Madame Sherry (operetta)
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| Title: | Madame Sherry |
| Shape: | operetta |
| Original language: | German |
| Music: | Hugo Felix |
| Libretto : | Maurice Ordonneau, Benno Jacobson |
| Premiere: | 1902 |
| Place of premiere: | Berlin |
| Place and time of the action: | Paris around 1900 |
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Madame Sherry is an operetta in three acts by the composer Hugo Felix ; Maurice Ordonneau wrote the libretto and Benno Jacobson translated it into German. The operetta premiered in November 1902 at the Central Theater Berlin. In Vienna it was brought out for the first time in the Carltheater on October 10, 1903 . The successful play was adapted by the composer Karl Hoschna and in 1910 he created a very successful musical of the same name.
action
- Act 1 - Salon in Anatole's apartment
Catherine, Anatole's housekeeper, argues with vendors over unpaid bills and throws them out of the apartment. Aurillac, her husband, joins them and admires Catherine's assertiveness on the one hand, and on the other hand he is also (because of Italian descent) very jealous because Anatole, whose employer is a Filou and is even suspected of being a libertine.
Anatole is currently having an affair with the dancer Mistigrette, who also lives with him from time to time. Anatole Mistigrette officially gives piano lessons. Anatole's uncle, Mac Sherry from Scotland, gives him very generous financial support to ensure Anatole's training as a music professor. Leonard also visits Anatole's apartment regularly to take music lessons from Mistigrette, because he has fallen in love with her and wants to marry her.
Anatole leaves the two of them alone at the piano and goes to the post office. So far, he has only been able to avert his bankruptcy through regular money transfers from his uncle. As soon as Anatole is out of the house, friends come to have fun. They drink to the welfare of Anatole's wife and their children. He didn't have either of these, but some time ago he pretended to marry his uncle in order to get more money. Later he invented a son, Epaminondas, and a daughter, Scholastika.
The friends plunder Anatoles' wine stores and sing a song about the trick . Anatole returns and invites his friends to the café. Leonard and Mistigrette stay in intimate togetherness in the apartment. She holds him out, but hopes to propose marriage. When the time comes, a former lover of Leonard, Pepita, storms in and threatens Mistigrette (the song of the dagger). Then it disappears as quickly as it came; but before the two can enjoy their intimate togetherness, they are disturbed again.
Mac Sherry has come to Paris with his niece Jane to surprise his nephew Anatole. In Anatole's apartment, they surprise Mistigrette and Leonard and mistake them for Epaminondas and Scholastics. Anatole comes back to the apartment at the same time as her uncle and cousin. When he sees his uncle, he is frightened. Desperate, he introduces Catherine as his wife and Mistigrette and Leonard as his children. By chance, Aurillac overhears this conversation and feels confirmed in his jealousy.
Anatole's friends come back and want to continue partying. Since Uncle Mac Sherry is now convinced of Anatole's marital happiness, the two dress in their Scottish national costume and mingle with the celebrants. As a highlight, they play Scottish tunes on the bagpipes and perform a folk dance.
- Act 2 - Small hall in the restaurant "Zum golden Rüssel"
The “whole family” (Mac Sherry, Catherine, Leonard, Mistigrette, Aurillac) orders an exquisite meal. Anatole and Jane have fallen in love and are going on a carriage ride. You come to the others later and report on this trip (the song about the cab). Jane is ecstatic and each of her sentences ends with: "... says my cousin!"
Further misunderstandings arise when a theatrical costume for Mistigrette is delivered. Anatole painstakingly invents participation in an event for charity. Then Pepita appears and brings further unrest into the company. In this confusion, Mac Sherry overhears those present and learns to his horror that Anatole's wife is in a liaison with the factotum Aurillac and that the siblings Mistigrette and Leonard love each other. He also began to suspect that Anatole had a forbidden relationship with his daughter.
While Mac Sherry recovers from the news, Anatole and Jane debate. He confesses to her the whole hoax and asks for her hand. Just as she is about to say “yes”, Uncle Mac Sherry joins them. When he hears about Anatoles' connection with Jane, he almost runs amok and doesn't want to hear any more explanation.
The rectification of all the entanglements is more difficult than expected. Aurillac and Catherine are drunk, Pepita has reappeared and demands satisfaction from Mistigrette. She is just about to go to the theater when she doesn't want to let Mac Sherry out of the house in her costume - because she is improperly dressed. Anatole fights with Aurillac, because he wants to beat Catherine while drunk and Jane tries to slow down the mad uncle, who now demands clarification.
- 3rd act - staircase in the hotel "Terminus"
Mac Sherry takes the “whole family” to the Hotel Terminus . There everyone should spend the night in their own room and sleep in, since the uncle has announced an absolute general clearing-up for the next day after breakfast. Again, there are misunderstandings in the distribution of the rooms. Anatole and Jane meet secretly (duet Bad Weather ).
Mac Sherry cannot sleep with excitement and sits down on a couch in an alcove in the stairwell. Anatole notices him there and has a plan. He gets Mistigrette, Jane and Pepita and they are supposed to flatter the uncle to keep him gentle. Later Catherine joins them and the four women sing a quartet for their uncle. Suddenly Anatole arrives and catches his uncle in a precarious situation with four women on the couch.
Before the uncle can explain himself, Anatole tells his uncle the truth: Catherine and Aurillac are married to each other, Mistigrette is just a piano student and Leonard is the son of the Bolivian president. When Anatole officially asks the uncle for his cousin Jane's hand, he gives his consent and hopes for a grandson soon. Everything is cleared up, everyone is happy and laughing, Mac Sherry invites you to midnight champagne.
literature
- Hugo Felix: Madame Sherry. Operetta in three acts . Schlesinger, Berlin 1902.
- Leo Melitz: Guide through the operettas . Globus-Verlag, Berlin 1917, pp. 127-131.