''The Cherry Girl'' was an

Edwardian musical comedy Edwardian musical comedy is a genre of British musical theatre that thrived from 1892 into the 1920s, extending beyond the reign of King Edward VII in both directions. It began to dominate the English musical stage, and even the American musical ...

in two acts based on a book by

Seymour Hicks Sir Edward Seymour Hicks (30 January 1871 – 6 April 1949), better known as Seymour Hicks, was a British actor, music hall performer, playwright, actor-manager and producer. He became known, early in his career, for writing, starring in and p ...

with lyrics by Aubrey Hopwood and music by

Ivan Caryll Félix Marie Henri Tilkin (12 May 1861 – 29 November 1921), better known by his pen name Ivan Caryll, was a Belgian-born composer of operettas and Edwardian musical comedies in the English language, who made his career in London and later N ...

. It opened at the

Vaudeville Theatre The Vaudeville Theatre is a West End theatre on the Strand in the City of Westminster. Opening in 1870, the theatre staged mostly vaudeville shows and musical revues in its early days. The theatre was rebuilt twice, although each new buildin ...

in London's West End on 21 December 1903. The original cast included Hicks, Constance Hyem, Courtice Pounds and Hicks's wife,

Ellaline Terriss Mary Ellaline Terriss, Lady Hicks (born Mary Ellaline Lewin, 13 April 1871 – 16 June 1971), known professionally as Ellaline Terriss, was a popular British actress and singer, best known for her performances in Edwardian musical comedies. Sh ...

. From August 1904, the play went on tour to the Theatre Royal in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

and other British provincial theatres. The play was described as a "children's fairy play", and its story involves a prize to be given by a Fairy Queen for the creation of a statue.

Roles and original cast

The original London cast was as follows: Act 1 * Moonshine, ''a White Pierrot'' –

* Starlight, ''a Black Pierrot'' – Courtice Pounds * Bow and Scrape, ''two chamberlains'' – Stanley Brett and Murray King * Esau, ''Pansy's gorilla'' – Edward Sillward * Snowball, ''a sweep's boy'' – George Hersee * Pansy, ''a cherry seller'' – Constance Hyem * Sylvia, Night and Morning, ''pierretts'' – Carmen Hill, Katie Vesey and Hilda Anthony * Dimples, ''Snowball's sweetheart'' – Winnie Hall * Mdlle. Pas Bas, ''a model'' – Dorothy Frostick * Josephine, ''a pierette maid'' – Gladys Archbutt * The Chamberlain – Miss Carrington * The Queen –

Act 2 * Happy Joe, ''a knight of the road'' – Seymour Hicks * The Squire, ''of Homewood Hall'' – Courtice Pounds * Grab and Snatchem, ''two beadles'' – Stanley Brett and Murray King * Rose of the Riviera, ''Happy Joe's stable boy'' – Master Valchera * White Surrey and Hecuba, ''his horse and dog'' – Edward Sillward * Robin Roy, Robin Me and Robin Anyone, ''Happy Joe's men'' – Frank Carroll, Robert Wilkes and William Hay * Ikestein, ''his Irish servant'' – Charles Trevor * Millicent, ''Lady of Homewood Hall'' – Carmen Hill * Tip-Toe, ''Happy Joe's wife'' – Kate Vesey * The Queen – Ellaline Terriss

Synopsis of scenes and plot

The scenes for both acts are as follows: Act 1 – Once Upon a Time * Scene 1 – A street in carnival time (night). * Scene 2 – On the housetops (Pierrot-land). * Scene 3 – The throne room of the Queen. * Scene 4 – Moonshine's studio. * Scene 5 – Cloudland. Act 2 – 100 Years Ago * Scene 1 – A village green in Old England. * Scene 2 – The gateway of Happy Joe's garden. * Scene 3 – Happy Joe's purple garden. * Scene 4 – Moonshine's studio again. Reviewing the first performance, ''

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 ...

'' gave this summary of the plot:

Musical numbers

;Act I *1. Chorus – "Revelry riots when Carnival's King" *2. Watchmen and Chorus – "Good folk who here rejoice" *3. Starlight – "Pussy Cats Three" *4. Chorus – "Over the tiles" *5. Moonshine and Chorus – "Telephone to the moon" *6. Chorus – "Hail! Her Majesty" *7. "The Queen and Chorus – Naughty, just for once" *8. Chorus and Dance – "Painting" *9. Sylvia and Chorus – "Bubble Land" *10. Entrance of Picture Buyers *11. Moonshine – "What a pretty picture" *12. The Queen and Moonshine – "In the Studio" *13. Starlight and Chorus – "Pansy" *14. Finale – "Sleep, little Queen, and drift away" ;Act II *15. Chorus – "When the birds begin to sing" *16. The Queen – "My little Hong Kong baby" *17. Moonshine – "Did he?" *18. The Queen – "Those loving eyes" *19. The Queen – "Just to please you" *20. The Squire – "Bogeys" *21. Octet – "Dat's the way to spell chicken" *22. Spirit of Dawn – "The coming of Dawn" *23. The Queen – "Miss Innocent" *24. Finale – "God save Her Majesty" ::Source: 1903 vocal score. Following its 100th performance in March 1904, several new songs were introduced: * "The Little Yellow Bird" * "Fascinating Frou-Frou of the Frill" * "When the Stars are Shining in the Sky"

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 ...

'' thought that dramatically the first act was a success, but was much less impressed by the second, though it had "all sorts of pretty, clever and funny things in it." Caryll's music was judged "tuneful enough, but very thin", and too reminiscent of the composer's earlier scores. The paper's anonymous reviewer thought "Bubble Land" the best musical number. ''The Manchester Guardian'' commented:

Recordings

No recordings were released by the original cast. A list of releases by other artists is given below – it includes title, singer, record company and release date (where known): * "Little Yellow Bird", Flo de Vere, G&T, 1904 * "By the Sycamore Tree", Helen Haydn, G&T, 1904 * "Miss Innocent", Bohemian Band, Edison Bell (cylinder) * "Navajo", Peter Dawson, Edison Bell * "Pansy", George Sherwin, Zonophone

References and notes

External links

Victorian and Edwardian Musical Shows
– MIDI simulation of musical numbers from ''The Cherry Girl'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Cherry Girl, The 1903 musicals Original musicals West End musicals British musicals Musicals set in fictional countries