Katinka (operetta)

About the show

Setting: Yalta, Istanbul, and Vienna shortly before the outbreak of World War I Act 1 The play opens in Yalta at a villa on the Black Sea. Reluctantly following her mother's wishes, Katinka marries Boris Strogoff, the Russian Ambassador to Austria, although she is really in love with his attaché, Ivan Dimitri, and he with her. After the wedding, Thaddeus Hopper, a wealthy American and Ivan's friend, helps her escape to Turkey. Act 2 Ivan and Boris Strogoff's servant Petrov arrive in Istanbul hoping to find Strogoff's first wife Olga, who chose to live in a harem rather than remain married to him. If she is found, Strogoff's marriage to Katinka can be annulled on grounds of bigamy, leaving her free to marry Ivan. Katinka and Thaddeus Hopper are also in the city, where she is staying in Hopper's rooms. The arrival of Hopper's wife, Helen, causes complications when she becomes suspicious of the arrangements. Hopper has arranged for Katinka to be hidden in the harem of Izzet Pasha, but Arif Bey, Pasha's warden, mistakenly carries Mrs. Hopper off to the harem instead of Katinka. Meanwhile, Herr Knopf is planning to open the Café-Turkois-in-Vienna and has come to Istanbul looking for women to work there. Helen is amongst those he takes back to Vienna. Act 3 The main characters are all in Vienna, where they have assembled at Herr Knopf's café. Olga, who had been living in Izzet Pasha's harem under the name of "Nashan", reveals her true identity. The Hoppers are reconciled, and Katinka and Ivan are reunited.