The Chocolate Soldier (music by Oscar Straus; book by Rudolph Bernauer & Leopold Jacobson, "Americanized" by Stanislaus Stange and revised by Guy Bolton; produced by J. H. Del Bondio & Hans Bartsch) has tunes that can still send you out of the theater whistling. After almost 40 years, they have an Old World dash and melodiousness; even My Hero is not too much the worse for a thousand ship's bands and restaurant fiddlers.
But last week's revival did not inspire much of a whistling mood. Operettas have librettos, of course; and librettos are born old. And The Chocolate Soldier's, despite its descent...
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