The Land of Smiles (German: ) is a 1929 romantic operetta in three acts by Franz Lehár. The German language libretto was by and Fritz Löhner-Beda. The performance duration is about 100 minutes. This was one of Lehár's later works, and has a bittersweet ending which the Viennese loved. The title refers to the supposed Chinese custom of smiling, whatever happens in life. (The leading character, Prince Sou-Chong has a song early in the show, "" ("Always smiling") which describes this.) The Tauberlied Lavishly produced, the show was built largely around the performance of the tenor Richard Tauber, a close friend of Lehár, for whom he customarily wrote a – a signature tune exploiting the exceptional qualities of his voice – in each of his later operettas. On this occasion it was "Dein ist mein ganzes Herz" ("You are my heart's delight"), probably the most famous of all the . Tauber also appeared in the show in London, singing many encores of his song. Performance history The work was originally produced under the title (The Yellow Jacket). This was presented at the , Vienna, on 9 February 1923 with Hubert Marischka as Sou-Chong. It was not a great success, and Lehár later revised it, under the new title of , which was first performed, at the , on 10 October 1929. Tauber reprised his role in London (1931 and 1932) South Africa (1939) and New York (1946), as well as in Vienna in 1930 (again at the ) and in 1938 (at the Vienna State Opera and also in Prague). Tauber also sang it in London and on tour throughout Britain between 1940 and 1942. The opera was first staged in the United States at the Boston Opera House in 1933 with soprano Nancy McCord as Lisa. Sadler's Wells Opera produced it in London in the late 1950s, after the success of Lehár's The Merry Widow starring June Bronhill had rescued the company from bankruptcy. Starring Charles Craig, Elizabeth Fretwell and Bronhill, the show did not attract the same audiences as The Merry Widow. In 2017 Opernhaus Zürich performed Das Land des Lächelns and recorded it to DVD and Bluray. During the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, they shared the recording for free to allow those in isolation to enjoy the opera. Roles Synopsis The operetta is set in Vienna and China in 1912. In act 1 in Vienna, the heroine Countess