Ali-Baba

Ali-Baba is an opéra comique in four acts of 1887 with music by Charles Lecocq. The French libretto based on the familiar tale from the Arabian Nights was by Albert Vanloo and William Busnach. After some initial success the work faded from the repertoire.

Ali Baba was a popular subject for operas (Cherubini, 1833, Bottesini, 1871), pantomimes and extravaganzas in Paris and London during the nineteenth century. Both librettists were experienced in opéra-bouffe and had previously worked with Lecocq, Busnach from 1866 with Myosotis, Vanloo starting in 1874 with Giroflé-Girofla; the two men had met in 1868 when Vanloo had submitted an opéra-bouffe for consideration to Busnach who was at the time the director of the Théâtre de l'Athénée.

Originally intended for the Théâtre de la Gaîté in Paris, Lecocq's opera was premiered in a sumptuous production at an established home of operetta and revue in Brussels, the 2,500-seat Théâtre Alhambra, on 11 November 1887. It opened at the Éden-Théâtre, Paris, on 28 November 1889 in three acts and nine tableaux with Morlet in the title role and Jeanne Thibault as Morgiane. The Annales critic considered that the first act was the strongest of a dense score which had seven numbers from the first run in Brussels removed for the Paris production.

In May 2014 the Paris Opéra-Comique mounted a new production directed by Arnaud Meunier and conducted by Jean-Pierre Haeck.

Setting : Bagdad

In the shop of Cassim, Saladin, the chief clerk, woos Morgiane, the young slave of Ali-Baba. Despite his urging, she is unmoved. Their conversations are interrupted by an argument between Cassim and Zobéïde, his wife. The merchant is impatient to recover unpaid debt from his cousin Ali-Baba. Cassim tells his wife that if he does not receive the money owing, he will seize Ali-Baba's property. Poor Ali-Baba has returned to working as a wood-chopper and considers suicide, so desperate is his situation. Morgiane comes in and dissuades him; she reminds him how he saved her when she was a maltreated little girl. Alone again, Ali-Baba is disturbed by masked men on horseback. He conceals himself and his donkey and realizes that the men are a band of thieves. With the magic words "open sesame", the head of the gang gets the cave to open and his men take their booty to hide. Once the thieves have left, Ali-Baba says the same words and enters the cave. In the town square, cadi Maboul has seized pieces of furniture from the home of Ali-Baba at the request of Cassim, in spite of Zobéïde's protests. When the crowd hesitates to buy the property, the cadi suggests selling Morgiane. In time, Ali-Baba returns, enriched by what he has found in the cave. While Ali-Baba distributes gold, Cassim, amazed at this sudden affluence, suspects his wife of having given money to his cousin.

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