Rip Van Winkle is an operetta in three acts by Robert Planquette. The English language libretto by Henri Meilhac, Philippe Gille and Henry Brougham Farnie was based on the short stories "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" (1820) and "Rip Van Winkle" (1819) by Washington Irving after the play by Dion Boucicault and Joseph Jefferson. It first played at the Comedy Theatre in London in 1882 and ran for 328 performances, starring Fred Leslie in the title role. It then toured and was revived in Britain. It also played in New York, Vienna, Dresden, and in Paris, where it was revived in productions over the next 50 years.

Background and performance history

The piece was based on a non-musical adaptation of Washington Irving's stories presented by Dion Boucicault, which ran in London for 172 performances in 1865 and, in a revised version, 154 performances in 1875. The libretto for the operetta was by Henri Meilhac, Philippe Gille and H. B. Farnie. The piece opened at the Comedy Theatre in London on 14 October 1882 and ran for 328 performances. It starred Fred Leslie, Violet Cameron, W. S. Penley, Lionel Brough and Sadie Martinot. Richard D'Oyly Carte organised a touring production in 1883 with D. A. Arnold as Rip and a supporting cast headed by Fred Billington, Lottie Venne and David Fisher. The work was revived at the Comedy in 1884, with Leslie again in the lead. There was a brief New York run in 1882 starring J. H. Ryley, Richard Mansfield and Selina Dolaro. There were productions in Vienna and Dresden. In 1884 the piece was given in Paris under the title Rip with a French libretto by Meilhac, Gille and Farnie at the Théâtre des Folies-Dramatiques, opening on 11 November and running for 120 performances. The cast included Simon-Max and Mily-Meyer. The work was revised and revived in Paris in 1894, and for seven more productions between 1900 and 1938. In 2023, Rip Van Winkle was revived by Gothic Opera, with performances in London at Hoxton Hall.

Roles and original cast

The following cast changes occur as children in Act I later become adults:

Musical numbers

Act I Act II - Scene 1 Act II - Scene 2 Act III - Scene 1 Act III - Scene 2

Recordings and broadcasts

Extended extracts from Rip in French were issued in 1958 by Pathé Records, with Michel Dens as Rip, Claude Devos, Jean-Christophe Benoît and Liliane Berton, conducted by Jules Gressier. A 1961 radio broadcast with Charles Daguerressar as Rip, Lina Dachary, Freda Betti, and Claudine Collart, conducted by Marcel Cariven, was issued on CD in 1991 by Musidisc/Gaieté Lyrique. The CHARM database of old recordings lists solos and arrangements from the work from the earliest days of recording, with performers including Gabriel Soulacroix, Peter Dawson, Florrie Forde, Seymour Hicks, the Musique de la Garde Républicaine and the Band of the Coldstream Guards.

Sources