Robert Courtneidge
Robert Courtneidge (29 June 1859 – 6 April 1939) was a British theatrical manager-producer and playwright. He is best remembered as the co-author of the light opera ''Tom Jones'' (1907) and the producer of '' The Arcadians'' (1909). He was the father of the actress Cicely Courtneidge, who played in many of his early 20th century productions. Courtneidge began as a comic actor in the late 1870s, working with Kate Santley, George Edwardes and others. In the early 1890s, he toured in Australia with Edwardes and J. C. Williamson companies. In 1896, he became a theatre manager in Manchester and then a West End theatre producer. In the first years of the 20th century, he began to direct musical theatre pieces and to write or co-write the book for some of his productions, including ''Tom Jones'' (1907). His most popular productions included ''The Arcadians'' (1909), ''Princess Caprice'' (1912), ''Oh! Oh! Delphine'' (1913) and ''The Cinema Star'' (1914). He directed the hit music ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Babes In The Wood
Babes in the Wood is a traditional English children's tale, as well as a popular pantomime subject. It has also been the name of some other unrelated works. The expression has passed into common language, referring to inexperienced innocents entering unawares into any potentially dangerous or hostile situation. Traditional tale The traditional children's tale is of two children abandoned in a wood, who die and are covered with leaves by robins. It was first published as an anonymous broadside ballad by Thomas Millington in Norwich in 1595 with the title ''"The Norfolk gent his will and Testament and howe he Commytted the keepinge of his Children to his own brother whoe delte most wickedly with them and howe God plagued him for it"''. The tale has been reworked in many forms; it frequently appears attributed as a Mother Goose rhyme. Around 1840, Richard Barham included a spoof of the story in his '' Ingoldsby Legends'', under the title of ''The Babes in the Wood; or, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Faust Up To Date
''Faust up to Date'' is a musical Victorian burlesque, burlesque with a score written by Meyer Lutz (a few songs by others were interpolated into the show). The libretto was written by G. R. Sims and Henry Pettitt. It is a spoof of Gounod's opera, ''Faust (opera), Faust'', which had first been performed in London in 1864, and followed on from an earlier Lutz musical, ''Faust and Marguerite (opera), Mephistopheles, or Faust and Marguerite''. The piece was first performed at the Gaiety Theatre, London on 30 October 1888, produced by George Edwardes, and ran until August 1889. It starred Florence St. John as Margaret, E. J. Lonnen as Mephistopheles and Mabel Love as Totchen. It was revived in July 1892, with Florence St. John again playing the role of Margaret, Edmund Payne as Mephistopheles and Arthur Williams (actor), Arthur Williams as Valentine. The piece enjoyed subsequent productions in New York, Australia (with Robert Courtneidge as Valentine) and elsewhere. Background Thi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Carmen Up To Data
''Carmen up to Data'' is a musical burlesque with a score written by Meyer Lutz. The piece was a spoof of Bizet's 1875 opera ''Carmen''. The libretto was written by G. R. Sims and Henry Pettitt. After a tryout in Liverpool in September 1890, the piece premiered at the Gaiety Theatre, London, on 4 October 1890, produced by George Edwardes. It starred Florence St. John in the title role, Letty Lind as Mercedes, Jenny Dawson as Escamillo, Maria Jones as Michaela, Blanche Massey as Morales, Horace Mills as Remendado, E. J. Lonnen as José and Arthur Williams as Captain Zuniga.Programme for ''Carmen up to Data'' The piece was a success and toured throughout the English-speaking world, reaching Australia by 1892. Background Bizet's ''Carmen'' had first been produced in Engli ...[...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Victorian Burlesque
Victorian burlesque, sometimes known as travesty or extravaganza, is a genre of theatrical entertainment that was popular in Victorian England and in the New York theatre of the mid-19th century. It is a form of parody in which a well-known opera or piece of classical theatre or ballet is adapted into a broad comic play, usually a musical play, usually risqué in style, mocking the theatrical and musical conventions and styles of the original work, and often quoting or pastiching text or music from the original work. Victorian burlesque is one of several forms of burlesque. Like ballad opera, burlesques featured musical scores drawing on a wide range of music, from popular contemporary songs to operatic arias, although later burlesques, from the 1880s, sometimes featured original scores. Dance played an important part, and great attention was paid to the staging, costumes and other spectacular elements of stagecraft, as many of the pieces were staged as extravaganzas. Many of ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Gaiety Theatre, London
The Gaiety Theatre was a West End theatre in London, located on Aldwych at the eastern end of the Strand. The theatre was first established as the Strand Musick Hall in 1864 on the former site of the Lyceum Theatre. In 1868, it became known as the Gaiety Theatre and was, at first, known for music hall and then for musical burlesque, pantomime and operetta performances. From 1868 to the 1890s, it had a major influence on the development of modern musical comedy. Under the management of John Hollingshead until 1886, the theatre had early success with ''Robert the Devil'', by W. S. Gilbert, followed by many other burlesques of operas and literary works. Many of the productions starred Nellie Farren. Hollingshead's last production at the theatre was the burlesque '' Little Jack Sheppard'' (1885–86), produced together with his successor, George Edwardes. Edwardes's first show, '' Dorothy'', became a long-running hit. In the 1880s and 90s, the theatre had further succes ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ada Blanche
