La Mascotte

(The Luck-Bringer)

An opéra-comique in 3 acts by Henri Chivot and Alfred Duru. Music by Edmond Audran. Produced at the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens 28 December 1880 and revived there 1883 and 1889.

Produced at the Comedy Theatre, London, 15 October 1881 in a version by Robert Reece and H B Fannie

Théâtre de l'Apollo October 1913
Théâtre de la Galté 1897 revived 12 July 1914.
Théâtre Mogador 17 December 1921
Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin 1933 , 10 May 1935 and 1968.
Théâtre Mogador 17 April 1944

Bijou Opera House, New York, 5 May 1881
Park Theatre 9 May 1881 and 30 November 1881

Synopsis

ACT l

The grape harvest has been gathered on the farms of the Principality of Piombino, and the country folk are celebrating with their first taste of the newly pressed wine. Only the farmer Rocco does not join in the merrymaking. He sits gloomily apart, ruminating on the persistent bad luck which has clung to his coat-tails over so many seasons. His barn has burned, his flocks fallen ill, he has a law suit on his hands and no suit on his back, for his tailor refuses to tack on tick and, to top it all, today his cow has gone missing. It just isn't fair. Why can he not share the glowing good fortune of his brother Antonio who, with no better lands than his own, flourishes effortlessly just down the road? Today he has been obliged yet again to turn to his brother with a plea for help, but he has little hope of practical assistance for Antonio's usual response is nothing but a basketful of eggs and a letter full of good advice.

Rocco's shepherd, Pippo, has been sent to carry the petition, and he returns with a bit of news which delights him but which plunges Rocco even deeper in gloom. Antonio has decided to make his brother an especially splendid gift this time: he is sending him his turkey girl, Bettina. A turkey girl! One more mouth to feed. Even Pippo, who is Bettina's lover, acknowledges that what their farm needs is not another worker but some good fortune. They need a mascot, one of those angels created by the good God to battle against the forces of evil in the world. What neither Pippo nor Rocco knows is that that is precisely what Bettina is. It is her presence on Antonio's farm which has been responsible for all his prosperity and, while she remains a pure and simple virgin, she will bring good luck to her new master and to anyone else with whom she is connected.

The brawny Bettina arrives, making short work of the rustic advances of the village lads, bringing with her the usual basket and the usual letter. She meets with a sour greeting from the disappointed Rocco, but the farmer has barely time to stuff the letter in his pocket before the first bit of unrecognised good luck comes his way. Prince Laurent, the ruler of Piombino, has been out hunting with his daughter, Fiametta, and her betrothed, the Prince Fritellini and, requiring rest and refreshment, he has chosen Rocco's farm for the honour of being his host.

In spite of his lofty rank, Laurent, like Rocco, suffers from a jinx. He is continually beaten in battle; when he plays the market with public funds he invariably loses; when he goes hunting he never catches anything more than the occasional rabbit; and, now his daughter is being downright difficult over her engagement to the adoring Fritellini, the son of a particularly belligerent neighbouring monarch. When he sits down he chooses the one broken chair in the house and, when Bettina brings fresh farm milk to the royal party, it is his mug that a passing beetle happens on for a bath.

The Princess Fiametta is going through a rustic phase. She loves the farm and the milk and she also takes a violent fancy to the rustic muscles of Pippo, much to the distress of Fritellini whose principal characteristic is a well-refined and courtly elegance. The royal roving eye does not escape Bettina's attention, but Pippo laughs her worries away. She has nothing to worry about from a princess; he loves his Bettina even better than his sheep, just as he means even more to her than her darling turkeys.

Their duet ends in a kiss, but the kiss is overseen by Rocco who is furious to see his two farmhands flirting instead of working. He is on the point of sending Bettina back to his brother when he looks at the contents of the letter and discovers the truth of Antonio's gift: Bettina is a mascot. Within minutes he has proof. News comes that he has won his law suit, the tailor sends his new suit without payment, and his cow comes home. Instead of dismissing Bettina, he falls all over her, promising her the best of everything in his house.

If Rocco's bad luck is over, however, Laurent's is not. Peering into a vat of new wine, he loses his balance and tumbles in head first. The royal robes are drenched. Rocco happily offers him a change of clothes but, rather than part with his beautiful new suit, he hands the Prince the outfit he is wearing, forgetting that he has left his brother's letter in the pocket. Laurent is quick to discover the paper and its amazing revelation, and he reacts with despotic decision: Bettina shall be his. The girl is called to the royal presence and the Prince informs her that she has been discovered to be the aristocratic Comtesse de Panada. She must leave the farm instantly and come to her rightful place at his court.

