Foggerty's Fairy
Encyclopedia
Farce
In theatre, a farce is a comedy which aims at entertaining the audience by means of unlikely, extravagant, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication, which may include word play, and a fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases,...
by W.S. Gilbert based loosely on Gilbert's short story, "The Story of a Twelfth Cake", which was published in the Christmas Number of The Graphic
The Graphic
The Graphic was a British weekly illustrated newspaper, first published on 4 December 1869 by William Luson Thomas's company Illustrated Newspapers Limited....
in 1874, and elements of other Gilbert plays. The story concerns a man who, with the help of a fairy, changes a small event in his past to try to save his engagement to the girl he loves. This leads to profound changes in his present, and he finds that matters are even worse than before.
Foggerty's Fairy opened at the Criterion Theatre
Criterion Theatre
The Criterion Theatre is a West End theatre situated on Piccadilly Circus in the City of Westminster, and is a Grade II* listed building. It has an official capacity of 588.-Building the theatre:...
in London on 15 December 1881. Charles Wyndham, the manager of the Criterion, starred as the lead character, Frederick Foggerty. Despite Wyndham's star power, interest in the play's bold and original premise and reviews that were at least partly positive, the play was not a success. It closed on 6 January 1882 after about 25 performances. Disappointed, Gilbert turned back to writing comic opera
Comic opera
Comic opera denotes a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending.Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a new operatic genre, opera buffa, emerged as an alternative to opera seria...
s with Arthur Sullivan
Arthur Sullivan
Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan MVO was an English composer of Irish and Italian ancestry. He is best known for his series of 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including such enduring works as H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado...
.
Genesis
By the time Foggerty's Fairy premiered, Gilbert and SullivanGilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan . The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S...
had already written half a dozen comic opera hits. Since 1877, however, Gilbert had not written a successful play apart from Sullivan. Gilbert wrote Foggerty's Fairy for British actor Edward Sothern, who had commissioned two earlier plays from Gilbert, Dan'l Druce, Blacksmith
Dan'l Druce, Blacksmith
Dan'l Druce, Blacksmith is a play by W. S. Gilbert, styled "A Three-Act Drama of Puritan times". It opened at the Haymarket Theatre in London on 11 September 1876, starring Hermann Vezin, Johnston Forbes-Robertson and Marion Terry. The play was a success, running for about 100 performances and...
and The Ne'er-do-weel
The Ne'er-do-Weel
The Ne'er-do-Weel is a three-act drama written by the English dramatist W. S. Gilbert. It is the second of three plays that he wrote at the request of the actor Edward Sothern. The story concerns Jeffery Rollestone, a gentleman who becomes a vagabond after Maud, the girl he loves, leaves him. He...
. Sothern had not been satisfied with The Ne'er-do-weel, despite various rewrites, and he refused the piece. He had already paid Gilbert for the play, and Gilbert was unable immediately to pay him back. After various discussions between Gilbert and Sothern, Gilbert agreed to let Sothern play his recent comedy success, Engaged
Engaged (play)
Engaged is a three-act farcical comic play by W. S. Gilbert. It premiered at the Haymarket Theatre on 3 October 1877, the same year as The Sorcerer, one of Gilbert's comic operas written with Arthur Sullivan, which was soon followed by the collaborators' great success in H.M.S. Pinafore...
, in America and promised to write a new play for him.
In the autumn of 1879, Sothern was on one of his lengthy American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
tours. He intended to open the new Gilbert play at the Park Theatre
Park Theatre (Manhattan)
The Park Theatre, originally known as the New Theatre, was a playhouse in New York City, located at 21, 23, and 25 Park Row, about east of Ann Street and backing Theatre Alley. The location, at the north end of the city, overlooked the park that would soon house City Hall...
in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
in the spring of 1880. The Era wrote in October 1979 that "It is proposed, during Mr Sothern's [American] engagement, to bring out revivals of The Crushed Tragedian, Dundreary
Our American Cousin
Our American Cousin is an 1858 play in three acts by English playwright Tom Taylor. The play is a farce whose plot is based on the introduction of an awkward, boorish but honest American, Asa Trenchard, to his aristocratic English relatives when he goes to England to claim the family estate...
