A Night Out (musical)
Encyclopedia
A Night Out is a musical comedy
with a book by George Grossmith, Jr.
and Arthur Miller, music by Willie Redstone and Cole Porter
and lyrics by Clifford Grey
. The story is adapted from the 1894 French comedy L'Hôtel du libre échange
by Georges Feydeau
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
, London, from 1920 to 1921 and then toured in Britain.
, opened in London and ran for 500 nights. The musical adaptation, produced by George Grossmith, Jr 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 Cole Porter
as some of his earliest professional work.
The musical was first presented at the Winter Garden Theatre
, 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. In 1925, the musical was produced in the U.S.
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.
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
, 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 thought the success of the piece principally due to Henson's performance, calling him "a little genius".
In The Manchester Guardian, 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."
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...
with a book by 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...
and Arthur Miller, music by Willie Redstone and Cole Porter
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter was an American composer and songwriter. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, he defied the wishes of his domineering grandfather and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn towards musical theatre...
and lyrics by Clifford Grey
Clifford Grey
Clifford Grey was an English songwriter, actor, librettist and Olympic medalist. His birth name was Percival Davis, and he was also known as Clifford Gray, Tippi Gray, Tippi Grey, Tippy Gray and Tippy Grey.As a writer, Grey contributed prolifically to West End and Broadway shows, as librettist and...
. The story is adapted from the 1894 French comedy L'Hôtel du libre échange
L'Hôtel du libre échange
L'Hôtel du Libre échange is a comedy written by the French playwrights Georges Feydeau and Maurice Desavallieres in 1894. The play takes place in Paris in the 19th century, and follows two Parisian households and their friends over the course of two days...
by Georges Feydeau
Georges Feydeau
Georges Feydeau was a French playwright of the era known as the Belle Époque. He is remembered for his many lively farces.-Biography:Georges Feydeau was born in Paris, the son of novelist Ernest-Aimé Feydeau and Léocadie Bogaslawa Zalewska. At the age of twenty, Feydeau wrote his first comic...
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
New London Theatre
The New London Theatre is a West End theatre located on the corner of Drury Lane and Parker Street in Covent Garden, in the London Borough of Camden...
, London, from 1920 to 1921 and then toured in Britain.
History
In 1896, "A Night Out", a non-musical adaptation of L'Hôtel du libre échangeL'Hôtel du libre échange
L'Hôtel du Libre échange is a comedy written by the French playwrights Georges Feydeau and Maurice Desavallieres in 1894. The play takes place in Paris in the 19th century, and follows two Parisian households and their friends over the course of two days...
, opened in London and ran for 500 nights. The musical adaptation, produced by George Grossmith, Jr and Edward Laurillard
Edward Laurillard
Edward Laurillard was a cinema and theatre producer in London and New York during the first third of the 20th century...
, 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 Cole Porter
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter was an American composer and songwriter. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, he defied the wishes of his domineering grandfather and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn towards musical theatre...
as some of his earliest professional work.
The musical was first presented at the Winter Garden Theatre
New London Theatre
The New London Theatre is a West End theatre located on the corner of Drury Lane and Parker Street in Covent Garden, in the London Borough of Camden...
, 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. In 1925, the musical was produced in the U.S.
Roles and original cast
- Joseph Pinglet – Leslie HensonLeslie HensonLeslie Lincoln Henson was an English comedian, actor, producer for films and theatre, and film director. He initially worked in silent films and Edwardian musical comedy and became a popular music hall comedian who enjoyed a long stage career...
- Mme. Pinglet – Stella St. Audrie
- Marcelle Delavaux – Lily St. John (later, Margaret Bannerman)
- Maurice Paillard – Fred Leslie
- Matthieu – Davy BurnabyDavy BurnabyDavy Burnaby was a British actor who appeared in more than thirty films between 1929 and 1948. He was born in Buckland, Hertfordshire and made his screen debut in the 1929 film The Devil's Maze. He died in 1949....
- Victorine – Phyllis Monkman
- René – Stanley HollowayStanley HollowayStanley Augustus Holloway, OBE was an English stage and film actor, comedian, singer, poet and monologist. He was famous for his comic and character roles on stage and screen, especially that of Alfred P. Doolittle in My Fair Lady...
- Kiki – Elsa Macfarlane
- Maxime – Austin MelfordAustin MelfordAustin Melford was a British screenwriter and film director. He was the brother of the actor Jack Melford.-Selected filmography:Director* Car of Dreams * Oh, Daddy! * Radio Lover Screenwriter...
- Bastien – Lucien Mussiere
- Boulot – Ralph Roberts
- Chief of Police – E. Graham
Synopsis
Act IThe 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 TimesThe 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...
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
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
, St. John Ervine
St. John Greer Ervine
St. John Greer Ervine was an Irish author, writer, critic and dramatist. He wrote the plays Anthony and Anna in 1926 and The First Mrs. Fraser in 1929. He was born in Belfast, Ireland but moved to London while in his teens. His 1956 biography George Bernard Shaw was awarded the James Tait Black...
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 thought the success of the piece principally due to Henson's performance, calling him "a little genius".
In The Manchester Guardian, during the musical's provincial tour, Samuel Langford
Samuel Langford
Samuel Langford was an influential English music critic of the early twentieth century.Trained as a pianist, Langford became chief music critic of The Manchester Guardian in 1906, serving in that post until his death...
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."