{{short description|1729 ballad opera by Charles Johnson}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox play | name =The Village Opera | image =File:Image taken from page 41 of 'The Village Opera (in three acts, in prose; with songs) ... To which is added the musick to each song' (11219046244).jpg | image_size = | caption = | writer = Charles Johnson | setting = | date of premiere = 6 February 1729<ref>Burling p.127</ref> | original language = English | place = Theatre Royal, Drury Lane | series = | subject = | genre = Comedy }} '''''The Village Opera''''' is a 1729 ballad opera by the British writer Charles Johnson. It was part of a group of ballad operas produced in the wake of the great success of John Gay's ''The Beggar's Opera''.
The original Drury Lane cast included John Harper as Sir Nicholas Wiseacre, Benjamin Griffin as Sir William Freeman, Charles Williams as Freeman, Benjamin Johnson as Lucas, Joe Miller as Brush, James Oates as File, Edward Berry as Hobinol, Kitty Clive as Rosella, Sarah Thurmond as Betty and Frances Cross as Lady Wiseacre.
Thomas Arne later wrote ''Love in a Village'' from a libretto based on Johnson's original. In the twentieth century Michael Tippett composed his own version of Johnson's work.
==References== {{reflist}}
==Bibliography== * Burling, William J. ''A Checklist of New Plays and Entertainments on the London Stage, 1700-1737''. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press, 1992. * Nicoll, Allardyce. ''A History of Early Eighteenth Century Drama: 1700-1750''. CUP Archive, 1927.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Village Opera}} Category:1729 operas Category:Ballad operas Category:English-language operas Category:Plays by Charles Johnson
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