''Operette'' is a

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...

in two acts composed, written and produced by

Noël Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time'' magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and ...

. The show is a period piece, set in the year 1906 at the fictional "Jubilee" theatre. The story concerns an ageing Viennese operetta star, who warns the young ingenue not to marry a nobleman. The piece premiered in 1938. Coward's attempt to follow up the mittel-European nostalgia of his hit operetta '' Bitter Sweet'' (1929) was not a success and ran for only 132 performances. It nevertheless contained songs that endured, in Coward's cabaret act and elsewhere, such as "The Stately Homes of England".

Production

''Operette'' was first performed at the

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

Opera House, from 17 February 1938 to 12 March 1938. It then transferred to His Majesty's Theatre in London on 16 March 1938, closing on 9 July 1938."The Theatres: Mr. Noel Coward's Operette''", ''

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 ...

'', 3 March 1938, p. 12 There are 35 speaking parts in the musical, and in the original production there was a company of 80. The show is a period piece, set in the year 1906 at the fictional "Jubilee" theatre. Coward directed the production. Wood and Massary were supported by Griffith Jones as the young peer who falls in love with the heroine, and

Irene Vanbrugh Dame Irene Vanbrugh DBE ( Barnes; 2 December 1872 – 30 November 1949) was an English actress. The daughter of a clergyman, Vanbrugh followed her elder sister Violet into the theatrical profession and sustained a career for more than 50 years ...

as his mother.

Synopsis

Cast in an

Edwardian musical comedy Edwardian musical comedy was a form of British musical theatre that extended beyond the reign of King Edward VII in both directions, beginning in the early 1890s, when the Gilbert and Sullivan operas' dominance had ended, until the rise of the A ...

, ''The Model Maid'', Liesl Haren, a fading Viennese

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its s ...

star, has one more chance at stardom. Young Rozanne Grey, a member of the sextet of ''The Model Maid'', falls in love with Nigel Vaynham, a nobleman serving in the army. Liesl counsels the younger woman not to marry him. Rozanne gains the leading role and stardom, but Nigel returns to the army, realising that a marriage to an actress would destroy his social reputation.

Principal roles and original cast

*Maisie Welbey – Phyllis Monkman *Eddie Gosling – Edward Cooper *Grace Menteith – Pamela Randell *Rozanne Gray –

Peggy Wood Mary Margaret Wood (February 9, 1892 – March 18, 1978) was an American actress of stage, film, and television. She is best remembered for her performance as the title character in the CBS television series ''Mama'' (1949–1957), for which sh ...

*Liesl Haren –

Fritzi Massary Fritzi Massary (31 March 1882 – 30 January 1969) was an Austrian-American soprano singer and actress. Early life and career Fritzi Massary was born Friederike Massaryk in Vienna in the Austro-Hungarian Empire on 31 March 1882. She was one o ...

*Paul Trevor – Max Oldaker *Elsie Jewell – Muriel Baron *Nigel Vaynham – Griffith Jones *David Messiter – Peter Vokes *Lady Messiter –

Musical numbers

*Prologue *The Opening Chorus *Pom-pom *Countess Mitzi *Dearest love *Foolish virgins *The stately homes of England *Where are the songs we sung? *The island of Bollamazoo *Prologue, Act II *Sing for joy *My dear Miss Dale *Operette The Noël Coward Society's website, drawing on performing statistics from the publishers and the

Performing Rights Society PRS for Music Limited (formerly The MCPS-PRS Alliance Limited) is a British music copyright collective, made up of two collection societies: the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society (MCPS) and the Performing Right Society (PRS). It undertake ...

, ranks "The stately homes of England" as among Coward's ten most popular songs."Appendix 3 (The Relative Popularity of Coward's Works)"
, Noël Coward Music Index, accessed 9 March 2009

Notes

{{Noel Coward Musicals by Noël Coward Fiction set in 1906 1938 musicals British musicals