Faust up to date
Encyclopedia
Faust up to Date is a musical 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
, which had first been performed in London in 1864, and followed on from an earlier Lutz musical, 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
as Valentine. The piece enjoyed subsequent productions in New York, Australia (with Robert Courtneidge
as Valentine) and elsewhere.
(1883), Little Jack Sheppard
(1885), Monte Cristo Jr (1886), Pretty Esmeralda (1887), Frankenstein, or The Vampire's Victim
(1887), Mazeppa, Ruy Blas and the Blase Roue
(1888), Carmen up to Data
(1890), Cinder Ellen up too Late
(1891) and Don Juan (1892, with lyrics by Adrian Ross
).
John Hollingshead
had managed the Gaiety Theatre, London
, from 1868 to 1886 as a venue for variety, continental operetta
, light comedy, and numerous musical burlesques composed or arranged by the theatre's music director, Wilhelm Meyer Lutz. Hollingshead called himself a "licensed dealer in legs, short skirts, French adaptations, Shakespeare, taste and musical glasses." In 1886, Hollingshead ceded the management of the theatre to George Edwardes, whom he had hired in 1885. Edwardes expanded the burlesque format from often one-act to full-length pieces, with original music by Lutz instead of scores compiled from popular tunes, and choreography by the theatre's dance-master, John D'Auban
. Lutz's ballet music, a Pas de Quatre (1888), originally choreographed by D'Auban, became very popular and is still available today on CD.
Nellie Farren
starred as the "principal boy" at the Gaiety for nearly 25 years, from 1868 to 1892. Fred Leslie joined her there in 1885 and wrote many of its most successful burlesques under his pseudonym, "A. C. Torr". In the early 1890s, as Burlesque went out of fashion, Edwardes changed the focus of the theatre from musical burlesque to the new genre of Edwardian musical comedy
.
by George Edwardes
, opening on 30 October 1888, and running until August 1889. It starred Florence St. John
as Margaret, E. J. Lonnen
as Mephistopheles, Fanny Robina as Faust, George Stone as Valentine, and Mabel Love
as Totchen. A highlight of the piece was a dance for four women. It was revived in July 1892, with Florence St. John
again playing the role of Margaret, Edmund Payne
as Mephistopheles and Arthur Williams
as Valentine. The piece enjoyed subsequent productions in New York, Australia (with Robert Courtneidge
as Valentine) and elsewhere.
Referring to the absence of Nellie Farren
, the theatre's usual "principal boy", and Fred Leslie, its usual star comedian, who were in America, The Era
commented, "There is no disguising the fact that the absence of the principal members of the Gaiety troupe is appreciably felt"; the paper expressed reservations about the piece and some of the cast, but acknowledged that the Gaiety audience had shown great enthusiasm for the piece and the players. The New York Times
, reviewing the New York production, the next year, had much the same reaction, disliking the "silly" piece even more and praising only the dance for the four women and the singing of Marguerite, who was St. John's understudy. In particular, it found Lonnen to be a poor substitute for Leslie in every respect.
Meyer Lutz
Wilhelm Meyer Lutz was a German-born English composer and conductor who is best known for light music, musical theatre and burlesques of well-known works....
(a few songs by others were interpolated into the show). The libretto was written by G. R. Sims and Henry Pettitt
Henry Pettitt
Henry Alfred Pettitt , was a British actor and dramatist.With Augustus Harris, he wrote the play Burmah, produced on Broadway in 1896. With G. R...
. It is a spoof of Gounod's opera, Faust
Faust (opera)
Faust is a drame lyrique in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part 1...
, which had first been performed in London in 1864, and followed on from an earlier Lutz musical, Mephistopheles, or Faust and Marguerite.
The piece was first performed at the Gaiety Theatre, London
Gaiety Theatre, London
The Gaiety Theatre, London was a West End theatre in London, located on Aldwych at the eastern end of the Strand. The theatre was established as the Strand Musick Hall , in 1864 on the former site of the Lyceum Theatre. It was rebuilt several times, but closed from the beginning of World War II...
on 30 October 1888, produced by George Edwardes
George Edwardes
George Joseph Edwardes was an English theatre manager of Irish ancestry who brought a new era in musical theatre to the British stage and beyond....
