''Gentleman Joe, The Hansom Cabbie'' is a farcical

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 music by

Walter Slaughter Walter Alfred Slaughter (17 February 1860 – 2 March 1908) was an English conductor and composer of musical comedy, comic opera and children's shows. He was engaged in the West End as a composer and musical director from 1883 to 1904. Life ...

and a libretto by

Basil Hood Basil Willett Charles Hood (5 April 1864 – 7 August 1917) was a British dramatist and lyricist, perhaps best known for writing the libretti of half a dozen Savoy Operas and for his English adaptations of operettas, including ''The Merry Wi ...

. The original production of the musical opened at the

Prince of Wales's Theatre The Scala Theatre was a theatre in Charlotte Street, London, off Tottenham Court Road. The first theatre on the site opened in 1772, and the theatre was demolished in 1969, after being destroyed by fire. From 1865 to 1882, the theatre was kn ...

on 2 March 1895 and ran for a very successful 391 performances despite a poor notice in '' The Saturday Review'' by

Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...

that dismissed the score: "The music, by Mr. Walter Slaughter, does not contain a single novel, or even passably fresh point, either in melody, harmony or orchestration." The show was written as a vehicle for the comedian Arthur Roberts. A short

burlesque A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.

entitled ''A Trilby Triflet'' was introduced as part of ''Gentleman Joe'' a week after ''Looking for Trilby'' opened at the

Haymarket Theatre The Theatre Royal Haymarket (also known as Haymarket Theatre or the Little Theatre) is a West End theatre on Haymarket in the City of Westminster which dates back to 1720, making it the third-oldest London playhouse still in use. Samuel Foote ...

. ''

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 ...

'' newspaper praised Roberts for his imitation of

Herbert Beerbohm Tree Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree (17 December 1852 – 2 July 1917) was an English actor and theatre manager. Tree began performing in the 1870s. By 1887, he was managing the Haymarket Theatre in the West End, winning praise for adventurous progra ...

. The cast of ''Gentleman Joe'' also included

Kitty Loftus Kitty Loftus (16 June 1867 – 17 March 1927) was an English dancer, singer and actor-manager. A leading soubrette of the 1890s and 1900s in comedies, burlesque, pantomime and musical plays, at the height of her career she performed with her ...

as Emma and

W. H. Denny W. H. Denny (22 October 1853 – 31 August 1915) was an English singer and actor in comic operas, operettas and musical theatre. He is best remembered for his portrayal of baritone roles in the Savoy operas. Life and career Early years Denny ...

as Pilkington Jones. A second company also presented the show in the British provinces beginning in 1895. There was soon a

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.Fifth Avenue Theatre Fifth Avenue Theatre was a Broadway theatre in New York City in the United States located at 31 West 28th Street and Broadway (1185 Broadway). It was demolished in 1939. Built in 1868, it was managed by Augustin Daly in the mid-1870s. In 1877, ...

in New York City in January 1896. An American production of ''Gentleman Joe'' also played at the Bijou Theatre in early 1896 featuring James T. Powers, Clara Wieland, and Flora Irwin. Songs interpolated include "He Wanted Something to Play With" (sung by Powers) and "Honey does you love yer man?" sung by Flora Irwin in blackface. A few notices of the show indicate that new songs were interpolated with frequency. ''Gentleman Joe'' was Hood's first full-scale musical comedy, and its success prompted him to leave the military to concentrate on his writing. Hood and Slaughter went on to write several more comedies together, including ''

The French Maid ''The French Maid'' is a musical comedy in two acts by Basil Hood, with music by Walter Slaughter, first produced at the Theatre Royal, Bath, England, under the management of Milton Bode on 4 April 1896. It then opened London's Terry's Theatre und ...

'' in 1896 and another successful vehicle for Roberts, ''Dandy Dan, the Lifeguardsman'' in 1897. Hood wrote several successful shows with other librettists, and his English versions of Viennese operettas, such as ''

The Merry Widow ''The Merry Widow'' (german: Die lustige Witwe, links=no ) is an operetta by the Austro-Hungarian composer Franz Lehár. The librettists, Viktor Léon and Leo Stein, based the story – concerning a rich widow, and her countrymen's attempt t ...

'', were very popular until World War I.Obituary, Basil Hood, ''The Times'', 8 August 1917, p. 9

Notes

References

*Adams, William Davenport. ''A Dictionary of the Drama'', vol. 1, Chatto & Windus, 1904

External links

List of shows opening in London in 1895
1895 musicals West End musicals British musicals {{musical-theat-stub