After beginning the 1930s by writing a series of non-musical plays, Novello returned to musicals in 1935 with Glamorous Night, the first of several very successful large-scale operetta-style pieces that he premiered in spectacular productions.

The musical featured extravagant scenery, including a street with a horse-drawn carriage, a ship, an operetta production and a bustling gypsy wedding, and a ballroom; extensive dance numbers; and shipboard skating.

[3] The story echoed the political situation in Romania, where King Carol II had renounced his throne to live with, and eventually marry, a Romany actress, Magda Lupescu.

The plot echoed current events in Rumania, where the king was willing to give up his reign to marry a Romany actress, Mme.

There he sees an operetta, Glamorous Nights, starring the gypsy princess Militza Hajos, the prima-donna of the state opera.

A 1937 British drama film adaptation of the musical, with the same name, was directed by Brian Desmond Hurst and starred Mary Ellis, Otto Kruger, Victor Jory and Barry MacKay.