Characters
LOTTY WILKINS
...in the beginning, is a mousey, dowdy, though, becoming woman who is a "seer of things." She is candid, sincere and guileless, so much so that it both intrigues, charms and annoys. It's her yearning for a respite from her dreary life that propels her toward the enchanted April where she blossoms into the confident, strong, desirable woman hidden beneath.
(late 20s to early 30s) Soprano - A3 to F5 (16 songs)
ROSE ARBUTHNOT
...is a rigid, reserved and sad sort of woman constrained by restrictions and duties. She and her husband, whom she is unable to approach, have grown apart since a devastating tragedy at the end of the war. She longs for redemption, to reunite with her husband, who she loves deeply, and to find some solace in the life that is before her. (early to mid-30s) Soprano – A3 to A5 (18 songs)
MRS. FISHER
...is a forthright and solid woman ensconced in a world of dark dusty old things and who is on the verge of being a "dusty old thing" herself. She does not "suffer fools gladly" and is intolerant of impertinence, idiocy and youth, and pines for a place she can sit and remember...or perhaps, forget.
(60s) Mezzo-Soprano - A3 to E5 (12 songs)
LADY CAROLINE DESTER
...is a ravishing, yet melancholy beauty who has chosen to deaden her despondency and confusion with liquor and men, and only the liquor works. In WWI, she was a nurse and saw the horrors of that war. She is now unsatisfied with her station, her life, her parents, her...everything, and aches for a place she can ponder the existential questions facing her.
(mid to late 20s) Soprano – A3 to E5 (12 songs)
MELLERSH WILKINS
...Lotty's husband, is a handsome, distinguished and overbearing solicitor. Used to commanding his wife in all things, he has long since discounted her as a lost cause and has found an acceptable state of tolerance. Meticulous in his appearance and ambitious in nature, success and partnership is what he wants.
(mid to late 30s) Baritone – A2 to F4 (6 songs)
FREDERICK ARBUTHNOT
(early 40s) - Rose's husband, Frederick, is an amiable man hovering on the precipice of middle-age. He is confused and frustrated by his current relationship with his wife. A successful author of lurid novels (under the pen name of B.D. Baxter), Frederick longs for his wife...the wife he remembers from before the war and wonders if she will ever return to him.
Baritone – A2 to F4 (7 songs)
THOMAS BRIGGS
(early 30s) - is a respectable-looking, bespectacled, solitary man. Wealthy, but unassuming, is smitten with Rose upon their first meeting. Assuming she is a war-widow, he wishes for the family and home he's never had, and sees that possibility in Rose.
Tenor - C3 to C5 (falsetto all right) (8 songs)
FRANCESCA
(50s) - is San Salvatore's housekeeper and cook. Long-suffering with visitors to Italy, she does her best to feed and understand these odd English people.
Mezzo – B3 to D5 (3 songs)