Ghost Quartet

Ghost Quartet is a musical song cycle written and composed by Dave Malloy. The show is described as "a song cycle about love, death, and whiskey. A camera breaks and four friends drink in four interwoven narratives spanning seven centuries."

The story is told by four storytellers who portray multiple characters. It spans seven centuries and does not take place in any chronological order.

The musical begins with the storytellers introducing themselves ("I Don't Know").

A Photographer enters a camera shop to buy a new camera, having broken her old one. The Camera Shop Owner shows her a fiddle that belonged to her great-grandmother, Rose, that was made from the breastbone of Rose's sister, Pearl, and tells the story of the two sisters. Rose falls in love with an Astronomer and writes him poetry about the stars. The Astronomer, the editor of a prestigious astronomy journal, steals her work and publishes it under his own name before leaving her for Pearl. Furious, Rose asks a Bear to maul the astronomer and turn Pearl into a crow. In return, the Bear asks for one pot of honey, one piece of stardust, one secret baptism, and a photo of a ghost. It is revealed that Rose performed the baptism in the sea on a baby she abducted from a teenage mother ("The Camera Shop").

Starchild, the baby that Rose abducted and baptized, reflects on being blessed by a stranger and the impact it had on her life ("Starchild").

On a subway station, a Victim is pushed onto the tracks ("Subway").

In 1873, the Usher family is at the side of their teenage daughter, Roxie. Roxie's child, Starchild, has been stolen from her. As a result, Roxie has fallen deathly ill ("Usher, Part 1").

A Soldier reflects on her yearning for death. Rose arrives and seduces the Soldier to take her honey. The Soldier promises not to haunt Rose when she becomes a ghost ("Soldier & Rose").