Ada Blanche (born Ada Cecilia Blanche Adams; 16 July 1862 – 1 January 1953) was an English actress and singer known early in her career for vivacious performances in Victorian burlesque and pantomime and later in character roles in Edwardian musical comedy. Born into a theatrical family, Blanche made her stage debut at the age of fourteen and had a forty-five year career, almost exclusively on the British stage, in the West End theatre, West End and on tour. In the 1890s she was a leading principal boy in London's most lavishly staged pantomimes. In the 20th century her career changed to playing comic, formidable older women. Her most celebrated role of this kind was in the hit musical ''The Arcadians (musical), The Arcadians'' (1909), staged by her brother-in-law Robert Courtneidge. Beyond musical comedy, Blanche appeared in farces and other comedies in non-singing roles between 1906 and her retirement in 1921. Among her co-stars during her long career were George Grossmith J ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cicely Nott
''Myrrhis odorata'', with common names cicely (), sweet cicely, myrrh, garden myrrh, and sweet chervil, is a herbaceous perennial plant belonging to the celery family Apiaceae. It is the only species in the genus ''Myrrhis''. Etymology The genus name ''Myrrhis'' derives from the Greek word myrrhis �υρρίς an aromatic oil from Asia. The Latin species name ''odorata'' means ''scented''.M. Grieve A Modern Herbal/ref> Description ''Myrrhis odorata'' is a tall herbaceous perennial plant growing to 2 m ft 6 intall, depending on circumstances. The leaves are fern-like, 2-4-pinnate, finely divided, feathery, up to 50 cm long, with whitish patches near the rachis. The plant is softly hairy and smells strongly of aniseed when crushed. The flowers are creamy-white, about 2–4 mm across, produced in large umbels. The flowering period extends from May to June. The fruits are slender, dark brown, 15–25 mm long and 3–4 mm broad. Distribution and habitat ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Robert Reece
Robert Reece (2 May 1838 – 8 July 1891) was a British comic playwright and librettist active in the Victorian era. He wrote many successful musical burlesques, comic operas, farces and adaptations from the French, including the English-language adaptation of the operetta ''Les cloches de Corneville'', which became the longest-running piece of musical theatre in history up to that time. He sometimes collaborated with Henry Brougham Farnie or others. Early life and career Reece was born in the island of Barbados, West Indies. His father, Robert Reece (1808–1874), was a barrister of the Inner Temple. Reece matriculated from Balliol College, Oxford in 1857 and received his B.A. in 1860 and his M.A. in 1864. He was admitted a student at the Inner Temple in 1860 but was not called to the bar. For a short time he was a medical student. Between 1861 and 1863, he was an extra clerk in the office of the ecclesiastical commissioners, and from 1864 to 1868 an extra temporary c ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Adelphi Theatre
The Adelphi Theatre is a West End theatre, located on the Strand in the City of Westminster, central London. 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. The theatre was Grade II listed for historical preservation on 1 December 1987. History 19th century It was founded in 1806 as the Sans Pareil ("Without Compare"), by merchant John Scott, and his daughter Jane (1770–1839). Jane was a British theatre manager, performer, and playwright. Together, they gathered a theatrical company and by 1809 the theatre was licensed for musical entertainments, pantomime, and burletta. She wrote more than fifty stage pieces in an array of genres: melodramas, pantomimes, farces, comic operettas, historical dramas, and adaptations, as well as translations. Jane Scott retired to Surrey in 1819, marrying John Davies Middleton (1790– ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Manchester Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Guardian Media Group, owned by the Scott Trust. The trust was created in 1936 to "secure the financial and editorial independence of ''The Guardian'' in perpetuity and to safeguard the journalistic freedom and liberal values of ''The Guardian'' free from commercial or political interference". The trust was converted into a limited company in 2008, with a constitution written so as to maintain for ''The Guardian'' the same protections as were built into the structure of the Scott Trust by its creators. Profits are reinvested in journalism rather than distributed to owners or shareholders. It is considered a newspaper of record in the UK. The editor-in-chief Katharine Viner succeeded Alan Rusbridger in 2015. Since 2018, the paper's main ne ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Era (newspaper)
''The Era'' was a British weekly paper, published from 1838 to 1939. Originally a general newspaper, it became noted for its sports coverage, and later for its theatrical content. History ''The Era'' was established in 1838 by a body of shareholders consisting of licensed victuallers and other people connected with their trade. The journal was intended to be a weekly organ of the public-house interest, just as the '' Morning Advertiser'' was then its daily organ. In the first two or three years of its existence, its political stance was broadly Liberal. Its first editor, Leitch Ritchie, proved too liberal for his board of directors, and in addition to editorial clashes, the paper was a commercial failure. Ritchie was succeeded by Frederick Ledger, who became sole proprietor as well as editor. He edited the paper for more than thirty years, gradually changing its politics from Liberalism to moderate Conservatism. Politics, however, ceased to be a major concern of ''The Era''. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |