Castles and Concerts

Our Monte Carlo visit will be a major highlight. Here we’ll mount our production of a musical play from San Francisco, turned grand opera. In 1917, two prominent San Francisco men created a play, with music, entitled “Land of Happiness” based on a Chinese fable. It was premiered for a private audience in a redwood grove north of San Francisco. They received such accolades that they decided to rework and rename the play for the professional stage. The writers, Mr. Templeton Crocker, of the banking family, and Mr. Joe Redding, of Redding, California had the means to live their dream. They went to the most important music-publishing house in Paris. They asked for and received excellent guidance and in 1924 they premiered their opera, now entitled “Fey Yen Fah”, in the Monaco Opera House. It received great reviews and after playing for three seasons, was performed in New York and San Francisco. In 1931 it was performed for the last time in Monaco. On Thursday night, May 7th, 2009 we will reprise this work with the amazing talent we have onboard, along with a professional orchestra from Monte Carlo.

The original 1924 drawing of
Fey Yen Fah’s costume