The Willow Pattern (opera)

The Willow Pattern is a one-act comic opera with a libretto by Basil Hood and music by Cecil Cook.

[1] W. J. MacQueen-Pope commented, concerning such curtain raisers: The libretto follows the familiar legend of the willow pattern, but with the addition of some extra characters, notably a rogue, PingPong, who helps to trick the father into allowing his daughter to marry her lover.

The story runs as follows (with the frequent references to the figures in the plate design omitted): Once there was a wealthy mandarin, who had a beautiful daughter.

On the eve of the daughter's wedding to the Duke, the young accountant, disguised as a servant, slipped into the palace unnoticed.

The cast was reduced to the following four characters: Ah Mee, Hi Ho, So Hi (Rudolph Lewis), and Ping Pong (Robert Rous).