The Shop Girl
Encyclopedia
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...
and music by Ivan Caryll
Ivan Caryll
Félix Marie Henri Tilkin , better known by his pen name Ivan Caryll, was a Belgian composer of operettas and Edwardian musical comedies in the English language...
, and additional numbers by Lionel Monckton
Lionel Monckton
Lionel John Alexander Monckton was an English writer and composer of musical theatre. He was Britain's most popular musical theatre composer of the early years of the 20th century.-Early life:...
and Ross. It was first produced by George Edwardes
George Edwardes
George Joseph Edwardes was an English theatre manager of Irish ancestry who brought a new era in musical theatre to the British stage and beyond....
at the Gaiety Theatre
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 London, opening on 24 November 1894. The piece ran for an extremely successful 546 performances. It starred Seymour Hicks
Seymour Hicks
Sir Arthur Seymour Hicks , better known as Seymour Hicks, was a British actor, music hall performer, playwright, screenwriter, theatre manager and producer. He married the actress Ellaline Terriss in 1893...
, George Grossmith, Jr.
George Grossmith, Jr.
George Grossmith, Jr. was a British actor, theatre producer and manager, director, playwright and songwriter, best remembered for his work in and with Edwardian musical comedies...
, Arthur Williams
Arthur Williams (actor)
Arthur Williams was an English actor, singer and playwright best remembered for his roles in comic operas, musical burlesques and Edwardian musical comedies...
, Edmund Payne
Edmund Payne
Edmund 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....
and Ada Reeve
Ada Reeve
Ada Reeve was an English actress of both stage and film. Reeve began to perform in pantomime and music hall as a child. She gained fame in Edwardian musical comedies in the 1890s....
, who (being pregnant) was replaced in the cast by Kate Cutler
Kate Cutler
Kate Ellen Louisa Cutler was an English singer and actress, known in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as an ingénue in musical comedies, and later as a character actress in comic and dramatic plays...
and then Hicks' wife, Ellaline Terriss
Ellaline Terriss
Ellaline Terriss, born Ellaline Lewin , was a popular English actress and singer, best known for her performances in Edwardian musical comedies...
. Topsy Sinden
Topsy Sinden
Harriet Augusta Sinden , better known as Topsy Sinden, was an English dancer, actress and singer. She was best known for her performances in Edwardian musical comedy and pantomime, both in London and on tour. Sinden was an accomplished tap dancer and skirt dancer.-Life and career:Sinden was born...
danced in the piece. Costumes were by C. Wilhelm, with choreography by Willie Warde
Willie Warde
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...
.
The success of A Gaiety Girl
A Gaiety Girl
A Gaiety Girl is an English musical comedy in two acts by a team of musical comedy neophytes: Owen Hall , Harry Greenbank and Sidney Jones . It opened at Prince of Wales Theatre in London, produced by George Edwardes, on 14 October 1893 and ran for 413 performances. The show starred C...
in 1893 confirmed to Edwardes that the lighter "musical comedy" was the right path for musical theatre. The Shop Girl heralded a new era in musical comedy, and the critics were amazed that the author had provided such a coherent story, as there had been hardly any story at all in burlesque. Over a dozen copies followed at the Gaiety Theatre (including My Girl, The Circus Girl
The Circus Girl
The Circus Girl is a musical comedy in two acts by James T. Tanner and Walter Apllant , with lyrics by Harry Greenbank and Adrian Ross, music by Ivan Caryll, and additional music by Lionel Monckton....
, and A Runaway Girl
A Runaway Girl
A Runaway Girl is a musical comedy in two acts written in 1898 by Seymour Hicks and Harry Nicholls. The composer was Ivan Caryll, with additional music by Lionel Monckton and lyrics by Aubrey Hopwood and Harry Greenbank...
) over the next two decades and were widely imitated by other producers and playwriting teams. They also led to the next level of sophistication in the integrated musical comedy at Daly's Theatre
Daly's Theatre
Daly's Theatre was a theatre in the City of Westminster. It was located at 2 Cranbourn Street, just off Leicester Square. It opened on 27 June 1893, and was demolished in 1937.-Early years:...
and elsewhere in London.
The Shop Girl achieved immediate popularity. It introduced to London audiences a cleaner, more respectable form of musical comedy than the previous "musical farces", which had been more closely related to burlesque. Indeed, during the run of the show, some of the racier lines were removed, as Edwardes recognised that the future of musicals lay in appealing to the respectable Victorian audience. In addition, at Hicks' urging, the romantic couple was designed as less sentimental and more mischievous and light hearted. But it was not lacking in sex appeal. It featured Edwardes' Gaiety Girls
Gaiety Girls
Gaiety Girls were the chorus girls in Edwardian musical comedies, beginning in the 1890s at the Gaiety Theatre, London, in the shows produced by George Edwardes. The popularity of this genre of musical theatre depended, in part, on the beautiful dancing corps of "Gaiety Girls" appearing onstage in...
, who were to feature in all of these shows.
Caryll, the music director at the Gaiety, conducted the performances of the piece himself. One of the most famous songs from the show was "Her golden hair was hanging down her back." As the run went on, songs were constantly changed and new business frequently introduced, especially when there were cast changes. This also began a pattern for musicals of the era.
Synopsis
An attractive and charming London shop girl meets a good-hearted millionaire, who had gone out in the steerage of a liner, "to become a miner", and had struck it rich in Colorado. The millionaire has come back to London to look for the daughter of his mining chum, to whom a fortune of four million pounds was due. She is to be identified by a birthmark. The daughter, of course, turns out to be the shop girl and, after a few misunderstandings, she agrees to marry her sweetheart, a poor but lively young medical student from a good family.Roles and original cast
- Mr. Hooley (proprietor of the Royal Stores) - Arthur WilliamsArthur Williams (actor)Arthur Williams was an English actor, singer and playwright best remembered for his roles in comic operas, musical burlesques and Edwardian musical comedies...
