Naughty Marietta is an operetta in two acts, with libretto by Rida Johnson Young and music by Victor Herbert, written as a vehicle for Emma Trentini and produced by Oscar Hammerstein I. Set in 18th century New Orleans, it tells how Captain Richard Warrington is commissioned to unmask and capture a notorious French pirate calling himself "Bras Pique". Warrington is helped and hindered by a high-spirited runaway, Contessa Marietta. The score includes several well-known songs, including "Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life".
After a tryout in October 1910, in Syracuse, New York, it opened on Broadway in November to mostly strong reviews, ran for 136 performances and then toured. The operetta was revived on Broadway in 1929 and 1931 and has been adapted for film and television and recorded several times. It has been called Herbert's masterpiece and the first true American operetta.
Background By 1910, the success of Oscar Hammerstein I's Manhattan Opera House had threatened the Metropolitan Opera's business enough that they paid him $1.2 million not to produce grand opera in New York City for a decade. Hammerstein turned his focus to light opera, first commissioning Hans, the Flautist from Louis Ganne. It sold so well that the Manhattan Opera House was not available for Hammerstein's next light opera, which would be composed by Victor Herbert. Ironically, he had to rent his old Olympia Theatre, which he had sold in bankruptcy to A. L. Erlanger and Marc Klaw.Gould, Neil. Victor Herbert: A Theatrical Life. Fordham University Press (2008). That theatre had struggled to find a profitable tenant.
Hammerstein hired Rida Johnson Young to write the book for Herbert's new operetta. She was a lyricist for M. Witmark & Sons, which later published Herbert's score for Naughty Marietta.Witmark, Isidore, and Goldberg, Isaac. The Story of the House of Witmark: From Ragtime to Swingtime, L. Furman (1939), pp. 348–349. The creative team hoped to achieve the success of The Merry Widow, which had been a sensation in Europe and New York a few years earlier.Peck, Ellen M. "Musical of the Month: Naughty Marietta", New York Public Library Blog, May 25, 2012. Accessed February 22, 2025. The operetta was originally titled "Little Paris", after the nickname for New Orleans.Peck, Ellen M. Sweet Mystery: The Musical Works of Rida Johnson Young, Oxford University Press, 2020. The costume designer insisted on shifting the period of the show forward 25 years from 1750 to 1775 even though, by then, Louisiana had reverted to Spain, and the American revolutionary war had begun.Roffman, Frederick S. "Ah, It's Sweet Mystery Time", The New York Times, May 11, 1975, p. D1.
The part that Herbert wrote for Marietta is so long and difficult that Emma Trentini, who created the role, felt it was more taxing than the title role in Aida.Greeley-Smith, Nixola. "Trentini, the 'Little Devil of Grand Opera', Who Became Broadway's Darling in a Night", The Buffalo Times. November 12, 1910. 8.
Synopsis Act I In the 18th century in New Orleans' Place d'Armes, vendors are hawking their wares ("Clear Away!"). They believe the fountain is haunted by the ghost of a woman who was killed by the pirate Bras Pique. Étienne Grandet, the son of the territory's lieutenant governor, is secretly the pirate and has been attacking ships bound for New Orleans. Étienne's father shares in his profits, and his quadroon slave mistress Adah knows Étienne's secret.
Captain Dick Warrington and Sir Harry Blake lead a band of locals into the square vowing to capture Bras Pique ("Tramp, Tramp, Tramp"). Lieutenant Governor Grandet holds them off to assist Étienne's scheme to establish a breakaway Louisiana dictatorship under his own command. Captain Dick's men are also excited about the arrival of marriageable casquette girls that the King of France has sent ("Taisez-Vous"). Plain-looking Lizette latches on to the boastful Simon O'Hara, Captain Dick's Jewish servant.
