The Merry Zingara
Described by the author as "A Whimsical Parody on The Bohemian Girl", by Michael Balfe, it was produced at the Royalty Theatre, London, on 21 March 1868.
Although, as contemporary critics repeatedly remarked, the libretti of Gilbert's burlesques were more literate and intelligent than those of most of the genre, he nonetheless followed the conventional formula of rhyming couplets and tortuous puns, together with plenty of young actresses in tights or short dresses, which were the mainstays of Victorian burlesque.
It was preceded by a "domestic melodrama", entitled Daddy Gray, and followed by a farce called A Quiet Family.
The plot and cast of characters are essentially identical, except for the ending, where, in lieu of the accidental death of the Gypsy Queen, Gilbert turns her into Count Arnheim's long-lost wife.
In The Bohemian Girl, when Thaddeus reveals to Count Arnheim that he is a Polish nobleman rather than a gypsy, he shows a parchment to prove the fact.
In Gilbert's version, Thaddeus produces a schedule of tax assessments, singing: "My men in livery, my horses, my crest/ Which is my own, were thus assess't" (Scene V).
[3] The success of Dulcamara and La Vivandière had shown that Gilbert could write entertainingly in this form, peppered with the dreadful puns traditional in burlesques of the period.
[6] The waiting crowds cheer Count Arnheim, who makes a patriotic speech expressing his loyalty to Austria.
Devilshoof agrees to help them, and having disguised them, somewhat clumsily, he sends the pursuing Austrian soldiers in the wrong direction.
Her father is overjoyed, and he makes much of Thaddeus until the latter refuses to drink the health of the Austrian emperor, declaring himself a Polish patriot.
The Queen is secretly enraged that Thaddeus prefers Arline, but pretends not to mind, and blesses their union while planning revenge.
It is well acted and well danced, and the music, consisting for the most part of selections from Offenbach's latest compositions, with a slight admixture of modern English airs, is graceful and vivacious.
But altogether the endeavour of the author to stop short of an extreme popularity, and to give to burlesque something like a tone of distinction, is evident throughout.
"[11] The critics noted that the mandatory quotient of pretty actresses in short skirts, or playing men's roles in tights was duly delivered: although the hero was always a woman in these types of pieces, in this case, of the nine members of the cast, four were actresses playing roles en travesti.
"[13] The piece ran for 120 nights, but Gilbert later said, "It suffered from comparison with Mr. F. C. Burnand's Black-Eyed Susan, which it immediately followed [at the Royalty], and which had achieved the most remarkable success recorded in the annals of burlesque.
