In the cover jacket notes, the advertisement-summary of this study suggests that the author equates the opera buffa, arguably the standard operatic form of the eighteenth century throughout much of continental Europe, with the contemporary entertainment of the film industry, noting that this genre "projects a social world both recognizable and distinct from reality." While it may seem impertinent to begin a review of this work with such a superficial statement, meant solely to entice a prospective reader (and hopefully, one might dare say, a purchaser), it succinctly summarizes the points that the author addresses in her discussion of a substantial number of works, without which it is impossible to understand the context for Mozart's perennially popular buffa trilogy Le Nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Cosi fan tutte.