When the square clears, a fragment of the ghost's song comes from the fountain ("Mysterious Melody"). The singer is actually "Naughty Marietta", a casquette girl who escaped from her ship. Captain Dick, who had met her in Mozambique, agrees to hide her at the marionette theatre, where she poses as the son of the puppeteer Rudolfo. The captain insists he cannot love Marietta ("It Never, Never Can Be Love"). Marietta tells him that she will love the man who can complete the melodic fragment she dreamed up. Dick refuses her request to complete it but finds himself whistling it later.
Simon tries to impress Lizette ("If I Were Anyone Else but Me"). Worried that Étienne does not love her, Adah tries to divine her future ("'Neath a Southern Moon"). Marietta performs at Rudolfo's theatre ("Italian Street Song").
The King offers a reward for the return of the missing Contessa d'Altena, who hid among the casquette girls. She is known to sing a tune that the townfolk recognize as the ghost melody. Blake accidentally ruins Marietta's disguise. She insists she is not the Contessa and, during a scuffle between Étienne's and Dick's men, runs away with Rudolfo.
Act II
Marietta learns Rudolfo's craft ("Dance of the Marionettes"). Étienne believes she is the Contessa and woos her ("You Marry a Marionette"); a marriage to a contessa would legitimize his plan for a Louisiana.
The decadence of New Orleans is displayed at a quadroon ball ("New Orleans, Jeunesse Dorèe" and "The Loves of New Orleans"). Lizette pines for a husband ("The Sweet By-and-By"). Simon hopes to complete the Contessa's song and marry her, and he ignores Lizette. Marietta is shocked by the ball's immorality: drinking, gambling and womanizing. Captain Dick arrives to protect her, but thinks he has been flirting with Adah, and so she dances with Étienne ("Live for Today"), who proposes to her. She asks Étienne about Adah, and he says he will auction her. Marietta seeks out Dick, who realizes his feelings for her ("I'm Falling in Love with Someone").
Étienne auctions Adah, and Dick buys her. Marietta jealously agrees to marry Étienne and reveals she is Contessa d'Altena. Dick sets Adah free, and she offers to help him reveal Étienne as Bras Pique.
Simon revels in the ease of his new job as the Grandet's whipping boy ("It's Pretty Soft for Simon"), but when Dick fingers Étienne as Bras Pique, Simon is obligated to take the punishment. Adah tells Marietta of Étienne's pirate identity, and so she refuses to marry him. When the lieutenant governor locks her up, she hears a voice outside completing her dream song ("Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life"). It is Dick, whose men are not far behind. Dick and Marietta sing the finished song together. Étienne relinquishes his claim on Marietta, and Dick allows the pirates to escape without harm.
Musical numbers
Act I Overture 1. Clear Away! – Opening Chorus 2. Mysterious Melody - Fanchon 3. Tramp, Tramp, Tramp – Captain Dick and Followers 4. Taisez-Vous – Casquette Girls and Men 5. Naughty Marietta – Marietta 6. It Never, Never Can Be Love – Marietta and Captain Dick 7. If I Were Anybody Else But Me – Lizette and Simon 8. 'Neath the Southern Moon – Adah 9. Italian Street Song – Marietta and Chorus 10. Finale
Act II 11. Dance of the Marionettes – Marietta and Rudolfo 12. You Marry a Marionette – Etienne 13. Intermezzo: Dance – Marietta 14. The Dream Melody (Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life) 15. New Orleans Jeunesse Dorèe– Chorus of Men 16. Loves of New Orleans – Ensemble 17. The Sweet By and By – Lizette 18. Prelude to live for Today - Orchestra 19. Live For To-Day – Marietta, Adah, Captain Dick and Etienne 20. I'm Falling In Love With Some One – Captain Dick 21. It's Pretty Soft for Simon – Simon 22. Finale
Roles and original cast Captain Richard Warrington – Orville Harrold Lieutenant Governor Grandet – William Frederic Etienne Grandet, Son of Lieut. Governor – Edward Martindel Sir Harry Blake, An Irish Adventurer – Raymond Bloomer Simon O'hara, Capt. Dick's Servant – Harry Cooper Rudolfo, Keeper of Marionette Theatre – James S. Murray Florenze, Sec'y to Lieut. Governor – Howard Morgan Lizette, A Casquette Girl – Kate Elinore Adah, A Quadroon – Maria Duchêne The Voodoo Queen – Viola Ellis Nanette, Felice, Fanchon, Graziella and Franchesca – Louise Aichel, Blanche Lipton, Vera De Rosa, Sylvia Loti and Bessie Ricardo Marietta D'Altena – Emma Trentini
Productions Naughty Marietta had its first performance at Wieting Opera House on October 24, 1910, in Syracuse, New York.Engle, Sherry Darlene. New women dramatists in America, 1890–1920, Macmillan (2007), p. 164. It was such a hit that hundreds of people had to be turned away."Naughty Marietta", Buffalo Courier-Express, October 25, 1910, p. 8. Hammerstein sought to maximize profits with eight shows a week, instead of six. Trentini could not perform that many, and they compromised on a seventh as a Wednesday matinee. The show then moved to Buffalo, where Herbert conducted the first half of the show on October 31 before leaving for Chicago.
