Mlle. Modiste
Encyclopedia
Mlle. Modiste is an operetta
in two acts written by Victor Herbert
, libretto
by Henry Blossom
. It concerns hat shop girl Fifi, who longs to be an opera singer, but who is such a good hat seller that her employer, Mme. Cecil discourages her in her ambitions and exploits her commercial talents. Also, Fifi loves Etienne de Bouvray, who returns her love, but his uncle, Count Henri opposes their union. The operetta features the song "Kiss Me Again".
After tryouts in Trenton, New Jersey
and Washington, DC, in October 1905, and a two-month tour, the operetta premiered on Broadway
on December 25, 1905 at the Knickerbocker Theatre
, where it ran for 202 performances and was revived the next season, followed by extensive touring when it was replaced at the theatre by Herbert's next piece, The Red Mill. It was frequently revived early in the 20th century.
Fritzi Scheff
had already built a following at the Metropolitan Opera
when Victor Herbert engaged her to appear in his operettas for an astonishing $1,000 a week. She starred in four of her operettas, beginning with Babette (1903). Mlle. Modiste was the most successful of these. During the curtain calls of Babette, she pulled Herbert on stage and planted a big, sexy kiss on his cheek. "The Kiss" generated considerable comment, and when Herbert wrote Mlle. Modiste, two years later, he wrote one of his most famous melodies for her, "Kiss Me Again". After Modiste closed, Scheff toured it for years.
Henry Blossom and Herbert collaborated on several more operettas, including The Red Mill
(1906), The Princess Pat
(1915), and Eileen
(1917). Modiste is typical of their proto-feminist plotlines involving an orphaned young woman, exploited by her employer, but whose feisty spirit leads her to success.
After the original production, the piece returned to Broadway at the Knickerbocker briefly in 1906, and, in between national tours, at both the original Academy of Music and the Knickerbocker in 1907, at the Globe Theatre in 1913 and at Jolson's 59th Street Theatre in 1929, among many other revivals and tours through the early 20th century. Later revivals have included several revivals by the Light Opera of Manhattan
in the late 1970s and early 1980s; and a production by Ohio Light Opera
in 2009. A 1926 silent film version starring Corinne Griffith
was broadly adapted, but well-received. A "talking" film version called Kiss Me Again was made later in the late 1920s by First National
.
Act I
Fifi is a shop girl, selling hats in Mme. Cécile's shop in the Rue de la Paix in Paris. She is the shop's best saleswoman, so Mme. Cécile plots to keep her there for free by marrying her off to her artist son, Gaston. But Fifi dreams of a career on the stage. In addition, Fifi and French army Captain Etienne de Bouvray, Viscount de St. Mar, are in love. But his uncle, the old aristocratic Count de St. Mar, is scandalized that Etienne would marry a shop girl. He threatens to cut off Etienne's allowance and to disinherit him. Fifi hopes that a stage career would allow Etienne to marry her because no one need be ashamed of such an alliance.
One day, when she is alone in the shop, a rich and eccentric American theatre promoter, Hiram Bent, bumbles in. Fifi tells him of her lifelong ambition, singing a wonderful number for him that serves as a kind of "audition" piece, because she shows him exactly how she would play three very different kinds of roles, if given the opportunity (the last of these is "Kiss Me Again"). He loans her $1000 to help her achieve this goal and win over her sweetheart's crotchety uncle, Count Henri. She leaves for Vienna to develop her talent.
Act II
A year later, Etienne is still pining for Fifi, who has not written him during that time, but who has, meanwhile, become a great success throughout Europe. Etienne and his sister, Marie Louise, are hosting a charity ball at the Chateau de St. Mar. Unknown to Etienne, Hiram Bent has arranged for Fifi to sing at the ball. The Count, learning of this, is enraged and forbids Fifi to sing. However, Hiram arranges for Etienne to "discover" Fifi's presence. The two stage a "performance" for the Count in which Fifi defends the Count and Etienne calls him a "stupid old idiot". The Count, impressed by Fifi's sincerity and her new position, as well as by Etienne's behavior, allows Fifi to sing, and ultimately to marry Etienne.
