The Raven, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Black Cat, The Masque of
the Red Death, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Cask of Amontillado,
The Fall of the House of Usher, Murders in the Rue Morgue...all
penned from the extraordinary mind of one man...Edgar Allan Poe.
A man whose own life was as dark, mysterious and troubled as the
memorable works of fiction he created.
Dark Destiny
is a musical journey into the mind of the man who has thrilled,
delighted and terrified his readers for generations. More than
a biography of Poe, Dark Destiny is a glimpse into
the soul of a troubled artist, a man who battled alcoholism, depression,
and the inner demons which both inspired his work and tormented
his life.
It is a musical, which despite its subject matter, manages to find moments of warmth, humor and inspiration but never attempts to "gloss over" the tragic truth about the life of Poe and the pain he endured. Orphaned at three and penniless most of his life, Edgar Allan Poe also had the misfortune of having to watch many of the people he loved in life die slow, painful deaths at an early age. At the end of his own life he suffered a series of delusional spells which serve as the inspiration for Dark Destiny. For this is a show about a man at the end of his rope, wrestling with his conscience and the ghosts of the past, often unable to distinguish between reality and illusion.
Although a cemetery may seem like an unusual setting for a musical play, it serves as the perfect backdrop for a story about a man who was the "master of the macabre." The events of his life unfold on stage in the scattered fragments of distant memory, yet somehow manage to paint a complete picture of the man. It is a very unique musical, indeed, but one that we think Poe himself would be pleased with.
