The Sunshine Girl - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Sunshine Girl is an Edwardian musical comedy

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 a book by Paul A. 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 Cecil Raleigh

Cecil Raleigh

Cecil Raleigh was an English actor and playwright.He was the son of Dr. John Fothergill Rowlands, and took the stage name of Raleigh...

, lyrics and music by Rubens and additional lyrics by Arthur Wimperis

Arthur Wimperis

Arthur Harold Wimperis was an English illustrator, playwright, lyricist and Academy Award-winning screenwriter....

. The story involves a working girl who falls in love with the heir to the factor. He is in disguise and wants to be loved for himself, not his position, so he gets his friend to pose as the heir, leading to complications for both men.

The musical 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 February 24, 1912 and running for 336 performances. It starred 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...

as Lord Bicester, 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....

as Floot and Phyllis Dare

Phyllis Dare

Phyllis 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....

as Delia Dale. It also had a Broadway run in 1913 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...

.

Port Sunlight

Port Sunlight

Port Sunlight is a model village, suburb and electoral ward in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. It is located between Lower Bebington and New Ferry, on the Wirral Peninsula. Between 1894 and 1974 it formed part of Bebington urban district within the county of Cheshire...

is the real life suburb on which the setting of the musical is based. The show introduced the tango

Tango (dance)

Tango dance originated in the area of the Rio de la Plata , and spread to the rest of the world soon after....

to British audiences.

Synopsis

The hero, Vernon Blundell, has inherited the great "Sunshine" Soap Factory at Port Sunshine, but in the will his uncle inserted a clause that Vernon must not be engaged or married within the space of five years, otherwise the whole property will be vested in the various heads of departments on a co-operative basis. Vernon, however, had for some months been working in the factory as an ordinary "hand" and in that space of time had fallen in love with pretty Delia Dale, an assistant in the perfumery department. He wants her to love him for himself, rather than his position, and accordingly he arranges for his friend, Lord Bicester, commonly known as "Bingo", to personate him and pose as head of the establishment.

After some demur, "Bingo" agrees to the proposition and trusts to chance that his identity will not be discovered. Unfortunately, he quickly finds himself in a tangle of complications. He is recognised by his fiancée, Lady Rosabelle Meridew, and also by Floot, an ex-cabman, who once drove him from a Covent Garden Fancy Dress Ball after a night of more than ordinary exhilaration. Floot arrives at Port Sunshine on his way from Land's End to John o' Groats, his purpose being to win a £50 prize for walking offered by an enterprising newspaper to whomsoever shall accomplish the journey without begging, borrowing or stealing. Floot immediately sees that he has a good thing on, and Lord Bicester has to purchase his silence by making him the general manager of the works.

Floot is married to Brenda Blacker, who was "Bingo's" travelling companion on his journey home from the ball. She is now engaged as a cook in the household of the Lady Rosabelle and is also carrying on a flirtation with a longshoreman, known as Commodore Parker. At the end, it is declared that no law can stop a man from marrying the woman he loves, and in that manner the terms of the will are over-ridden, and Vernon and Delia prepare to "live happily ever after".

Roles and original cast

Lord Bicester (known as "Bingo," a young Stockbroker) – 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...
Vernon Blundell – Basil Foster
Commodore Parker (known as "Nosey," of the Blundell Line of Boats) – George Barrett
Hodson (Chief Manager of the Works) – Tom Walls
Tom Walls
Tom Kirby Walls was a popular English stage and motion-pictures character actor, and film director. He has claim to be one of the most influential figures in British comedy.-Early career:...
Stepneyak (Manager of the Foreign Department) – Robert Nainby
Dever, Whitley, Telfridge, Garing, Wears and Nelgrove (Managers of the various Departments of the Works)
Clarence (a Footman) – F. Raynham
Floot (An ex-four-wheeler driver) – 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....
Lady Rosabelle Merrydew (Lord Bicester's Fiancée) – Olive May
Marie Silvaine (Head of the Packing Department at the Works) – Mabel Sealby
Emmeline (A Workgirl) – Violet Essex
Sybil, May, Lucy, Violet, Lily and Kit (Heads of the various Departments)
Miss Molyneux – Gladys Wray
Hon. Miss Grey – Pattie Wells
Brenda Blacker (Floot's Wife, calling herself by her maiden name) – Connie Ediss
Delia Dale (of the Perfume Department of the Works) – Phyllis Dare
Phyllis Dare
Phyllis 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 – Port Sunshine.

