Program

Or dunque, Abate? from Adriana Lecouvreur (1902)

Music by Francesco Cilea (1866-1950)
Libretto by Arturo Colautti (1851-1914) 

L’Abate di Chazeuil (Zachary Devin)
Il Principe (Turner Staton)
Jouvenot (Aimee Stuart-Flunker)
Dangeville (Katarina Galagaza)
Quinault (Louis Tiemann)
Poisson (Wayd Odle)

WHEN— 1730
WHERE— The green room at the Comédie Française in Paris, France
WHAT— It’s chaos behind the scenes as four players are preparing for the evening’s double bill starring two leading ladies, Adriana Lecouvreur and Mademoiselle Duclos. The jealous Il Principe intercepts a letter written by Mademoiselle Duclos to an anonymous gentleman inviting him to a villa later that evening, the very villa where she was to meet him. Il Principe assumes the letter is written to the Comte de Saxe and decides to take his revenge by inviting the entire cast to a party that same evening at the same villa. Il Principe and his servile confidant, L’Abate, arrange for the letter to be delivered and the plan enacted.