The Romance of the Rose is a 5,656-line lyric poem in Old French by Jean Renart, and dates from about A.D. 1214-1219. (Scholars refer to it as The Romance of Guillaume de Dole—after its protagonist—to distinguish it from a better-known work of the same title by Guillaume de Lorris, with a later continuation by Jean de Meung.) Jean Renart is widely credited as the first writer to have his characters regularly break into song (he chose popular songs of his day), singing words that amplify the emotional and dramatic content of the scene. Thus he penned the first musical, centuries before other works with a claim to that title. In his prologue, Jean brags that the songs match the story so well that the listeners will not be able to tell they came from different authors.
The Romance of the Rose has been subjected to a barrage of literary criticism for almost 300 years, as scholars have attempted to determine its original political context, its intended audience, the true historical referents (if any) of its many colorful characters, the origin and meaning of the lyric insertions, and how far its cheerful portrait of medieval aristocratic life is to be trusted. In recent years, many scholars have focused on the heroine Liénore, and how her cavalier efforts to regain her honor broke the mold of conduct becoming to a medieval woman.
Much of this scholarly work ignores the fact that The Romance of the Rose is a lot of fun. In a relatively uncluttered moral universe where chivalry is not dead, honor is everything and courtly love is still an ideal, Rose’s noble main characters enjoy a life of seemingly inexhaustible wealth (where does it all come from?) In Jean’s original work the parade of lavish feasts, replete with detailed descriptions of fine clothing and jewels (useful, one might suggest, for a costume designer!) inebriates the reader, furnishing a bright kaleidoscope of images in front of which the uncomplicated plot unfolds. Here is a bright, airy world full of elaborate courtesy, good humor (with a bawdy nudge and a wink here and there), a love for life, a deep sense of justice, and an appreciation for true beauty, whether internal or external.
Rather than attempting a musical theater piece that was “authentically medieval,” Josh Tyra adapted the poem freely, retaining the feel and flavor of the original but making the story and characters accessible to a modern audience. For the music he chose a traditional register that seemed to serve the story: a light opera sound with medievalesque accents, occasionally nodding to Broadway and pop music. The aim has been to tell an exciting, human story with fun, believable characters and as much attractive music and beautiful singing as possible; and to open a portal into real medieval life and experience. Although the show’s vision of 13th-century life is indeed a candy-coated one, the characters’ values, attitudes, and ideas are often very far from those of modern people. In the face of these many cultural differences, the story itself is still compelling after 800 years.