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Opera Comique
Author(s):
Nagle Jackson
The place is the Opera Comique, in Paris, in 1875, at the first performance of Bizet's new opera, Carmen. All the "best people" are there but, as the cynical, worldly-wise usher, Odile, points out, they have not come to hear the music. Rather it is "amour" which they have on their minds: Paul Vigneron (who is having an affair with Madame de la Corniche) hopes to pair his sex-obsessed son Hector (who figuratively undresses every woman he sees) with his mistress' daughter, Viviane; while Viviane (who is not quite the innocent she seems) is hoping to bed down with the father rather than the son. Also on hand are a nervous Georges Bizet (for whose opera Odile has predicted sure and permanent failure); the revered Charles Gounod, doyen of French opera (who is not above the temptations of the flesh, despite his age and exalted status); and the tempting coquette, La Tartine (who has come to seduce Gounod but, in the comic doings, finds herself closeted naked with the randy Hector Vigneron instead). Eventually things become so hilariously tangled that straightening them out is seemingly impossible--but straightened out they are, except in the case of poor Bizet, who knows only that his cherished work has failed that evening, and does not live on long enough thereafter to learn that, in time, it will become the world's most popular opera.
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| Genre(s): | Comedy
| | Time Period(s): | Not Available | | Play Type: | Play | | Runtime: | Not Available | | Acts: | Not Available | | Set Complexity: | Not Available | | Set Information: | Not Available | | Year First Published: | Not Available | | Total Characters: | 10 | | Male Characters: | 6 | | Female Characters: | 4 | | Androgynous Characters: | Not Available | | Minimum Cast: | Not Available | | Maximum Cast: | Not Available | | Cost: | FEE: $50 per performance
Royalty/cost information prone to change.
Please check with the publisher for the most accurate information. | | Publisher: | Dramatists Play Service
Click on the publisher's name above for additional information, including updated prices. | | ISBN: | Not Available |
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