La poupée


La poupée is an opéra comique in a prelude and three acts composed by Edmond Audran with a libretto by Maurice Ordonneau. The libretto was based on E.T.A. Hoffmann's Der Sandmann, about a friar who falsely promises to marry his rich uncle's daughter to fool his uncle into giving money to the monastery; the scheme involves creating a doll that looks like the daughter. The uncle's daughter, however, turns the scheme on its head and fools the friar into actually marrying her by substituting herself for the doll.

Productions

The opera opened at the Théâtre de la Gaîté, Paris, on 21 October 1896. Along with Miss Helyett, La poupée was one of Audran's late successes. It then played at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London, opening on 24 February 1897, with an English libretto in two acts by Arthur Sturgess, running for a very successful 576 performances. It starred Courtice Pounds and Willie Edouin, and Edna May later played in the piece.
On 11 September 1897, a single matinee performance of La Poupée at the Prince of Wales Theatre launched a British provincial tour with a new company. It also had a Broadway production in 1897 and was made into a film in 1920.

Roles

Synopsis

Maxime and his fellow monks are penniless and starving. A new member of the monastery, Lancelot, asks his rich uncle for aid. The uncle will assist the friars, but only if Lancelot gets married. The monks scheme to trick the uncle by using one of puppet master Hilarius's dolls, pretending that it is Lancelot's wife. Hilarius's newest puppet was made to look similar to Alesia, his daughter. At the wedding, however, Alesia masquerades as the doll, because she loves Lancelot. Lancelot does not discover that he has married the real Alesia until the wedding is over. Now he must leave the monastery with his wife, but the friars receive the generous sum of money from his uncle.

Musical numbers (from English-language adaptation)

;Act I - Scene 1 - The Monastery
;Act I - Scene 2 - Hilarius's Workshop
;Act II - Scene 1 - Chanterelle's Country House
;Act II - Scene 2 - Another part of the Monastery
;Supplementary numbers
filmed an adaptation of the story under the title Die Puppe.