Traviata Experience - The Story
La Traviata Experience is intrinsically different from any other show you might see in Europe. Its distinctive trait is the narration being carried out by Margherita Gauthier herself, the main character of Dumas's novel: just like a presence from beyond, she recounts and comments on the most famous arias from La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi. The audience is taken by hand and led on a journey through her very soul, where they can experience with their own eyes the depths of this unfortunate and incredibly attractive French courtesan's heart and of her impossible love - dream.
Paris, 1820. Alphonsine Marie Plessis became at the age of 20 history's first bourgeois prostitute. She grew to be a charismatic figure, known for her exceptional beauty as well as her unconventional mindset, well - read, witty and smart. Destined as she was to lead an existence "against" society's values, she caused a huge scandal when she fell in love with bourgeois Armando Duval, the offspring af an affluent family, that was severely socially damaged by his romantic choice. Throughout her turbulent existence, Alphonsine had contracted consumpction, so, showing admirable selflessness, she decided to push Armando away, pretending she had grown tired of him. After a few months, Alphonsine died in the arms of her beloved Armando, who then came to learn from his family about the girl's ultimate sacrifice, and finally brought their story to fame. Alexandre Dumas fils wrote the play "La dame aux Cameliàs", The Lady with the Camelias, inspired by Alphonsine Plessis's life. Legend has it that the title derives from an anedocte: Alphonsine, who owned a front row loge at the Palais Garnier, would display, at every performance she attended, a bunch of white camellias. Only during the days of his period would the camellias be red, thus implying her being unavailable for any encounter. Today Alphonsine lies within a majestic white tomb in Montmartre cemetery, with a white marble angel lying above her, as if protecting her from all the evil she had received during her life.