Rebecca (musical) Rebecca (musical) Rebecca is a German-language musical based on the novel of the same name by Daphne du Maurier. It was written by Michael Kunze (book and lyrics) and Sylvester Levay (music), the authors of the musicals "Elisabeth", "Mozart!" and "Marie Antoinette". The plot, which adheres closely to the original novel, revolves around wealthy Maxim DeWinter, his naïve new wife, and Mrs. Danvers, the manipulative housekeeper of DeWinter's Cornish estate Manderley. Mrs. Danvers resents the new wife's intrusion and persuades the new wife that she is an unworthy replacement for the first Mrs. DeWinter, the glamorous and mysterious Rebecca, who
Rebecca (novel) were sent to be published in England and based her famous best-seller on it. According to Nabuco's autobiography, "Eight Decades", she (Nabuco) refused to sign a contract brought to her by a United Artists' representative in which she agreed that the similarities between her book and the movie were mere coincidence. Du Maurier denied copying Nabuco's book, as did her publisher, claiming that the plot used in "Rebecca" was quite common. A further, ironic complication in Nabuco's allegations is the similarity between her novel and the novel "Encarnação", written by José de Alencar, Brazil's most celebrated novelist of the nineteenth