La Poupée
La Poupée ("The doll") is a French opéra-comique[1], consisting of a prelude and three acts, by Maurice Ordonneau (libretto, 1854–1916)[2] and Edmond Audran (composer, 1840–1901)[3].
Note: The title usually written La poupée in French publications.
The original text
The play is based on E.T.A. Hoffmann's popular short stories called Der Sandmann[4] ("the sandman") and Die Puppe ("The Doll"), first published in an 1817 book of stories titled Die Nachtstücke ("The Night Pieces"), which most famously also served as the source for the ballet Coppélia (1870) and for Act I of Offenbach's opera The Tales of Hoffmann[5](1881).
The Ordonneau and Audran comic opera opened at the Théâtre de la Gaîté, Paris, on 21 October 1896.
Translations and adaptations
An English libretto in two acts called La Poupee was written by Arthur Sturgess and first played at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London from 24 February 1897, going on to notch up 576 performances. A Broadway production was also done in 1897
The story - and no doubt the comic opera's success later inspired a film by Ernst Lubitsch called Die Puppe (1919).
1903: Performed in English (as La Poupee) in the Opera House, Cape Town, by the Mouillot-De Jong Company.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_poup%C3%A9e