Act 2
as part of its 1960 album Treasury of Great Operettas, starring Anna Moffo
and conducted by Lehman Engel
. The first complete recording was issued on cassette in 1986 on the Demand Performance label; a transcription of a radio broadcast, it starred Gordon Macrae
and Dorothy Kirsten
. A complete set, recorded live with piano accompaniment, was made by the Comic Opera Guild of Ann Arbor, Michigan
in 2004. In 2009, Albany Records released a two-CD set of the complete operetta, featuring Ohio Light Opera
in live performance conducted by Michael Borowitz.
Operetta
Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...
in two acts written by Victor Herbert
Victor Herbert
Victor August Herbert was an Irish-born, German-raised American composer, cellist and conductor. Although Herbert enjoyed important careers as a cello soloist and conductor, he is best known for composing many successful operettas that premiered on Broadway from the 1890s to World War I...
, libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
by Henry Blossom
Henry Blossom
Henry Martyn Blossom was the lyricist for several Victor Herbert musicals, including The Yankee Consul , Mlle. Modiste , The Red Mill , Eileen , and Kiss Me Again , and was a master at puzzle solving and cipher writing.Born in St...
. It concerns hat shop girl Fifi, who longs to be an opera singer, but who is such a good hat seller that her employer, Mme. Cecil discourages her in her ambitions and exploits her commercial talents. Also, Fifi loves Etienne de Bouvray, who returns her love, but his uncle, Count Henri opposes their union. The operetta features the song "Kiss Me Again".
After tryouts in Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton is the capital of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Trenton had a population of 84,913...
and Washington, DC, in October 1905, and a two-month tour, the operetta premiered on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
on December 25, 1905 at the Knickerbocker Theatre
Knickerbocker Theatre (Broadway)
The Knickerbocker Theatre — previously known as Abbey's Theatre and Henry Abbey's Theatre — was a Broadway theatre located at 1396 Broadway in New York City. It operated from 1893 to 1930...
, where it ran for 202 performances and was revived the next season, followed by extensive touring when it was replaced at the theatre by Herbert's next piece, The Red Mill. It was frequently revived early in the 20th century.
Background
Viennese sopranoSoprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
Fritzi Scheff
Fritzi Scheff
Fritzi Scheff was an American actress and vocalist.-Biography:Born in Vienna, Austria, she studied at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt and made her début in Munich in the title röle of Martha...
had already built a following at the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
when Victor Herbert engaged her to appear in his operettas for an astonishing $1,000 a week. She starred in four of her operettas, beginning with Babette (1903). Mlle. Modiste was the most successful of these. During the curtain calls of Babette, she pulled Herbert on stage and planted a big, sexy kiss on his cheek. "The Kiss" generated considerable comment, and when Herbert wrote Mlle. Modiste, two years later, he wrote one of his most famous melodies for her, "Kiss Me Again". After Modiste closed, Scheff toured it for years.
Henry Blossom and Herbert collaborated on several more operettas, including The Red Mill
The Red Mill
The Red Mill is an operetta written by Victor Herbert, with a libretto by Henry Blossom. It premiered on Broadway on September 24, 1906 at the Knickerbocker Theatre and ran for 274 performances, starring comedians Fred Stone and David Montgomery. It was revived on October 16, 1945, opening at the...
(1906), The Princess Pat
The Princess Pat
The Princess Pat is an operetta in three acts with music by Victor Herbert and book and lyrics by Henry Blossom. After an Atlantic City, New Jersey tryout in August 1915, it premiered on Broadway on September 29, 1915 at the Cort Theatre and ran for 158 performances...
(1915), and Eileen
Eileen (musical)
Eileen is a comic opera with music by Victor Herbert and lyrics and book by Henry Blossom based loosely on the 1835 novel Rory O'Moore by Herbert's grandfather, Samuel Lover. Set in 1798, the story concerns an Irish revolutionary arrested by the British for treason...
(1917). Modiste is typical of their proto-feminist plotlines involving an orphaned young woman, exploited by her employer, but whose feisty spirit leads her to success.
