John Hollingshead had managed the Gaiety Theatre from 1868 to 1886 as a venue for variety, continental operetta, light comedy, and numerous musical burlesques composed or arranged by the theatre's music director, Wilhelm Meyer Lutz. Hollingshead called himself a "licensed dealer in legs, short skirts, French adaptations, Shakespeare, taste and musical glasses."[6] In 1886, Hollingshead ceded the management of the theatre to Edwardes, whom he had hired in 1885. Nellie Farren, as the theatre's "principal boy", and Fred Leslie starred at the Gaiety for over 20 years. Leslie wrote many of its pieces under his pseudonym, "A. C. Torr".[7] In the early 1890s, as burlesque went out of fashion, Edwardes changed the focus of the theatre from musical burlesque to the new genre of Edwardian musical comedy.[8]
Many works of literature and theatre have been based on Sheppard's life. Perhaps the most prominent theatrical work is John Gay's The Beggar's Opera (1728). Sheppard was the inspiration for the character of Macheath, and his nemesis, Peachum, is based on Jonathan Wild. A melodrama, Jack Sheppard, The Housebreaker, or London in 1724, by William Thomas Moncrieff was published in 1825. Ainsworth's popular novel was published in Bentley's Miscellany from January 1839, with illustrations by George Cruikshank.[9] Ainsworth's novel was adapted into a successful play by John Buckstone. The Ainsworth and Buckstone versions portrayed Sheppard as a swashbucking hero, and the fear that young people might emulate Sheppard's behaviour led the Lord Chamberlain to ban, at least in London, the licensing of any plays with "Jack Sheppard" in the title for forty years.[10]
Productions
Amy Augarde as Thames Darrell in the revival of Little Jack Sheppard (1894)
Little Jack Sheppard opened at the Gaiety Theatre in London on 26 December 1885 and ran for 155 performances. It featured Nellie Farren as Jack Sheppard, Fred Leslie as Jonathan Wild, David James as Blueskin and Marion Hood as Winifred[11] Other cast members included Willie Warde (who also choreographed the dances) and Sylvia Grey. The production marked the first appearances at the Gaiety of David James and Fred Leslie, and it was Marion Hood's first appearance in burlesque.[12] Leslie introduced parodic elements caricaturing Oscar Wilde into his portrayal of Jonathan Wild[13] In June 1886, the production was moved from the Gaiety to the less fashionable Grand Theatre, Islington, to make way for Henry E. Dixey's company.[14] A new cast was engaged for the Islington production, while a touring company including most of the original principals took the piece around the English provinces.[15] In December 1886, the touring company, still led by Farren and Leslie, returned to London and took over at the Grand Theatre.[16]
The piece was produced in New York in 1886 at The Bijou Theatre[17] and had its Australian premiere in Melbourne in December 1886 at the Opera House,[18] with Fanny Robina as Jack and Lionel Brough as Wild.[19] In 1887, a second English touring production was launched, with a new cast.[20]Little Jack Sheppard continued to play in the provinces until late 1891.[21] It was revived at the Gaiety in 1894, with a cast including Ellaline Terriss and Seymour Hicks.[22]
Synopsis
Programme for the 1887 touring company
The plot, as reported in The Era, 2 January 1886, was as follows:[23]
Act I
"After a preliminary chorus of rustics, introducing the now threadbare allusion to three acres and a cow, we have the musical courtship of fascinating Winifred Wood and her lover Thames Darrell. Thames is being persecuted by his wicked uncle Sir Rowland Trenchard who has enlisted Jonathan Wild in his pay, and the latter presently brings his chorus of pretty Janissaries upon the scene. An attempt is made to seize Thames, who is, however, rescued by Jack and Blueskin, aided by an army of blue satin-clad swell mobsmen."
