Dorothy (opera)

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Dorothy is a comic opera in three acts with music by Alfred Cellier and a libretto by B. C. Stephenson. It was first produced at the Gaiety Theatre in London on September 25, 1886, starring Marion Hood in the title role, opposite the popular Hayden Coffin, and with comedians Arthur Williams, Furneaux Cook and John Le Hay. Marie Tempest took over in the title role, and Florence Perry made her London stage debut in 1887 in the role of Phyllis Tuppitt. Decima Moore played the title role in the 1892 revival. Courtice Pounds played Wilder on a 1900 provincial tour.^[1]

This was the first production at the Gaiety by new managing director (and later owner) of the theatre, George Edwardes, who misjudged his audience. The Gaiety was then known for burlesque, and its audiences were not looking for Gilbert and Sullivan style comic opera. After a few months, Edwardes sold the production to his accountant, Henry Leslie. Leslie revised the show, adding among others Ben Davies and Marie Tempest, who took over the title role from the ailing Hood and became one of musical theatre's biggest stars.

Leslie reopened the show at the Prince of Wales Theatre on December 20, 1886 and then transferred to the Lyric Theatre on 17 December 1887, where it closed on 6 April 1889. The revised Dorothy had an initial run of 931 performances, breaking the record for the longest running musical theatre production in history and holding this record until the run of the musical play A Chinese Honeymoon in the early 1900s. It was also the second-longest known run for a stage production of any kind, after Our Boys, an 1875 vaudeville play, until both were surpassed by the run of Charley's Aunt in the 1890s. Henry Leslie made so much money from Dorothy that he was able to build the Lyric Theatre, where the show transferred in 1888.

Dorothy also toured and enjoyed numerous revivals until about 1940 in Britain, with four or five separate and simultaneous companies during the early years. There was also a New York run from November 5, 1887 to April 1888 starring Lillian Russell as the title character, and the show was revied in America until about 1900. A successful tour of Australia also began in 1887, with Leonora Braham making her Australian debut.^[2]

The show's hit songs included the ballad "Queen of My Heart", "Be Wise In Time", "Hark For'ard!", "With A Welcome To All", and "The Time Has Come."

Contents 1 Background 2 Roles and London cast 3 Synopsis 4 Musical Numbers 5 Notes 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Background

The plot of Dorothy involves a rake who falls in love with his disguised fiancée. It reflects touches of cynicism, early feminism, and utilises plenty of mistaken-identity and social-class-distinction comic situations. Elements of the story are derived from the 1847 opera Martha by Friedrich von Flotow,^[3] a tale of two wealthy young ladies who dress as peasants to go to the fair, fall in love with two young farmers and, after exploits, identity-confusion and ring-exchanges, are reunited with them.

Although billed as a "comic opera" like the popular Gilbert and Sullivan operas on the London stage at the same time, Dorothy was a key forerunner of the integrated musical comedy, bearing many of the attributes of that genre. Both the spoken dialogue and the songs tell the story and illuminate the characters. Dorothy's libretto is more farcical than W. S. Gilbert's satiric libretti, revolving around mistaken identities and topical humour instead of topsy-turvy plot absurdities. Dorothy anticipated the Edwardes musical comedy hits of the 1890s and 1900s. Its remarkable success showed Edwardes and other theatre managers that audiences were ready for a shift towards more topical Edwardian musical comedies, which soon dominated the musical theatre stage.

Cellier, who had been a lieutenant of Arthur Sullivan's, re-purposed much of the music for Dorothy from his unsuccessful comic opera of ten years earlier, Nell Gwynne. Tthough a flop, the music of Nell Gwynne had been praised. Stephenson wrote new lyrics and a libretto to fit the music. He wrote a well-crafted play, with literary echoes of familiar themes reminiscent of Jane Austen's Emma, yet with a more modern style, suggesting its eighteenth-century setting lightly rather than with the archaic literary tone common in Victorian drama.

[edit] Roles and London cast

• Sir John Bantam, "The Squire" of Chanticleer Hall (baritone) – Furneaux Cook
• Geoffrey Wilder, Sir John Bantam's nephew and heir, a London Gallant (tenor) – Redfern Hollins; replaced by Ben Davies
• Harry Sherwood, Geoffrey Wilder's friend (baritone) – C. Hayden Coffin
• John Tuppitt, Landlord of the "Hop-Pole Inn" – Edward Griffin
• William Lurcher, A Sheriff's Officer (comic baritone) – Arthur Williams
• Tom Strutt (or Tom Grass), A Young Farmer – John Le Hay
• Dorothy Bantam, Sir John Bantam's Daughter (soprano) – Marion Hood; replaced by Marie Tempest
• Lydia Hawthorne, Her Cousin (mezzo-soprano) – Florence Dysart; replaced by Edith Chester
• Phyllis Tuppitt, The Landlord's Daughter, in love with Tom Strutt (contralto) – F. Lambeth; replaced by Grace Huntly and then by Florence Perry
• Lady Betty, A Spinster – J. McNulty; replaced by Florence Neville
• Mrs. Privett, A Widow (non-singing) – Harriet Coveney
• Chorus of Hop-Pickers, Peasants, Guests, Bridesmaids, etc.

