At the first representation in New York by the American Opera
Company, at the Academy of Music, on March 1, 1886, the three women
were permitted to interfere with what there is of poetical spirit
in the play, and their conversation, like that of the other
principals, was uttered in the recitatives composed by Delibes to
take the place of the spoken dialogue used at the Paris Opera
Comique, where spoken dialogue is traditional. Theodore Thomas
conducted the Academy performance, at which the cast was as
follows: Lakme, Pauline L'Allemand; Nilakantha, Alonzo E. Stoddard;
Gerald, William Candidus; Frederick, William H. Lee; Ellen,
Charlotte Walker; Rose, Helen Dudley Campbell; Mrs. Bentson, May
Fielding; Mallika, Jessie Bartlett Davis; Hadji, William H.
Fessenden.

Few operas have had a more variegated American history than
"Lakme." It was quite new when it was first heard in New York, but
it had already given rise to considerable theatrical gossip, not to
say scandal. The first representation took place at the Opera
Comique in April, 1883, with Miss Marie Van Zandt, an American
girl, the daughter of a singer who had been actively successful in
English opera in New York and London, as creator of the part of the
heroine. The opera won a pretty triumph and so did the singer. At
once there was talk of a New York performance. Mme. Etelka Gerster
studied the titular role with M. Delibes and, as a member of
Colonel Mapleson's company at the Academy of Music, confidently
expected to produce the work there in the season of 1883-1884, the
first season of the rivalry between the Academy and the
Metropolitan Opera House, which had just opened its doors; but
though she went so far as to offer to buy the American performing
rights from Heugel, the publisher, nothing came of it. The reason