Act II
"The second act shows Jack carousing with his boon companions in a hall gorgeous enough to be Aladdin's Palace, but which is understood to be merely the 'cave of harmony' at the 'Crown and Sovereign' in the Mint. Here Blueskin presides over a free-and-easy with all the genial aplomb of a music hall chairman, and obliges the company with a spirited rendering of the quaint old ditty 'Botany Bay', which is, of course, given with the time-honoured whistling variations in the chorus. The 'harmony of the evening' is now rudely disturbed by Wild and his janissaries who, this time assisted by the military, take Jack prisoner."
Act III
"The third act transports us to the interior of Newgate [Prison], where we find Jack carving his name on the walls of the condemned cell, and keeping up his spirits by engaging in a duet and a pas de deux with his jailer, Wild. Blueskin now contrives to enter the prison in the guise of a turnkey, and with his help Jack effects his escape, the series of scenes in which the pair are shown traversing the cells and scaling the walls being apparently intended as a parody of the present fashion of mechanical scene changes.
"The final meet of all the characters takes place on Willesden green, where Wild and Sir Rowland are denounced as Jacobites by Jack, who receives as a reward the King's pardon, and forthwith marries the girl of his choice."
Roles and original cast
Cover of Gaiety Theatre programme, 1885Poster for Edinburgh production
The Era praised the production and the music for their unusual refinement, but found the libretto inadequate: "Messrs. Stephens and Yardley … have aimed at decorum, and succeeded in hitting dulness." The paper went so far as to write of "the vapid, wishy-washy, flatulent quality of the stuff they have manufactured between them." Nonetheless, the music, the staging and the performances adequately compensated, and made it "a capital evening's entertainment."[23] Other critics, including that of The Theatre, were more favourably disposed towards the libretto, and in agreement with The Era about the excellence of the music, the production and the performers.[24]The Graphic wrote, "A company equally strong for the representation of pieces of this class has rarely if ever been assembled. ... A prettier spectacle to behold, from the opening rustic ballet down to the marvellous scenic changes of the escape from Newgate, is certainly nowhere to be seen."[13]
↑ According to press reports, Leslie introduced parodic elements caricaturing Oscar Wilde into his portrayal of Jonathan Wild: see "Theatres", The Graphic, 2 January 1886, p. 7
↑ George Stone took over from David James as Blueskin, and Florence Dysart succeeded Marion Hood as Winifred: see "Provincial Theatricals", The Era, 24 July 1886, p. 14
↑ Clarke, H. Savile, "Little Jack Sheppard", The Theatre, 7 January 1886, p. 44
Related Research Articles
Frederick George Hobson, known as Fred Leslie, was an English actor, singer, comedian and dramatist.
George Joseph Edwardes was an English theatre manager and producer of Irish ancestry who brought a new era in musical theatre to the British stage and beyond.
The Gaiety Theatre was a West End theatre in London, located on Aldwych at the eastern end of the Strand. The theatre was first established as the Strand Musick Hall in 1864 on the former site of the Lyceum Theatre. In 1868, it became known as the Gaiety Theatre and was, at first, known for music hall and then for musical burlesque, pantomime and operetta performances. From 1868 to the 1890s, it had a major influence on the development of modern musical comedy.
Henry Pottinger Stephens, was an English dramatist and journalist.
Dorothy is a comic opera in three acts with music by Alfred Cellier and a libretto by B. C. Stephenson. The story involves a rake who falls in love with his disguised fiancée.
Victorian burlesque, sometimes known as travesty or extravaganza, is a genre of theatrical entertainment that was popular in Victorian England and in the New York theatre of the mid-19th century. It is a form of parody in which a well-known opera or piece of classical theatre or ballet is adapted into a broad comic play, usually a musical play, usually risqué in style, mocking the theatrical and musical conventions and styles of the original work, and often quoting or pastiching text or music from the original work. Victorian burlesque is one of several forms of burlesque.
Ruy Blas and the Blasé Roué is a burlesque written by A. C. Torr and Herbert F. Clark with music by Meyer Lutz. It is based on the Victor Hugo drama Ruy Blas. The piece was produced by George Edwardes. As with many of the Gaiety burlesques, the title is a pun.
