DESIREE
A Comic Opera in Two Acts
Music by John Philip Sousa
Lyrics by Edward M. Taber
Restoration, edition and elaboration by Jerrold Fisher and William Martin
Based upon the English comedy Our Wife by John Maddison Morton, this comic opera in two acts was written in 1882-1884 and was originally produced by the McCaull Opera Comique Co,, 1884, and was billed as "America's First Comic Opera". Several critics took umbrage to this label, stating that an English story laid in France was not "American"; nevertheless, they kindly received Desiree as one of the pioneers of American operettas. It opened at the National Theater in Washington DC on May 1, 1884, and was transferred the following autumn to the Broad Street Theater in Philadephia for several weeks, later to be moved to Boston's Bijou Theater. Although he was yet to find his own musical voice, John Philip Sousa demonstrated evidence in his Desiree of what was to become the inimitable Sousa style. (courtesy of LTI Press and Lyric Theatre International)
SYNOPSIS
The action of “America’s First Comic Opera” takes place in Amiens, France, during the time of Cardinal Richelieu. Musketeers have gathered in Pomaret’s mercer shop, seeking his beautiful daughter, Desiree. Her cousin, Marie, waits on them and is all but ignored. Their delightful recreation is interrupted by a trumpet call, which summons them to their military duties.
The Count de Courville arrives, dismisses Marie, and then asks Desiree for her hand in marriage. The Count’s father, however, disapproves of his son’s marriage to a commoner and threatens by letter to imprison Pomaret if he permits the marriage to take place. The Count’s superior officer and friend, the heroic Marquis de Lavarre, decides to offer a solution. The Marquis proposes marriage to Desiree on the condition that the wedding takes place within the hour. At the prospect of becoming the father of a Marchioness, Pomaret promptly gives his consent.
Unbeknown to the Count, however, the Marquis has recently been convicted of killing a rival in a duel and has been sentenced to death. Cardinal Richelieu has condescended to permit the Marquis to die in battle against thirty-thousand Spaniards instead of facing ignominious death on the gallows. The Marquis secretly plans that as soon as the wedding vows are completed he will leave for his final battle, making the new Marchioness a widow and freeing her to marry the Count – thus fulfilling his promise to solve his friend’s dilemma.
However, the jealous Count is infuriated upon learning of the marriage plan and challenges the Marquis to a duel. In his outrange, the Count has not allowed the Marquis the chance to tell him of the fateful future. The Marquis has him arrested for his own good. The Marquis and Desiree are married; but at the wedding reception the Marquis seems disinterested and Desiree, very much slighted, is furious. She sends her father to the Cardinal to request an annulment of her marriage. Meanwhile, the Count escapes and returns to confront the Marquis. The Marquis reveals the full details of his plan to the Count, and to convince him his intentions are honorable, the Marquis sends his Sergeant with an immediate challenge to the Spanish General. Surprising news arrives from the Cardinal; the rival whom the Marquis had killed was found to be a traitor, and the Marquis is thereupon not only pardoned but a hero. Alas, the Marquis has already obliged himself to conduct a one-man battle against the thirty-thousand Spaniards. With only his trusted sword in hand, the honorable Marquis departs, however, not before he declares his love to Desiree.
In true operetta style, the Marquis is not killed in the battle. How his unexpected victory happened is told by a chorus of Musketeers and Drummer-boys in a rousing march – Sousa style.
The victorious Marquis de Lavarre returns and is reunited with Desiree’; but Pomaret arrives with the Cardinals approval of Desiree’s request for an annulment. The Count neatly resolves this final glitch by tearing up the annulment paper and announcing that he is marrying Marie – now eligible to be his wife since she is now the cousin of a Marquis. Even Pomaret gets his match, the matron schoolmistress, Laurie, who it is rumored, has saved ten-thousand francs. All of this and Pomaret becoming the father of Marchioness too – who could ask for anything more?
Cast of Characters
- Marquis de Lavarre - Ted Kerrick
- Count de Courville - Sean Pflueger
- Pomaret - Gary Sullivan
- Dumont - Blair Eig
- Antoine - Thomas Goode
- Desiree - Laura Wehrmeyer
- Marie - Monica Szabo
- Laurie - Andrea Schewe
- Gertrude - Carla Rountree
- Rose - Felicity Ann Brown
Ensemble - David Bradley, Katie Caughlan, Frederick DuPuy, Ashley Edmiston, Fran Fleming, Tara Hockensmith, Donna Jaffe, Lyle Jaffe, Elaine Kass, Marianna Martindale, Carlton Maryott, Jane Maryott, Debbie Peetz, Rusty Suter, Carole Wilkinson, Kent Woods, Denise Young