A University Liggett School alumna has brought the life of the legendary French actress Sarah Bernhardt to the stage in a one-woman musical that will be performed at the Grosse Pointe War Memorial June 9.

Carol Dunitz composed the script, lyrics and music to “Bernhardt on Broadway,” a 12-song celebration and examination of the great tragedienne who came to be known simply as “The Divine Sarah.”

The play explores the wit, intelligence, talent and strategic eccentricity that catapulted Bernhardt to international fame during the last decades of the 19th century.

Arguably the most famous woman on the planet while she lived, Bernhardt, who died in 1923 at the age of 78, used antics such as outrageous costumes, provocative interviews with the press, and the deliberate dissemination of misinformation about her “outrageous” lifestyle to draw curious hordes to her round-the-globe performances. But it was her undisputed talent and magnetism as an actress, Dunitz said, that kept them coming back.

On June 9, Grosse Pointers can see Dunitz don a thick French accent and three period costumes to perform the role of Bernhardt during 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. performances in the Fries Auditorium. The performances are part of a tour that had its Oct. 7 world premiere at Maxim’s: The Nancy Goldberg International Center in Chicago and is scheduled for a number of cities throughout Michigan through the summer. There are performances planned in Dubuque, IA, in early 2012.

Dunitz, who lives in Ann Arbor, says the musical, which runs two hours with one intermission, is designed to make the audience feel they are sharing an intimate evening with Bernhardt in her parlor some time in the late 1890s, when she would have been at the height of her career.

During this audience, Bernhardt sings about her mastery of public relations (“Tour de Force” and “Royal Presents”), her need for the adoration of her fans (“More than Everything”), her philosophy of embracing and overcoming life’s challenges (“Quand Meme”), and her inimitability (“No One Else”).

Although Dunitz has been writing music since she was nine, she only recently decided to give up her career as an independent speechwriter and communications strategist to pursue her dream of writing and producing musicals.

She describes her music as “very theatrical” with infectious melodies and sophisticated lyrics, and compares it to the work of Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart, and George Gershwin. She says her audiences leave the show humming her tunes and reflecting on the songs as though they were “pieces of a puzzle – you’ll want to go back and put them together again.”

Dunitz, who read nearly 100 books on Bernhardt in French and English to bring historical and psychological accuracy to her subject, has already conceived her next project: a musical about Abraham Lincoln as seen through the eyes of his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln.

Tickets for “Bernhardt on  Broadway” are available at Voilà Boutique at 18226 Mack Ave. and Wild Birds Unlimited at 20485 Mack Ave. They are $25. For groups of ten or more, tickets are $20.