Roza

Roza is a 1987 musical based on the novel The Life Before Us by Romain Gary with music by Gilbert Bécaud and lyrics and book by Julian More. Background Bécaud had seen Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and was inspired to work with Harold Prince, who directed the 1979 Stephen Sondheim musical. He wanted to adapt the novel The Life Before Us by Romain Gary into a musical, which was also made into a movie Madame Rosa starring Simone Signoret (1977), but Prince declined. Prince stated that he hated the movie and thought it was "sentimental and negative". Becaud was determined to convince Prince, and Prince eventually agreed on one condition: that he be able to choose the librettist who would also write the lyrics. Prince ended up choosing Julian More. Prince suggested to More that the setting of the show jump between past and present, but it was "...clear that it was pretentious." They decided to tell the story in the present. Before going to Broadway, the show was workshopped at both the Centerstage in Baltimore, Maryland, and the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. Even though Prince felt it was not strong enough to go to Broadway, he decided to mount a Broadway production. The people in the previous cities had liked the show, but Broadway did not, and the show closed in less than two weeks. Prince later stated that show might have lived on in regional theaters had it not gone to Broadway.