naughty marietta
An Comic Opera in Two Acts
Music by Victor Herbert
Book and Lyrics by Rida Johnson Young
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Captain Richard Warrington, an American known as Captain Dick – Principal Tenor
Lieutenant- Governor Grandet – Character, Big Man
Etienne Grandet, son of the Lieut.-Governor – Juvenile Basso
Sir Harry Blake, an Irish adventurer – Second Juvenile
Silas Slick, Captain Dick’s Servant – Principal Comedy
Rudolfo, keeper of the Marionette Theatre –Character Comedy, Italian dialect
Florenze, secretary to the Lieut.-Governor – Character Old Man
Marietta D’Altena – Prima Donna Soprano
Lizette, A Casquette Girl – Eccentric Comedienne
Adah, a Quadroon Slave – Principal Contralto
Franchon, Nanette, Felice – Small Singing Parts
Night Watchman, Pirate, Indian, East Indian, Knife Grinder – Small Parts
Quadroon Belles, Spanish Girls, French Girls, Captain Dick’s Followers, Italians, Etc.
SYNOPSIS OF SCENES
Act I. Public Square in New Orleans
Act II. Scene 1. A Marionette Theatre
Scene 2. Ballroom of the Jeunesse Club
Place: New Orleans
Time: 1780
Argument
Countess Marietta, the young daughter of a noble Italian family residing in France, being unhappy at home, runs away and disguises herself as one of a number of marriageable “casquette” girls sent by the King of France to the French settlement of New Orleans. Upon her arrival she is befriended by an American frontiersman, Capt. Richard Warrington, and falls in love with him. She also rouses the affections of the Lieutenant-Governor’s son Etienne Grandet, a polished young villain, who is also known to the underworld as the pirate “Bras Pique.” He recognizes Marietta as the missing Countess, and is anxious to win her hand, but he has troubles of his own in getting rid of a former attachment, the quadroon Adah. Marietta, in order to escape detection, by the connivance of Capt. Dick disguises herself as the son of Rudolfo, keeper of a Marionette Theatre. Here Etienne visits her and she is persuaded by him to attend a mask ball where she is on the point of accepting his hand in marriage when Capt. Dick arrives on the scene with his men, accuses Etienne of being the notorious “Bras Pique,” discovers that Marietta returns his love and all ends happily.
History
Naughty Marietta opened on Broadway at the New York Theatre on November 17, 1910 and ran 136 performances. The piece was revived on Broadway in 1929 and 1931. The 1935 MGM film starring the immortal Jeannette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy was their first movie together. One of the most beloved operettas of all time, Naughty Marietta was constantly revived by stock and amateur companies all over the country, but has not been seen regularly in recent decades. Victor Herbert’s masterpiece, the score contains “Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life,” “The Italian Street Song,” “I’m Falling in Love with Someone,” and “‘Neath the Southern Moon.”
The New York Times: “A sensational success…Victor Herbert has written one of his very most tuneful scores for the piece.”
Orchestration
Flute 1
Flute 2 (doubles Piccolo)
Oboe
Clarinet 1 (in B-flat and A)
Clarinet 2 (in B-flat and A)
Bassoon
Horn 1
Horn 2
Trumpet 1
Trumpet 2
Trombone
Percussion (2 Players: Timpani, Chimes, Bells, Xylophone, Snare Drum,
Bass Drum & Cymbals, Triangle, Tambourine, Wood Block, Suspended Cymbal)
Violin 1
Violin 2
Viola
Cello
Bass
Harp
