''The Bunyip'' also known by the longer title ''The Enchantment of Fairy Princess Wattle Blossom'' was written by Ella Palzier Campbell (aka Ella Airlie). The pantomime was a highly successful musical comedy that toured Australia for a decade within Fuller Brothers theatre circuit. The show was produced by Sydney entrepreneur Nat Philips. The premiere of the show ran for at least 97 performances and was revived several times over the following decade. Music was supplied by a number of Australian stage personalities including

Vince Courtney Vince Courtney was an Australian songwriter, entertainer, singer and radio personality during the vaudeville era. Born in Newcastle, New South Wales in 1887. He was prominent in the early twentieth century. He was born in Newcastle, New South W ...

Herbert De Pinna Herbert De Pinna (1883–1936) was a composer and medical doctor. He was a medicine graduate from Cambridge University who trained at Middlesex Hospital. He opened a hospital in Queensland, but claimed he made more money from music. Herbert De Pi ...

and James Kendis. The play relied heavily on comic stereotypes of the time, including a Chinese cook, bumbling Jewish clowns, fierce Aboriginal warriors, and a drunken Australian lout – all contending with Wattle Blossom, the fairy princess in the original story. A Melbourne National Gallery student P. Cohen was enlisted to paint the sets with Australian flowers, namely wattle and waratah, on costumes also. The story opens with a bushfire in which all the bush creatures are bought out into the open. Then it deals with the wanderings of princess Wattle Blossom, who falls into the hands of the Bush Gnomes, a proud race with a terrible way of doing things. The Lord High Gnome decrees that the Princess shall be turned into a bunyip, and this transformation takes place on the stage. The fairy princess is then rescued by the principal boy from the race of bush gnomes. A well-received stage effect was a

shadow play Shadow play, also known as shadow puppetry, is an ancient form of storytelling and entertainment which uses flat articulated cut-out figures (shadow puppets) which are held between a source of light and a translucent screen or scrim. The cut-ou ...

of girls apparently disrobing behind a backlit screen, over which the (apparently) removed clothing was thrown. Bunyip_Players

Musical numbers

* Bunyip / words & music by Herbert de Pinna * Wattle blossom time in Australia / words and music by Fred Monument ; arranged by Geo. Hurdle * For you / words & music by Marsh Little * Nulla nulla / words & music by Marsh Little * I love you / words & music by Herbert de Pinna * Mean old moon / Ella Airlie * Back to Kosciusko / words and music by Ella Airlie * Joan / words & music by Marsh Little * Bills' enlisted / words by R. Boyer and H. de Pinna ; music by Herbert de Pinna * If Captain Cook could come to life to-day / words by Con Moreni ; music by Nellie Kolle & Con Moreni * Sonny mine / words & music by Herbert de Pinna * Down in Australia / words & music by Marsh Little * Nathan : sung by Roy Rene / by James Kendis * My Chinee girl : the favourite one-step song / words and music by Vince Courtney * Grey hair grey eyes / words by Nat Phillips ; music by Bert Reid * Safety first / words and music by Henry T. Hayes – Dancers drilled by a child actor * Mother waratah / words & music by Marsh Little * Bunyip waltzes / arr. by Albert Evelyn * Pierrot and Pierrette / lyric by Jean Lenox and Ray Sterling ; music by Leo Edwards * Swinging along to Henty / words & music by Henry B. Hayes ; ukulele arr. by P. P. McGrath using Bishaw's method * All I want is a cottage, some roses, and you / by Chas. K. Harris

Characters

* Wattle Blossom – a fairy princess * Wattle Blossom's attendant * Chief Gnome * Joan – principal 'girl' * Jack – principal 'boy' * Squatter Hadfield * Mrs Wiggins * Ah Fat (Chinese cook) played by

* Swaggie swagman * Extras – An Aboriginal corroboree and bush sprite dancers * Arthur – a halfwit * Tower – a lofty fellow *Comedy duo 'Stiffy and Mo'

Cast

The cast changed across several venues. For example, in Adelaide the crowd was treated to a boomerang thrower safely tossing weapons above their heads *Nat Philips (producer) and Roy Rene played Stiffy and Mo. * Peter Brooks originally played the Swaggie, but was replaced by drag Swagman impersonator Nellie Kolle. *

Villiers Arnold George Villiers Arnold (18 April 1876 – 21 May 1921) was an English actor and baritone singer, popular in Australia for his roles in Gilbert and Sullivan operas. History Arnold was born in London, the elder son of J. A. Arnold and Mrs Blanche ...

played the Gnome in the Sydney production at the grand opera house * Pearl Ladd played the bunyip at the Sydney performance * Ella Airlie (the writer) played Jack the principal boy opposite Queenie Pearl as Joan the principal female lead. Dan Dunbar and Zoe Wencke joined the team later. * Roy Rene continued the comic character 'Mo' he had developed in vaudeville * Caddie Franks played the transformation into a Bunyip

Venues

* 1916

Grand Opera House, Sydney The New Tivoli Theatre, Sydney, previously known as the Adelphi Theatre and the Grand Opera House, was a theatre and music hall at 329, Castlereagh Street, Sydney, Australia, which was long at the heart of the Tivoli circuit. It operated betwee ...

* 1917 Princess Theatre, Melbourne * 1917 Majestic Theatre, Adelaide * 1918 Brisbane Empire * 1924 Sydney Hippodrome

Critical reception

The play was embraced with patriotic fervour. From 1917, the show drew crowded houses. The theme song was adopted by schools in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

and sales of the sheet music were ''phenomenal''. The press was unaffected by a typical Australian workers dispute between management and two stage hands who objected to the behaviour of a backstage colleague.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bunyip (musical), The 1924 musicals Teen musicals Musicals inspired by real-life events Pantomime Plays set in the 1900s Australian musicals