, and ran until August 1889. It starred Florence St. John
Florence St. John
Florence St. John , was an English singer and actress of the late Victorian and Edwardian eras famous for her roles in operetta, musical burlesque, music hall, opera and, later, comic plays.-Life and career:...
as Margaret, E. J. Lonnen
E. J. Lonnen
E. J. Lonnen was an English actor and comedian known for his performances in musical burlesques and musicals, particularly at the Gaiety Theatre, London at the end of the Victorian era.-Biography:...
as Mephistopheles and Mabel Love
Mabel Love
Mabel Love , was a British dancer and stage actress. She was considered to be one of the great stage beauties of her age, and her career spanned the late Victorian era and Edwardian period...
as Totchen. It was revived in July 1892, with Florence St. John
Florence St. John
Florence St. John , was an English singer and actress of the late Victorian and Edwardian eras famous for her roles in operetta, musical burlesque, music hall, opera and, later, comic plays.-Life and career:...
again playing the role of Margaret, Edmund Payne
Edmund Payne
Edmund Payne , was an actor, comedian, singer and dramatist best known for his comic appearances in Edwardian Musical Comedy. His father was Edmund Payne, a master cabinet builder and his mother was Eliza Payne née Ince....
as Mephistopheles and Arthur Williams
Arthur Williams (actor)
Arthur Williams was an English actor, singer and playwright best remembered for his roles in comic operas, musical burlesques and Edwardian musical comedies...
as Valentine. The piece enjoyed subsequent productions in New York, Australia (with Robert Courtneidge
Robert Courtneidge
Robert Courtneidge was a British theatrical manager-producer and playwright. He is best remembered as the co-author of the light opera Tom Jones and the producer of The Arcadians...
as Valentine) and elsewhere.
Background
This type of burlesque, or travesty was popular in Britain at the time. Other examples include The Bohemian G-yurl and the Unapproachable Pole (1877), Blue Beard (1882), Ariel (1883, by F. C. Burnand), Galatea, or Pygmalion ReversedGalatea, or Pygmalion Reversed
Galatea, or Pygmalion Re-Versed is a musical burlesque that parodies the Pygmalion legend, and specifically W. S. Gilbert's play Pygmalion and Galatea. The libretto was written by Henry Pottinger Stephens and W. Webster. The score was composed by Wilhelm Meyer Lutz...
(1883), Little Jack Sheppard
Little Jack Sheppard
Little Jack Sheppard is a burlesque melodrama written by Henry Pottinger Stephens and William Yardley, with music by Meyer Lutz, with songs contributed by Florian Pascal, Corney Grain, Arthur Cecil, Michael Watson, Henry J. Leslie, Alfred Cellier and Hamilton Clarke...
(1885), Monte Cristo Jr (1886), Pretty Esmeralda (1887), Frankenstein, or The Vampire's Victim
Frankenstein, or The Vampire's Victim
Frankenstein, or The Vampire's Victim is a musical burlesque written by Richard Henry . The music was composed by Meyer Lutz...
(1887), Mazeppa, Ruy Blas and the Blase Roue
Ruy Blas and the Blase Roue
Ruy Blas and the Blasé Roué is a burlesque written by A. C. Torr and Herbert F. Clark with music by Meyer Lutz. It is based on the Victor Hugo drama Ruy Blas. The piece was produced by George Edwardes. As with many of the Gaiety burlesques, the title is a pun...
(1888), Carmen up to Data
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....
(1890), Cinder Ellen up too Late
Cinder Ellen up too Late
Cinder Ellen up too Late is a musical burlesque written by Frederick Hobson Leslie and W. T. Vincent, with music arranged by Meyer Lutz from compositions by Lionel Monckton, Sidney Jones, Walter Slaughter, Osmond Carr, Scott Gatti, Jacobi, Robertson, and Leopold Wenzel. Additional lyrics were...
(1891) and Don Juan (1892, with lyrics by Adrian Ross
Adrian Ross
For the NFL player see Adrian Ross Arthur Reed Ropes , better known under the pseudonym Adrian Ross, was a prolific writer of lyrics, contributing songs to more than sixty British musical comedies in the late 19th and early 20th centuries...
).
