page_title: The Merry Widow
section_title: English adaptations
hierarchical_section_title: The Merry Widow / Subsequent productions / English adaptations
caption_attribution_description: English: Promotional photograph of the Broadway production of The Merry Widow, starring Donald Brian and Ethel Jackson
context_page_description: The Merry Widow is an operetta by the Austro-Hungarian composer Franz Lehár. The librettists, Viktor Léon and Leo Stein, based the story – concerning a rich widow, and her countrymen's attempt to keep her money in the principality by finding her the right husband – on an 1861 comedy play, L'attaché d'ambassade by Henri Meilhac.
  The operetta has enjoyed extraordinary international success since its 1905 premiere in Vienna and continues to be frequently revived and recorded. Film and other adaptations have also been made. Well-known music from the score includes the "Vilja Song", "Da geh' ich zu Maxim", and the "Merry Widow Waltz".
context_section_description: In its English adaptation by Basil Hood, with lyrics by Adrian Ross, The Merry Widow became a sensation at Daly's Theatre in London, opening on 8 June 1907, starring Lily Elsie and Joseph Coyne and featuring George Graves as the Baron, Robert Evett as Camille and W. H. Berry as Nisch, with costumes by Lucile and Percy Anderson. Gabrielle Ray was a replacement as the Maxim's dancer Frou-Frou. It was produced by George Edwardes. The production ran for an extraordinary 778 performances in London and toured extensively in Great Britain.
  The adaptation renamed many of the characters, to avoid offense to Montenegro, where the royal family's surname was Njegus, the crown prince was named Danilo, and Zeta was the principal founding state. Hood changed the name of the principality to Marsovia, Danilo is promoted to the title of Prince, Hannah is Sonia, the Baron is Popoff, Njegus is Nisch, Camille's surname is de Jolidon and Valencienne is Natalie, among other changes. The final scene was relocated into Maxim's itself, rather than the original theme-party setting, to take further advantage of the fame of the nightclub. Graves ad-libbed extensive "business" in the role of the Baron. Edwardes engaged Lehár to write two new songs, one of which, "Quite Parisien" (a third act solo for Nisch) is still used in some productions. Lehár also made changes for a Berlin production in the 1920s, but the definitive version of the score is basically that of the original production.
  The first American production opened on 21 October 1907 at the New Amsterdam Theatre on Broadway for another very successful run of 416 performances, and was reproduced by multiple touring companies across the US, all using the Hood/Ross libretto. It was produced by Henry Wilson Savage. The New York cast starred Ethel Jackson as Sonia and Donald Brian as Danilo. The operetta first played in Australia in 1908 using the Hood/Ross libretto. Since then, it has been staged frequently in English. It was revived in London's West End in 1923, running for 239 performances, and in 1924 and 1932. A 1943 revival ran for 302 performances. Most of these productions featured Graves as Popoff. Madge Elliott and Cyril Ritchard starred in the 1944 production, while June Bronhill and Thomas Round led the 1958 cast and recording. Lizbeth Webb and John Rhys Evans starred in a brief 1969 revival. Revivals were mounted in major New York theatres in 1921, 1929, 1931 and 1943–1944. The last of these starred Marta Eggerth and her husband Jan Kiepura, with sets by Howard Bay and choreography by George Balanchine. It ran for 322 performances at the Majestic Theatre and returned the next season at the New York City Center for another 32 performances.
  Glocken Verlag Ltd, London, published two different English translation editions in 1958. One English-language libretto is by Phil Park, which was adapted and arranged by Ronald Hanmer. The other is by Christopher Hassall, based on the edition by Ludwig Doblinger, Vienna. The Park version is a whole-tone lower than the original. Danilo and Hanna's hummed waltz theme becomes a chorus number, and the ending of the "Rosebud Romance" is sung mostly in unison rather than as a conversation. In the Hassall version, the action of act 3 takes place at Maxim's. Valencienne and the other Embassy wives arrive to seek out Danilo and convince him to return to Hanna, closely followed by their husbands, seeking to achieve the same purpose. The Grisettes, Parisian cabaret girls, make a grand entrance, led by the voluptuous ZoZo. Zeta finds the brokenhearted Danilo, and as they argue, Hanna enters. Hanna, Danilo and Zeta separately bribe the Maitre'd to clear the room so Hanna and Danilo can be alone. Danilo sets aside his pride and asks Hanna to give up Camille for the sake of the country. Much to Danilo's delight, Hanna tells him that she was never engaged to Camille, but that she was protecting the reputation of a married woman. Danilo is ready to declare his love for Hanna, and is on the point of doing so when he remembers her money, and stops himself. When Njegus
caption: Donald Brian and Ethel Jackson in the original Broadway production (1907)
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