Maison à Vendre

("House for Sale" -) A comic opera ("opéra-comique[1]" or "comédie en un acte et en prose, mêlée de chants") in one act by Alexandre Vincent Pineux-Duval (1767-1842), with music by Nicolas Dalayrac (1753-1809).

The original text

First produced at the Théâtre de l’Opéra-Comique (in the salle Favart) on 23 October, 1800.

Translations and adaptations

Translated into English as A House to be Sold, and expanded into a musical piece in two acts, by James Cobb (1756-1818), with music by Michael Kelly (1762-1826). This version was first performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in 1802, published the same year in London by G. & J. Robinson .

A prose version in English, also called A House to be Sold was done by J.Bayliss and published in 1804, but apparently never acted at the time.

Performance history in South Africa

1818: Performed in English in the African Theatre, Cape Town on 8 August, by the Gentlemen Amateurs (Garrison Players) with the help of Mr Cooke and his company of ladies. Billed as A House to be Sold, a "musical farce", it served as afterpiece to The Tale of Mystery (Holcroft).