Reclining women lounge on divans as the opera opens. They are the wives of Abu el-Hassan, a rich philanthropist, and they are dismayed because he seems to prefer to use his wealth to entertain beggars rather than to gain entrance into society. The priest, Abdallah, plans to stop this unseemly behavior by declaring Hassan insane and seizing his property. Hassan's first wife, Dancing Sunbeam, enthusiastically supports the plot, but Hassan thwarts it by making a will in the priest's favor. (Obviously, the will can be valid only if he is sane.)

Overcome with boredom in the royal harem, Sultana Zubeydeh, a/k/a Rose-in-Bloom, has gone out to explore the town (which is a very big no-no) with her three favorite slaves, all disguised as dancing girls. They encounter Yussuf, a young story-teller, who guesses where they're from and falls in love with one of the girls, Heart's Desire. He helps them to hide from the Sultan's guards in Hassan's house, where a crowd of riffraff is congregating for a free dinner.

Sultan Mahmoud, Rose-in-Bloom's husband, has chosen this same time for an incognito foray into town with his three top officials, all disguised as dervishes. They also arrive at Hassan's house. Hassan, under the influence of the drug bhang, lets slip that the Sultana is in his house and claims, therefore, that he himself is the Sultan before falling into a deep, drug-induced slumber.

Even though such a claim would ordinarily be cause for immediate execution, the Sultan decides to let the punishment fit the crime. He has the sleeping Hassan brought to the palace and orders the entire court to treat Hassan, when he awakes, as if he were the Sultan. Dancing Sunbeam appears and, believing Hassan is the Sultan, declares herself Sultana. Rose-in-Bloom, hearing about a new sultana, thinks she has been found out. She begs her husband for pardon, only to discover he knows nothing about what she has done. The rest of the plot unfolds like a tale from Arabian Nights. All are restored to favor, and the opera ends with (who would ever have guessed it?) a great rash of weddings.

-- Kurtiss Gordon

Introduction

Act I:

1.	"As we lie in langour lazy"	Women
	"I'm Abu-el-Hassan"	Hassan
2.	"When Islam first arose"	Abdallah and Women
3.	"O Life has put into my hand"	Dancing Sunbeam
4.	"Sunbeam! The Priest keeps saying"	Blush-of-Morning, Dancing Sunbeam, and Abdallah
	"If a sudden stroke of fate"	Blush-of-Morning, Dancing Sunbeam, and Abdallah
5.	"If you ask me to advise you"	Rose-in-Bloom, Scent-of-Lilies, and Heart's Desire
6.	"'Neath my lattice"	Rose-in-Bloom
7.	"Tramps and scamps and halt and blind"	Chorus
8.	"When my father sent me to Ispahan"	Hassan and Chorus
9.	"Peace be upon this house"	Yussuf and Chorus
	"I care not if the cup I hold"	Yussuf and Chorus
10.	"Musical maidens are we"	Dancers and Chorus
11.	"We have come to invade"	Abdallah, Hassan, and Chorus
12.	"The Sultan's Executioner"	Octet
13.	"I'm the Suntan's vigilant Vizier"	Sultan, Grand Vizier, Physician, and Executioner
14.	"O luckless hour"	Women
	"Oh, ladies, what assails you?"	Sultan and Dancing Sunbeam
	"You'll understand that now and then"	Sultan and Women
	"With martial gait--with kettle-drums"	Men
	"Attended by these Palace Warders"	Sultan, Grand Vizier, Physician, Executioner, and Chorus
	"Oh, fit the arrows of respect"	Chorus
	"I am the Sultan"	Hassan, Dancing Sunbeam, Blush-of-Morning, and Chorus
	"Hassan, thy pity I entreat"	Rose-in-Bloom, Hassan, 3 Slaves, and Chorus
	"The signal take from me"	Hassan, Rose-in-Bloom, 3 Slaves, and Chorus

Act II:

15.	"Oh, what is love?"	Heart's Desire and Yussuf
16.	"If you or I should tell the truth"	Scent-of-Lilies, Heart's Desire, Honey-of-Life, and Yussuf
17.	"From morning prayer"	Physician, Grand Vizier, Executioner, and Chorus
18.	"Let a satirist enumerate"	Sultan and Chorus
19.	"In the heart of my heart"	Dancing Sunbeam and others
20.	"Suppose--I say suppose"	Rose-in-Bloom and Sultan
21.	"Laughing low, on toetip"	Chorus with solos
22.	"It's a busy, busy, busy, busy day for thee"	Quintet and Chorus
23.	"Our tale is told"	Yussuf
24.	"What does it mean?"	Dancing Sunbeam, Blush-of-Morning, Yussuf, and a Royal Guard
25.	"It has reached me a lady"	Septet
26.	"Hassan, the Sultan with his Court"	Ensemble
27.	"There was once a small street Arab"	Hassan and Chorus
28.	"A bridal march the funeral dirge becomes" (Finale)	Ensemble

In the 1890s, relations between Gilbert and Sullivan were strained at best. With their last two collaborations (Utopia, Ltd. and The Grand Duke) showing the effects of the strain, both author and composer turned to other collaborators. Between Utopia, Ltd. and The Grand Duke, for instance, Gilbert worked with Osmund Carr and brought out His Excellency. After The Grand Duke, Gilbert returned principally to serious drama. Sullivan also worked with other collaborators, among them the librettist for The Rose of Persia, Basil Hood.

