The project began as a collaboration between librettist Peter Stone (1776) and composer-lyricist Maury Yeston (Nine, Titanic), but following Stone’s 2003 death, Tony Award winner Thomas Meehan (Annie, The Producers, Hairspray) joined the project as librettist. Stone and Meehan share book credit on the show.

Here, Playbill.com offers a first look into the production that is directed by Tony Award winner Doug Hughes (Doubt) and stars Julian Ovenden (Merrily We Roll Along, Grand Hotel) as Death, in a handsome disguise, and Jill Paice (The Woman in White, Curtains) as Grazia, his object of desire.

According to Roundabout, "In Death Takes a Holiday, it's just after the first World War and the loneliest of souls arrives at an Italian villa disguised as a handsome young Prince (played by Ovenden), and for the first time experiences the joys and heartbreaks of life. But when he unexpectedly falls in love with a newly engaged young woman (played by Jill Paice), the mysterious stranger discovers that love may in fact be stronger than death."

For a first look at Death Takes a Holiday, look below: