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,
Viktor Krylov Viktor Krylov Viktor Alexandrovich Krylov (, 2 February 1838 — 13 March 1908) was a Russian playwright (who occasionally used the pen name Viktor Alexandrov), theatre critic, librettist, Imperial Theatres official and one of the major contributors to the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary. Born in Moscow to a lawyer, Krylov studied at the Moscow Engineering College where he became friends with César Cui. He started out as a lyricist and co-authored several romances with Cui, and later, in 1857—1859 wrote the librettos for his operas "Prisoner of the Caucasus", "William Ratcliff" and "The Mandarin's Son". In 1858 Krylov debuted