Basil Hood (1864-1917) began writing for the theater in the late 1880s while in his mid-twenties and an army officer (in the Prince of Wales's Own Regiment of Yorkshire). His first full-scale musical comedy, Gentleman Joe, in 1895 (with music by Walter Slaughter), proved a big hit, and three years later (1898) he resigned his commission to devote his full attention to playwriting. His next two musical comedies (The French Maid and Dandy Dan, also with music by Slaughter) were very popular as well and, when Hood and Sullivan were introduced to each other, they agreed to collaborate. The result of this collaboration was The Rose of Persia, which opened at the Savoy Theatre on 29 November 1899 to enthusiastic reviews. Both Sullivan's music and Hood's wit were praised. The opera ran for 220 performances, making it producer Richard D'Oyly Carte's most profitable production of the decade (although Utopia, Ltd. had had a slightly longer run). Several roles were performed by actors who had long association with the Gilbert and Sullivan operas: Henry Lytton as the Sultan Mahmoud, Rosina Brandram as Dancing Sunbeam, and Walter Passmore as Hassan.

Basil Hood's verbal dexterity and ingenious plotting clearly inspired Sullivan to compose some delightful music. Sullivan also was given an opportunity to revisit experiences he had on a trip to Egypt in 1882, where he was introduced to the novelty of Arab music. He wrote in his diary about a private after-dinner session with Arab musicians at the house of a leading official. Shortly afterwards, he visited a small mosque in Old Cairo to see the Howling Dervishes, and a week later he went to see the Dancing Dervishes. The experiences doubtless led to some of the music he wrote for The Rose of Persia.

The success of Rose led to a second collaboration, The Emerald Isle. Sullivan had almost finished the first act of the new opera, which he termed "rattling good," when he contracted what proved a fatal illness. Edward German, later to write the music for Gilbert's last play, Fallen Fairies, was called in to complete the work with Hood. Sullivan died at age 58, on 22 November 1900; D'Oyly Carte the following April, just a few weeks before The Emerald Isle opened at the Savoy.

-- Kurtiss Gordon

The Amherst Regional Middle School opened in 1969 as the Amherst Regional Junior High School. The stage curtains you see before you (as well as the lighting and the seats) are part of the school's original furnishings. It has been evident for several years that they have reached the end of their useful life and need replacing. However, other needs, such as a new roof, have placed more urgent claims on the school's limited budget. Valley Light Opera has benefited greatly from our relationship with the schools, in particular from the permission we have received to use school facilities for our rehearsals and performances. Starting with our very first production of H.M.S. Pinafore in 1975 we have, from time to time, tried to thank the schools by helping them pay for improvements to their performance facilities. Almost all our efforts so far have gone into the High School. Now we have an opportunity to raise funds for the Middle School to replace their aging stage curtains. We thank you for assisting us in this effort. Enjoy The Rose of Persia!

Valley Light Opera expresses thanks to the following for helping to make this production possible: the Amherst-Pelham Regional Schools' staff, especially Merridith Chmura of the Maintenance Office, Andy Phillips, Amherst Regional Middle School Band Director, and the custodial staff, for their good nature, flexibility, and unstinting support; and Steve Morgan for his research and organizational efforts toward replacing the curtains.

Valley Light Opera is on the World Wide Web at http://www.vlo.org/. We express our gratitude and appreciation to BerkshireNet for hosting our site. BerkshireNet (http://www.berkshire.net/) provides Internet service to Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

Valley Light Opera, Inc., is a nonprofit Massachusetts corporation founded in 1975 by a group of Gilbert and Sullivan devotees. Over the years, VLO has been guided by two principles: to promote broad community participation and to produce fine entertainment. The company has produced all fourteen of the G&S operas as well as Cox and Box, The Zoo, and Sullivan's oratorio The Prodigal Son. In addition, VLO has performed Rudolf Friml's The Vagabond King, Jacques Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld, John Philip Sousa's El Capitan, Warren Martin's The True Story of Cinderella, and several of Peter Schickele's P.D.Q. Bach works.

The affairs of VLO are in the hands of a Board of Directors elected by the membership at the Annual Meeting in February or March. Officers of the Board this year are Glen Gordon (President), Kurtiss Gordon (Clerk), and James Walker (Treasurer). Members of the Board are Richard Asebrook, Connie Cappelli, Jamieson M. Cobleigh, Barbara Davis, Jim Ellis, Erin Freed, Phyllis Jordan, Elysse Link, Ken Moore, Paul E. Peelle, and Lee Pershyn.

Donations to Valley Light Opera are tax deductible to the extent permitted by law.

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