THE OPERA.

Evening Star, Issue 3459, 24 March 1874, Page 2

THE OPERA.

Last evening, “ The Rose of Castille” was! played to an overflowing house. The cast was the same' as before 1 ; and this pretty composition by Brilfe was gone through even/ more effectively than on its first production ; Miss Alice May and Miss Lambert were especially effective. This evening, for the first time, Offenbach’s comic opera “ Gene** Vievo de Brabant 1 ’: will be produced for the first time. r lhe outline of the plot, as sup-i plied by the adapter, is as follows : !

: Somebody says somewhere, or if they don’t l they ought to have said; it; that to attempt to: renders reach Opera Bouffe into English,! is about as feasible, as turning m omelette into a suet dumpling.-; with-this .warning, in! his ear, I .the, adapter i caps the. atrocity, he. has been guilty of, in; this particularly free transla-i tion, by presenting the following synopsis - of' the story it endeavors to set forth In the! year—never mind when—there lived in thei Duchy of Brabant _a , Duke named Coboribo, who was blpsaed with a most charming wife; (known to'history as Genevieve 'de Brabant).Cocorico and Genevieve _ being very much mar ried and settled, bid fair to pass their days in; that supremely monotonous mapneriknown. as! living happily ever afterwards.. But Rate, un- ! desirous of thus sentencing them to. eternal; ennui , gives them the following cause for a little wholesome excitementl. Tlie wahf of an heir. 2. Separation.; 3. Adventures'while; .separated. 4, Startling and joyous reunion. On these pegs our friend M. Offenbach has hung some delightful music.’ The 1 plot de- • velops in charmingly naive . style. Act 1 1, explains to us how that..''certain wise men of Brabant, having consulted the Oracle as-to the. best means of prolonging the Cogoncan‘dynasty, have been repomn)en4e.d, to pre•Pl**®:;®: •bwsV* V ie his Diilpesbip’s, special delectation. The pie is operied, and several very gay birds immediately begin to sing. The Duke s Brime Minister, Golo, arch-plotter against the Ducal -Grown, makes -love to the Duchess, and' is incontinently snubbed for his pains. Drogan, the young baker of the famous pie, having been promoted,to the rank of page,! exhibits affection, but of amoreplatonio'nature, towards his mistress,,sees the,danger , she:is in from Golo’s machinations, and devotes himself to her service. Act 11. introduces us to that celebrated warrior, Charles Martel, -Who Arrives in hot haste on-bis. - 'Way; te'OPril«btine, , 'imd : carries off the poor Duke, much against his will; to have a 1 chop at the ‘ Saracen’s Head,’ or, in otffer words, to take part in a new Crusade.. Act, 111, ip dated l a 1 year after Act 11. Is o news has been heard of the Duke, and Golo, l?elipving. him.vto! -be. .dead; . ’has asaqpied 1 the reins of Government, Genevieve, accom-! panied by her handmaid Brigitte, and her ever- : faithful squire Drogan, has fled to France. We find her in a wood near Versailles, hotly pursued by Gplp’s gensd’armes. who at. length make her prisoned and are’ about to dispatch her, when Drogan, diseased as the permit of the Ravine, of whom the stapd in holy horror, suddenly appears and utterly discomforts them. In Act IV. the Duke, who has returned from Palestine triumphant, is led by Golo and his fellow conspirator,, the Burgomaster, to believe Genevieve is dead. Drogan,! however, arrives oh the scone in time to give the lie to this fabrication, and ushers in the lady Kerself, much to the joy of everybody, Golo and the Burgomaster always excepted.' Ihus ends the tale. As to the.efficacy of the' pie we are left.in exquisite conjecture., v, ; ;■'/