My once maligned child

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The musical begins as it ends. Alfred  Gilbert is reunited with his beloved Eros after years of self-exile and suffering. A wiser, older man sings to the god of love  he created so many years ago.

 Alfred Gilbert is in his studio, sculpting Eros. His model, the young Angelo Colarossi struggles to maintain his pose.  In bursts Gilbert's mentor Joseph Boehm, the Queen's sculptor, to have some fun by professing his mock outrage at the scene.

Gilbert is broken and in exile in  Belgium. The making of Eros has bankrupted him and he has suffered the horrors and privations of occupied  First World War Bruges. Princess Louise,  daughter of Queen Victoria, lover of Joseph Boehm and  friend of Gilbert comes to Bruges to ask him to come home.

Gilbert has returned to London. He has been knighted by George V and his Eros is returning to Piccadilly Circus after a long enforced absence. Gilbert gives a speech at the rededication of his masterpiece and reflects on the highs and lows of his dramatic life.