert that Darnay and Sydney look similar after Sydney removes his barrister's wig and robe. The witness then admits it could have been either man-or anyone else-with those papers. Darnay takes Sydney and Stryver out to celebrate at a tavern that Sydney calls "home." (Round and Round) After Darnay is insulted by Sydney and leaves, Sydney reflects on why he acted this way (Reflection). Several months have passed and Darnay now desires Lucie's hand but asks her father's permission first (The Promise). On Christmas Eve, Lucie attempts to convince Sydney to have supper with her and her father, but he declines; out of kindness, she invites him to dinner the following evening, which he must accept. Awakened by her kindness, Sydney realizes what he has been missing in his life (I Can't Recall). The next day Darnay asks Lucie to marry him and she accepts (Now at Last). Sydney arrives and Lucie gives him his gift - a scarf. Unaware that he would be receiving one, Sydney tells Lucie to close her eyes and kisses her. Shocked, she informs him that Mr. Darnay has asked her hand in marriage. Upset - and embarrassed — Sydney leaves and reflects on the life he now cannot attain, and on the marriage and life of Darnay and Lucie together (If Dreams Came True). The action then switches over to France, where the king is expected to drive his carriage past Defarge's wine shop. Many children are very excited however near the road. One, the son of a man named Gaspard, is killed when the Marquis St. Evremonde's carriage passes. Madame Defarge, who was unaware of what the children were waiting for, expresses disgust for the death the Marquis has caused and urges Gaspard to murder him (Out of Sight Out of Mind). Gaspard later follows the Marquis to his chateau and does so. Darnay receives a letter from Gabelle, a former house servant in France, and agrees to defend him in the courts and leaves (Gabelle's Letter/I Always knew). Stryver and Sydney visit the Manette household one evening and Stryver tells of the killings and other developments there. During their visit, Sydney agrees to help put Little Lucie to bed (Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep). Meanwhile, a funeral is being held for Gaspard's son (Little One). At the funeral, officers come to arrest Gaspard for murder, but Ernest Defarge tells him to remain and the revolution begins (Until Tomorrow) Darnay is arrested when it is revealed that he is the Marquis' nephew. Lucie is devastated and turns to Sydney for guidance as Darnay left without explanation or revealing his true identity. Act 2 opens with the storming of the Bastille. The Defarges have found the notes left by Dr. Manette in his cell so many years before, but the people of Paris are still unsatisfied after the prison's fall (Everything Stays the Same). Darnay is sent to trial because he is a member of the aristocracy. At his trial, Madame Defarge reads Dr. Manette's charges against the Marquis St. Evremonde and his brother, who is Charles' father. At the end of his journal, Manette condemns them and all their descendants. Manette himself makes an impassioned plea to recant this and say that Darnay is nothing like his father and uncle. He adds that Darnay's execution would inflict a further burden on him and Lucie who suffered so greatly during his imprisonment. Manette's plea is denied and Darnay is sentenced to death. (The Tale). Lucie is depressed that Darnay has left without telling her why. Sydney at first is tempted to steal her from her husband, but realizes rather that the right thing would be to help Darnay (If Dreams Came True [Reprise]). Lucie wishes to die with her husband, but she realizes this may put her daughter in the same position she was in as a child. She vows to save both her husband and family yet still questions why Darnay left for France without telling her (Without a Word). Sydney makes arrangements with his old acquaintance Barsad to allow him entrance into the prison where Darnay is held (The Bluff). Realizing that he cannot simply escape with Darnay, Sydney concocts a plan to save him, and to allow Little Lucie to have her father and a brilliant life ahead (Let Her Be a Child). In Darnay's prison, after denying that he loves Lucie, Sydney switches clothes with Darnay and then drugs him, to the surprise of Barsad. Barsad delivers the unconscious Charles to Tellson's Bank, where his family is waiting. Lucie believes it is Sydney who has returned and reads a letter from him which is delivered by Barsad. In the letter, he explains he had to do this and that she has meant more to him than anything else in his entire life (The Letter). With both sadness for Sydney and joy for the opportunity for her life with Charles, Lucie and her family quickly leave France. Madame Defarge arrives armed and vows to not let any of the Evremonde family escape. She and Miss Pross struggle over the pistol and Madame is killed. Ernest learns of Madame's death and calls-off the massive hunt for the Evremondes to have the opportunity to mourn his wife (Defarge Goodbye - Lament). On the way to the gallows, a friendly and innocent seamstress realizes that Sydney is not Darnay, with whom she was imprisoned. However instead of betraying him, she calls him an angel and the two console each other. When she is called to the guillotine, Sydney bids her a final goodbye. He is next and as he climbs the stairs, he realizes the good that he has done for the woman who opened his eyes to so much love (Finale - I Can't Recall [Reprise]).