Treason! Musical Opens in Newburyport, 28 Sept.

It’s been five years since Boston 1775 last reported on a Benedict Arnold musical, and I think we can all agree that that’s just too long.

On Friday, 28 September, the show Treason! premieres at the Firehouse Theater in Newburyport, a town that Arnold passed through in September 1775 on his way to Maine and thence Québec.

The webpage for the show says:

TREASON! is a story about the love triangle that changed the course of the American Revolution. It is a story about defining loyalty, understanding trust, misunderstanding loyalty and defining trust. It is a story about love gone wrong—big time!

Everyone knows Benedict Arnold. The dictionary, in fact, defines “traitor” as “a Benedict Arnold”. Now, through dramatic acting and sixteen original compelling and whimsical songs, this historical fiction explores the other side of the story!

You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, if you knew the words, you’d sing along, and by the end you will know more about this nugget in American history than you were ever taught in school!

The show has story and lyrics by Camille Garro and music by Daniel Connors. The director of this production is Anna Smulowitz.

The cast of characters includes Arnold, his second wife Peggy Shippen, Maj. John André, Gen. George Washington, a couple of younger versions of Benedict, and more.

There are eight performances scheduled on the last weekend in September and the first weekend in October. Tickets are $25.00, with a 10% discount for Firehouse Center for the Arts members. I went to a screening at the theater last weekend and found it quite pleasant with lots of restaurants, a large parking lot, and the ocean nearby.