''A Night Out'' is a

musical comedy Musical theatre is a form of 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, movemen ...

with a book by

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

and Arthur Miller, music by

Willie Redstone Willy (or Willie) Redstone (24 September 1883 – 30 September 1949) was a French composer and conductor of light music who had a substantial career in England and Australia, where he became music editor for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, ...

and

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

and lyrics by

Clifford Grey Clifford Grey (5 January 1887 – 25 September 1941) was an English songwriter, librettist, actor and screenwriter. His birth name was Percival Davis, and he was also known as Clifford Gray. Grey contributed prolifically to West End and Br ...

. The story is adapted from the 1894 French comedy ''

L'Hôtel du libre échange ''L'Hôtel du Libre échange'' (: ''Free Exchange Hotel'') is a comedy written by the French playwrights Georges Feydeau and Maurice Desvallières in 1894. The play takes place in Paris in the 19th century, and follows two Parisian households and ...

'' by

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

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. It opened in 1911 under designs by architect William Albert Swasey. The Winter Garden's current design dates to 1922, when ...

, 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 Edward Laurillard (20 April 1870 – 7 May 1936) was a cinema and theatre producer in London and New York City during the first third of the 20th century. He is best remembered for promoting the cinema early in the 20th century and for Edwardian ...

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 Dinne ...

Roles and original cast

*Joseph Pinglet –

Leslie Henson Leslie Lincoln Henson (3 August 1891 – 2 December 1957) 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 comed ...

*Mme. Pinglet – Stella St. Audrie *Marcelle Delavaux – Lily St. John (later, Margaret Bannerman) *Maurice Paillard – Fred Leslie *Matthieu –

Davy Burnaby George Davy Burnaby (7 April 1881 – 18 April 1949) 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 die ...

*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 Austin Melford (1884—1971) was a British screenwriter and film director. He was the older brother of actor Jack Melford. Partial filmography Director * ''Car of Dreams'' (1935) * ''Oh, Daddy!'' (1935) * ''Radio Lover'' (1936) Screenwriter * '' ...

*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 daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' 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. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'',

St. John Ervine St John Greer Ervine (28 December 1883 – 24 January 1971) was an Irish biographer, novelist, critic, dramatist, and theatre manager. He was the most prominent Ulster writer of the early twentieth century and a major Irish dramatist whose work in ...

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'' appeared first on Saturday 14 May 1842, as the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. Founded by Herbert Ingram, it appeared weekly until 1971, then less frequently thereafter, and ceased publication in ...

'' 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 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', during the musical's provincial tour,

Samuel Langford Samuel Langford (1863 - 8 May 1927) 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."

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Night Out 1920 musicals Musicals based on plays West End musicals