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HENRI MEILHAC (1831 - 1897) |
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Nationality: French Email: n/a Website: n/a |
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Literary Agent: n/a |
Almost forgotten in the English-speaking theatre world, a few may recognize Henri Meilhac as author, with collaborator Ludovic Halevy, of the libretto for Bizet's Carmen. The two were also composer Offenbach's most prolific librettists, with hits such as La vie parisienne (1866), as well as writing book and lyrics for the Straus operetta Die Fledermaus. Meilhac alone wrote the play later adapted into the popular operetta The Merry Widow. In the latter half of the 19th century, Meilhac and Halevy were also among the most successful authors of Paris comedies; their plays regularly filling the Palais-Royal, the Gymnase, the Vaudeville and the Theātre des Varietes. Henri Meilhac's career continued to flourish for more than a decade after the collaboration with Halevy ended in 1881 with such hits as Ma Camarade (1883) and Ma Cousine (1890), both starring Gabrielle Rejane, France's leading comic actress. In 1888 he was elected to the Academie franēaise.
Adaptation / Translations of Plays by Henri Meilhac
Brazilian, The | ||
| 1st Produced: | - - - | - - - | ||||
Organisations: | n/a | |||||
| 1st Published: | Samuel French, NY, | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #31519 | |||
To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
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Genre: | Translation | |||||
| Parts: | Male | 2 | Female | 3 | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
Notes: | Original Playwright - Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halevy | |||||
Synopsis: |
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Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Gabrielle | ||
| 1st Produced: | - - - | - - - | ||||
Organisations: | n/a | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent where listed at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #89437 | |||
To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
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Genre: | Comedy Translation | |||||
| Parts: | Male | 3 | Female | 5 | ||
Parts other: | 1 or 2 non-speaking servants | |||||
Notes: | Original Playwright - Henri Meilhac. Translated from Ma Cousine by Henry Meilhac (librettist of Bizet's Carmen Among other works) has been Adapted from its original 1890 setting to 1921. Meilhac created strong, Appealing female characters - in this play, four of them. With French comic star Rejane in the title role, the play had An initial Paris run of 300 performances. Forgotten for 100 years, this "continuous peel of laughter; A delicious promenade in the land of fantasy" deserves this 21st century translation. | |||||
Synopsis: | The play opens in the apartment of Riquette Gabrielle, toast of the 1921 Paris stage. A succession of visitors drop by and introduce the foundation of the plot - news of an affair between Raoul d'Arnay-la-Hutte and Victorine Champcourtier. He's a well-to-do young socialite; she's the much younger wife of an even wealthier club-man who has decided to try his luck at play-writing to impress "the fellows". Raoul's wife Clotilde, Riquette's Gabrielle's long-lost cousin, comes to plead for her assistance in winning back her husband. Riquette Gabrielle accepts the challenge: her strategy is to charm Raoul away from Victorine, then find a way to deliver him back to Clotilde. A rehearsal of Champcourtier's play, The Hortense Tango, provides the setting for phase one of her strategy, culminating in a comic dance of lustful glances and jealous reproaches. By one of life's coincidences, Raoul's love-nest for his planned rendezvous with Victorine turns out to be an apartment rented from Riquette's Gabrielle's manicurist. Riquette Gabrielle shows up, as do the other characters, and she succeeds in wrapping up her master (or is that mistress?) strategy. | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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Vice Versa (as Two Weeks in Normandy) | ||
| 1st Produced: | Alumnae Theatre, Toronto, ON | 23 Mar 2011 | ||||
Organisations: | Alumnae Theatre, New Ideas Festival | |||||
| 1st Published: | I don't think it has been published. Try emailing Playwright or Agent where listed at top of page. | ISBN/ASIN: | - | |||
| Music: | - | doollee no | #146081 | |||
To Buy This Play: | If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies | |||||
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Genre: | One-act comedy translation | |||||
| Parts: | Male | 1 | Female | 1 | ||
Parts other: | - | |||||
Notes: | Original Playwright - Henri Meilhac. Vice Versa is a flirty two-hander translated and adapted from Henri Meilhac's 1894 one-act play, Villegiature. The setting is clearly France, but with theme and characters of such continuing relevance I have used language that would not be out of place at any time in the 20th century. This 30-minute two-hander can be staged alone or as part of What The Heart Wants, the translator's comic trilogy on the theme of marital fidelity. | |||||
Synopsis: | Lucie meets her friend's husband Jacques in the garden of the Inn where the two couples have been vacationing; she has been entrusted with the task of telling him that his wife has run away with another man - unaware that Jacques has been given a similar mission by Lucie's husband. Knowing smiles and outright laughter will greet the ways Lucie and Jacques dance around each other . . . and where that dance leads them. | |||||
Further Reference: | - | |||||
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