The Girl from Utah
Encyclopedia
The Girl from Utah is an Edwardian musical comedy
in two acts with music by Paul Rubens
, and Sidney Jones
, a book by James T. Tanner
, and lyrics by Adrian Ross
, Percy Greenbank
and Rubens. The story concerns an American girl who runs away to London to avoid becoming a wealthy Mormon
's newest wife. The Mormon follows her to England, but she is rescued from a bigamous marriage by a handsome actor.
The piece opened at the Adelphi Theatre
in London on 18 October 1913 and had an initial run of 195 performances. An American version was produced by Charles Frohman
that had a successful run of 140 performances at the Knickerbocker Theatre
, opening on August 14, 1914. Frohman hired the young Jerome Kern
to write five new songs for the score together with lyricist Herbert Reynolds
to strengthen what he felt was a weak first act. Julia Sanderson
and Donald Brian
starred in the production. Their song "They Didn't Believe Me
" became a hit. The musical also toured in other countries, including South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
"They Didn't Believe Me", with its conversational style and modern 4/4 time signature instead of the older waltz style, put Kern in great demand on Broadway
and established a pattern for musical comedy love song
s that lasted through the 1960s. It became a standard and has been recorded by many artists.
Act II - Scene 1 - A Street in Brixton.
Act II - Scene 2 - A Mormon's House.
Act II - Scene 3 - The Arts Ball.
Edwardian Musical Comedy
Edwardian musical comedies were British musical theatre shows from the period between the early 1890s, when the Gilbert and Sullivan operas' dominance had ended, until the rise of the American musicals by Jerome Kern, Rodgers and Hart, George Gershwin and Cole Porter following World War I.Between...
in two acts with music by Paul Rubens
Paul Rubens (composer)
Paul Alfred Rubens was an English songwriter and librettist who wrote some of the most popular Edwardian musical comedies of the early twentieth century. He contributed to the success of dozens of musicals....
, and Sidney Jones
Sidney Jones
James Sidney Jones , usually credited as Sidney Jones, was an English conductor and composer, most famous for producing the musical scores for a series of musical comedy hits in the late Victorian and Edwardian periods....
, a book by James T. Tanner
James T. Tanner
James Tolman Tanner was an English stage director and dramatist who wrote many of the successful musicals produced by George Edwardes.-Life and career:...
, and lyrics by Adrian Ross
Adrian Ross
For the NFL player see Adrian Ross Arthur Reed Ropes , better known under the pseudonym Adrian Ross, was a prolific writer of lyrics, contributing songs to more than sixty British musical comedies in the late 19th and early 20th centuries...
, Percy Greenbank
Percy Greenbank
Percy Greenbank was an English lyricist, best known for his contribution of lyrics to a number of successful Edwardian musical comedies in the early years of the 20th century. His older brother, lyricist Harry Greenbank, had a brilliant career in the 1890s that was cut short by his death at the...
and Rubens. The story concerns an American girl who runs away to London to avoid becoming a wealthy Mormon
Mormon
The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...
's newest wife. The Mormon follows her to England, but she is rescued from a bigamous marriage by a handsome actor.
The piece opened at the Adelphi Theatre
Adelphi Theatre
The Adelphi Theatre is a 1500-seat West End theatre, located on the Strand in the City of Westminster. The present building is the fourth on the site. The theatre has specialised in comedy and musical theatre, and today it is a receiving house for a variety of productions, including many musicals...
in London on 18 October 1913 and had an initial run of 195 performances. An American version was produced by Charles Frohman
Charles Frohman
Charles Frohman was an American theatrical producer. Frohman was producing plays by 1889 and acquired his first Broadway theatre by 1892. He discovered and promoted many stars of the American theatre....
that had a successful run of 140 performances at the Knickerbocker Theatre
Knickerbocker Theatre (Broadway)
The Knickerbocker Theatre — previously known as Abbey's Theatre and Henry Abbey's Theatre — was a Broadway theatre located at 1396 Broadway in New York City. It operated from 1893 to 1930...
, opening on August 14, 1914. Frohman hired the young Jerome Kern
Jerome Kern
Jerome David Kern was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over 100 stage works, including such classics as "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", "A...
to write five new songs for the score together with lyricist Herbert Reynolds
Herbert Reynolds
Michael Elder Rourke , who assumed the pen name Herbert Reynolds in 1913, was an Irish-American lyricist.Reynolds wrote the lyrics to Jerome Kern's first big hit, "They Didn't Believe Me", interpolated into the 1914 American version of The Girl from Utah, produced by Charles Frohman...
to strengthen what he felt was a weak first act. Julia Sanderson
Julia Sanderson
Julia Sanderson was an actress and singer. Her father, Albert Sackett, was also a Broadway star. She was born August 20, 1888, in Springfield, Massachusetts. She appeared in the Forepaugh Circus as a child and in her early teen years with her father. She then moved to Broadway, where she appeared...
and Donald Brian
Donald Brian
Donald Brian was an actor, dancer and singer born St. John's, Newfoundland , at the age of eighteen was crowned "King of Broadway" by the New York Times in 1907. Brian is noted for helping President Theodore Roosevelt act more relaxed in public and teaching Frank Sinatra to dance and entertain U.S...
starred in the production. Their song "They Didn't Believe Me
They Didn't Believe Me
"They Didn't Believe Me" is a song with music by Jerome Kern and lyrics by Herbert Reynolds.First introduced in the 1914 musical The Girl from Utah it was one of five numbers added to the show by Kern and Reynolds for its Broadway debut at the Knickerbocker Theatre on August 14, 1914...
