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THE DUBARRY A Musical Comedy Romance; Adapted by Eric Maschwitz from the play by Paul Knelper and J. Welleminsky. Lyrics by Rowland Leigh. Additional lyrics by Eric Maschwitz. Music by Karl Millöcker, arranged by Theo Makeben. Adapted and augmented by Bernard Grun. First presented April 14, 1932 at His Majesty's Theatre (397 performances). Revived 1947 (55 performances) George M. Cohan Theatre, Broadway - November 1932 STORY Scene 1 It is a late Saturday afternoon in spring and the girls in Madame Labille's Parisian millinery establishment are looking forward to the weekend, when they can have a rest from making hats. They are overjoyed when the Marquis de Brissac, the wealthy protector of one of their number, Margot, arrives to invite them all out for the evening. Margot's success with the Marquis has always been particularly envied by another little milliner, MarieJeanne Been, but today Jeanne comes back, breathless, from an errand, with a tale to tell,. While she was making her delivery, she was picked up in the street by a handsome young painter named Rene Lavallery. Margot boasts that a painter can hardly match her marquis, but Jeanne declares that she is happy enough. `Today I am in love with my Rene,' she declare& 'What the future brings, who can know?' Just at that moment the sound of music is heard outside, and the girls rush to the window to watch as King Louis XV passes by in a carriage with his mistress, Madame Pompadour. Jeanne throws a rose from the window, and it lands at the King's feet. So absorbed was Jeanne in Rene when she met him that she failed to notice the theft of the two hats she was supposed to be delivering to customers' homes and, as a punishment, Madame Labile insists on her staying late at the shop and missing the Marquis's outing. The girls put on their hats to depart, leaving Jeanne behind, but she is not dismayed. Tonight she has a date with Rene. When Madame Labile has left, she pulls a face in the direction of the departing proprietress, and climbs out of the window. Scene 2 In a park just outside Paris the public are enjoying some outdoor dancing. The Comte Dubarry and the Duc de Lauzur are strolling together discussing a very important question—the question of a successor to the ageing Pompadour as the King's mistress. Dubarry emphatic that, for political reasons, the Prime Minister's sister, the Duchesse de Gramont, should not be chosen, despite her brother's wishes. Rene Lavallery is also in the park, with his friend Pierre, waiting for Jeanne and happily recalling their meeting earlier in the day, and the Marquis de Brissac is there too, with Margot and the girls all thrilled to be freed for a little while from the daily grind and ready for g lively evening. When Jeanne turns up for her date, she and Rene have eyes only for each other but, unknown to them, Dubarry has been watching and, while Margot, Brissac and the girls continue their frolicking he makes a mental note of Jeanne's considerable personality and charm. Scene 3 Rene and Jeanne are soon living together in his attic home, and he is deliriously happy with the arrangement but his work brings in little money, and Jeanne suggests that what he needs is a wealthy patron. She is jealous of all the pretty things that her friend Margot enjoys thanks to the Marquis de Brissac, and her inability to resist buying new clothes is already straining her relationship with Rene. While Rene is out looking for food, Margot herself arrives. She is now having some success as an actress, and Jeanne cannot resist trying on some of her fine clothes, looking at herself admiringly in the mirror.

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