- Charles Appleby (a medical student) - Seymour HicksSeymour HicksSir Arthur Seymour Hicks , better known as Seymour Hicks, was a British actor, music hall performer, playwright, screenwriter, theatre manager and producer. He married the actress Ellaline Terriss in 1893...
- Bertie Boyd (one of the Boys) - George Grossmith, Jr.George Grossmith, Jr.George Grossmith, Jr. was a British actor, theatre producer and manager, director, playwright and songwriter, best remembered for his work in and with Edwardian musical comedies...
- John Brown (a millionaire) - Colin Coop
- Sir George Appleby (a solicitor) - Cairns James
- Colonel Singleton (retired) - Frank Wheeler
- Count St. Vaurien (secretary to Mr. Brown) - Robert Nainby
- Mr. Tweets (financial secretary to Lady Appleby) - Willie WardeWillie WardeWillie 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...
- Mr. Miggles (shopwalker at the Royal Stores) - 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....
- Lady Dodo Singleton (Charlie's cousin) - Helen Lee
- Miss Robinson (fitter at the Royal Stores) - Katie Seymour
- Lady Appleby (Charlie's mother, wife of Sir George) - Maria Davis
- Ada Smith (an apprentice at the Royal Stores) - Lillie Belmore
- Lady Appleby's daughters: Faith, Hope, and Charity
- Of the Syndicate Theatre: Maud Plantagenet (Adelaide Astor), Eva Tudor, Lillie Stuart, Ada Harrison, Mabel Beresford (Violet Monckton), Florence White, Sylvia Perry, Agnes Howard, Maggie Jocelyn, and Violet Deveney (Topsy SindenTopsy SindenHarriet Augusta Sinden , better known as Topsy Sinden, was an English dancer, actress and singer. She was best known for her performances in Edwardian musical comedy and pantomime, both in London and on tour. Sinden was an accomplished tap dancer and skirt dancer.-Life and career:Sinden was born...
) - Bessie Brent ("The Shop Girl") - Ada ReeveAda ReeveAda Reeve was an English actress of both stage and film. Reeve began to perform in pantomime and music hall as a child. She gained fame in Edwardian musical comedies in the 1890s....
(later replaced by Kate CutlerKate CutlerKate Ellen Louisa Cutler was an English singer and actress, known in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as an ingénue in musical comedies, and later as a character actress in comic and dramatic plays...
)
Musical numbers
Act I - The Royal Stores.- No. 1 - Opening Chorus - "This noble institution of financial evolution is the glory of our British trade..."
- No. 2 - Song - Hooley & Bessie, with Chorus - "If you ever should engage in trade, you will never find your fortune made..."
- No. 3 - Quartet - Sir George, Count, Hooley & Colonel - "Although I am a man of law, of many years in practice spent..."
- No. 4 - Chorus of Stage Beauties - "In us of course you see a charming coterie, whose fascinations all confess..."
- No. 5 - Song - Charlie & Foundlings - "If without a single mark of your identity, on a hospitable doorstep you are thrown..."
- No. 6 - Song - Beatrice - "When I came to the shop some years ago, I was terribly shy and simple..."
- No. 7 - Perambulator Duet - Bessie & Charlie - "Hush-a-bye, hush-a-bye, shut your little eye, dear..."
- No. 8 - Valse Song - Beatrice & Chorus - "Over the hills and over into the sunset's glow..."
- No. 9 - Concerted Piece - Bertie & Foundlings - "Foundlings are we, waiting to see who will unravel our pre-natal mystery..." No. 9a - Exit after Scene (Reprise) - "Foundlings are we, waiting to see..."
- No. 10 - Song - Miggles - "It was an evil hour when I met my Mary Ann, oh! woe! woe the day!..."
- No. 11 - Song - Ada & Chorus - "Left upon a doorstep at half past nine..."
- No. 12 - Finale Act I - "Farewell, farewell, we tender our congratulations truly..."
- No. 13 - Opening Chorus - "Charity, charity, charity, charity, fearless are we in a bazaar..."
- No. 14 - Song - (soloist unspecified) - "I'm a lady not unknown to fame, critics call me by my Christian name..."
- No. 14a - Song with Chorus - Bessie - "I lub a gal, 'spose she lubs me too, anyhow she say she do..."
- No. 15 - Duet - Miggles & Miss Robinson - "I am a Jap, please notice my cap, 'twas copied from off a tea caddy..."
- No. 16 - Song - John Brown & Chorus - "In the steerage of a Liner I went out to be a miner..."
- No. 17 - Trio - Sir George, Count & Colonel - "If you can fully fathom human folly and fatuity..."
- No. 18 - Chorus - "We're now to have some mystery, the forecast of our history..."
- No. 19 - Song - Charlie & Chorus - "There was once a country maiden came to London for a trip..."
- No. 20 - Song - Lady Dodo - "The Man in the Moon is down, he is winning a great renown..."
- No. 21 - Song - Bertie & Chorus - "I'm what folks call a Johnnie, of the title I am proud..."
- Nos. 22 & 22a - Chorus & Recits. (soloist unspecified) - "The show, the show, the show, the show..."
- No. 23 - Finale Act II - "Now joy is in the air, their future will be fair, look'd after by this kindly desperado..."