Based on Justin Huntly McCarthy's 1901 stage success If I Were King, the Friml work was a fanciful version of an episode in the life of 15th-century rogue poet François Villon. The head of a motley crew of thieves and outlaws, and beloved by the prostitute Huguette, Villon dares to fall in love with the aristocrat Catherine de Vaucelles. Through a series of ruses, King Louis XI makes Villon king for a day, with the secret intention of hanging him at the end of his brief reign. But during that day, Villon manages to realize his dreams of rallying his low-life friends against the Burgundians, saving Louis' kingdom, and winning the adoration of Catherine. Huguette ends her own life when she realizes she has lost Francois. Louis, realizing that none of his citizens would make so great a sacrifice for him, spares François from the gallows, and allows him and Catherine to wed.
   Friml's memorable score, with lyrics by Brian Hooker, gave us such gems as "Only a Rose," "Song of the Vagabonds," and "The Huguette Waltz." It also included two songs whose titles would later be appropriated by other songwriters: "Love Me Tonight," which had nothing to do with the Rodgers and Hart film musical of 1932, and "Love For Sale," (unfortunately not included in this recording) which served as one streetwalker's lament here and became the identical cry of another lady of the night in Cole Porter's The New Yorkers (1930).
   The Vagabond King enjoyed a long run of 511 performances at the Casino Theatre. In 1930, it became an early talkie two-strip Technicolor extravaganza starring Dennis King (from the stage production) and Jeanette MacDonald, and was filmed once more in 1956, starring Kathryn Grayson and the single-named, quickly-forgotten Maltese tenor Dreste.