Chueca, working without his long-term musical collaborator Valverde, produced a scintillating diamond of a score. The nine short musical numbers form a kind of vocal suite taking in many of Madrids favourite dances - polka, seguidillas, pasodoble and mazurka. No work of Chuecas captures the atmosphere of its time and place more perfectly, a Madrid where only a lottery ticket can make all the difference between happiness and abject misery. Carrións witty little farce had an original genesis. A group of writers were dining together one evening when it was suggested that they should draw a random title from a hat. Anyone who didnt produce a playscript within a month had to stand a supper to the rest. Spared such intractable gems as "Sleeves and Hoods" and "Pelota in the Attic", Carrion drew El chaleco blanco - "The White Waistcoat". Somehow all the writers managed to produce something within the thirty days, but only El chaleco blanco has stood the test of time.
A third lodger, the fat Don Ventura, complains to Perez that his frockcoat has vanished - another of Don Quintíns borrowings. Meanwhile, Doña Casta plans to throw David out to make room for a possible rich suitor to Tecla, but all plans are thrown into turmoil by Davids reappearance with astounding news - he has won a fortune in el gordo, "the fat one", Madrids biggest lottery. That is, he will have, when he retrieves the lucky ticket from his white waistcoat. Mass consternation ensues when it is discovered that his white waistcoat is apparently one of the articles Rosa has taken away to wash, and there is a mad scramble for hats and coats as they all rush off in search of the ticket. Their Quinteto: "Vamos todos, vamos presto," features an extended quote from Manricos "di quella pira" (Verdis Il Trovatore) - the difference being that young David is hastening to rescue, not his mother from the flames, but his lottery ticket from the soap.
Don Quintín, fresh from a highly satisfactory meeting with the Official, is surprised to find no response to his good news. Ventura spots his frockcoat, and takes it back, revealing beneath it - a white waistcoat. It is Davids, and the whole company set on Quintín and rip off the garment - from which David triumphantly extracts the winning lottery ticket. David gets his Tecla, and all ends happily with an orchestral reminder of the Seguidillas. |