Book and Lyrics by Joanna H. Kraus
(based on her play, The Last Baron of Arizona)
Music and Lyrics by C. Michael Perry
INTRIGUE. DUPLICITY. SELFISHNESS. LOVE. STRANGE COINCIDENCES WHEN THEY COMBINE.
Set late 19th century (1881-1895), SOFÎA is about the biggest land fraud in United States history (which kept Arizona’s Statehood in question and tied-up for over 2 decades) and the Latina young woman who is duped by an unscrupulous, albeit charming, rogue. James Addison Reavis is always looking for an angle. When he seizes on the idea that an “old” Spanish Land Grant could make him rich, he sets things in motion to make the biggest land-grab in U.S. history. He dupes Sofia, a poor illiterate Latina Californian ranch servant, into thinking that she’s actually Doña Sofía, the long-lost daughter of Spanish nobles, and heiress to the Peralta Grant, which contains half the Territory of Arizona. He turns her into a Baroness. He forges, hides, and then amazingly finds these documents in Spain, Mexico and California and works to convince the Court of Private Land Claims that the nearly two hundred documents are legitimate. Sofía, his ward, becomes his wife. For years they are feted like royalty wherever they go. Everything is in line to keep them both wealthy. Then, one day a newspaper editor spots an obscure flaw and Reavis makes a gross mistake. A sharp attorney who is also not having any of what Reavis is serving up, finally gets his day in court. Suspicious, Sofía begs for answers but gets none. After court, she removes her lace mantilla and leaves Reavis as he is arrested still insisting that Sofía is “every inch a baroness.”
CAST — 4f, 11m, + ensemble (can be doubled to: 3f, 7m, + ensemble if needed • or other configurations)
- MIGUEL — Storyteller and schemer
- ISABEL — his scheming. dreaming partner
- JAMES ADDISON REAVIS — is a handsome man about 30, charming, confident and unfettered by ordinary scruples. His attire suggests his present impecunious status, but his bearing suggests that of a would-be gentleman.
- SOFÍA — at first, she is an impressionable seventeen-year-old, who works as a domestic on a California ranch. Her dark-haired beauty suggests a Spanish ancestry. She has an innate grace, that only grows and blooms over the course of the next 15 years.
- FELIPE — a ranch hand (bit)
- OFFSTAGE VOICE — (female)
- ROYAL JOHNSON — Head of the office of Surveyor General for Arizona. He’s a conscientious civil servant.
- MATT REYNOLDS — Attorney.
- TOM WEEDIN — Editor of the Arizona Weekly Enterprise, a fiery, eloquent man.
- ELLIE BIGELOW — a determined woman in her twenties.
- SETTLER 1-8 — Landowners of Arizona Territory
- MME. De GUY — Couturier, runs a dress shoppe for fashionable women in NYC (bit)
- ARCHIVES CLERK — in his 50’s, wears a guard’s uniform, honorable but overtired part-time worker (bit)
- SHERWOOD — a prospector, former guardian to Sofîa
- CHIEF JUSTICE REED —
- REPORTER — is a blunt, straightforward man. (bit)
- MR. MALLET-PREVOST — is a distinguished lawyer, conversant with the complexities of Spanish and Mexican law. He speaks with a trace of a cultured Spanish accent. He is in his 50s and has a dark bushy mustache and a trim goatee. (bit)
- ENSEMBLE —
- VILLAGERS, OTHER SETTLERS, SHOP ASSISTANTS, PERSONS IN THE COURTROOM
TIME: Circa 1890s (1881-1895)
LOCATIONS: The American West (Arizona and California), Spain, New York City
SONG LIST:
ACT ONE
- MUSICAL #1 — LEGENDS AND SECRETS — (Miguel, Isabel and Company)
- MUSICAL #2 — DISCREET — (Miguel, Isabel)
- MUSICAL #3 — THE BEST YOU CAN — (Reavis)
- MUSICAL #4 — PAPER AND INK AND PEN — (Reavis, Miguel, Isabel)
- MUSICAL #5 — EL BARON DE ARIZONA — (Miguel, Isabel)
- MUSICAL #6 — I’LL KNOW HER — (Reavis)
- MUSICAL #7 — TOO SOON TO GROW OLD — (Sofía)
- MUSICAL #8 — THE NEW ME — (Sofía)
- MUSICAL #9 — WHY NOT ME? — (Reavis)
- MUSICAL #10 — MUCH MORE — (Johnson & Reynolds)
- MUSICAL #11 — THIS LAND IS OURS — (Company)
- MUSICAL #12a — ALL IN GOOD TIME — (Reavis)
- MUSICAL #12b — ALL FOR YOU — (Reavis and Company)
- MUSICAL #13 — ABOVE THE CLOUDS! — (Reavis)
- MUSICAL #14a — SOMETHING ISN’T RIGHT part 1 — (Sofía)
- MUSICAL #14b — SOMETHING ISN’T RIGHT part 2 — (Sofía)
ACT TWO
- MUSICAL #15a — LEGENDS AND SECRETS (REPRISE 1) — (Miguel, Isabel and Company
- MUSICAL #15b— LEGENDS AND SECRETS (REPRISE 2) — (Miguel, Isabel)
- MUSICAL #16 — I HAD YOU — (Sofía)
- MUSICAL #17 — MY PRINCESS — (Sherwood)
- MUSICAL #18 — WHAT A HEADLINE! — (Johnson, Weedin)
- MUSICAL #20 — SIMPLY SOFIA — (Sofía)
- MUSICAL #21 — SOMETHING ISN’T RIGHT (reprise) — (Chief Justice)
- MUSICAL #22 —EVERY INCH & LEGENDS (reprise 3) — (Company)
Part of the PREMIERE PLAY FILE
This musical is in development and we are looking for a producing partner to take on this story.
Please email us if you are interested.
The following NON-VOCAL DEMOS are made directly from the Finale Music Notation files, there are no vocals, but the vocal line is played by a vocal sounding instrument.
VOCAL DEMOS using the Finale Music Notation Note Performer files with rough (non-mixed) vocals added.
LYRICS SOFIA to match the above demos (©2022 by Joanna Kraus and C. Michael Perry • ALL RIGHTS RESERVED)
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PDF Sofia LYRICS to match site demos above
The orchestrations consist of: an onstage guitar (performer-played by MIGUEL or ISABEL or both); and in the pit: Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon/Bass Clarinet, Trumpet,(2) Trombone, Drums (snare, kick, Hi-hat, crash(2), splash, toms(2), triangle), Percussion (Xylophone, Glockenspiel, Marimba, Tympani), Piano, Violin(3), Viola, Cello, Acoustic Bass.
STAGED READING at Orange Coast College
- Directed by Tom Bruno
- Live performance and ZOOM broadcast on Sunday October 15, 2022 (to which the audience reaction and comments were overwhelmingly positive and enthusiastic. One song even received cheers after its performance, and stopped the show.)
Please email us with any questions on this particular show
