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El Capitan
El Capitan
Credit: Metropolitan Job Print, 222 West 26th Street, New York
A poster for the original production of John Philip Sousa's operetta El Capitan (1896), starring DeWolf Hopper. Don Enrico Medigua, the viceroy of Spain-occupied Peru, fears assassination by rebels. After he secretly has the rebel leader El Capitan killed, he disguises himself as El Capitan. Estrelda, the former viceroy's daughter, impressed by tales of El Capitan's daring, falls in love with the disguised Medigua, who is already married. Meanwhile, Medigua's wife and daughter search for him, and the rebels capture the Lord Chamberlain, mistaking him for the viceroy. Medigua leads the hapless rebels against the Spaniards, taking them in circles until they are too tired to fight. The Spaniards win, the mistaken identities are revealed, the love stories are untangled, and the story ends happily.