ACT 2

The Comtesse de Panada is installed at the Court of Piombino with every splendour and every care. Having done his homework on the subject of mascots, Laurent's most pressing care is for her virginity, so the love letters of the royal pages are harshly suppressed and Pippo is kept far away from court while Laurent enjoys an unfamiliar run of good fortune, even to the extent of winning at dominoes for the first time in his life.

His good luck does not extend to his daughter who not only sulks over her approaching marriage with Fritellini but also resents the attentions lavished on Bettina. Like the rest of the court and kingdom she can see only one explanation for the riches and attentions which are being poured over the farm girl: she must be Laurent's mistress. Bettina is no happier than the Princess. She finds no pleasure in costly clothes and jewels or fancy food, she is not allowed to do anything which might put her at any risk, and she is permanently pursued by a doctor deputed by the anxious monarch to watch over her health. She longs to be back on the farm and she misses Pippo dreadfully.

The devious plots developed by Laurent to keep the shepherd away from his beloved are outwitted when Pippo disguises himself as the Italian dancer, Saltarello, and gains entrance to the palace amongst the entertainers hired for the wedding of Fiametta and Fritellini. The two lovers contrive to meet and plot an escape, but their meeting is spied by Rocco, who has been brought to court as Chamberlain in compensation for the annexation of his mascot, and Rocco is swift to carry the news to the Prince.

Before the lovers can escape, Pippo is arrested and, in his captivity, he makes a dreadful discovery. From the lips of the sophisticated Fritellini he learns at last what the whole world knows, that Bettina is the mistress of Prince Laurent. The shepherd is heart-broken and, when Fiametta drops suggestively by, he is only too pleased to join in her plot and be caught passionately embracing the Princess by Laurent and the two witnesses legally required to make matrimony obligatory. Laurent is horrified at being trapped in such a way until he realises that, if Pippo is married to Fiametta, he will no longer be a threat where Bettina is concerned. Pippo is created Duc de Villa-Rosa on the spot and accorded the hand of the Princess in place of Fritellini.

When Bettina discovers what has happened she tries to tear her rival's hair out, but Laurent calms the situation and adds his own personal master touch: he will marry Bettina himself. That way she will be safe from all other men and, given his own age and incapacity, she will never lose her virginity or her magic powers. In all this clever reshuffling, however, one person has been forgotten. No one has remembered to tell Fritellini that his position as bridegroom has been usurped. When he finds out, just as the wedding is about to take place, he threatens to bring his father's armies down on Piombino, but Laurent thumbs his nose at the threat. With his mascot at his side no army in the world can harm him.

Bettina and Pippo meet again at the double wedding which is to ally them to the royal house of Piombino. Bettina shows her scorn for her husband-to-be before the irritated Prince leads her off in the nuptial procession, but the order of the procession causes Bettina and Pippo to end up next to each other and a few quick words of reproach lead to the truth being made clear. They are soon in each other's arms and Laurent, seeing his plans falling apart, loudly calls for his guards to arrest the pair. Here their country skills come to their aid. Flinging a few last mocking words in the face of the fainting monarch, Bettina and Pippo dive from the castle window into the moat below and head for freedom.

ACT 3

Fritellini's threats have come to fruition. The armies of the Duke of Pisa have attacked Laurent without delay and, given the defection of Bettina, with much success. Laurent is getting a thrashing which is giving much satisfaction to the men of Pisa and particularly to Fritellini who leads his father's army decked out in a splendid general's outfit. Pippo has been raised to the position of Captain in the Pisan forces with Bettina, dressed as a soldier, following him into battle as his batman and, now that Laurent has been put to flight, it is time for the two of them to be wed. Under the patronage of the lovelorn Fritellini, still sighing for his lost Fiametta, Bettina and Pippo will finally be made man and wife.

Unbeknown to the conquering General, his lady love is not far away. Laurent, Fiametta and Rocco have escaped from the debris of the Piombino army and, disguised as wandering minstrels, have made their way to an inn run by Mathéo, a faithful old family servant, for safety. Unfortunately for them, this inn is the very place chosen by Fritellini as the headquarters for his activities. The false minstrels find they have walked right into the arms of their enemies, and Fiametta is obliged to keep up appearances with a song lampooning her father.

