The musical “Esmeralda” based on a story by Frances Hodgson Burnett, will

be presented by Rutherford County Arts Council at the Maple Street Theatre, 132 Maple Street in Rutherfordton, on Friday and Saturday, July 15 and 16.

The Friday performance will be presented as dinner theatre with the meal catered by Fatz Restaurant. The box office is now open at tix.com. Tickets for the dinner theatre must be purchased in advance by Wednesday, July 13 at tix.com. For additional information, call the Arts Council at 828-245-4000.

Esmeralda’s history is a tale of lost and found. Over 100 years ago, a young writer, Frances Hodgson Burnett, while staying at the Logan House in Hickory Nut Gorge in Rutherford County wrote a book. It told the captivating love story of Esmeralda, a North Carolina mountain girl whose love for a young farmer is thwarted by her ambitious mother. Esmeralda instantly captured the hearts of readers everywhere, and a few years later, Mrs. Burnett, in collaboration with the actor/playwright William Gillette, expanded the story and adapted it into a play.

Opening on Broadway in 1881, “Esmeralda” became an instant sensation, achieving one of the longest runs of the era at 350 performances. It was revived and performed very successfully for the next 20 years.

But subsequently, the story of Esmeralda, both book and play, sank into oblivion, eclipsed by Mrs. Burnett’s phenomenally successful novels, such as “The Secret Garden,” “Little Lord Fauntleroy” and “The Little Princess.” Only in one little corner of the world was the story remembered. In Hickory Nut Gorge, where the story was written, the family who owned the Logan House remembered Mrs. Burnett and passed down the story of the writing of “Esmeralda.”

In 2007, Arts Council director Matthew McEnnerney heard the story from then Lake Lure mayor Jim Procter. The combination of a captivating story by a beloved author with a local connection seemed too good to pass up, so McEnnerney started the ball rolling to bring “Esmeralda” back to life.

After much searching, he eventually found a copy of the play at a small bookstore in Oregon, and commissioned his wife, playwright Diane McEnnerney, to adapt the original story and play into a new musical, which was premiered in Lake Lure in 2007. The hope is to make “Esmeralda” an annual event, of interest to tourists and regional residents alike.

In writing the music for Esmeralda, Mrs. McEnnerney drew on the rural North Carolina mountain musical tradition as well as the European musical genres of the late nineteenth century.

“I wanted the songs sung by the mountain characters to have the quality of folk mountain ballads,” said Mrs. McEnnerney, “and in the musical these songs are accompanied by a traditional string band –– fiddle, guitar, and bass. The songs sung by the Americans living in Paris, on the other hand, are reminiscent of 19th century parlor or drawing room piano music, and even include an homage to Debussy, who was writing in Paris at the time.”

– article submitted
by Devin McEnnerney