In the male-dominated aristocracy of 17th-century France, this is the true story of a non-soprano's impossible pursuit of opera stardom and her struggle for equality as an educated bisexual whose talent and temper bring her equally close to her dream and a death sentence from the King.

SYNOPSIS:

La Maupin is an hour-long limited series historical drama akin to The Queen's Gambit meets Breaking Bad. In the male-dominated aristocracy of 17th-century France, this is the true story of a non-soprano's impossible pursuit of opera stardom and her struggle for equality as an educated bisexual whose talent and temper bring her equally close to her dream and a death sentence from the King.

The pilot opens in the court of King Louis XIV, at the Palace of Versailles, where we are introduced to Julie d'Aubigny and her dominance with the sword, something unheard of for a woman at that time. She is raised by her father, Gaston, a widower, to be strong and independent, educated as a boy would be, and encouraged to marry for love instead of arrangement. This defiance of societal norms is the beginning of what will be a lifetime of rebellion while fighting for gender equality.

As a teenager, Julie strategically takes her father's employer, Louis de Lorraine, as her first lover, and through him is introduced to the Paris Opera. Transfixed by its beauty, she vows to one day be on that stage as the lead, a dream she is repeatedly told is impossible because she is not soprano. When Gaston passes away, Louis becomes more of a guardian than lover and also arranges for her to be married to Jean Maupin. Enraged by this, and feeling like all her support for female independence died with her father, she does something that will become a recurring habit of hers. In order to openly show what she is truly capable of, she dresses like a man, rides into Paris, and enters a fencing hall.

This need to prove herself, to prove that a woman can be just as capable as a man, and to prove that she could lead the Paris Opera even though everyone says it's impossible, is what drives the rest of the series. Julie is repeatedly cast as an outsider; a girl in a class with boys, a woman who must dress as a man to show her skill, a singer with a voice out of range who cannot read music, a criminal. She fights every injustice with a longing for equality and respect. And this search for belonging is also a search for love, and the ability to be able to search for love instead of having it forced upon you.

This incredible journey takes Julie to the opera stages of Marseille and Brussels and eventually back to Paris, where she truly must stand against the misogyny around her, including being sold off to wealthy patrons for the night following performances. It is a journey both in freedom and as a fugitive, with De La Reynie consistently in pursuit of her offenses. She gets sentenced to death twice; once for burning down a convent to rescue her lover, and the other for killing three men in a duel. Both times, however, the King is so amused and impressed by her impudence that he annuls the sentence, much to the dismay of De La Reynie, who begins to question his own loyalty to the King's laws if even the King himself will not uphold them.

Eventually the law does catch up to Julie when she is arrested for assault. As part of the terms of her release, she must live with someone who can keep an eye on her... her husband. The theme of identity often involves her husband as she initially went by her maiden name to avoid her success being connected to a man who had nothing to do with it. Also because upon learning that he is actually gay, they come to an understanding of how they both have had to pretend to be someone else in order to live and survive. It is through this unexpected turn that Julie becomes more settled and focused. Having earned the respect and admiration of famed composer Andre Campra, he writes a new opera with a leading role specifically for Julie. The opera is "Tancrede", and it is the first French opera with a non-soprano lead. Julie finally accomplishes her impossible dream, 5 years before she dies of unknown causes at the age of 33.