, and David Garrick
David Garrick (play)
David Garrick is a comic play written in 1864 by Thomas William Robertson about the famous 18th century actor and theatre manager, David Garrick....
, the new comedy by Mr Gilbert being reserved for the spring engagement." At the same time, Gilbert was also busy rehearsing his American productions of H.M.S. Pinafore
H.M.S. Pinafore
H.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It opened at the Opera Comique in London, England, on 25 May 1878 and ran for 571 performances, which was the second-longest run of any musical...
, the world premiere of The Pirates of Penzance
The Pirates of Penzance
The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. The opera's official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 31 December 1879, where the show was well received by both audiences...
and touring companies to play these and The Sorcerer
The Sorcerer
The Sorcerer is a two-act comic opera, with a libretto by W. S. Gilbert and music by Arthur Sullivan. It was the British duo's third operatic collaboration. The plot of The Sorcerer is based on a Christmas story, An Elixir of Love, that Gilbert wrote for The Graphic magazine in 1876...
, as well as British revivals of two of his plays.
On February 29, 1880 The Era reported: "Mr Sothern says that, although his new comedy, by Mr Gilbert, has cost him 3,000 guineas
Guinea (British coin)
The guinea is a coin that was minted in the Kingdom of England and later in the Kingdom of Great Britain and the United Kingdom between 1663 and 1813...
, he would not take 6,000 guineas for it now. It is a piece of the wildest absurdity ever perpetrated, and all the parts are immense." Obviously by that date Sothern had received an early version of the play and was enthusiastic about it. The same issue of The Era states that definite plans had been made for Sothern to appear at the Gaiety Theatre, London
Gaiety Theatre, London
The Gaiety Theatre, London was a West End theatre in London, located on Aldwych at the eastern end of the Strand. The theatre was established as the Strand Musick Hall , in 1864 on the former site of the Lyceum Theatre. It was rebuilt several times, but closed from the beginning of World War II...
in Foggerty's Fairy, as the new play was now called, in October 1880, after the end of his American tour. Sothern did not produce the play in the spring, and scholar Andrew Crowther speculates that Gilbert was late in completing it. In addition, Sothern had been ill for much of the time since the autumn, although he fulfilled his performing commitments.
Sothern came to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
for a six week holiday in June 1880, still planning to produce Foggerty's Fairy in New York. After one illness and a short European tour, Sothern fell seriously ill in the autumn. His health declined until he died in January 1881 never having performed the play but leaving behind a heavily-annotated copy. Sothern's sister, Mary Cowan, was the beneficiary of Sothern's will. Sothern's widow contested the will, and it took Cowan until 31 May to probate it. Gilbert contacted Cowan soon after Sothern's death and offered her his help. He suggested that she "underlet" Foggerty's Fairy to him for £525 and half of whatever he received for it until she had been paid 1,500 guineas. The play was first offered to comic actor J. L. Toole, but the deal fell through, and Gilbert next offered the play to actor Charles Wyndham, who was then manager of the Criterion Theatre
Criterion Theatre
The Criterion Theatre is a West End theatre situated on Piccadilly Circus in the City of Westminster, and is a Grade II* listed building. It has an official capacity of 588.-Building the theatre:...
. After Gilbert had settled these financial dealings with Mrs. Cowan, she wrote to him: "Allow me to say that of all the people with whom I have had any dealings in reference to money since my Brother's death, you have treated me with the greatest kindness & fairness & I feel grateful to you for sparing me any trouble or anxiety."
Foggerty's Fairy includes a mixture of several elements that Gilbert had used in earlier work. The main device of the fairy magic, which changes a small event from the past and leads to unexpected consequences, came from a short story, "The Story of a Twelfth Cake", which Gilbert had first published in the Christmas number of The Graphic
The Graphic
The Graphic was a British weekly illustrated newspaper, first published on 4 December 1869 by William Luson Thomas's company Illustrated Newspapers Limited....
in 1874. This novel plot elements anticipates numerous fantasy and science fiction stories like Back to the Future
Back to the Future
Back to the Future is a 1985 American science-fiction adventure film. It was directed by Robert Zemeckis, written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale, produced by Steven Spielberg, and starred Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover and Thomas F. Wilson. The film tells the story of...
