Dulcamara, or the Little Duck and the Great Quack Dulcamara, or the Little Duck and the Great Quack Dulcamara, or the Little Duck and the Great Quack, is one of the earliest plays written by W.S. Gilbert, his first solo stage success. The work is a musical burlesque of Donizetti's "L'Elisir d'Amore", and the music was arranged by Mr. Van Hamme. It opened at the St James's Theatre on 29 December 1866, the last item in a long evening, following a farce and Dion Boucicault's new play "Hunted Down". "Dulcamara" ran for a successful 120 nights. The popularity of the piece encouraged further commissions for opera burlesques from Gilbert,
The Happy Land "How shabby!" Soon the three male fairies return with news from the Fairy King: they may enjoy the privilege of "popular government." Selene rejects this with horror. The fairies will "Leave such blessings to a happy land." Gilbert created several blank verse "fairy comedies" at the Haymarket Theatre in the early 1870s beginning with "The Palace of Truth" (1870) and "Pygmalion and Galatea" (1871). "The Wicked World" was the third of these, and "The Happy Land" followed so soon on its heels that the two plays ran simultaneously. The plot of "The Happy Land" and "The Wicked World" clearly fascinated