" became a hit. The musical also toured in other countries, including South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
"They Didn't Believe Me", with its conversational style and modern 4/4 time signature instead of the older waltz style, put Kern in great demand on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
and established a pattern for musical comedy love song
Love song
A love song is about falling in love and the feelings it brings. Anthologies of love songs often contain a mixture of both of these types of song. A bawdy song is both humorous and saucy, emphasizing the physical pleasure of love rather than the emotional joy...
s that lasted through the 1960s. It became a standard and has been recorded by many artists.
Roles and original cast
- Lord Amersham – Alfred De Manby
- Policeman P.R.38 – Albert Sims
- Colonel Oldham-Pryce – Douglas Marrs
- Page – Michael Matthews
- Commissionaire – David Hallam
- Detective Shooter (of Scotland YardScotland YardScotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...
) – F. W. Russell - Lord Orpington – Harold Latham
- Archie Tooth – William Bambridge
- Douglas Noel – Harry R. Drummond
- Bobbie Longshot – Sydney Laine
- Trimmit (Of Brixton Rise) – Edmund PayneEdmund PayneEdmund Payne , was an actor, comedian, singer and dramatist best known for his comic appearances in Edwardian Musical Comedy. His father was Edmund Payne, a master cabinet builder and his mother was Eliza Payne née Ince....
- Sandy Blair (Leading man at the Folly TheatreFolly TheatreThe Folly Theatre was a London theatre of the late 19th century, in William IV Street, near Charing Cross, in the City of Westminster. It was converted from the house of a religious order, and became a small theatre, with a capacity of 900 seated and standing. The theatre specialised in presenting...
) – Joseph CoyneJoseph CoyneJoseph Coyne , sometimes billed as Joe Coyne, was an American-born singer and actor, known for his appearances in leading roles in Edwardian musical comedy in London.-Life and career:... - Una Trance (The Girl from Utah) – Ina ClaireIna ClaireIna Claire was an American stage and film actress.-Career:Born Ina Fagan in 1893 in Washington, D.C., Claire began her career appearing in vaudeville...
- Clancy (Miss Manners's maid) – Gracie Leigh
- Lady Amersham (Lord Amersham's mother) – Bella Graves
- Actresses At The Folly Theatre – Heather Featherstone, Gertie White, Dorothy Devere, Kitty Kent, Isobel Elsom and Queenie Vincent
- A Waitress – Gladys Kurton
- Lady Muriel Chepstowe – Cynthia Murray
- Hon. Miss St. Aubyn – Valerie Richards
- Lady Mary Nowell – Helen Rae
- Mrs. Ponsonby – Beatrice Guiver
- Dora Manners (Leading lady at the Folly Theatre) – Phyllis DarePhyllis DarePhyllis Dare born Phyllis Constance Haddie Dones was an English singer and actress who was famous for her performances in Edwardian musical comedy and other musical theatre in the first half of the 20th century....
Musical numbers
Act I - Dumpelmeyers.- No. 1 - Opening Double Chorus - "Have you booked our table, Number Four?"
- No. 2 - Song - Lord Amersham (to Lady Amersham) - "There's a little maid, and I dream about her everywhere I go"
- No. 3 - Chorus and Entrance of Actresses - "Oh, what a party is coming to tea now!"
- No. 4 - Song - Dora & Chorus - "Truthful men, you are hard to find - lovers, husbands or brothers"
- No. 5 - Song - Sandy - "I remember quite clearly the time I was born, it was one gloomy day in December"
- No. 6 - Duet - Clancy & Trimmit - "I've had enough of this very swagger place, I feel that I'm quite de trop"
- No. 7 - Song - Una & Chorus - "Where do you think I've come from?..."
- No. 8 - Quartet - Una, Dora, Clancy, & Sandy - "I know a Mormon who wants to marry me"
- No. 9 - Duet - Dora & Trimmit - "Heart of my heart, life would be blank were we to part"
- No. 10 - Duet - Una & Sandy - "If my cunning foes lay traps about, well, I may get caught some day"
- No. 11 - Finale Act I - "We really must go; we've taken, we know, a terrible time for tea"
Act II - Scene 1 - A Street in Brixton.
- No. 12 - Barcarolle - Dora, Clancy, Amersham, Trimmit & Sandy - "Where can Una, Una, poor little Una be?"
Act II - Scene 2 - A Mormon's House.
- No. 13 - Song - Una & Girls - "In the street, down below, there's a voice that I seem to know"
- No. 14 - Trio - Una, Sandy & Trimmit - "Oh, the front door's bolted and the front door's barred, so we can't get along out"
Act II - Scene 3 - The Arts Ball.
- No. 15 - Opening Chorus - "It's the Ball of the Arts, quite a feast of fancy dress"
- No. 16 - Song - Dora & Chorus - "If you're a girl and on the stage you go, you'll think it lovely for a month or so"
- No. 17 - Song - Clancy - "I belong to the Emerald Isle, and the Emerald Isle's all right"
- No. 18 - Tango
- No. 19 - Waltz Duet - Una & Sandy - "It is hard just to say what's the right time of day"
- No. 20 - Song - Trimmit & Chorus - "Oh, if you come to Brixton there are lots of sights to see"
- No. 21 - Duet - Dora & Amersham - "When two hearts in perfect harmony sing a song of love"
- No. 22 - Russian Dance
- No. 23 - Concerted Number - Una, Dora, Clancy, & Men (whistling) - "Our Dear Little Friends, the Ladies"
- No. 24 - Finale Act II - "She's a girl from Utah, in the U.S.A., but on an early day she'll marry dandy Sandy!"