[edit] Synopsis

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Detailed synopsis here

The setting is rural Kent in 1740.

The Squire's daughter, Dorothy, and her cousin Lydia are weary of the social rounds, and so they pose as peasants at the annual festival of the Hop Pole (the celebration takes place near the Hop Pole Inn at the end of the hop picking season) and wait on the landlord's guests. As luck would have it, they wait on Geoffrey and Harry, who are traveling in disguise to escape Lurcher, a sheriff's officer, who has warrants for their arrest and seeks to collect a bill from Wilder. The two men and two young women begin to fall in love with each other, but as both are disguised, the girls do not know the real identities of the men and vice versa. Each girl gives her lover a ring, and the men swear to safeguard the gifts. However, that very night, they meet the two girls, who have changed back into wellborn ladies, and give them the rings.

Next, the two girls pretend to be burglars who rob the Squire. Lurcher is tricked into masquerading as a servant to Geoffrey and Harry, who are visiting the Squire's house. Lurcher overeats, the true identities are revealed, the usual romantic complications ensue, and all ends happily with a double wedding at Chanticleer Hall.

[edit] Musical Numbers

Act I

• 1. Opening Chorus and Ballet – "Lads and lasses round about the hop-pole trip"
• 2. Song with Trio – "Be wise in time, Oh Phyllis mine" (Dorothy, Lydia, and Phyllis)
• 3. Quartet – "We're sorry to delay you" (Dorothy, Lydia, Wilder, and Sherwood)
• 4. Ballad – "With such a dainty dame none can compare" (Wilder)
• 5 Quintet – "A father's pride and joy they are" (Dorothy, Lydia, Wilder, Sherwood, and Tuppitt)
• 6. Song and Trio – "I am the Sheriff's faithful man" (Lurcher, Wilder, and Sherwood)
• 7. Quartet – "You swear to be good and true" (Dorothy, Lydia, Wilder, and Sherwood)
• 8. Chorus with Solo – "Under the pump" (Lurcher)
• 9. Act I Finale – "Now take your seats at table spread"

Act II

• 10. Act II Introduction and Country Dance
• 11. Song – "Though born a man of high degree" (Wilder and Chorus)
• 12. Music for the Entrance of Dorothy and Lydia
• 13. Graceful Dance
• 14. Song – "Contentment I give you and all that it brings" (Bantam)
• 15. Septet and Chorus – "Now let's to bed" (Dorothy, Lydia, Wilder, Sherwood, Lurcher, and Bantam)
• 16. Recit and Quartett – "One moment pray" (Dorothy, Lydia, Wilder, and Sherwood)
• 16a. Ballad – "I stand at your threshold sighing" ("Queen of my Heart") (Sherwood)
• 17. Trio – "Are you sure that they are all in bed?" (Wilder, Sherwood, and Bantam)
• 18. Chorus with Dorothy, Lydia, Wilder, Sherwood, Bantam, and Lurcher – "What noise was that"
• 19. Act II Finale – "Hark forward"

Act III

• 20. Act III – Ballet
• 21. Chorus – "Dancing is not what it used to be"
• 22. Ballad – "The time has come when I must yield" (Phyllis)
• 23. Septet and Chorus – "What joy untold to feel at last"
• 24. Act III Finale – "You swore to be good and true"

No. 16a became a successful ballad standard, "Queen of My Heart."

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Walters, Michael. "Dorothy Sketches". The Gaiety (Autumn 2005).  (pp. 35-36)
• Midkiff, Neil. "Discovering Dorothy". The Gaiety (Autumn 2005).  (pp. 38-42)
• Kenig, Marc. "Dorothy's Degrees of Separation". The Gaiety (Autumn 2005).  (pp. 43-44)
• Dorothy at The Gilbert & Sullivan Archive
• Dorothy at The Guide to Light Opera and Operetta

[edit] External links

• A Downloadable Vocal Score
• "Discovering Dorothy"
• Long Runs in Theatre, a list of records listing the longest runs ever achieved by stage productions of any type
• IBDB entry for the first production in New York
• Midi files, lyrics and cast list
• Photo of the score of Dorothy