The Three Musketeers

Three Musketeers, The (1928), an operetta by William Anthony McGuire (book), Rudolf Friml (music), P. G. Wodehouse, Clifford Grey (lyrics). [Lyric Theatre, 319 perf.] With his friends Aramis (Joseph Macaulay), Athos (Douglass R. Dumbrille), and Porthos (Detmar Poppen), the dashing D'Artagnan (Dennis King) comes to Paris, where he soon falls in love with Constance Bonacieux (Vivienne Segal). However, when the villainous Richelieu (Reginald Owen) threatens to expose the fact that Queen Anne of France (Yvonne D'Arle) has given some precious jewels to the Duke of Buckingham (John Clark), D'Artagnan makes a hurried trip to England to recover them. Once they are safely in the Queen's hands, he can resume his lovemaking and dueling. Notable songs: Ma Belle; March of the Musketeers; My Sword and I; Your Eyes. Friml's last success was sumptuously mounted by Florenz Ziegfeld, with superb Joseph Urban settings. It has enjoyed intermittent revivals. A clumsily revised and ineptly mounted 1984 revival was short‐lived.