In this comic opera set in England, Falstaff is a friend and admirer of playwright William Shakespeare--and the same lecherous fellow we saw in Shakespeare's Henry IV. One summer night, Queen Elizabeth goes incognito to a party given by Falstaff in honor of the Bard, who's melancholy over a lost love. Things go rapidly downhill from there One of the best plays ever written by a team that specialized in light melodramas.