. Gilbert slightly modified the story and renamed it Foggerty's Fairy when he republished it in his 1890 collection of stories and essays, Foggerty's Fairy and Other Tales
Foggerty's Fairy and Other Tales
Foggerty's Fairy and Other Tales is an 1890 book by W. S. Gilbert, collecting several of the short stories and essays he wrote in his early career as a magazine writer . A number of them were later adapted as plays or opera librettos....
. Although this plot device is retained in the play, the plot of the play is almost completely changed. The device of transformation by supernatural aid is one of Gilbert's favourites. Gilbert uses it in The Sorcerer, The Mountebanks and many of his other works. In addition, Gilbert used elements from his earlier plays The Wedding March (1873) and Tom Cobb
Tom Cobb
Tom Cobb or, Fortune's Toy is a farce in three-acts by W. S. Gilbert. It opened at the St. James's Theatre on 24 April 1875...
(1875). In addition, several lines from the play appear in various Gilbert and Sullivan operas. The Ko-Ko, Nanki-Poo and Yum-Yum exchange from The Mikado
The Mikado
The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen operatic collaborations...
, about lovers being too affectionate in front of another man who loves the woman, is used in the first act of Foggerty's Fairy. The "romantic" old lady, Malvina de Vere, is described as "having the remains of a fine woman about her", as is Ruth in The Pirates of Penzance
The Pirates of Penzance
The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. The opera's official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 31 December 1879, where the show was well received by both audiences...
.
Productions
By October 1881, Gilbert was rehearsing Foggerty's Fairy at the Criterion. At the opening night on 15 December 1881, Arthur Sullivan was in the audience. He found the play "ingenious, but unsatisfactory—like a dream". Audience reaction was favourable enough that Gilbert took a curtain call. The critics agreed that the piece was bold and original but uneven. The idea of the parallel universes conjured by the fairy was novel and intriguing but bewildering to audiences and critics, who were required to remember the original state of affairs and compare them to the magically transformed one. We are used to this type of story in plays and films today, but it was unprecedented and shocking in 1881.Wyndham's performance was praised, and the play must have generated considerable interest: On 24 December, the drama critic of The Illustrated London News had not yet seen the play, but had heard that the play was "brilliantly successful, and will probably have a very long run; so there will be plenty of time to criticise it at leisure after the feverish pantomimic Boxing-Night week. I hear the Fairy spoken of on all sides as one of the wittiest and as the most ingenious and daring of Mr Gilbert's dramatic productions." Unfortunately, he never published his review – Fogerty's Fairy closed on 6 January 1882, before the next edition of his weekly paper. It was not a success, playing only about 25 performances.
After the play's failure, Gilbert decided to concentrate on his work with Sullivan. Five days after it closed, Gilbert and Sullivan signed a new five year agreement with Richard D'Oyly Carte
Richard D'Oyly Carte
Richard D'Oyly Carte was an English talent agent, theatrical impresario, composer and hotelier during the latter half of the Victorian era...
to produce more operas together, and then they went to Sullivan's home to discuss their next piece, another work about fairies, Iolanthe
Iolanthe
Iolanthe; or, The Peer and the Peri is a comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It is one of the Savoy operas and is the seventh collaboration of the fourteen between Gilbert and Sullivan....
. Foggerty's Fairy still receives occasional amateur productions and rare professional ones.
