The Queen of Brilliants

It was adapted from Jakobowski's German-language operetta Die Brillantett-Königin, with a libretto by Theodore Tawbe and Isidor Fuchs, which premiered in March 1894 in Vienna.

[1][2] A vehicle for Lillian Russell, the plot concerns Betta, who runs away from a nunnery to join a variety troupe known as "The Brilliants" and is nicknamed their queen.

[1] Besides Russell the British cast included Hubert Wilke as Florian, Arthur Williams as Della Fontana, George Honey as Fritz, Avon Saxon as Major Victor Pulvereitzer, W. H. Denny as Lucca Rabbiato, an itinerant knife grinder, Annie Meyers as Orsola, wife of Lucca Rabbiato, and John Le Hay as Grelotto.

However, the nuns refuse to accept the wayward girl, and Betta runs away from the convent after a prophetic dream (shown in a series of tableaux)[2] and joins a variety circus troupe called "The Brilliants".

There is a story, of course, and that which by courtesy may be called a plot, but it is extremely difficult to discover it during the progress of the performance, and it would be utterly incoherent without the aid of the auditor's imagination.

"[9] The New York Times wrote that there was not one funny line in the show and called Jakobowski's music "the veriest trash ... cheap, reminiscent of his former works, and by no means catchy.