The Circus Girl | |
---|---|
Music | Ivan Caryll Lionel Monckton |
Lyrics | Harry Greenbank Adrian Ross |
Book | James T. Tanner Walter Apllant (Palings) |
Productions | 1896 West End 1897 Broadway |
The Circus Girl is a Edwardian musical comedy in two acts with a book by James T. Tanner and Walter Apllant (Palings), lyrics by Harry Greenbank and Adrian Ross, music by Ivan Caryll, and additional music by Lionel Monckton.[1]
The musical was produced at George Edwardes's Gaiety Theatre, beginning 5 December 1896, and ran for a very successful 497 performances.[1] It starred Seymour Hicks as Dick Capel and his wife Ellaline Terriss as Dora Wemyss. Edmund Payne and Arthur Williams also appeared. The show also had a successful New York run at two theatres in 1897 for a total of 172 performances. It was produced by Charles Frohman.[1] Mabelle Gilman Corey played Lucille and Nancy McIntosh played La Favorita in New York.[2]
Set in Paris, the plot concerns a group of English tourists who get mixed up with a circus troupe. Two of the famous songs from the show are "A Simple Little String" and "The Way to Treat a Lady".
Ellaline Terriss wrote:
Later during the London production, Terriss's father, actor William Terriss, was murdered outside the Adelphi Theatre in London, creating a sensation in the press and an outpouring of sympathy for Terriss and Hicks.[4]
Dick Capel, an understudy who occasionally performed at a Paris circus as "The Cannon King", impressed pretty Dora Wemyss, a school girl. Dick, however, is engaged to be married. Dora's father, Sir Titus, an English tourist, has been hiding in the cannon and has been flirting with the circus girls; he is avoiding his wife. Dick shoots Sir Titus out of the cannon. Meanwhile, Bugs, a silly American bartender, agrees to fight a celebrated wrestler, The Terrible Turk, in order to win over Lucille, the girl who walks the slackwire. La Favorita is a bareback rider.
Act I
Act II