No. 1 – Chorus – "When you want a cake of soap to finish off your toilet, we're the folks who boil it"
No. 2 – Song – Marie & Chorus – "There's a little fable: When the cat's away, on the kitchen table, mice begin to play"
No. 3 – Duet – Delia & Vernon – "There is a fever that few understand – you must take care when it is there!"
No. 4 – Song – Lord Bicester – "Two young chaps may be sent, perhaps, to the same old Public School"
No. 5 – Duet – Mrs. Blacker & Parker – "It was leg-o'-mutton day when I first met you"
No. 6 – Chorus of Welcome – "Here comes our new proprietor! Here are we to greet him"
No. 7 – Duet – Lord Bicester & Delia – "Ladies, you were born to rule us ever since the world began"
No. 8 – Duet – Marie & Floot – "Man's no longer Lord of all Creation, as he used to be"
No. 9 – Octet – "Men of Business" – "Each one of us has a special occupation"
No. 10 – Song – Mrs. Blacker & Chorus – "Lots of people nowadays, they go abroad for a holiday"
No. 11 – Song – Delia & Chorus – "You should always try to look your very best; men will be impressed"
No. 12 – Finale – "Now, Mister Blundell, we wait for you instructions; we shall be pleased to do whatever you require"

Act II – Mr. Blundell's Private House at Port Sunshine.

No. 13 – Chorus – "Every kind of party we have read about"
No. 14 – Song – Emmeline & Chorus – "Here's to love and laughter, never mind what comes after"
No. 15 – Quartet – Marie, Mrs. Blacker, Floot & Lord Bicester – "When there's a party held upstairs"
No. 16 – Song – Delia & Chorus of County Ladies – "There lived a little lady once, as dull as she could be"
No. 17 – Song – Floot – "The art of being lazy is a science in its way; I reckon I've been pretty fairly lazy in my day"
No. 18 – Song – Lord Bicester & Girls – "When a man sees a maid, and a maid sees a man"
No. 19 – Duet – Lord Bicester & Floot – "We get some funny cases to attend to nowadays"
No. 20 – Song – Lady Rosabelle & Chorus of Workgirls – "There lived a little lady just a hundred years ago"
No. 21 – Duet – Delia & Lord Bicester – "Wouldn't it be jolly if we took a little holiday away from here?"
No. 22 – Song – Mrs. Blacker & Chorus – "I've had a trip on board of a ship -- where do you think I've been?"
No. 23 – Finale – "Little girl, little girl, little girl, little girl, you are a dear!"

Critical reception

The Times
The 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...

praised the piece. "We have never known a gayer evening in the gay and absurd world behind the footlights of the Gaiety. … As to the acting and the singing, every one was at their best." The English Review thought the performances finer than the play: "Strip The Sunshine Girl of the ladies, and not even the turns of the Payne-Grossmith-Barrett trio could hold it together … yet all Mr. Grossmith has to do is to appear now and then in fashionable suitings, just to see, as it were, how things are going." The Manchester Guardian commented, "The whole is as good as any other Gaiety piece. The plot goes entirely to waste in the second act. … The great successes of the evening were Miss Ediss's uproariously funny songs about Brighton and the Durbar and a duet sung by Mr. Payne and Mr. Grossmith (as Lord Bicester) representing the adventures of two London policemen." The Illustrated London News gave a uniformly excellent notice: "The Sunshine Girl is an appropriate title: all is brightness and light and geniality in the new Gaiety entertainment. … The music of Mr. Rubens is deliciously light and tuneful, and there is more than the customary amount of clever dancing.

External links

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