Dora's Dream

Dora's Dream is a one-act operetta, with music composed by Alfred Cellier and a libretto by Arthur Cecil.

The piece was first performed at the Royal Gallery of Illustration on 3 July 1873, with Fanny Holland and Arthur Cecil starring in the two roles. It was performed again with the same cast on 5 May 1876 at the Princess's Theatre in London for Pauline Rita's benefit.

The opera was revived on 17 November 1877 at the Opera Comique as a curtain raiser to The Sorcerer, which opened on the same night. It then ran until 7 or 8 February 1878, starring Giulia Warwick and Richard Temple. The curtain raiser debuted to a warm review from The Times, which wrote, "This pleasant and sparkling bagatelle at once put the house in good humour."

No printed libretto or vocal score is found in the British Library, but the license copy of the libretto resides in the Lord Chamberlain's collection, Add. MS. 53194, play no. A, NovDec 1877. Only dialogue is given, not the lyrics of the songs, and in Cecil's original draft, it was apparently not intended to be performed with music.

The fashion in the late Victorian era was to present long evenings in the theatre, and so producer Richard D'Oyly Carte preceded his Savoy operas with curtain raisers such as Dora's Dream.W. J. MacQueen-Pope commented, concerning these curtain raisers:

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