About the work
Farce with songs in three acts by Johann Nestroy after the French vaudeville 'Paris, Orléans et Rouen' by Jean-François Bayard and Charles Varin (premiered 1 September 1843 at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal, Paris), first performed on 3 January 1844 at the Theater an der Wien as a benefit performance for the author. Nestroy relocated the action from French railway lines to the Vienna–Wiener Neustadt–Brünn route; the music was composed by Andreas Skutta.
Plot
Two cousins plan to marry women arranged through a matchmaker whom they have never met, but mix-ups on the railway send them to the wrong towns. The portrait painter Patzmann, played by Nestroy himself, becomes entangled in the romantic confusions at the various stations and ultimately arranges no fewer than four marriages.
Cultural significance
The Wiener Theaterzeitung hailed the premiere with 'tumultuous applause' as a success, and the play ran for 58 performances. According to Nestroy scholar Otto Rommel, it was perhaps the first time a railway waiting room had been brought onto the stage, engaging with the highly topical subject of the new railway.