La poupée

programme for 1897 London production

La poupée (The Doll) is an opéra comique in a prelude and three acts composed by Edmond Audran with a libretto by Maurice Ordonneau. It opened at the Théâtre de la Gaîté, Montparnasse, Paris on 21 October 1896.[1] Along with Miss Helyett (1890) La poupée was one of Audran's late successes. The libretto was based on E.T.A. Hoffmann's Der Sandmann.[2]

La poupée then played at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London, opening on 24 February 1897, with an English libretto in two acts by Arthur Sturgess, running for a very successful 576 performances. It starred Courtice Pounds and Willie Edouin, and Edna May later played in the piece. It also had a Broadway production in 1897 and was made into a film in 1920.[3]

Roles

Role Voice type Premiere Cast,
(Conductor:)
Father Maxime baritone Lucien Noel
Lancelot, a monk tenor Paul Fugère
Chanterelle tenor Paul Bert
Lorèmois, Chanterelle's friend tenor Bienfait
Balthazar, a monk tenor Jaltier
Agnelet, a monk tenor Bernard
Benoit, a monk bass Geoffroy
Basilique, a monk bass Fumat
Hilarius tenor Dacheux
Madame Hilarius soprano Gilles-Rainbault
Alesia, Hilarius's daughter soprano Mariette Sully
Guduline Brandon
Henri
Pierre, Hilarius's assistant
Jacques
Marie

Synopsis

Maxime and his fellow monks are penniless and starving. A new member of the monastery, Lancelot, asks his rich uncle for aid. The uncle will assist the friars, but only if Lancelot gets married. The monks scheme to trick the uncle by using one of puppet master Hilarius's dolls, pretending that it is Lancelot's wife. Hilarius's newest puppet was made to look similar to Alesia, his daughter. At the wedding, however, Alesia masquerades as the doll, because she loves Lancelot. Lancelot does not discover that he has married the real Alesia until the wedding is over. Now he must leave the monastery with his wife, but the friars receive the generous sum of money from his uncle.

Musical numbers (from English-language adaptation)

Act I - Scene 1 - The Monastery
Act I - Scene 2 - Hilarius's Workshop
Act II - Scene 1 - Chanterelle's Country House
Act II - Scene 2 - Another part of the Monastery
Supplementary numbers

Adaptations

Ernst Lubitsch filmed an adaptation of the story under the title Die Puppe (The Doll).[4]

Notes

  1. Traubner, Richard (2003). Operetta: A Theatrical History (Revised ed.). New York: Routledge. p. 95. ISBN 0-415-96641-8.
  2. Grove Online accessed 14 October 2007. (Requires subscription)
  3. Information about the 1920 film version
  4. Wosk, Julie. My Fair Ladies: Female Robots, Androids, and Other Artificial Eves, Rutgers University Press (2015), p. 64, accessed December 23, 2016 ISBN 0813563399

References

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