35^th Festival Season - 2013

THE GONDOLIERS

or The King of Barataria

Music by Arthur Sullivan

Libretto by William Gilbert

ACT I: At birth, Casilda, the 21-year-old daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Plaza-Toro, was married by proxy to the then infant son and heir of the exceedingly wealthy King of Barataria. Unfortunately, the King became a rather bigoted Wesleyan Methodist, and the Grand Inquisitor, Don Alhambra, determined that such a trend should not continue, arranged for the heir to be kidnapped and taken to Venice. There he was placed in the care of a respectable gondolier who raised him alongside his own son. Now gondoliers themselves, his "sons," Marco and Giuseppe, have recently selected a bride each - Gianetta and Tessa - from their large female following. Meanwhile, as the result of an insurrection, the throne of Barataria has become vacant and Casilda's father, now in hard straits, wishes to establish his daughter as queen. Accompanied by the Duchess, Casilda, and Luiz, he has traveled to Venice in search of his daughter's missing husband. Upon hearing from her father of her childhood marriage, Casilda is distraught, as she is in love with Luiz, the Duke's attendant and drummer. Don Alhambra announces that, as Marco and Giuseppe's "father" has since died, the only person who can identify the prince is Inez, who was his childhood nurse. Emissaries have been sent to bring her to Venice. Until the matter is settled, Marco and Giuseppe agree to rule Barataria jointly - they set out for the island kingdom as their new wives wave goodbye from the canal bank.

ACT II: Settled in Barataria as joint kings, with all their friends appointed to high positions, Marco and Giuseppe lament their menial life and the absence of their wives. Gianetta and Tessa miss their husbands equally and have traveled to Barataria, anxious to learn which of them will be queen. Complications arise when Don Alhambra informs the two gondoliers that not only is one of them a king, but also a bigamist, married two decades earlier to Casilda. Finally, the nurse arrives. When called upon to make her judgment, she reveals that neither is in fact the King's son because, before the baby had been kidnapped, she had substituted her own child in his place and hidden the actual prince from harm. The true heir to the throne of Barataria is ... Luiz. This proves very satisfactory to all parties, as the gondoliers can keep their brides and Casilda can both fulfill the proxy and marry the one she loves.