Vert-Vert, 2014

Cast

Valentin/Vert-Vert               Robert Murray
Mimi                                    Fflur Wyn
La Corilla                            Naomi O'Connell
Mademoiselle Paturelle      Yvonne Howard
Baladon                              Geoffrey Dolton
D'Arlange                            Quirijn de Lang
Bergerac                             Andre Glover
Binet                                   Mark Wilde

Conductor                           David Parry
Director                               Martin Duncan
Designer                             Francis O'Connor

Garsington Opera and Chorus

Synopsis

Act One

Deep distress reigns among the boarding girls at the Convent of Saint-Rémy. They have gathered for the funeral of their beloved pet parrot, Vert-Vert. Valentin, who lives in the convent, gives the oration. No sooner has Binet, the gardener, buried Vert-Vert, than the girls, led by Mimi and the two sisters Emma and Bathilde, decide they must find a replacement immediately. Mimi secretly loves Valentin and suggests that he should fill the post. Valentin is cajoled into accepting, even to the extent of taking the parrot’s name, and is led away in triumph.

Mimi’s secret is not the only one: Emma and Bathilde are secretly married to two young dragoon offices, D’Arlange and Bergerac. As Binet stands over the parrot’s grave, bemoaning the fickleness of human nature, D’Arlange startles him by jumping over the wall. He demands that Binet fetch his wife, Bathilde. Reluctantly Binet agrees. The couple’s tender encounter is disturbed all too soon by the doorbell ringing. As he jumps back over the wall, D’Arlange swears that the two sisters will soon be rescued: he has a plan ...

An agitated Mademoiselle Paturelle enters. She too is secretly married, to the dancing master, Baladon. He complains of his frustration at the severe limits this secrecy puts on their married life. Mademoiselle has a plan: they will meet that evening in the garden. She gives him a key to the gate ...

Bathilde conveys the dragoons’ plan to Emma and Mimi, who, in her excitement, reveals her secret passion to the giggling sisters: Vert-Vert is a child, they exclaim. Not any more, Mimi reflects when left alone, only to be interrupted by a flustered Binet: Vert-Vert and he are to travel by barge to visit Vert-Vert’s aunt. Everyone gathers to bid the travellers farewell. Mimi secretly resolves to follow them ... 

Act Two

At the Lion d’Or in Nevers, their garrison town, the dragoons have gathered to welcome a famous singer, La Corilla. When she arrives, she delights them with an impromptu performance. D’Arlange and Bergerac flirt with her, but are frustrated by the theatre director, demanding a rehearsal. The tenor Bellecour arrives, voiceless and full of cold. He has been thrown into the Loire by an idiot manservant who claimed that his master was a superior singer to him, the great Bellecour. The idiot manservant and his master appear – none other than Binet and Vert-Vert.

Cancellation looming, the theatre director demands financial compensation and storms off to calculate his losses. Vert-Vert is persuaded to sing and enchants the company, especially La Corilla. But he has no money; so Binet is escorted to the magistrate, leaving Vert-Vert alone with La Corilla. She has a plan: he will sing in Bellecour’s place. D’Arlange and Bergerac return to find La Corilla fully occupied with Vert-Vert.

The shunned officers discover Mimi, disguised as a dragoon: she is looking for Vert-Vert. D’Arlange has a plan: Mimi will lead them and a company of dragoons secretly into the convent to rescue their wives and in return they will deliver Vert-Vert to her. They swear soldierly allegiance. The officers arrange an impromptu drinking party for the actors and the new star, Vert-Vert ...

Interval
 

Act Three

Meanwhile, back at the convent, the girls have a dancing class with Baladon. Mademoiselle has been told that Mimi is in the infirmary and sends one of the girls to fetch her, but of course she cannot be found.

Amidst the general consternation, Mimi coolly reappears: she invents a transparent lie about being at the bottom of the garden, and is only saved by the arrival of Vert-Vert and Binet, who invent a transparent lie about being held by thieves in a cave. But Vert-Vert cannot resist revealing shocking details
of his adventures. Under cover of the ensuing fuss, Mimi manages to apprise Emma and Bathilde of the rescue plan before Mademoiselle shepherds her flock away. Mimi and Vert-Vert are finally left alone together.

Later, in the garden, the scene is set for an unexpectedly large number of couples to meet secretly. In the darkness confusion reigns, until the dragoons’ rescue plan swings into action ...