When Mathéo tells Laurent that Bettina and Pippo are to be wed, he is maliciously delighted. As soon as Bettina's maidenhead is lost, the tide of war will turn. Fritellini's luck will vanish and he, Laurent, will once again be in the ascendant. Unfortunately for him, Rocco has other ideas. Weighing up all the facts, he feels that Fritellini will offer him better prospects than the Prince of Piombino and he prepares to change sides, taking with him his priceless piece of information.
Bettina and Pippo are well and truly wed and the nuptial chamber and their wedding night await them when Rocco comes to find his former shepherd and warn him of the consequences of bedding his bride. If Pippo consummates his marriage it will be the end of his high-flying career: he will end up back where he started, as a simple shepherd.

When Bettina calls her new husband to come to bed, Pippo is torn between love and ambition. He pleads a headache, she coquettes him to a kiss while Rocco, using the melody of the mascot and his clarinet, and Laurent, pumping out the Air des Bé Bé on his bagpipes, try to persuade the boy to remember his fortune and his love respectively.

Poor Pippo, who is longing to take his bride in his arms, is dragged first one way and then the other by the two tunes but, finally, the bagpipes burst and Bettina, upset at her husband's rejection of her conjugal embraces, slams the bedroom door in his face and turns the key.

Pippo is immediately sorry. Glory is nothing to him compared with Bettina, and he pounds on the locked door begging to be let in as Rocco, realising that his victory is only temporary, hurries off to find Fritellini. The Prince immediately commands that guards be set on Bettina's door and orders Pippo brought before him, but Pippo has vanished and there is only a silly old peasant man to be found, chuckling conspiratorially in a corner. But wait — this is no peasant. It is the enemy himself, Prince Laurent of Piombino. Fritellini is preparing to take his revenge when Fiametta rushes forward to beg him to spare her father.

It is a Fiametta no longer disdainful but bursting with love for Fritellini, in whom a general's uniform and a good session in the field have clearly wrought a significant improvement. Fritellini is overjoyed at this volte-face and altogether distracted from the matter in hand until Rocco recalls him to his duty. So where is Pippo? He couldn't have got past this door. Certainly not. But there is a window and, with the help of a hoist-up on Laurent's shoulders, the intrepid bridegroom has made it to his bridal bed from the outside of the building.

The guards go to break down the door but they are too late. The door opens from the inside and there stands a pink Pippo, brandishing Bettina's bouquet in a sign that his husbandly duty has been accomplished. Bettina is no longer a mascot, but it seems that the gift is hereditary so Fritellini and Laurent are left to quarrel over who shall bring up Bettina's first-born child, while she blushingly promises to do her best to give birth to twins.

Kurt Gänzl - Book of Musical Theatre

CHARACTERS

• Laurent XVII, Prince of Piombino
• Princess Fiametta, his daughter
• Prince Fritellini, son of the Duke of Pisa
• Rocco, a farmer
• Pippo, his shepherd
• Bettina, la Rougeaude, a turkey girl
• Mathéo, an innkeeper
• Sergeant Parafante

Carlo, Marco, Angelo, Luidgi, Beppo, Paola, Francesca, Antonia, etc.

Musical Numbers

1. Overture
2. La vendange est terminée - Chorus
3. Ces envoyés du paradis - Pippo
4. Je suis et je le démonite - Bettina
5. On aime à voir après la chasse
6. Les présages, les mensonges
7. Ah, qu'il est beau
8. Le je ne sais quoi poétique - Fritanelli & Fiametta
9. Duetto: J'aime bien mes dindons - Bettina & Pippo
10. Finale Acte 1 - On sonne, on sonne - Chorus & Ensemble
11. Qu'elle est belle
12. Loin de votre cour
13. Spectacle charmant - C'est moi, Saltarello
14. Ah! Quel plaisir
15. Mon cher, que vous êtes naïf
16. J'en suis tout à fait incapable - Laurent XVII
17. C'est le futur de la Princesse
18. Le capitaine et les brigands - Bettina
19. Verse, verse, verse à boire
20. De nos pas marquant la cadence
21. Chanson de l'orang-outang - Fiametta & Chorus
22. Je touche au but - Pippo & Chorus
23. Quoi! Pippo quand je vous r éclame - Ensemble
24. Un baiser c'est bien douce chose - Bettina & Pippo
25. Finale - et pourquoi donc crier ainsi?