When Jacques Offenbach's operetta La Belle Hélène was first performed in Paris in the days of Empress Eugenie. Prince Metternich took one horrified gander at its neo-Homeric ribaldry, primly led his wife to the nearest exit. But La Belle Hélène outlived Metternich. Last week, in a new version called Helen Goes to Troy, a lavish $140,000 Manhattan production that seemed likely to become Broadway's latest smash-hit musical, it was still going strong.
Produced by Yolanda Mero-Irion's New Opera Company (TIME, Nov. 9, 1942), Helen Goes to Troy has a revised book and a slightly altered...