It is adapted from the 1924 Italian play La Morte in Vacanza by Alberto Casella, which was translated in English for Broadway in 1929 by Walter Ferris.

The play was previously was adapted into a 1934 film of the same name starring Fredric March, which was remade in 1998 as Meet Joe Black.

[1] The story follows the personification of Death, who takes the form of a handsome young prince to understand human emotion.

The show played off-Broadway for a limited run in the summer of 2011 in a production by Roundabout Theatre Company and received eleven nominations for the 2011–12 Drama Desk Awards, though it did not win any.

Exhausted from the recent scale of killing ... resolves that he needs to know why people ... cling to life, why is that important? ...

The musical was directed by Doug Hughes, with choreography by Peter Pucci, set design by Derek McLane, and costumes by Catherine Zuber.

The cast included Linda Balgord (Contessa Danielli), Matt Cavenaugh (Major Fenton), Mara Davi (Alice), Kevin Earley (Death/Sirki), Simon Jones, Rebecca Luker (Duchess Stephanie), Jill Paice (Grazia), Michael Siberry (Duke Vittorio Lamberti), Alexandra Socha, Don Stephenson, Joy Hermalyn and Max von Essen (Corrado Montelli).

[1] British actor Julian Ovenden, left the show due to vocal trouble and was replaced by his understudy, Kevin Earley.

[7] Similarly, Steven Suskin, in reviewing the original cast album, wrote that "Maury Yeston has given us a liltingly romantic and lovely operetta-like score. ...

"[2] Time magazine ranked the show among the Top Ten of the year and commented on the brief run: "Death deserved to live on.

[10] A review in the Sunday Express commented: "The presiding genius of this musical adaptation is composer/lyricist Maury Yeston whose lush, operetta-like scores make him the heir to Jerome Kern's crown among the current crop of Broadway writers.

As in previous works such as Grand Hotel and Titanic, he displays a rare ability to give voice to a wide range of characters, often within a single song.

Thom Sutherland, renewing his collaboration with Yeston after the recent Titanic, directs this gentler piece with delicacy and elegance.

"[11] Duke Vittorio Lamberti and his family are driving home to their hilltop villa outside of Venice in 1921 after the engagement party of their daughter, Grazia, to Corrado Montelli.

Later, the prince discovers Alice, the widow of Grazia's brother Roberto (killed in action during the war) in the music room.

Vittorio pleads with Death not to take his remaining child, but his pleas fall on seemingly deaf ears.

Major Fenton has taken his private plane to Monte Carlo and returns with the news that the real Prince Nikolai is dead, and this one is an impostor.