After the original production, the piece returned to Broadway at the Knickerbocker briefly in 1906, and, in between national tours, at both the original Academy of Music and the Knickerbocker in 1907, at the Globe Theatre in 1913 and at Jolson's 59th Street Theatre in 1929, among many other revivals and tours through the early 20th century. Later revivals have included several revivals by the Light Opera of Manhattan
Light Opera of Manhattan
Light Opera of Manhattan, known as LOOM, was an Off-Broadway repertory theatre company that produced light operas, including the works of Gilbert and Sullivan and European and American operettas, 52 weeks per year, in New York City between 1968 and 1989....
in the late 1970s and early 1980s; and a production by Ohio Light Opera
Ohio Light Opera
The Ohio Light Opera is a professional opera company based in Wooster, Ohio that performs the light opera repertory, including Gilbert and Sullivan, American, British and continental operettas, and other musical theatre works, especially of the late 19th and early 20th centuries...
in 2009. A 1926 silent film version starring Corinne Griffith
Corinne Griffith
Corinne Mae Griffith was an American actress. Dubbed "The Orchid Lady of the Screen", she was one of the most popular film actresses of the 1920s and widely considered the most beautiful actress of the silent screen...
was broadly adapted, but well-received. A "talking" film version called Kiss Me Again was made later in the late 1920s by First National
First National
First National was an association of independent theater owners in the United States that expanded from exhibiting movies to distributing them, and eventually to producing them as a movie studio, called First National Pictures, Inc. It later merged with Warner Bros.-Early history:The First National...
.
Synopsis
Fifi is a shop girl, selling hats in Mme. Cécile's shop in the Rue de la Paix in Paris. She is the shop's best saleswoman, so Mme. Cécile plots to keep her there for free by marrying her off to her artist son, Gaston. But Fifi dreams of a career on the stage. In addition, Fifi and French army Captain Etienne de Bouvray, Viscount de St. Mar, are in love. But his uncle, the old aristocratic Count de St. Mar, is scandalized that Etienne would marry a shop girl. He threatens to cut off Etienne's allowance and to disinherit him. Fifi hopes that a stage career would allow Etienne to marry her because no one need be ashamed of such an alliance.
One day, when she is alone in the shop, a rich and eccentric American theatre promoter, Hiram Bent, bumbles in. Fifi tells him of her lifelong ambition, singing a wonderful number for him that serves as a kind of "audition" piece, because she shows him exactly how she would play three very different kinds of roles, if given the opportunity (the last of these is "Kiss Me Again"). He loans her $1000 to help her achieve this goal and win over her sweetheart's crotchety uncle, Count Henri. She leaves for Vienna to develop her talent.
Act II
A year later, Etienne is still pining for Fifi, who has not written him during that time, but who has, meanwhile, become a great success throughout Europe. Etienne and his sister, Marie Louise, are hosting a charity ball at the Chateau de St. Mar. Unknown to Etienne, Hiram Bent has arranged for Fifi to sing at the ball. The Count, learning of this, is enraged and forbids Fifi to sing. However, Hiram arranges for Etienne to "discover" Fifi's presence. The two stage a "performance" for the Count in which Fifi defends the Count and Etienne calls him a "stupid old idiot". The Count, impressed by Fifi's sincerity and her new position, as well as by Etienne's behavior, allows Fifi to sing, and ultimately to marry Etienne.
Roles and original cast
- Mme. Cecile, owner of a Parisian hat shop (mezzo soprano) – Josephine Bartlett
- Fifi (Mlle. Modiste), clerk in the hat shop (sopranoSopranoA soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
) – Fritzi ScheffFritzi ScheffFritzi Scheff was an American actress and vocalist.-Biography:Born in Vienna, Austria, she studied at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt and made her début in Munich in the title röle of Martha... - Count Henri de Bouvray (baritoneBaritoneBaritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
) – William Pruette - Etienne de Bouvray, nephew of the Count (tenorTenorThe tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
) – Walter Percival - Hiram Bent, American entrepreneur (bass) – Claude GillingwaterClaude GillingwaterClaude Benton Gillingwater was an American stage and screen actor. He first appeared on the stage then in 92 films between 1918 and 1939....
