''The Circus Girl'' is a

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 ...

in two acts by

James T. Tanner James Tolman Tanner (17 October 1858 – 18 June 1915) was an English stage director and dramatist who wrote many of the successful musicals produced by George Edwardes. Life and career Tanner began his theatre career as a set-painter and actor ...

and Walter Apllant (Palings), with lyrics by

Harry Greenbank Harry Greenbank (11 September 1865 – 26 February 1899) was an English author and dramatist best known for contributing lyrics to the successful series of musicals produced at Daly's Theatre by George Edwardes in the 1890s. Life and career Harr ...

and

Adrian Ross Arthur Reed Ropes (23 December 1859 – 11 September 1933), better known under the pseudonym Adrian Ross, was a prolific writer of lyrics, contributing songs to more than sixty British musical comedies in the late 19th and early 20th centuries ...

, music by

Ivan Caryll Félix Marie Henri Tilkin (12 May 1861 – 29 November 1921), better known by his pen name Ivan Caryll, was a Belgian-born composer of operettas and Edwardian musical comedies in the English language, who made his career in London and later N ...

, and additional music by

Lionel Monckton Lionel John Alexander Monckton (18 December 1861 – 15 February 1924) was an English composer of musical theatre. He became Britain's most popular composer of Edwardian musical comedy in the early years of the 20th century. Life and career ...

."The Circus Girl"
''The Guide to Musical Theatre'', accessed October 23, 2012 The musical was produced at

George Edwardes George Joseph Edwardes (né Edwards; 8 October 1855 – 4 October 1915) was an English theatre manager and producer of Irish ancestry who brought a new era in musical theatre to the British stage and beyond. Edwardes started out in theatre ma ...

's Gaiety Theatre, beginning 5 December 1896, and ran for a very successful 497 performances. It starred

Seymour Hicks Sir Edward Seymour Hicks (30 January 1871 – 6 April 1949), better known as Seymour Hicks, was a British actor, music hall performer, playwright, actor-manager and producer. He became known, early in his career, for writing, starring in and p ...

as Dick Capel and his wife

Ellaline Terriss Mary Ellaline Terriss, Lady Hicks (born Mary Ellaline Lewin, 13 April 1871 – 16 June 1971), known professionally as Ellaline Terriss, was a popular British actress and singer, best known for her performances in Edwardian musical comedies. Sh ...

as Dora Wemyss.

Edmund Payne Edmund James "Teddy" Payne (14 December 1863 – 15 July 1914), was an English actor, comedian and singer best known for creating comic roles in a series of extremely successful Edwardian musical comedies. He was often paired with the comic act ...

and Arthur Williams also appeared. The show also had a successful New York run at two theatres in 1897 for a total of 172 performances. It was produced by

Charles Frohman Charles Frohman (July 15, 1856 – May 7, 1915) was an American theater manager and producer, who discovered and promoted many stars of the American stage. Notably, he produced ''Peter Pan'', both in London and the US, the latter production ...

Mabelle Gilman Corey Mabelle Gilman Corey (December 4, 1874 – November 14, 1960) was an American actress. She had an affair with William Ellis Corey which led to the dissolution of his marriage, and they later married. Biography She was born Mabelle Gilman to ...

played Lucille and

Nancy McIntosh Nancy Isobel McIntosh (25 October 1866 – February 20, 1954) was an American-born singer and actress who performed mostly on the London stage. Her father was a member of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, which had been blamed in connec ...

played La Favorita in New York. Set in Paris, the plot concerns a group of English tourists who get mixed up with a circus troupe. Two of the famous songs from the show are "A Simple Little String" and "The Way to Treat a Lady".

Background

Ellaline Terriss wrote: :One night

Sir Arthur Sullivan Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan (13 May 1842 – 22 November 1900) was an English composer. He is best known for 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including ''H.M.S. Pinafore'', ''The Pirates of Penzance' ...

came to see ''The Circus Girl'' and was good enough to come round after the play to my dressing-room. I was a little afraid that he might be contemptuous of our gay, light-hearted trifle, but no, not at all, he said he had been delighted with everything, the comedy, the charm, the setting – it is true that the play was beautifully mounted. Edwardes had caught the atmosphere of the circus ring and the last scene, "The Artists' Ball," was one of the finest The Guv'nor had ever staged. It got rounds of applause when the curtain went up, at every performance. Sullivan was loud in his praises of the music, too – there was no criticism from him. And he expressed great pleasure in my own performance, going so far as to say that he hoped I would be able to create a part in one of his next works. Later during the London production, Terriss's father, actor

William Terriss William Terriss (20 February 1847 – 16 December 1897), born as William Charles James Lewin, was an English actor, known for his swashbuckling hero roles, such as Robin Hood, as well as parts in classic dramas and comedies. He was also a nota ...

