''Evensong'' is a 1932 British play by the writers
Beverley Nichols
John Beverley Nichols (9 September 1898 – 15 September 1983) was an English writer, playwright and public speaker. He wrote more than 60 books and plays.
Career
Between his first book, the novel, ''Prelude'' (1920) and his last, a book of po ...
and
Edward Knoblock
Edward Knoblock (born Edward Gustavus Knoblauch; 7 April 1874 – 19 July 1945) was a playwright and novelist, originally American and later a naturalised British citizen. He wrote numerous plays, often at the rate of two or three a year, of whic ...
. It is based on the
novel of the same name by Nichols, based on the life of opera singer
Nellie Melba
Dame Nellie Melba (born Helen Porter Mitchell; 19 May 186123 February 1931) was an Australian operatic dramatic coloratura soprano (three octaves). She became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian era and the early 20th century, ...
.
It ran for 213 performances at London's
Queen's Theatre between 30 June and 31 December 1932. The cast included
Edith Evans
Dame Edith Mary Evans, (8 February 1888 – 14 October 1976) was an English actress. She was best known for her work on the stage, but also appeared in films at the beginning and towards the end of her career. Between 1964 and 1968, she was no ...
,
Henry Wilcoxon
Harry Frederick Wilcoxon (8 September 1905 – 6 March 1984), known as Henry Wilcoxon, was an actor born in Roseau, Dominica, British West Indies, and who was a leading man in many of Cecil B. DeMille's films, also serving as DeMille's associat ...
and
Wilfrid Lawson.
Ernest Irving
Kelville Ernest Irving (6 November 1878 – 24 October 1953) was an English music director, conductor and composer, primarily remembered as a theatre musician in London between the wars, and for his key contributions to British film music as m ...
worked as the film's musical director. The following year it transferred to the
Selwyn Theatre Selwyn may refer to:
Institutions
* Selwyn College, Auckland, is a multicultural, co-educational high school in Auckland, New Zealand
* Selwyn College, Cambridge, one of the University of Cambridge colleges, UK
* Selwyn College, Otago, hall of resi ...
on
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
for a run of 15 performances.
Along with the original novel, the play provided inspiration for the 1934
film version
A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dia ...
directed by
Victor Saville
Victor Saville (25 September 1895 – 8 May 1979) was an English film director, producer, and screenwriter. He directed 39 films between 1927 and 1954. He also produced 36 films between 1923 and 1962.
Biography
Saville produced his first f ...
and starring
Evelyn Laye
Evelyn Laye (née Elsie Evelyn Lay; 10 July 1900 – 17 February 1996) was an English actress who was active on the London light opera stage, and later in New York and Hollywood. Her first husband, actor Sonnie Hale, left her for Jessie M ...
.
[Goble p.345]
References
Bibliography
* Goble, Alan. ''The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film''. Walter de Gruyter, 1999.
* Wearing, J.P. ''The London Stage 1930-1939: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel''. Rowman & Littlefield, 2014.
1932 plays
Plays by Edward Knoblock
British plays
West End plays
{{1930s-play-stub