- Fanchette and Nanette, Mme. Cecile's daughters – Edna Fassett and Blanche Morrison
- Gaston, an artist, Mme. Cecile's son – Leo Mars
- Marie Louise de Bouvray, Etienne's sister – Louise Le BaronLouise Le BaronLouise Le Baron was an American contralto singer who performed in opera and musical theatre during the early years of the twentieth century.-Biography:...
- Lieut. Rene La Motte, engaged to Marie Louise – Howard Chambers
- Mrs. Hiram Bent – Bertha Holly
- General Le Marquis de Villefranche – George Schraeder
- Francois, porter at Mme. Cecile's – R. W. Hunt
- Bebe, dancer at Folies Bergere – La Mora
- Fleurette – Ada Meade
Musical numbers
Act 1- Furs and Feathers, Buckles and Bows – Fanchette, Nanette and Girls
- When the Cat's Away the Mice Will Play – Fanchette, Nanette and Mme. Cecile
- The Time, the Place and the Girl – Capt. Etienne de Bouvray and Chorus
- If I Were on the Stage (Kiss Me Again) – Fifi
- Love Me, Love My Dog – Gaston
- Hats Make the Woman – Fifi and Female Chorus
- Finale – Company
Act 2
- I Want What I Want When I Want It – Henri de Bouvray
- Ze English Language – Gaston
- The Mascot of the Troop (Mascot of the Moon) – Fifi and Male Ensemble
- The Dear Little Girl Who is Good – Lieut. Rene La Motte and Female Ensemble
- The KeokukKeokuk, IowaKeokuk is a city in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Iowa and one of the county seats of Lee County. The other county seat is Fort Madison. The population was 11,427 at the 2000 census. The city is named after the Sauk Chief Keokuk, who is thought to be buried in Rand Park...
Culture Club – Mrs. Hiram Bent and Ensemble - The Nightingale and the Star – Fifi
- Finale – Entire Company
Recordings
In the early years of the 20th century, the composer conducted an acoustic recording on wax cylinder of the ballet music from Mlle. Modiste; it was later reissued on LP. An abridged recording of Mlle. Modiste was made by Reader's DigestReader's Digest
Reader's Digest is a general interest family magazine, published ten times annually. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, its headquarters is now in New York City. It was founded in 1922, by DeWitt Wallace and Lila Bell Wallace...
as part of its 1960 album Treasury of Great Operettas, starring Anna Moffo
Anna Moffo
Anna Moffo was an Italian-American opera singer and one of the leading lyric-coloratura sopranos of her generation...
and conducted by Lehman Engel
Lehman Engel
Lehman Engel was an American composer and conductor of Broadway musicals, television and film.-Work in theatre, television and films:...
. The first complete recording was issued on cassette in 1986 on the Demand Performance label; a transcription of a radio broadcast, it starred Gordon Macrae
Gordon MacRae
Gordon MacRae was an American actor and singer, best known for his appearances in the film versions of two Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, Oklahoma! and Carousel and films with Doris Day like Starlift.-Early life:Born Albert Gordon MacRae in East Orange, New Jersey, MacRae graduated from...
and Dorothy Kirsten
Dorothy Kirsten
Dorothy Kirsten was an American operatic soprano.-Biography:...
. A complete set, recorded live with piano accompaniment, was made by the Comic Opera Guild of Ann Arbor, Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County. The 2010 census places the population at 113,934, making it the sixth largest city in Michigan. The Ann Arbor Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 344,791 as of 2010...
in 2004. In 2009, Albany Records released a two-CD set of the complete operetta, featuring Ohio Light Opera
Ohio Light Opera
The Ohio Light Opera is a professional opera company based in Wooster, Ohio that performs the light opera repertory, including Gilbert and Sullivan, American, British and continental operettas, and other musical theatre works, especially of the late 19th and early 20th centuries...
in live performance conducted by Michael Borowitz.
External links
- Information about Mlle. Modiste
- Mlle. Modiste at the Internet Broadway DatabaseInternet Broadway DatabaseThe Internet Broadway Database is an online database of Broadway theatre productions and their personnel. It is operated by the Research Department of The Broadway League, a trade association for the North American commercial theatre community....
- Poster from the 1926 film