Cecil Clarke's adaptation for television has been used as the basis for the current revised version. While retaining all the well-known musical numbers, it allows a more fluid production, no longer dependent on major scene changes, and, by omitting scenes incidental to the main plot, has concentrated on the central love story between penniless, unknown composer, Rudi Kleber, who leaps to fame in Vienna of 1911, and the operetta star who first befriends him, Maria Ziegler.Large flexible cast

The King of Murania is dead! Long live the King! But the heir is Nikki, twenty years in exile, and living with actress Marta Karillos, disliked and distrusted by the people. To ensure a suitable succession, Elena, the Queen Mother, acidly witty and a schemer of genius, persuades Nikki to accept the crown, marry Cristiane - the snow princess from Norseland - and beget an heir as soon as is decently possible. Nikki agrees, provided his beloved Marta can be installed, in considerable grandeur, not too far from the royal abode.Large flexible cast