THE SORCERER An original comic opera in 2 acts: Libretto by W. S. Gilbert; Music by Arthus Sullivan. Opera Comique, London - 17 November,1877: Broadway Theatre, New York - 21 February, 1879. SYNOPSIS ACT 1 At Sir Marmaduke Pointdextre's Elizabethan mansion in the village of Ploverleigh the engagement of the baronet's son, Alexis, to Aline, the eligible and lovely daughter of Lady Sangazure, is to take place with the whole village invited for the ceremony. For pretty little Constance Partlet, however, there is no rejoicing; her heart has gone out to the local vicar, Dr Daly. The vicar doesn't respond, either to Constance or to Mrs Partlet's unsubtle attempts to interest him in her daughter as a wife. The principals in the day's matrimonial business come upon the scene with Aline singing rapturously as she anticipates the joy the day will bring her. It is at this time we discover that Sir Marmaduke and the dragonlike Lady Sangazure had, in their youth, unfulfilled desires on each other. The spark of love still burns even though they are outwardly merely courteous. Alexis and Aline sign the deed of betrothal before the notary and are, at last, left alone wax lyrical their praises of true love In fact, Alexis feels so strongly about the subject that he has resolved to make a gift of love to all the village. He has ordered from a London sorcerer a custom-compounded philtre which, in spite of Aline's reservations, he resolves to administer that afternoon to the communal tea cup so that all of Ploverleigh may experience the amorous joy which they themselves know. The sorcerer, Mr John Wellington Wells, has come down from town to supply the philtre in person. He calms Aline's qualms by assuring her that it is a very proper philtre. Although those who take it fall rapturously in love with the first person they see, it works only on unmarried people. As tea-time approaches, Wells prepares his potion with an Incantation and when the townspeople gather for the celebratory banquet and partake of the cup that cheers they soon begin to stagger about under the effects of the philtre until, as the act ends, the entire unmarried population of Ploverleigh is fast asleep on the ground. ACT 2 It is evening and Wells, Alexis and Aline await the end of the first phase of the philtre's action. Soon the people awake and, surely enough, within minutes of waking the whole male chorus has proposed to the whole female chorus. Unfortunately, the first single person Constance has seen on her awakening is the very old, very deaf notary. She tries, with great difficulty, and not a few tears, to make the old man understand the extent of her affection. Alexis is very proud of the results of his experiment but, when he suggests to Aline that he and she should also partake of the philtre, she is horrified that he should consider it needful to bolster their love by artificial means. She refuses and he takes umbrage. A little grey cloud comes over what should have been a wholly blissful day. A further complication ensues when Sir Marmaduke enters with Mrs Partlet and announces that he is planning to marry her. Alexis confesses that Mrs Partlet is not quite the person he would have chosen to be his mother. John Wellington Wells is now aware of the effects his philtre can have when administered en masse and he is worried. He has even more worried when Lady Sangazure descends on him with all the effusion of
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