The Duchess of Dantzic

The Duchess of Dаntzic is a comic opera in three acts, set in Paris, with music by Ivan Caryll and a book and lyrics by Henry Hamilton, based on the play Madame Sans-Gêne by Victorien Sardou and Émile Moreau.

[3] The musical adaptation followed a celebrated production of an English version of the original French play, translated by J. Comyns Carr and starring Henry Irving and Ellen Terry.

[4] The original production of The Duchess of Dantzic, produced by Edwardes, opened at the Lyric Theatre in London on 17 October 1903 and ran for 236 performances.

It was directed by Robert Courtneidge, choreographed by Willie Warde and had scenery by Joseph Harker and costumes by Percy Anderson.

The cast consisted mostly of the London players, including Adrienne Augarde as Renée, Holbrook Blinn as Napoleon I, Evie Greene as Catherine, and Courtice Pounds as Papillon.

[8] At the height of the French revolution, Catherine, nicknamed Madame Sans-Gêne ("without embarrassment"), a laundress, pursues her job, unimpressed by the revolutionary comings and goings.

As soon as Bonaparte has left, a young aristocrat, Philippe de Béthune, dashes in, to seek sanctuary from a pursuing revolutionary mob.

Lefebvre is now a Marshal of France, but his free-minded wife, Catherine, despite her new title of Duchess of Dantzic, not to mention her adopted son Adhèmar (Béthune's son), does not fit in with court etiquette, and Napoleon indicates to Lefebvre that he should divorce her and marry Mademoiselle Renée, whom the emperor considers more suitable.