, was murdered outside the

Adelphi Theatre The Adelphi Theatre is a West End theatre, located on the Strand in the City of Westminster, central London. The present building is the fourth on the site. The theatre has specialised in comedy and musical theatre, and today it is a receiv ...

in London, creating a sensation in the press and an outpouring of sympathy for Terriss and Hicks.Taylor, C.M.P
Terriss, Ellaline. ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''
Oxford University Press, accessed 7 January 2012

Synopsis

Dick Capel deputized occasionally at a Paris circus as "The Cannon King", impressing pretty Dora Wemyss, a school girl. Dick, however, is engaged to be married. Dora's father, Sir Titus, an English tourist, has been hiding in the cannon, because he has been flirting with the circus girls and is avoiding his wife. Dick shoots Sir Titus out of the cannon. Meanwhile, Bugs, a silly American bartender, agrees to fight a celebrated wrestler, The Terrible Turk, in order to win over Lucille, the girl who walks the slack wire. La Favorita is a bareback rider.

Roles and original cast

*Sir Titus Wemyss – Harry Monkhouse *Dick Capel –

*Drivelli (proprietor of circus) – Arthur Williams *Hon. Reginald Gower – Lionel Mackinder *Auguste (a clown) –

Willie Warde Willie Warde (1857 – 18 August 1943) was an English actor, dancer, singer and choreographer. The son of a dancer, his first theatre work was with a dance company. He was engaged to arrange dances for London productions and was later cast as a ...

*Adolphe (a clown) – Bertie Wright *Albertoni (ring master) – Colin Coop *Commissaire of Police – Robert Nainby *Vicomte Gaston –

Maurice Farkoa Maurice may refer to: People *Saint Maurice (died 287), Roman legionary and Christian martyr *Maurice (emperor) or Flavius Mauricius Tiberius Augustus (539–602), Byzantine emperor *Maurice (bishop of London) (died 1107), Lord Chancellor and Lo ...

*Toothick Pasha (the Terrible Turk) – Arthur Hope *Rudolph (the Cannon King) – E. D. Wardes *Proprietor of Cafe de la Regence – Leslie Holland *Flobert and Cocher – Robert Selby and W. F. Brooke *Sergent de Ville – Fred Ring *Valliand – W. H. Powell *Biggs (an American bar tender) –

*Lucille (a slack wire walker) –

Katie Seymour Katie Seymour (9 January 1870 – 7 September 1903)Drawing Room Entertainment. ''London Stratford Times and Bow and Bromley News and South Essex Gazette,'' 15 March 1876, p. 5Gänzl, Kurt, 2001. ''The Encyclopedia of the Musical Theatre,'' p. 1 ...

*La Favorita – Ethel Haydon *Mme. Drivelli –

Connie Ediss Connie Ediss (born Ada Harriet Whitley; 11 August 1870 – 18 April 1934) Gänzl, Kurt"The real Connie Ediss, or 'She was a Milliner's Daughter'" Kurt of Gerolstein, 6 November 2020 was an English actress and singer best known as a buxom, good-h ...

*Lady Diana Wemyss (Sir Titus's wife) – Marie Davis *Marie, Louise, Liane, Emilie and Juliette – Grace Palotta, Lily Johnston, Louie Coote, Alice Betelle and Maidie Hope *Comptesse d'Épernay – Ada Maitland *Marquise de Millefleurs – Kathleen Francis *Mdlle. Gompson – Alice Neilson *Dora Wemyss (Sir Titus's daughter) –

Musical numbers

Act I *No. 1 - Chorus - "We're taking advantage" *No. 2 - Biggs and Chorus - "Supposing you should suffe." *No. 3 - Dick, Reggie, and Biggs - "Oh, I am in love" *No. 4 - Chorus and Drivelli - "What is this attraction" and "The Uses of Advertisement" *No. 5 - La Favorita - "What queen holds prouder sway" *No. 6 - Lucille and Biggs - "If the combat you win" *No. 7 - Dora - "In the dreary days of school" *No. 8 - Dora and Dick - "The charms of a circus" *No. 9 - Gaston and Chorus - "When strolling down a boulevard" *No. 10 - Dick and Chorus - "When you rise at early dawn" *No. 11 - Finale - Act I - "With feet ever moving" Act II *No. 12 - Chorus - "In eager expectation" *No. 13 - Albertoni and Chorus - "If you really wish to hear" *No. 14 - La Favorita and Chorus - "A life to be envied by all" *No. 15 - Dick - "There was once a little maiden" *No. 16 - Chorus - "When pretty cheeks are all aglow" *No. 17 - Gaston and Chorus - "Now, comrades, have a glass with me" *No. 18 - Dora - "I was a little baby" *No. 19 - Lucille and Biggs - "Pets of the circus ring" *No. 20 - Mrs. Drivelli and Chorus - "I think that it's behaving very shabby" *No. 21 - Dance des Polichinelles *No. 22 - Finale - Act II - "As round the ring"

References

External links

Musical scoreThe poster from the Broadway productionPhotos from ''The Circus Girl''Review of the opening night
in London, in ''The New York Dramatic Mirror'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Circus Girl, The Circus Girl, The West End musicals Original musicals British musicals