Dangerous Beauty is a biographical

Biographical film

A biographical film, or biopic , is a film that dramatizes the life of an actual person or people. They differ from films “based on a true story” or “historical films” in that they attempt to comprehensively tell a person’s life story or at least the most historically important years of their...

 drama film

Drama film

A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...

 directed by Marshall Herskovitz

Marshall Herskovitz

Marshall Schreiber Herskovitz is an American film director, writer and producer, and currently the President Emeritus of the Producers Guild of America. Among his productions are Traffic, The Last Samurai, Blood Diamond, and I Am Sam. Herskovitz has directed two feature films, Jack the Bear and...

. It is adapted from the non-fiction book The Honest Courtesan

The Honest Courtesan

The Honest Courtesan is a 1992 biographical book by Margaret Rosenthal about a 16th century Venetian courtesan named Veronica Franco.-Description:...

, by Margaret Rosenthal, (also the title of the UK video release), about the life of Veronica Franco

Veronica Franco

Veronica Franco was an Italian poet and courtesan in 16th century Venice.- Life as a courtesan :Renaissance Venetian society recognized two different classes of courtesans: the cortigiana onesta, the intellectual courtesan, and the cortigiana di lume, lower-class prostitutes who tended to live and...

 (played by Catherine McCormack

Catherine McCormack

Catherine McCormack is an English actress, known for her stage acting as well as her screen performances in films such as Braveheart, Spy Game and Dangerous Beauty.- Early life :...

), a courtesan in 16th century Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

.

A stage musical version of the film premiered on July 25, 2008 at Northwestern University

Northwestern University

Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....

's Ethel M. Barber Theatre. The musical features book and verse by Jeannine Dominy (the screenwriter of the film), lyrics by Amanda McBroom

Amanda McBroom

Amanda McBroom is an American singer, songwriter and cabaret performer. One of the songs she has written is "The Rose", which Bette Midler sang in the film of the same name...

, and music by Michele Brourman

Michele Brourman

Michele Brourman is an American songwriter who is well known for writing the songs to most of the films in Land Before Time series , as well as the accompanying television series . She has also written the songs for sequels Balto II: Wolf Quest and Balto III: Wings of Change and one song for the...

 under the direction of Sheryl Kaller.

The musical version of Dangerous Beauty will premiere at the Pasadena Playhouse

Pasadena Playhouse

The Pasadena Playhouse is a historic performing arts venue located 39 S El Molino Avenue in Pasadena, California. The 686-seat auditorium produces a variety of cultural and artistic events, professional shows, and community engagements each year.-History:...

 in February 2011, starring Jenny Powers as Veronica Franco

Veronica Franco

Veronica Franco was an Italian poet and courtesan in 16th century Venice.- Life as a courtesan :Renaissance Venetian society recognized two different classes of courtesans: the cortigiana onesta, the intellectual courtesan, and the cortigiana di lume, lower-class prostitutes who tended to live and...

.
Veronica is an adventurous, curious, slightly tomboyish young woman in Venice.