L'Île de Tulipatan

Since the relative failure of Les Bergers (1865), Offenbach had been unable to mount a new work of his at the Bouffes-Parisiens, of which he was no longer the director. With his new associates Duru and Chivot – both of whom had worked for Hervé and Lecocq – he was planning a remarkable return. The latter, eager to meet the master’s expectations, penned a hilarious libretto, well put together, full of twists and turns and finely crafted dialogues. To guarantee Duke Cacatois XXII a male heir, the Great Seneschal Romboïdal decides to pass off the umpteenth girl that the duchess has just given birth to as a boy named Alexis. Conversely, Théodorine, Romboïdal’s wife, fearing that her son might one day leave for war, declares the birth of a girl named Hermosa. Having reached the age when young people become flirtatious, Alexis and Hermosa inevitably fall in love... The central theme of sexual identity is certainly conducive to misunderstandings and transvestism, but it is treated here with a modern delicacy that elegantly avoids anything scabrous. The fictional pact is pleasantly challenged and the balance between comic and sentimental registers is most successful. L’Île de Tulipatan premiered on 30 September 1868 on the stage of the Bouffes-Parisiens, at the same time as Le Fifre enchanté ou Le Soldat magicien. The buffoonery of one and the delicacy of the other made the two works perfectly complementary and won the public’s frank support. Offenbach renewed his collaboration with Duru and Chivot for two of his last works, Madame Favart (1878) and La Fille du tambour-major (1879).