Act I
In the Talbot drawing room, it is the morning of the marriage of Foggerty, a pharmacist, to Jenny Talbot, a childhood friend. She will only marry a man who has never loved before because she doesn't want to "have a heart at second-hand". She was previously engaged to Foggerty's gloomy friend, Walkinshaw, but Foggerty informed her that Walkinshaw had been engaged to another woman, and so Jenny broke their engagement. Jenny's father, a "wholesale cheesemonger", and her guests do not much like Foggerty, and the best man, Walkinshaw, still bears a grudge. Foggerty has not told Jenny that he has another fiancée in MelbourneMelbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, a rich old woman, Delia Spiff, a distant relative of Jenny's. Despite her wealth, however, he got cold feet and returned to London. Walkinshaw notes a newspaper report that Spiff has just arrived in England.
Foggerty is afraid that Spiff will ruin his marriage, but a fairy guardian named Rebecca arrives and offers help. Foggerty wishes that Spiff did not exist. She gives Foggerty a magic elixir
Elixir
An elixir is a clear, sweet-flavored liquid used for medicinal purposes, to be taken orally and intended to cure one's ills. When used as a pharmaceutical preparation, an elixir contains at least one active ingredient designed to be taken orally....
that will change a past event in his life. Rebecca warns him that all the consequences of any event changed by the elixir will also be changed and that this may lead to unanticipated results. He promises to use caution. She also gives him pills that he can swallow before summoning her. Now Spiff arrives and claims Foggerty in marriage. Jenny calls off the engagement, Walkinshaw is pleased, and in desperation Foggerty drinks the elixir.
Act II
Fairy Rebecca awakens Foggerty, and he finds himself in a different drawing room. As a consequence of the obliteration of Spiff, Rebecca has never met Foggerty before. He overhears Jenny's bridesmaids talking and deduces that he is about to marry Jenny. Malvina de Vere, a "stately lady of middle age and tragical demeanour" meets Jenny, now in her wedding dress. Malvina has previously had 18 lovers, all of whom had left her, though not before paying substantial damages in breach of promiseBreach of promise
Breach of promise is a former common law tort.From at least medieval times until the early 20th century, a man's promise of engagement to marry a woman was considered, in many jurisdictions, a legally binding contract...
lawsuits. She believes that her 19th lover is unfaithful but hopes that lover 20 will marry her. Jenny invites her to her wedding reception.
It turns out that Jenny is about to marry Walkinshaw, rather than Foggerty, although she does not love him. Foggerty sees Jenny in her wedding dress and tries to kiss her, annoying Walkinshaw. After Foggerty understands the situation, he tells Jenny that he loves her. She says that she has always loved him, but he never declared his feelings, and now it is too late. He understands that, in his earlier reality, he had come together with Jenny only as a consequence of fleeing Spiff. Foggerty roughs up Walkinshaw for stealing his girl, but realises the cause and is dejected. Walkinshaw and Talbot doubt his sanity. Meanwhile, Jenny overhears Malvina calling her lawyer, who says that her 19th lover is to be married later that day, and so she is free to marry her number 20. She mentions her 19th lover's name: Walkinshaw! Jenny terminates her engagement to Walkinshaw, throwing herself into Foggerty's arms. Malvina sees Foggerty and tells him that she can marry him now – he is lover number 20. Jenny faints, and Foggerty flees with Malvina in pursuit.
Act III
Hours later, both return to Walkinshaw's parlour, exhausted. Jenny's father has called the doctors to report that Foggerty has gone mad. He instructs Walkinshaw to keep him there until he can be hauled off to the asylum, but Walkinshaw hides from Malvina. Threatened with a suit for staggering damages, and having lost Jenny, Foggerty decides to marry Malvina. He also explains to Malvina that he has lost his memory of the past. Talbot comes back with the doctors and Blogg, an asylum attendant. Blogg is instructed to stay and watch Foggerty but not to contradict him in any way. Foggerty deduces that Blogg is a policeman, and by the time he finishes asking Blogg about the crime that he himself must have committed, he thinks that he and Walkinshaw murdered the latter's aunt. Now he believes that he will be "hanged first and confined in a lunatic asylum afterwards".He summons Rebecca using one of the pills, but she is not his fairy as a consequence of the elimination of Spiff. After some blackmailing (he has 47 pills left!), he points out some inconsistencies in the consequences of the magic. He persuades her to restore matters to their original state, but without Spiff. She does so, and the scene is transformed to daylight in the Talbot's home. All ends happily, with Foggerty to marry Jenny and Walkinshaw to marry Malvina.
