A better world

+ muses and three musicians

young adults, grown-ups

In creating A Better World, the authors found their inspiration in the libretto for Dear World written in 1969 by Jerry Herman, Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee which itself is based on Jean Giraudoux's poetic satire La Folle de Chaillot from 1943.

A Better World is set in the future, in the eon era. People live in Omnibia. A single Corporation and its President rule the entire world. The only commandment for everyone is to enjoy life. Food comes from laboratories; even humans are laboratory products. Those in power control every individual. There is no religion, no culture, no art, and no state as an institution. There is no family. All that is left is the present moment and the general pursuit of physical pleasure. In Omnibia, there is no intimate feeling of love; sex is merely a momentary zest. All humans are physically perfect individuals constantly enjoying themselves. The ideology of this society is a sort of primitive, hedonistic totalitarianism.

Some people managed to escape from Omnibia. In a cave under the surface of the earth, there is a source of clean water not yet found by the Corporation. Underground, the renegades are gathering by the water. They refuse to live in Omnibia. The leader of these rebels is The Countess who still believes in an environmentally friendly way of life. The people living underground still have music and art. Yet women here are not allowed to have children, for a different reason that those in Omnibia, though. Underground, giving birth is prohibited since the planet is already overcrowded and devastated.

What follows is a fight between the totalitarian Omnibia and the free underground. Finally, the great President is killed, Omnibia is crushed, and a promise of a better world is in the air.