A romantic opera in the Italian tradition, it is set in sixteenth-century Spain where two impoverished students stay in a supposedly haunted castle once owned by Jews. Each is in love with the same beautiful woman they met once, but who used a different name when first meeting them. During a storm Naomi, in disguise, searches the castle for her uncle's will in the hope that it will restore their fortunes. Each of the students recognises her as his love. She denies them and they take her for the devil in disguise. Furthermore, the peasants want to kill her, as they believe she is a witch. Sebastiano saves her, and she proposes. He cannot marry a Jew, however. Inigo finds a document showing that not only is she a Christian, but that he and Naomi are in fact cousins - a situation which allows Sebastino and Naomi to marry.
[Source: Australian Variety Theatre Archive]
1887: Alexandra Theatre (Melb); 27 Dec. -