Critical reception
The drama critic of The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
wrote:
"Whether the piece was successful or not remains to be seen. Opinions differ. The audience was not enthusiastic. It laughed and it applauded. A portion of it hissed, but this portion was a miserable minority. The farce is in three acts. If it were in one it would be highly entertaining. In three it becomes tedious.... Unless set to music by Sullivan [Gilbert's] dramatic Bab BalladsBab BalladsThe Bab Ballads are a collection of light verse by W. S. Gilbert, illustrated with his own comic drawings. Gilbert wrote the Ballads before he became famous for his comic opera librettos with Arthur Sullivan...
are unbearable. You see all their ugly points, observe all their inhumanity.
The critic of the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News
Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News
The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News was an English weekly magazine founded in 1874 and published in London. In 1945 it changed its name to the Sport and Country, and in 1957 to the Farm and Country, before closing in 1970....
wrote:
"The first act... is occupied in a very fresh illustration of a familiar subject. For the hand of pretty Jennie Talbot, the sentimental daughter of a wholesale cheesemonger, there have been two rivals, Foggerty and Walkinshaw.... The... business-like air of the fairy, the incredulity of Foggerty, and the means by which a charm is made to work through a pill and a draught — all these combine to render this unique scene irresistibly ludicrous. It is, of course the very crux of the play, and if it were either misunderstood or resented the rest could not possibly succeed.
The spell itself and its consequences are certainly less easy to work out effectively than was the case with the famous spell in The Sorcerer.... After this the fun soon becomes fast and furious — too furious to be in our judgment characteristic of the author's happiest manner. There is certainly a good deal of drollery in Foggerty's interview with Malvina de Vere, and their friendly steps towards an action for breach of promise. But there is almost too much of it, and there is certainly too much of the satire upon mad-doctors and their ways which occurs when Foggerty's friends believe him demented, and try to get a certificate to that effect from Dr. Lobb and Dr. Dobb. The climax, therefore, which is brought about when the hero takes a pill, summons the fairy once more, and brings matters back to their status quo, is very welcome, for towards the last the fun is felt to be flagging. The mad dream has been almost too long as well as too elaborate in its absurdities. This fault, if it be found to exist, can, of course, be readily remedied, as there seems no real need for the hero's false confession, à la Topsy, of a crime which he never committed.
It would be difficult to say too much in praise of the spirit, the appreciation, and the judgment, with which Foggerty's Fairy is acted at the Criterion by all concerned.... But, above all, Mr. Wyndham's services in connection with the production are worthy of note. He has to keep Foggerty at fever pitch throughout, and yet never to abandon the tone of light comedy".
Original cast
- Frederick Foggerty – Charles Wyndham
- Walkinshaw – George Giddens
- Talbot (a wholesale cheesemonger) – W. Blakeley
- Dr. Lobb and Dr. Dobb (mad doctors) – A. Maltby and H. H. Astley
- Blogg (a mad keeper) – A. Redwood
- Uncle Fogle – A. M. Denison
- Walker and Balker (wedding guests) – Edward H. Bell and Alexander Verton
- The Fairy Rebecca – Rosie Saker
- Jennie Talbot (Engaged in Act I to Foggerty and in Act II to Walkinshaw) – M. Rorke
- Miss Delia Spiff (a matter-of-fact old lady) – M. Daly
- Tottie and Lottie (Jennie’s bridesmaids) – F. Harrington and K. Rorke
- Aunt Bogle – Mrs A. Mellon
- Miss De Vere (a romantic lady) – Mrs. John WoodMrs. John WoodMrs. John Wood , born Matilda Charlotte Vining, was an English actress and theatre manager.-Biography:...
External links
- Script of Foggerty's Fairy, The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive
- Links to materials about Foggerty's Fairy at The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive
- Review of Foggerty's Fairy in The Times, 26 December 1881