THE GRAND DUCHESS OF GEROLSTEIN Music by Jacques Offenbach: Book and lyrics by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy. Théâtre des Variétés, Paris - 12 April, 1867 Théâtre Français, New York - 24 September, 1867 Theatre Royal, Drury Lane 18 November, 1867 (Book and lyrics adapted by Charles Lamb Kennedy One of a series of great Offenbach operettas, this is the hilarious tale of a sultry grande Dame who rules the tiny Duchy of Gerolstein. Having a keen eye for attractive young men, she promotes a certain Private Fritz to the rank of General in no time at all. But Fritz has a fiancée, and ideas of his own - and in the end the Grand Duchess has to settle for the absurdly foppish, but politically expedient, Prince Paul. Colourful and amusing characters, lots of comedy, and irresistible music. Story ACT 1 Somewhere in Gérolstein, on a fine battle's eve, the grand duchy's army is lolling about singing and dancing to optimistic soldierly choruses. Whilst the other soldiers drink and gamble and make the most of the local peasant girls, one particularly well-endowed young private called Fritz is saying fond farewells to his pretty sweetheart, Wanda . The lackadaisical attitude of his men in the face of the enemy infuriates the brimstonebreathing General Boum, Gérolstein's commander-in-chief. The General is a man who lives for war, and who can be relied upon to burst into battlestance at the slightest provocation. Fighting, however, is not Boum's only preoccupation. Like every soldier, he does have a soft spot for the ladies, and the lady after whom he lechers at the moment is none other than Fritz's Wanda. As a result, he snatches every opportunity to take out his dislike and envy of Fritz under the guise of military orders. Tonight, he announces, the Grand Duchess of Gérolstein will be coming to look over her army. Her tent is to be erected in the centre of the camp so, while the other soldiers are marched away, Fritz is ordered to stand sentry guard on the empty piece of ground intended for the tent. No sooner is he left alone than Wanda returns, anxious to make the most of their moments together. Fritz does his best to stick to the rules and neither speak nor move from his post, but his feelings finally get the better of him and he unbends sufficiently to indulge in a kiss or two. Alas, the young lovers are caught in the act by General Boum who has set up the whole affair with the sole object of catching Fritz at something which can be counted as a military crime. But before the General can take much revenge, shots are heard in the distance. It is the enemy cannon! Boum's ears prick up like a foxhound's and Wanda faints. As it happens, it is not the enemy approaching, but merely the camp sentries firing at the Grand Duchess's court chamberlain, the Baron Puck, who has walked through the gates without giving the password. Puck is a close crony of the General and the two of them have together cooked up mighty plans for controlling the government of Gérolstein. The young Grand Duchess has, up till now, been kept sweetly amused with toys and books and other such diversions, thus allowing her chief executives to get on with running the country as they wished but, now that she has reached the age of twenty, a different kind of distraction is needed if they are to keep their monarch from interfering in state business. One of Puck's recent ideas was the provision of a husband for his sovereign. It seemed like a fine idea and the husband chosen by the plotting pair was the diffident Prince Paul, son of the neighbouring Elector of SteisStein-Steis-Laper-Bottmoll-Schorstenburg. To their irritation, the ruse did not work, for the young monarch remained indifferent to Prince Paul and not only refused to wed him but declined even to receive his father's representative, Baron Grog. Following this failure, Puck has switched to a new stratagem. He would interest
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