Act I

Ring Around the Moon opens with the aristocratic bon vivant, Hugo, talking with Joshua, his butler, both discussing Hugo's brother, Frederic. Frederic has been sleeping outside his fiancee's bedroom window while she is a guest at the family's estate. Frederic and Hugo are identical twins, but Hugo is good with women and Frederic inept. Hugo and Joshua are unhappy with Frederic's fawning over Diana Messerschmann, his fiancee. Hugo hints he will do something about it. Hugo leaves and Frederic enters (they are played by the same actor). Frederic and Joshua now discuss Frederic's sleeping habits. Frederic assures Joshua that slumbering amidst rhododendrons is nothing serious. As one might expect from Frederic's behavior, Frederic's love for Diana is indeed insecure. Enter Patrice Bombelles (Messerschmann's male secretary) and Lady India (Messerschmann's mistress and Hugo and Frederic's cousin), who reveal their affair behind the back of the industrialist, Messerschmann...