ok, this is so obvious, how come everyone thinks she's a man???
she doesn't look like a man at all, except she has short hair. I mean she wears makeup and everything. it's not like she looks like David Bowie with short hair or anything.
shareI think it's mostly because in this particular environment, ambivalence is normal - perfectly illustrated by the performance going on at Chez Lui around midpoint: four performers; masks on the back of their heads; male clothing on front/back, female on opposite side. Wonderful, confusing choreography. The people in Toddy's world accept and revel in that-which-is-and-isn't. So when Count Grizinski (sp?) enters this world, "he" is just one more element that is-and-isn't.
People not willing to accept this kind of perspective are, indeed, suspicious and don't believe it - though, because they have infiltrated this world, they're a little confused as well: King Marchand doesn't believe, never really believes, and proves himself right. Labisse knows immediately who Victor is as soon as his glass is shattered because he remembers the soprano who was not a mezzo and who was unforgivably arrogant in his eyes. However, while he was part of his own crowd at Chez Lui, he accepted the Count and was thrilled to have "him" perform.
We, the audience, are given a ticket into this world via Toddy's excited planning as he's cutting Victoria's hair, and as we watch them leave for M. Cassel, and we hear about adam's apples and such. Immediately after that, we are viscerally invited into the world by Andre Cassell's basso-profundo female receptionist. By the time she rushes in, escaping from the acrobat, we should have been sufficiently prepped to enter and enjoy the joke on everyone.
This is how it works for me, anyway, and I decide, for myself, that it does work.