Prince Ananias

Photo from the original production

Prince Ananias was the first operetta composed by Victor Herbert. The libretto is by Francis Neilson. It was first produced by a troupe called "The Bostonians" at The Broadway Theatre on November 20, 1894, directed by Jerome Sykes.[1] It remained in their repertoire for three seasons and was given more than 300 performances in all. A modest success at first, it did well on tour.[2]

Synopsis

Arriving at the court of King Boniface, a touring troupe of players finds that the king has lost his ability to laugh. They are tasked with finding his sense of humor; the penalty for failure is death. They produce a work, Prince Ananias, that is not well-received, except that the title character is so inept that the king bursts out laughing. Thus, the players have a happy ending, as do the several pairs of lovers who overcome various romantic and backstage complications.

Roles and original cast

Musical numbers

Act I
Act II

Notes

  1. "Prince Ananias Produced", The New York Times, November 21, 1894, p. 2.
  2. Gould, pp. 266 and 269

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, December 14, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.