Show Synopsis:
Prince Ivan has to choose a princess to be his Queen at an upcoming ball, while the Regent Miloch and the Minister of War Ozir plot a coup d?etat. Troute and the Prince?s tutor Poff find out and try to stop the coup. At the ball, Miloch tries to defame Prince Ivan. The singer Vivien Savory performs, and Prince Ivan is enamored with her. The Minister of War asks Vivien to seduce the Prince, since she is not royal and a marriage could make him ineligible for the throne, and she agrees, but begins to fall for the Prince herself. Troute and Poff try to tell Prince Ivan that there is a plot against him, but he won?t listen, and announces Vivien as his bride after he is coronated. At a garden party at Vivien?s villa, Troute disguises himself to seduce Vivien?s aunt Moumote and discovers that Vivien is a princess after all! Troute tells Vivien that Ozir has been using her, so she gets Ozir drunk and steals the abdication papers. She and Ivan live happily ever after.
Character:
Princess Stellina, an extravagant and naïve princess angling for a prince to marry her; whimsical.
Song Context:
At Vivien's villa, the women are divert themselves with song and dance. Stellina performs for everyone and decides that although it requires years of discipline and study, she would like to be a classical opera singer.
Fun Facts:
1. Louis Bliss originated the role of Princess Stellina on Broadway. It was her only appearance on the Broadway stage.
2. This comic opera ran for 104 performances on Broadway in the early twentieth century.
"Mama is a queen and Papa is a king,
So I am a princess and I know it,
But court etiquette is a dull dreary thing
I just hate it all and I show it.
To sing on the stage - that's the one life for me
My figure's just like Tetrazzini.
I know I'd win fame if I sang in ?Bohéme?
That opera by Signor Puccini.
I?ve roulades and the trills
That would send the cold chills
Down the backs of all hearers of my vocal frills.
Aah-aah-aah-aah-aah-aah-aah-aah-aah-aaaaahhhhhh
I long to be a prima donna, donna, donna.
I long to shine upon the stage.
I have the embonpoint
To become a queen of song
And my figure would look pretty as a page
I want to be a screechy peachy cantatrice
Like other plump girls that I see.
I hate society,
I hate propriety,
Art is calling for me!
I'm in the elite and men sigh at my feet-
Still I do not fancy my position.
I have not much use for the men that I meet.
I quite burn with lyric ambition.
Those tenors so sweet -
If they made love to me,
I'd be a success, that I do know,
And Melba I?d oust if I once sang in ?Faust?
That opera so charming by Gounod.
Girls would be on the brink
Of hysterics, I think -
Even strong men would have to go out for a drink!
I long to be a prima donna, donna, donna.
I long to shine upon the stage
With my avoirdupois
And my tra-la-la-la-la.
I would be the chief sensation of the age!
I long to hear them shouting:
""Viva to the Diva!?
Oh, very lovely that would be!
That's what I'm dying for!
That's what I'm sighing for!
Art is calling for me!"