William Shakespeare

A Summer Night's Dream: a Play in Three Acts William Shakespeare

In this comic opera set in England, Falstaff is a friend and admirer of playwright William Shakespeare, and also the intendant of a royal castle at Richmond. Otherwise he's the same lecherous, rowdy Falstaff we saw in Shakespeare's Henry IV. One summer night, Queen Elizabeth goes incognito into town with a lady in waiting, only to crash a party that Falstaff is giving in honor of the great Bard, who's both drunk and melancholy over a broken love affair. The comedy begins thickening from there. Joseph-Bernard Rosier (1804-1880) and Adolphe de Leuwen (1788-1864) specialized in light comic operas and vaudevilles. This is one of their best works.