The Loathly Lady is based on Chaucer's The Wife of Bath's Tale, in which a cruel knight must discover what women want most. The Loathly Lady's knight meets several characters during his quest: Freud, Jane Austen's Emma, Sheherezade, Virginia Woolf, Shakespeare's Titania. Jill Pasternak interviews librettist Wendy Steiner and composer Paul Richards.
