''A Night Out'' is a

musical comedy Musical theatre is a form of theatre, theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, ...

with a book by

George Grossmith, Jr. George Grossmith Jr. (11 May 1874 – 6 June 1935) was an English actor, theatre producer and Actor-manager, manager, director, playwright and songwriter, best remembered for his work in and with Edwardian musical comedies. Grossmith was also a ...

and Arthur Miller, music by Willie Redstone and

Cole Porter Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became Standard (music), standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway the ...

and lyrics by Clifford Grey. The story is adapted from the 1894 French comedy ''

L'Hôtel du libre échange L'Hôtel is a 5-star luxury hotel in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Paris. It was built in the 19th century and has had various names, Hôtel d’Allemagne, then Hôtel d’Alsace (after the Franco-Prussian War), and was renamed L'Hôtel in 1963. The h ...

'' by

Georges Feydeau Georges-Léon-Jules-Marie Feydeau (; 8 December 1862 – 5 June 1921) was a French playwright of the Belle Époque era, remembered for his farces, written between 1886 and 1914. Feydeau was born in Paris to middle-class parents and raised in a ...

and Maurice Desvallières. The sculptor Pinglet gets an evening away from his domineering wife and dines with the attractive Marcelle Delavaux. After a series of coincidences and mix-ups, he manages the deception without suffering any adverse consequences. The musical was presented with success at the

Winter Garden Theatre The Winter Garden Theatre is a Broadway theatre at 1634 Broadway in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York, U.S. Originally designed by architect William Albert Swasey, it opened in 1911. The Winter Garden's current des ...

, London, from 1920 to 1921 and then toured in Britain.

History

In 1896, "A Night Out", a non-musical adaptation of ''

'', opened in London and ran for 500 nights."'A Night Out' – Old Farce in New Guise", ''The Times'', 20 September 1920, p. 8 The musical adaptation, produced by

and Edward Laurillard followed the story of the earlier adaptation (and the French original) closely. The score was by the resident conductor of the Winter Garden Theatre, Willie Redstone, with music for additional numbers provided by the young

as some of his earliest professional work. The musical was first presented at the

, London, on 18 September 1920 and ran for 309 performances, closing on 18 June 1921. A touring company presented the piece in the British provinces in 1921, with Norman Griffin in the lead as Pinglet.Langford, Samuel. "Prince's Theatre", ''The Manchester Guardian'', 5 April 1921, p. 14 In 1925, the musical was produced in the US, and in Australia, in the 1920s, it was an enormously successful vehicle for

Cecil Kellaway Cecil Lauriston Kellaway (22 August 1890 – 28 February 1973) was a South African character actor. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor twice, for '' The Luck of the Irish'' (1948) and ''Guess Who's Coming to Dinner' ...

Roles and original cast

*Joseph Pinglet – Leslie Henson *Mme. Pinglet – Stella St. Audrie *Marcelle Delavaux – Lily St. John (later, Margaret Bannerman) *Maurice Paillard – Fred Leslie *Matthieu – Davy Burnaby *Victorine – Phyllis Monkman *René –

Stanley Holloway Stanley Augustus Holloway (1 October 1890 – 30 January 1982) was an English actor, comedian, singer and monologist. He was famous for his comic and character roles Stanley Holloway on stage and screen, on stage and screen, especially t ...

*Kiki – Elsa Macfarlane *Maxime – Austin Melford *Bastien – Lucien Mussiere *Boulot – Ralph Roberts *Chief of Police – E. Graham

Synopsis

;Act I The sculptor Joseph Pinglet is henpecked by his domineering wife, and is ready to rebel by a little unauthorised outing. He intends to dine with the attractive Marcelle Delavaux, the neglected fiancée of Maurice Paillard, in a private room at the Hotel Pimlico. Madame Pinglet has been summoned to visit her sick sister, but she locks Pinglet in his studio before she leaves. Pinglet uses the bell-pull as a rope and escapes by the balcony. ;Act II Pinglet and Marcelle have arrived at the hotel. Unknown to them, their fellow guests include Monsieur Matthieu and his four young daughters, who are given a room that is reputed to be haunted. By an oversight, the same room has also been allotted to Maurice Paillard, who is intent on an intimate evening with Victorine, the Pinglets' maid. Pinglet and Marcelle are disturbed by frantic banging on their door and the voice of Paillard, who has been terrified at finding in his room four figures in white – Matthieu's daughters – who he assumes are ghosts. The confusion is compounded by a police raid. The police take the names of all present. Victorine gives her name as Madame Pinglet. Back at his studio, Pinglet climbs in just before his wife returns. She is very dishevelled from a traffic accident. The summonses arrive from the police. Pinglet sees Mme. Pinglet's name on one of them and turns on his bewildered wife and upbraids her for her licentious behaviour. The police arrive with the others who have been at the hotel. In the ensuing row over Victorine's imposture, Pinglet's and Marcelle's part in the evening's events are overlooked and they escape any adverse consequences of their night out.

Musical numbers

*You've got to learn to love, some day – Victorine and Maxime *The Hotel Pimlico – Maurice Paillard *Bolshevik Love – Pinglet, Mme. Pinglet, Marcelle and Paillard *It's a terrible world – Marcelle and Pinglet *There's One Little Girlie For Me – *Ragpicker's Dance *Look around – Marcelle (music by Porter, lyrics by Grey) *Why didn't we meet before? – Marcelle and Pinglet (music by Porter, lyrics by Grey) *Our hotel – (music by Porter, lyrics by Grey) *It'll be all the same – Pinglet (music by Melville Gideon, lyrics by Arthur Anderson) *Finale (It's a sad day at this hotel) – Company (music by Porter, lyrics by Grey)

Critical reception

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' wrote, "With Mr. Henson ''A Night Out'' is one of the brightest things of its kind which we have had for a very long time, and even without him it would still be a first-class entertainment." In ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

'', St. John Ervine was lukewarm, commenting that, "those who like this kind of stuff … can be certain that the wit will not make any demand on the intelligence, and provided they have eaten and drunk lavishly they will probably enjoy it. ''

The Illustrated London News ''The Illustrated London News'', founded by Herbert Ingram and first published on Saturday 14 May 1842, was the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. The magazine was published weekly for most of its existence, switched to a less freq ...

'' thought the success of the piece principally due to Henson's performance, calling him "a little genius".Grein, J. T. "The World of the Theatre," ''Illustrated London News'', 2 October 1920, p. 528 In ''

The Manchester Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', during the musical's provincial tour, Samuel Langford wrote that the plot was "a comparative masterpiece" by the usual standard of musical comedy, and the music "quite witty and graceful by the same comparisons."

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Night Out 1920 musicals Musicals based on plays West End musicals Musicals set in Paris Musicals set in hotels Musicals by Clifford Grey