The Fortune Hunter
Encyclopedia
W. S. Gilbert
Sir William Schwenck Gilbert was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his fourteen comic operas produced in collaboration with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, of which the most famous include H.M.S...
. The piece concerns an heiress who loses her fortune. Her shallow husband sues to annul the marriage, leaving her pregnant and taking up with a wealthy former lover. The piece was produced on tour in Britain in 1897, never playing in London.
Gilbert was the librettist of the extraordinarily successful Savoy operas, written in collaboration with composer 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...
. Their last work together was The Grand Duke
The Grand Duke
The Grand Duke; or, The Statutory Duel, is the final Savoy Opera written by librettist W. S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan, their fourteenth and last opera together. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on March 7, 1896, and ran for 123 performances...
, produced in 1896. Gilbert's later dramas were mostly unsuccessful, and The Fortune Hunter was no exception; its poor reception provoked Gilbert to announce retiring from writing for the stage.
Background
Beginning in 1871, 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...
wrote fourteen 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 together. Most of these were tremendously popular, both in London and on tour. Their success eclipsed Gilbert's playwriting career, during which he produced dozens of plays. While many of his comedies enjoyed success, some of his dramas, particularly the later ones, did not. After his 1888 flop, Brantinghame Hall
Brantinghame Hall
Brantinghame Hall is a play in four acts written by W. S. Gilbert for his friend Rutland Barrington, who was then leasing the St. James's Theatre. The play opened on 29 November 1888 and closed on 29 December, after about 27 performances. It starred Barrington, his younger brother, Duncan Fleet,...
, Gilbert vowed never to write another serious drama again.
During the production of Gilbert and Sullivan's 1889 comic opera, The Gondoliers
The Gondoliers
The Gondoliers; or, The King of Barataria is a Savoy Opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on 7 December 1889 and ran for a very successful 554 performances , closing on 30 June 1891...
, Gilbert sued producer 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...
over expenses of the Gilbert and Sullivan partnership. Sullivan sided with Carte, and the partnership disbanded. The lawsuit left Gilbert and Sullivan somewhat embittered, although they finally collaborated on two more works. The last of these was The Grand Duke
The Grand Duke
The Grand Duke; or, The Statutory Duel, is the final Savoy Opera written by librettist W. S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan, their fourteenth and last opera together. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on March 7, 1896, and ran for 123 performances...
, opening in March 1896. This was the least successful of the Savoy Operas, lasting for only 123 performances. H. M. Walbrook suggested the reason for this, writing, "It reads like the work of a tired man... There is his manner but not his wit, his lyrical fluency but not his charm... [For] the most part, the lyrics were uninspiring and the melodies uninspired. Isaac Goldberg added, "the old self-censorship [had] relaxed".
By March 1897, Gilbert was ready to get back to work. He suggested to producer Richard D’Oyly Carte and his wife Helen Carte that he write a libretto for a new 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...
based on his earlier play, The Wicked World
The Wicked World
The Wicked World is a blank verse play by W. S. Gilbert in three acts. It opened at the Haymarket Theatre on 1873 and ran for a successful 145 performances, closing on 1873...
. Carte declined this offer, but years later, Gilbert followed through on this idea in Fallen Fairies
Fallen Fairies
Fallen Fairies; or, The Wicked World, is a two-act comic opera, with a libretto by W. S. Gilbert and music by Edward German. Premiering at London's Savoy Theatre on December 15, 1909, it failed miserably, closing after just 50 performances...
. A revival of Gilbert's comic opera Princess Toto
Princess Toto
Princess Toto is a three-act comic opera by W. S. Gilbert and his long-time collaborator Frederic Clay. It opened on 24 June 1876 at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham, starring Kate Santley, W. S. Penley and J. H. Ryley. It transferred to the Royal Strand Theatre in London on 2 October 1876 for a run...
was also briefly considered, but Gilbert balked at Carte’s suggested revisions. Instead, Gilbert turned to writing a new contemporary drama, The Fortune Hunter, commissioned by Edward Willard. But Willard was not satisfied with Gilbert's drafts, and the manager of the St James's Theatre
St James's Theatre
The St James's Theatre was a 1,200-seat theatre located in King Street, at Duke Street, St James's, London. The elaborate theatre was designed with a neo-classical exterior and a Louis XIV style interior by Samuel Beazley and built by the partnership of Peto & Grissell for the tenor and theatre...
, who had asked Gilbert for a play, found it unsuitable. Gilbert then offered the play to May Fortescue
May Fortescue
May Fortescue was a singer and actor-manager of the Victorian era and a protégée of playwright W. S. Gilbert. She was a member of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company from 1881 to 1883, when she left the company due to an engagement to a nobleman, young Arthur William Cairns, Lord Garmoyle...
(the original Celia in 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....
) for her touring company. The snobs and valet in the piece are based on an 1869 Bab Ballad
Bab Ballads
The 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...
, "Prince Il Baleine".
Synopsis
Act IAboard the ship Africa, Vicomte Armand De Breville, a young and impoverished French aristocrat, is fencing with his friend Sir Cuthbert Jameson. Armand had, some time earlier, proposed marriage to a crude but wealthy American woman, Euphemia Van Zyl, but she instead married the elderly Duke of Dundee. Sir Cuthbert and Armand are both now romantically interested in another passenger, a strong-willed Australian heiress named Diana Caverel. Diana rejects Sir Cuthbert's proposal, calling him "the best, the truest, the most valued friend I have ever possessed." The Duke and Duchess of Dundee board, preceded by their courier, Barker. Two snobbish British tourists, Mr. and Mrs. Coxe-Coxe, eagerly greet Barker, thinking that he is the Duke. They lend him money to gamble under his infallible system. Euphemia sees Armand and apologizes for having ill-treated him. After she leaves, he proposes to Diana, and she accepts.
Act II
One year later, in Paris at Armand's flat, Armand discovers that Diana has no more fortune. In debt, Armand asks Lachaud, his lawyer, to annul the marriage. Under the French Civil Code, a man under the age of 25 required parental consent to marry, and Armand had only been 24. Armand goes to Naples, but says to Diana that if anything should happen to leave her "husbandless", he is "not worth weeping for." Diana loves Armand passionately. She has been worried about whether Armand loves her and feels that this statement means that he does. Sir Cuthbert then appears and mentions that Euphemia is in Naples. Diana believes that Armand is having an affair with the Duchess. Sir Cuthbert doubts that Euphemia would take up with a married man, but Diana notes that the Duchess might not know of Armand's marriage; indeed his own parents have only just been informed of it.
The Marquis and Marquise de Breville, Armand's parents, appear and question Diana. They are shocked to find out that her father was a mere merchant and state that they would have forbidden the marriage, noting that Armand was underage. A letter arrives from Armand, also stating that he was underage at the time of the wedding, and informing Diana that he is moving to annul the marriage. However, this has the unintended effect of angering Armand's parents, who balk at his dishonourable actions and state that they would not do anything to harm Diana's reputation. They declare that they will disown Armand and welcome Diana as their daughter.
Act III
In Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo is an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco....
at the Duchess's villa, six months later, Euphemia decides to leave the Duke and return to America to marry Armand. Mr. and Mrs. Coxe-Coxe arrive, demanding the return of the money that they had lent to the "Duke". They are about to be arrested, but Armand explains that Barker, the person to whom they entrusted the money, was actually the Duke's courier. Armand now tells Euphemia that he is married. Although he had begun proceedings to annul the marriage, he is having second thoughts and plans to halt the proceedings. The Duchess agrees to pay Armand's debts, although she is naturally upset.
Diana arrives, and Armand discovers that she has given birth to their son. She appeals to him to stop the annulment so that their child will not suffer the stigma of bastard
Legitimacy (law)
At common law, legitimacy is the status of a child who is born to parents who are legally married to one another; and of a child who is born shortly after the parents' divorce. In canon and in civil law, the offspring of putative marriages have been considered legitimate children...
y. Overwhelmed by his emotions, he assures her that he is moving to halt the proceedings and begs her to take him back. No longer in love with him, she haughtily rejects him and departs.
Armand asks Lachaud to stop the application, but the lawyer says that it is too late. The only way to interrupt the proceeding is if Armand dies. He tries to poison himself, but Lachaud prevents him. Sir Cuthbert arrives and angrily accuses Armand of lying in the letter about his parents' intention to annul his marriage. He proposes to settle Armand's debts to save the marriage. Armand, seeing an opportunity, challenges Sir Cuthbert to a duel, saying that he is insulted by the accusation. Sir Cuthbert resists, but Armand enrages his friend by suggesting that it is inappropriate for Sir Cuthbert to have accompanied Diana. As they begin the duel, Armand intentionally steps into Sir Cuthbert's blade. As he dies, he declares that he himself, not Sir Cuthbert, caused his death. He asks Sir Cuthbert to care for Diana.
Production and aftermath
Originally produced at the Theatre Royal, BirminghamTheatre Royal, Birmingham
The Theatre Royal, originally the New Theatre, was a theatre located on New Street in Birmingham, England between 1774 and 1956.-Bibliography and further reading:**...
, the play opened on 27 September 1897. The first-night audience was enthusiastic, but the play's tragic ending, as well as Gilbert's treatment of Diana and his familiar theme of "woman victimized by man's double standards" (compare Charity
Charity (play)
Charity is a drama in four acts by W. S. Gilbert that explores the issue of a woman who had lived with a man as his wife without ever having married. The play analyses and critiques the double standard in the Victorian era concerning the treatment of men and women who had sex outside of marriage,...
), together with his old-fashioned style, dissatisfied the critics. Despite a fine production with "exquisite costumes" and excellent acting from Fortescue and others, the many critics in attendance panned the piece. Nevertheless, the play did good business at the box office in Birmingham.
After the short Birmingham run, as the play was moving to the Theatre Royal
Theatre Royal, Edinburgh
Four theatre buildings in Edinburgh have borne the name Theatre Royal, Edinburgh, though the final three were all rebuildings of the second. The first was the Theatre Royal, Shakespeare Square, at the east end of Princes Street. This was opened 9 December 1769 by actor manager David Ross, and was...
in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, Gilbert gave an interview to a reporter from the Evening Despatch. The reporter, through a series of leading questions, made it seem that Gilbert had insulted various leading actor-managers of the day. Gilbert also declared that he was retiring from writing for the stage (although he eventually wrote a further four stage works). As soon as Gilbert found out about the Despatch article, he denied that the paper had quoted him correctly. Nevertheless, the press tore into him. For example, The New York Times
The 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...
reported Gilbert as saying: "London critics attack an author as if he was a scoundrel of the worst type, and I do not feel disposed to put myself forward as a cock-shy for these gentlemen... The fact is, managers cannot judge of a play when they see it in manuscript. If Pinero
Arthur Wing Pinero
Sir Arthur Wing Pinero was an English actor and later an important dramatist and stage director.-Biography:...
sends Irving
Henry Irving
Sir Henry Irving , born John Henry Brodribb, was an English stage actor in the Victorian era, known as an actor-manager because he took complete responsibility for season after season at the Lyceum Theatre, establishing himself and his company as...
a play, it is accepted not because it is a good play but because it is by Pinero, and if a stranger, though a clever dramatist, sends Irving or Tree
Herbert Beerbohm Tree
Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree was an English actor and theatre manager.Tree began performing in the 1870s. By 1887, he was managing the Haymarket Theatre, winning praise for adventurous programming and lavish productions, and starring in many of its productions. In 1899, he helped fund the...
, or anyone else, a play it is refused, however good, because they cannot judge of it." The paper continued:
After so many years of distinguished successes as a comic opera librettist in collaboration with Sir Arthur Sullivan, Mr. Gilbert returned to serious play writing only to score a failure. His new comedy, The Fortune Hunter, which was tried upon the Birmingham public, has fallen flat. The critics are unanimous in their verdict that the play lacks the elements of strength and popularity and that no amount of carpentering, tinkering, or revising could infuse life into it. This after Mr. Gilbert had announced, seemingly without thought of the possibility of failure, that he had resolved to forswear comic opera for more important work. Now it is being recalled that he promised his public, after the disastrous Brantinghame Hall, that he would never repeat the offense.
Subsequent press criticism of The Fortune Hunter was heavy. The play continued to tour for awhile, and Gilbert tried several cuts and minor rewrites, but reviews continued to be poor. Because of its lack of success in the provinces, the play never opened in London and ultimately failed.
In 1906 and afterwards for several years, Gilbert worked on The Fortune Hunter, rewriting it under different titles, but he did not succeed in reviving interest in the play.
Gilbert's letter to The Times
The same day that the play opened in Birmingham, coincidentally, Gilbert wrote a letter to The TimesThe Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
(published the following day) complaining about Saturday train service on the London and North Western Railway
London and North Western Railway
The London and North Western Railway was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. It was created by the merger of three companies – the Grand Junction Railway, the London and Birmingham Railway and the Manchester and Birmingham Railway...
. The Fortune Hunter may be little remembered today, but the letter is frequently quoted:
In the face of Saturday the officials and the [railway] company stand helpless and appalled. This day, which recurs at stated and well-ascertained intervals, is treated as a phenomenon entirely outside the ordinary operations of nature and, as a consequence, no attempt whatever is made to grapple with its inherent difficulties. To the question, "What has caused the train to be so late?" the officials reply, "It is Saturday" – as who should say, "It is an earthquake."
Roles and original cast
- The Duke of Dundee, an octogenarian peer - C. B. Clarence
- Sir Cuthbert Jameson, a middle-aged Baronet - Edmund Maurice
- The Marquis de Bréville, an aristocrat - Arthur Nerton
- Vicomte Armand de Bréville, his son - Luigi Lablache
- M. Lachaud, Armand's lawyer - George P. Hawtrey
- Mr Dusley Coxe, a snobbish British tourist - Compton Coutts
- Mr Barker, the Duke's courier - W. R. Staveley
- Mr Taylor - C. Butt
- Mr Paillard, a money-lender - C. O. Axton
- Mr McQuarris, purser of the P. and O. SS. "Africa" - Vivian Stenhouse
- Pollard, a detective - A. Clay
- Captain Munroe, of the steam yacht P. and O. SS. "Africa" - Charles Howe
- Mr McFie, the Duchess of Dundee's secretary - Howard Sturge
- Quartermaster - Charles Leighton
- The Duchess of Dundee, the Duke's young bride (néeMarried and maiden namesA married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage. When a person assumes the family name of her spouse, the new name replaces the maiden name....
Euphemia S. Van Zyl of Chicago) - Cicely Richards - The Marquise de Bréville, Armand's mother - Adelina Baird
- Mrs Dudley Coxe, a snobbish British tourist - Nora O'Neil
- Miss Somerton, a passenger - Regina Repton
- Miss Bailey, the Duchess's maid - A. Beauchamp
- Diana Caverel, an Australian heiress - May FortescueMay FortescueMay Fortescue was a singer and actor-manager of the Victorian era and a protégée of playwright W. S. Gilbert. She was a member of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company from 1881 to 1883, when she left the company due to an engagement to a nobleman, young Arthur William Cairns, Lord Garmoyle...