About the Play:

The Enchanted (English-language version of Intermezzo) is a full-length comedy by Jean Giraudoux, adapted by Maurice Valency. A schoolteacher falls in love with a man who turns out to be a ghost under investigation for murder. With the aid of the village doctor, she seeks answers regarding the riddle of death. Especially recommended for school and contest use.

The Enchanted is a thoughtful comedy about a charming young lady, the ghost of a murderer, and a group of villagers, in a provincial French town, obsessed by the supernatural. With the aid of the village doctor, Isabel seeks answers from the handsome ghost regarding the riddle of death. The ghost, afraid life will tarnish her spirit and innocence, wants to spare Isabel the diminishing returns of old age. Most are tolerant of her, but the government inspector regards her as a threat to order and security. An ardent bureaucrat, he summons all of the authority and power of the state to rid her of her obsession. She falls in love, thereby discovering the joys of the normal world and accomplishing in a split second what law, force and logic could not. The clash between the struggles of life and the mystery of death is the platform for Jean Giraudoux to exercise his signature playful theatricality: characters hilariously and whimsically debate whether our fear of death fuels our love of life, and whether the dead could outvote the living if they imprudently returned. His musical language showcases nimble variations on the themes of life and death delivered with humour and grace.

Intermezzo was first performed in 1933 in Paris at the Comedie des Champs-Elysees. The English adaptation by Maurice Valency was produced in 1950 at the Lyceum Theatre on Broadway as The Enchanted. The The play has been performed in middle school, high school, college, and community theatre productions.

Cast: 11 female, 9 male

What people say:

"A fascinating, absorbing adventure." — New York Daily Mirror

"Valency's version has grace, flow and wit." — The New York Times

"Fresh, engaging, humorous." — New York Post

About the Playwright:

Jean Giraudoux (1882-1944) was a French playwright, novelist, and diplomat whose witty, originally expressed works in an impressionistic style helped free French theatre from the restrictions of realism. He wrote fifteen internationally acclaimed plays, most initially staged by the actor-director Louis Jouvet.

Maurice Valency (1903-1996) was an American playwright, author, critic and professor of drama, an erudite man of the theater best-known for his successful Broadway adaptations of award-winning plays by Jean Giraudoux and Friedrich Duerrenmatt. He taught at Brooklyn College, Columbia University as a professor of dramatic literature and the Juilliard School, where he served as director of academic studies. He was also a member of the New York bar and spoke seven languages.