Music and Lyrics by Robert Wright and George Forrest from the themes of Alexander Borodin
SYNOPSIS
A day in the life of a glib-tongued street poet in old Baghdad. He accidentally inherits the city’s most lucrative begging site, is captured by brigands from whom he tricks a small fortune in gold, hands most of it to his beloved daughter to spend on baubles, bangles and beads, purchases slave-girls and bids for a palace, gets arrested for theft and condemned to have his right hand lopped off, briefly reconciles an erring father and a hard-hearted son, thus winning a reprieve-and the lustful affection of the shapely wife of the Wazir of Police-undertakes to prevent the marriage of a love-sick Caliph, no less, and finally murders the aforementioned Wazir.
Since he finds himself about to become the Caliph’s father-in-law, he pronounces the only fitting sentence for such a crime, and is banished to a lonely oasis with Lalume, the Wazir’s recent, willing widow, to spend the rest of his days compensating for her deprivation. For a street poet in old Baghdad, some days were like that.
CHARACTERS
Marsinah
Lalume
An Ayah to Princess Zubbediya
The Poet
The Caliph
The Wazir
The Bangle Man
Omar
Jawan
Three Princesses of Ababu,
Princess Zubbediya of Damascus
Princess Samaris of Bangalore
Auditionees for the hand of the Caliph
Widow Yusse