John Hollingshead
John Hollingshead
John Hollingshead was an English theatrical impresario, journalist and writer during the latter half of the 19th century. He is best remembered as the first manager of the Gaiety Theatre, London...
had managed the Gaiety Theatre, London
Gaiety Theatre, London
The Gaiety Theatre, London was a West End theatre in London, located on Aldwych at the eastern end of the Strand. The theatre was established as the Strand Musick Hall , in 1864 on the former site of the Lyceum Theatre. It was rebuilt several times, but closed from the beginning of World War II...
, from 1868 to 1886 as a venue for variety, continental operetta
Operetta
Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...
, light comedy, and numerous musical burlesques composed or arranged by the theatre's music director, Wilhelm Meyer Lutz. Hollingshead called himself a "licensed dealer in legs, short skirts, French adaptations, Shakespeare, taste and musical glasses." In 1886, Hollingshead ceded the management of the theatre to George Edwardes, whom he had hired in 1885. Edwardes expanded the burlesque format from often one-act to full-length pieces, with original music by Lutz instead of scores compiled from popular tunes, and choreography by the theatre's dance-master, John D'Auban
John D'Auban
Frederick John D'Auban was an English dancer, choreographer and actor of the Victorian and Edwardian eras. Famous during his lifetime as the ballet-master at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, he is best remembered as the choreographer of many of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas.After performing as a...
. Lutz's ballet music, a Pas de Quatre (1888), originally choreographed by D'Auban, became very popular and is still available today on CD.
Nellie Farren
Nellie Farren
Nellie Farren was an English actress and singer best known for her roles as the "principal boy" in musical burlesques at the Gaiety Theatre.Born into a theatrical family, Farren began acting as a child...
starred as the "principal boy" at the Gaiety for nearly 25 years, from 1868 to 1892. Fred Leslie joined her there in 1885 and wrote many of its most successful burlesques under his pseudonym, "A. C. Torr". In the early 1890s, as Burlesque went out of fashion, Edwardes changed the focus of the theatre from musical burlesque to the new genre of Edwardian musical comedy
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...
.
Productions
Faust up to date was first produced at the Gaiety Theatre, LondonGaiety Theatre, London
The Gaiety Theatre, London was a West End theatre in London, located on Aldwych at the eastern end of the Strand. The theatre was established as the Strand Musick Hall , in 1864 on the former site of the Lyceum Theatre. It was rebuilt several times, but closed from the beginning of World War II...
by George Edwardes
George Edwardes
George Joseph Edwardes was an English theatre manager of Irish ancestry who brought a new era in musical theatre to the British stage and beyond....
, opening on 30 October 1888, and running until August 1889. It starred Florence St. John
Florence St. John
Florence St. John , was an English singer and actress of the late Victorian and Edwardian eras famous for her roles in operetta, musical burlesque, music hall, opera and, later, comic plays.-Life and career:...
as Margaret, E. J. Lonnen
E. J. Lonnen
E. J. Lonnen was an English actor and comedian known for his performances in musical burlesques and musicals, particularly at the Gaiety Theatre, London at the end of the Victorian era.-Biography:...
as Mephistopheles, Fanny Robina as Faust, George Stone as Valentine, and Mabel Love
Mabel Love
Mabel Love , was a British dancer and stage actress. She was considered to be one of the great stage beauties of her age, and her career spanned the late Victorian era and Edwardian period...
as Totchen. A highlight of the piece was a dance for four women. It was revived in July 1892, with Florence St. John
Florence St. John
Florence St. John , was an English singer and actress of the late Victorian and Edwardian eras famous for her roles in operetta, musical burlesque, music hall, opera and, later, comic plays.-Life and career:...
again playing the role of Margaret, Edmund Payne
Edmund Payne
Edmund Payne , was an actor, comedian, singer and dramatist best known for his comic appearances in Edwardian Musical Comedy. His father was Edmund Payne, a master cabinet builder and his mother was Eliza Payne née Ince....
as Mephistopheles and Arthur Williams
Arthur Williams (actor)
Arthur Williams was an English actor, singer and playwright best remembered for his roles in comic operas, musical burlesques and Edwardian musical comedies...
as Valentine. The piece enjoyed subsequent productions in New York, Australia (with Robert Courtneidge
Robert Courtneidge
Robert Courtneidge was a British theatrical manager-producer and playwright. He is best remembered as the co-author of the light opera Tom Jones and the producer of The Arcadians...
as Valentine) and elsewhere.