The show's Broadway premiere on November 7, 1910, at the New York Theatre, was "a brilliant success". After the first act, the premiere audience would not stop applauding until Hammerstein took a bow from his box.Norman. "In Little Old New York", Cleveland Press, November 10, 1910, p. 8. Ticket prices ranged from 25¢ to $2.00, and grosses averaged $20,000 a week. It ran for 136 performances. The initial run was directed by Jacques Coini and conducted by Gaetano Merola and later William Axt.
Naughty Marietta then went on tour with Trentini in the lead and Herbert often conducting, passing first to the Montauk Theatre in Brooklyn on the Subway Circuit."In Brooklyn Theatres", The Sun. October 1, 1911. 34. Trentini found performing the matinees in addition to the evening shows too taxing, and in Indianapolis, she finally insisted that she would not continue in the role unless they were canceled.Blumenthal, George and Arthur H Menkin. My Sixty Years in Show Business: a Chronicle of the American Theater, 1874–1934, New York: F. C. Osberg (1936), p. 140f. She would often cut numbers to save her voice. At the tour's final gala performance at Harlem's West End Theatre, she refused an encore of "Italian Street Song" despite Herbert's repeated cues. He stormed out of the pit and refused to ever write for Trentini again.
The operetta enjoyed revivals in 1929 at Jolson's 59th Street Theatre and in 1931 at Erlanger's Theatre."Naughty Marietta – 1929 Revival", IBDB.com. Accessed February 22, 2025."Naughty Marietta – 1931 Revival", IBDB.com. Accessed February 22, 2025."Naughty Marietta – 1931 Revival", IBDB.com. Accessed February 22, 2025.
Reception A review in The Buffalo News enthused, "Naughty Marietta is fully up to the Herbert standard, if it does not surpass his other productions." They also praised Young's libretto for providing the comic opera with a genuine story rather than limpid prompts for songs: "many of the situations are really original and funny ... [Young] has set a mark for those who come after her.""At the Local Playhouses", The Buffalo News, November 1, 1910, p. 5.
The New York Times wrote that the Broadway premiere audience was so enthusiastic it seemed "the roof would come down" and called for Orville Harrold to perform four encores of "I'm Falling in Love with Some One"."Naughty Marietta and Trentini a hit", The New York Times, November 8, 1910, p. 6. The New-York Tribune noted that the applause for Trentini and Harrold "rocked the house" and had high praise for Herbert's score as "far and away better than anything he has written of late years. ... America wishes more such music from Mr. Herbert.""Naughty Marietta Sung", New-York Tribune, November 8, 1910, p. 7. Brooklyn Citizen's reviewer wrote that the performers made "New York their debtors"."Naughty Marietta", Brooklyn Citizen, November 8, 1910, p. 5.