''The Century Girl'' is a musical comedy revue with music by Victor Herbert and Irving Berlin, and lyrics by Henry Blossom and Berlin. It opened November 6, 1916, at the Century Theatre on Broadway and ran until April 28, 1917, totaling 200 performances. Rather than having a cohesive plot, the show was a mixture of musical and

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

performances.

Production

Charles Dillingham and

Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. Florenz Edward Ziegfeld Jr. (; March 21, 1867 – July 22, 1932) was an American Broadway impresario, notable for his series of theatrical revues, the ''Ziegfeld Follies'' (1907–1931), inspired by the ''Folies Bergère'' of Paris. He also p ...

produced the show. Staging was by Edward Royce, Leon Errol, and

Ned Wayburn Ned Wayburn ''(né'' Edward Claudius Weyburn; 30 March 1874 – 2 September 1942) was an American choreographer. Career Wayburn was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Elbert Delos Weyburn and Harriet Landon Beach. Ned Wayburn spent much of ...

, with set design by Joseph Urban. Max Hoffman directed the orchestra. The show had a runtime of over four hours. On its opening night, the show began at 8:25pm and ended at 12:58am. This was actually an improvement from the show's time prior to its premiere. It had originally been scheduled to open on October 16, but was delayed in order to cut down the show while maintaining the lineup of actors and performers. Cuts continued to be made after the premiere, resulting in several actors, including

Marie Dressler Marie Dressler (born Leila Marie Koerber, November 9, 1868 – July 28, 1934) was a Canadian stage and screen actress, comedian, and early silent film and Depression-era film star. In 1914, she was in the first full-length film comedy. She ...

, being let go. Performances included a "

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 4,000 BC and 2,000 BC, with t ...

romance", an

Alice in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (commonly ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English novel by Lewis Carroll. It details the story of a young girl named Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world of anthropomorphic creatur ...

musical number, a number featuring animals and hunters, and a skit with actors portraying of Herbert and Berlin. ''The Century Girl'' was the only successful show produced at the Century Theatre (previously the New Theatre). After the show's closure, the theatre was sold and later demolished, being replaced by the Century Apartments.

Cast

Songs

* ''Alice in Wonderland'' * ''The Ballet Loose'' * ''The Birth of the Century Girl'' * ''The Century Girl'' * ''The Chicken Walk/That Broadway Chicken Walk/Jungle Ball Finale'' * ''He Likes Their Jukelele'' * ''Humpty Dumpty'' * ''It Takes an Irishman to Make Love'' * ''Kiss Me Again/Kiss Me Once More'' * ''The Music Lesson/Herbert-Berlin Duet'' * ''On The Train of a Wedding Gown'' * ''The Romping Redheads'' * ''The Stone Age'' * ''The Toy Soldiers'' * ''Uncle Sam's Children'' * ''Under the Sea'' * ''When Uncle Sam is Ruler of the Sea'''''' * ''You Belong to Me''

Reception

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' and critics from other publications reviewed the show positively.

External links

The Century Girl at the IBDB

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Century Girl, The 1916 musicals Broadway musicals Musicals by Irving Berlin Musicals by Henry Blossom Musicals based on Alice in Wonderland