The Message and Jehanne

"A goldsmith's shop in Renaissance Paris. . . The tops of the shop windows are just above the level of the street, and through them we see the procession of shoes, any one of them a novel or a play or a poem. . ."

Charles of Benicet, the goldsmith, is also a composer. Whether he is a better composer than goldsmith is not clear. It is to be hoped, however, that Tullio, his apprentice, will prove to be a better apprentice than messenger. Tullio mixes up deliveries of engagement rings, and changes lives in the process.

PROGRAM NOTE: This play was first published in the Yale Literary Magazine in November 1917, Wilder's sophomore year. A slightly revised version appeared in Theatre Guild Magazine in 1928. This marked the first appearance of a Wilder play in a major magazine devoted to drama.

Of Note: The script for Wilder's The Christmas Interludes II calls for a performance of the "sweet musick" Benicet composed for "those who play the viol by the Church of Notre Dame de Ytelle." Jehanne is pronounced "Jean".