La Poupeé

La Poupée ("The doll") is an opéra comique in a prelude and three acts by Maurice Ordonneau (libretto) and Edmond Audran (composer).

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.[1]

The opera opened at the Théâtre de la Gaîté, Paris, on 21 October 1896.[2] Along with Miss Helyett (1890), 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. It also had a Broadway production in 1897 and was made into a film in 1920.[3]