Cinder Ellen up too Late is a musical burlesque written by Frederick Hobson Leslie and W. T. Vincent, with music arranged by Meyer Lutz from compositions by Lionel Monckton, Sidney Jones, Walter Slaughter, Osmond Carr, Scott Gatti, Jacobi, Robertson, and Leopold Wenzel. Additional lyrics were written by Basil Hood. The show was a burlesque of the well-known pantomime and fairy tale, Cinderella.
Wilhelm Meyer Lutz was a German-born British composer and conductor who is best known for light music, musical theatre and burlesques of well-known works.
Frankenstein, or The Vampire's Victim is a musical burlesque in three acts written by Richard Henry. The music was composed by Meyer Lutz. The piece is a burlesque loosely based on the 1818 Mary Shelley novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus and the Adelphi Theatre drama based on the novel.
Galatea, or Pygmalion Re-Versed is a musical burlesque that parodies the Pygmalion legend, and specifically W. S. Gilbert's 1871 play Pygmalion and Galatea. The libretto was written by Henry Pottinger Stephens and W. Webster. The score was composed by Wilhelm Meyer Lutz.
Faust up to Date is a musical burlesque with a libretto was written by G. R. Sims and Henry Pettitt, and a score written by Meyer Lutz. Set in Nuremberg, it is a spoof of Gounod's opera, Faust, which had first been performed in London in 1864. The burlesque followed on from an earlier Lutz musical, Mephistopheles, or Faust and Marguerite.
Ellen "Nellie" Farren was an English actress and singer known for her roles as the "principal boy" in musical burlesques at the Gaiety Theatre in London. For a quarter of a century there, she was "the best-known star of London burlesque".
John Hollingshead was an English theatrical impresario, journalist and writer during the latter half of the 19th century. After a journalism career, Hollingshead managed the Alhambra Theatre and was later the first manager of the Gaiety Theatre, London. Hollingshead also wrote several books during his life.
Carmen up to Data is a musical burlesque with a score written by Meyer Lutz. Set in Seville, the piece was a spoof of Bizet's 1875 opera Carmen. The libretto was written by G. R. Sims and Henry Pettitt.
Willie Warde was an English actor, dancer, singer and choreographer. The son of a dancer, his first theatre work was with a dance company. He was engaged to arrange dances for London productions and was later cast as a comic actor in musical theatre. He was associated for over two decades with the Gaiety and Daly's theatres under the management of George Edwardes, playing in and choreographing burlesques and, later, Edwardian musical comedies. In later years he played character roles in West End comic plays.
Miss Esmeralda is a Victorian burlesque, in two acts, with music by Meyer Lutz and Robert Martin and a libretto by Fred Leslie, under his pseudonym "A. C. Torr", and Horace Mills. It is based on Victor Hugo's 1831 novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.
Monte Cristo Jr. was a Victorian burlesque with a libretto written by Richard Henry, a pseudonym for the writers Richard Butler and Henry Chance Newton. The score was composed by Meyer Lutz, Ivan Caryll, Hamilton Clarke, Tito Mattei, G. W. Hunt and Henry J. Leslie. The ballet and incidental dances were arranged by John D'Auban, and the theatre's musical director, Meyer Lutz, conducted. The play's doggerel verse was loosely based on The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas.
The Bohemian G-yurl and the Unapproachable Pole is a musical burlesque in two acts, with a score by Meyer Lutz to a libretto by Henry James Byron, which played under the management of John Hollingshead at the Gaiety Theatre in London in 1877. It was a parody of the popular opera The Bohemian Girl composed by Michael William Balfe with a libretto by Alfred Bunn.
Edward William Royce, born Edward William Reddall, was a British actor, singer and dancer noted for playing in Victorian burlesque at London's Gaiety Theatre, usually alongside Nelly Farren, Edward O'Connor Terry and Kate Vaughan until 1882. His theatrical career spanned five decades, from 1860 to 1908. His son was the director Edward Royce.
References
Traubner, Richard. Operetta: A Theatrical History, (2003) Routledge.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
