SOURCE: Appleton, William W. Introduction to Wonders in the Sun, Or, The Kingdom of The Birds (1706), by Thomas D'Urfey, pp. i-iv. Los Angeles: William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, 1964.

In the following essay, Appleton describes Wonders in the Sun, as an odd opera full of political allusions that failed with both critics and audience.

Theatre historians and musicologists have been bewildered by Thomas D'Urfey's Wonders in the Sun. Dr. Burney found it a “whimsical drama,” John Genest an “eccentric piece,” and today we are still hard put to classify it. Described by the author as a “Comick Opera,” D'Urfey's entertainment was performed by Betterton's company on the 5th of April, 1706, at the Queen's Theatre in the Haymarket, and acted again on the 6th, 8th, 9th, and 10th of that month. According to Downes the production was a failure, “not answering half the expenses of it.” It was never revived...