THE SECRET MARRIAGE
II Matrimonio Segreto

by Cimaarosa
(Translated from the Italian by Robert Keys)

CIVIC HALL, ORPINGTON. THURSDAY, 26th JULY
and SATURDAY, 28th JULY 1962

Cast in order of appearance:

Paolino…. DAVID TURNER
Carolina…. PAMELA BROOKS
Geronimo ….RICHARD BROADLEY
Elisetta ... ELIZABETH MYNETT
Fidelma ... SALLY LANGFORD
Count Robinson…. IAN BILLINGTON

Wealthy merchant Geronimo has come to the conclusion that the mere possession of wealth does not bring with it the respect to which he feels entitled. Only the nobility, he feels, receive due deference from the lower orders, and so the acquisition of a title, or at least titled connections, has become an obsession with him.
The simplest method of achieving his object seems to be to arran8e noble marriages for his two eligible daughters. When the opera opens he learns that negotiations (carried through with the aid of his major-demo Paolino) regarding the elder daughter Elisetta, have come to fruition and that one Count Robinson is about to arrive to claim her as his bride.
The younger daughter, Carolina, is already married to Paolino, but this has been kept secret because of Paolino's humble ancestry. He hopes, however, that his good work in connection with Elisetta's betrothal will bring Geronimo to a more forgiving attitude when the news is broken to him.
Such is the plan--but complications develop. The Count arrives, and seeing the two sisters, decides that he prefers Carolina and wants to marry her. And Fidelma, Geronimo's sister, decides that with marriage in the air, she is not too old to contemplate it and announces to Paolino that she has decided to take him as husband.
The opera proceeds through many misunderstandings, entanglements and disentanglements, but it is hardly necessary to add that the right man gets the right girl in the end.

Conductor : ROBERT KEYS
Producer : ANDE ANDERSON