The Lark

THE BLURB, OR SHALL WE SAY, TWEET?

Paul Tietjens, a twenty-three-year-old classical pianist, has booked passage on a steamship to Europe to study with the masters. But just before his ship sails, the bank calls in a balloon loan on his family’s Missouri farm, and Paul sacrifices his dream to save it.

Hoping to get rich quick and recapture his dream, he moves to the up-and-coming city of Chicago to live with his friend Ike, where he meets and convinces L. Frank Baum to create a comic opera of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

But the opera’s promises of fame and financial reward demand Paul set aside his artistic integrity, and his growing feelings for Ike’s married sister careen toward scandal and heartbreak. What price is Paul willing to pay to fulfill his dreams and win the woman he loves?

With the musical ambition of The Instrumentalist by Harriet Constable and the romance of Chopin’s Last Manuscript by Elizabeth Kellam, The Lark blends the pathos of Blue Moon (2025) with the charm of Finding Neverland (2004).