L'entrée des rois, from La Belle Helene, by Offenbach

Offenbach is the French Gilbert and Sullivan and La belle Helene is a spoof on Greek mythology and the morals of the society of his day.

Paris wins the right that the most beautiful woman in the world should fall in love with him - that is Helen, wife of Menelaus. Menelaus has invited all the kings of Greece to come and take part in some festival or other. Here they are arriving, set as if in a museum, where the chorus is challenged to name all the kings they spot. Menelaus identifies himself as "l'epoux de la reine, poux de la reine, poux de la reine" - the spouse of the queen, the louse of the queen, the louse of the queen - which is why the audience laughs at that point. It's typical of the puns in the script.

(Helen is played by Felicity Lott) Tomorrow the scene where they conspire to get rid of Menelaus by sending him to Crete for a month.

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