Roles and original cast
- Mephistopheles – E. J. LonnenE. J. LonnenE. J. Lonnen was an English actor and comedian known for his performances in musical burlesques and musicals, particularly at the Gaiety Theatre, London at the end of the Victorian era.-Biography:...
- Valentine – George Stone
- Old Faust – Harry Parker
- Lord Chancellor – Walter Lonnen
- Faust – Fanny Robina
- Siebel – Jenny McNulty
- Wagner – Emma Broughton
- Donner – Alice Young
- Blitzen – Hetty Hamer
- Elsa – Lillian Price
- Lisa – Florence Levey
- Katrina – Miss Greville
- Hilda – Miss Sprague
- Totchen – Mabel LoveMabel LoveMabel Love , was a British dancer and stage actress. She was considered to be one of the great stage beauties of her age, and her career spanned the late Victorian era and Edwardian period...
- Martha – Maria Jones
- Waitress – Emily Robina
- Waitress – Minnie Ross
- Marguerite – Florence St. JohnFlorence St. JohnFlorence St. John , was an English singer and actress of the late Victorian and Edwardian eras famous for her roles in operetta, musical burlesque, music hall, opera and, later, comic plays.-Life and career:...
Synopsis
The following plot summary was printed in The Theatre in December 1888:
It might have been thought that Goethe's legend was too hackneyed a subject to afford scope for a new version; but Messrs. Sims and Pettitt have contrived to introduce into it fresh elements of fun, without so far departing from the original story as to make it unrecognisable. We have Old Faust longing for love and youth, and the appearance of Mephistopheles, who summons a vision of Marguerite, engaged as a fascinating barmaid at the Italian Exhibition at Nuremberg. Old Faust signs the necessary bond and is transformed into a gay and handsome gallant, who is accepted by Marguerite. Her brother, Valentine, to favour the addresses of Siebel, makes his sister a ward in Chancery, and the married pair dread the punishment of the Lord Chancellor, from which punishment they eventually escape at the Olympic Gardens, Nuremberg, by ascending in a balloon. Mephistopheles is outwitted by the reappearance of Old Faust, with the grievance that the gentleman in red has not fulfilled his portion of the contract, but allowed another to enjoy himself in his place. Valentine, though he has been carried off as killed, comes to life again, his valuable existence having been saved by Faust's sword being turned aside by Valentine's Waterbury watch, the touching gift of his sister!
Critical reception
The critic of The Theatre wrote, "The music, written by Herr Lutz, is appropriate and tuneful, and the book very amusing. The authors have been guilty of some atrocious puns. … The topical allusions are quite up to date and the lyrics smooth. An excellent Mephistopheles is found in Mr. E. J. Lonnen, who plays with immense spirit, and gains a nightly encore for his songs, "I shall have 'em by-and-by", and "Enniscorthy" (written for him by R. Martin). Miss Florence St. John is an ideal burlesque actress, so skilfully does she blend the innocence of the real Marguerite with the faster proclivities of her modern prototype. On the opening night it was noticed with regret that full advantage had not been taken of the exquisite voice Miss St. John possesses; but since then, in addition to the numbers, "A simple little maid", and "Fond heart, oh, tell me why," two other ballads have been added, and it need hardly be said that all are charmingly sung. … As usual, Mr. George Edwardes has spared no expense in the production, to which Mr. Charles Harris has contributed his accustomed skill, and Faust up to Date will certainly fill the Gaiety for many a night to come." The Morning Post called the piece a great success, and particularly singled out "a sort of grotesque petticoat quadrille, danced by four danseuses, and encored uproariously.Referring to the absence of Nellie Farren
Nellie Farren
Nellie Farren was an English actress and singer best known for her roles as the "principal boy" in musical burlesques at the Gaiety Theatre.Born into a theatrical family, Farren began acting as a child...
, the theatre's usual "principal boy", and Fred Leslie, its usual star comedian, who were in America, The Era
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:...
commented, "There is no disguising the fact that the absence of the principal members of the Gaiety troupe is appreciably felt"; the paper expressed reservations about the piece and some of the cast, but acknowledged that the Gaiety audience had shown great enthusiasm for the piece and the players. The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, reviewing the New York production, the next year, had much the same reaction, disliking the "silly" piece even more and praising only the dance for the four women and the singing of Marguerite, who was St. John's understudy. In particular, it found Lonnen to be a poor substitute for Leslie in every respect.