''The Shop Girl'' was a musical comedy in two acts (described by the author as a musical farce) written by H. J. W. Dam, with Lyrics by Dam 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 ...

and 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 ...

, and additional numbers 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 ...

and Ross. It premiered at the Gaiety Theatre in London in 1894 and ran for an extremely successful 546 performances. Its cast included

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 ...

George Grossmith, Jr. George Grossmith Jr. (11 May 1874 – 6 June 1935) was an English actor, theatre producer and manager, director, playwright and songwriter, best remembered for his work in and with Edwardian musical comedies. Grossmith was also an important inn ...

, Arthur Williams,

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

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 ...

. It soon played in New York and was successfully revived in London in 1920.

Background

The success of ''

A Gaiety Girl ''A Gaiety Girl'' is an English musical comedy in two acts by a team of musical comedy neophytes: Owen Hall (book, on an outline by James T. Tanner), Harry Greenbank (lyrics) and Sidney Jones (music). It opened at Prince of Wales Theatre in ...

'' in 1893 confirmed to Edwardes that the lighter "musical comedy" was the right path for musical theatre. ''The Shop Girl'' heralded a new era in musical comedy, and the critics were amazed that the author had provided such a coherent story, as there had been hardly any story at all in burlesque. Over a dozen copies followed at the Gaiety Theatre (including ''My Girl'', ''

The Circus Girl ''The Circus Girl'' is a musical theatre, musical comedy in two acts by James T. Tanner and Walter Apllant (Palings), with lyrics by Harry Greenbank and Adrian Ross, music by Ivan Caryll, and additional music by Lionel Monckton. ...

'', and ''

A Runaway Girl ''A Runaway Girl'' is a musical comedy in two acts written in 1898 by Seymour Hicks and Harry Nicholls. The composer was Ivan Caryll, with additional music by Lionel Monckton and lyrics by Aubrey Hopwood and Harry Greenbank. It was produced b ...

'') over the next two decades and were widely imitated by other producers and playwriting teams. They also led to the next level of sophistication in the integrated musical comedy at

Daly's Theatre Daly's Theatre was a theatre in the City of Westminster. It was located at 2 Cranbourn Street, just off Leicester Square. It opened on 27 June 1893, and was demolished in 1937. The theatre was built for and named after the American impresar ...

and elsewhere in London.

Productions

''The Shop Girl'' was first produced by

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 ...

at the Gaiety Theatre in London, opening on 24 November 1894. The piece ran for an extremely successful 546 performances, transferring to

. It starred

, Arthur Williams,

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 ...

and

Ada Reeve Ada Reeve (born Adelaide Mary Reeves, 3 March 1874 – 5 October 1966) was an English actress of both stage and film. Reeve began to perform in pantomime and music hall as a child. She gained fame in Edwardian musical comedies in the 1890s. R ...

, who (being pregnant) was replaced in the cast by

Kate Cutler Kate Ellen Louisa Cutler (14 August 1864 – 14 May 1955) was an English singer and actress, known in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as an ''ingénue'' in musical comedies, and later as a character actress in comic and dramati ...

and then Hicks' wife,

Topsy Sinden Harriet Augusta Sinden (1877–1950), known professionally as Topsy Sinden, was an English dancer, actress and singer. She was best known for her performances in Edwardian musical comedy and pantomime, both in London and on tour. Sinden was an a ...

danced in the piece. Direction was 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 ...

, with choreography by Warde. Costumes were by

C. Wilhelm William John Charles Pitcher (21 March 1858 – 2 March 1925), known as Wilhelm or C. Wilhelm, was an English artist, costume and scenery designer, best known for his designs for ballets, pantomimes, comic operas and Edwardian musical comedies. ...

. The piece achieved immediate popularity and introduced to London audiences a cleaner, more respectable form of musical comedy than the previous "musical farces", which had been more closely related to

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.

.Hollingshead, pp. 72–73 Indeed, during the run of the show, some of the racier lines were removed, as Edwardes recognised that the future of musicals lay in appealing to the respectable Victorian audience. In addition, at Hicks' urging, the romantic couple was designed as less sentimental and more mischievous and light hearted. But it was not lacking in sex appeal. It was the first show to feature Edwardes'

Gaiety Girls Gaiety Girls were the chorus girls in Edwardian musical comedies, beginning in the 1890s at the Gaiety Theatre, London, in the shows produced by George Edwardes. The popularity of this genre of musical theatre depended, in part, on the beautifu ...

, who were to feature in all of his similar musical comedies. Caryll, the music director at the Gaiety, conducted the performances of the piece himself. One of the most famous songs from the show was "Her golden hair was hanging down her back." As the run went on, songs were constantly changed and new business frequently introduced, especially when there were cast changes. This also began a pattern for musicals of the era. Hicks and Grossmith transferred with the production to

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 ...

in 1895, under the management of

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 ...

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 ...

and

Bertie Wright Albert James Matthew Wright (6 February 1871 – 7 March 1960), known as Bertie Wright, was a British actor of the silent era. Wright was born in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, and died on 7 March 1960, in Sydney, New South Wales, Austr ...

joined the cast. The New York production of ''The Shop Girl'' opened at Palmer's Theatre on October 28, 1895 and played for 72 performances. Hicks and

Alfred Butt Sir Alfred Butt, 1st Baronet (20 March 1878 – 8 December 1962) was a British theatre impresario, Conservative politician and racehorse owner and breeder. During a fourteen-year tenure as manager of London's Palace Theatre, beginning in 1904, ...

revived the piece in London in 1920, at the Gaiety, where it was again a hit, running for 327 performances. Hicks directed and Warde choreographed. The cast included

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 ...

and

Roy Royston Roy Royston MC (born Roy Charles Crowden, 5 April 1899 – 7 October 1976) was an English actor who appeared in a large number of films between 1912 and 1966, beginning as a child actor. Most of his films were silents made before the First Wo ...

Synopsis

An attractive and charming London shop girl, Bessie Brent, is in love with Charles Appleby, a poor, but lively medical student from a good family. She also meets a good-hearted millionaire, John Brown, who had gone out in the steerage of a liner, "to become a miner", and had struck it rich in Colorado. The millionaire has come back to London to look for the daughter of his mining chum, to whom a fortune of four million pounds was due. She is to be identified by a birthmark. The daughter, of course, turns out to be the shop girl and, after a few misunderstandings, she agrees to marry her sweetheart.

Roles and original cast

*Mr. Hooley (proprietor of the Royal Stores) - Arthur Williams *Charles Appleby (a medical student) -

*Bertie Boyd (one of the Boys) -

*John Brown (a millionaire) - Colin Coop *Sir George Appleby (a solicitor) - Cairns James *Colonel Singleton (retired) - Frank Wheeler *Count St. Vaurien (secretary to Mr. Brown) - Robert Nainby *Mr. Tweets (financial secretary to Lady Appleby) -

*Mr. Miggles (shopwalker at the Royal Stores) -

(

in New York) *Lady Dodo Singleton (Charlie's cousin) - Helen Lee *Miss Robinson (fitter at the Royal Stores) -

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 ...

*Lady Appleby (Charlie's mother, wife of Sir George) - Maria Davis *Ada Smith (an apprentice at the Royal Stores) - Lillie Belmore (

in New York) *Lady Appleby's daughters: Faith, Hope, and Charity *Of the Syndicate Theatre: Maud Plantagenet ( Adelaide Astor), Eva Tudor, Lillie Stuart, Ada Harrison, Mabel Beresford (Violet Monckton), Florence White, Sylvia Perry, Agnes Howard, Maggie Jocelyn, and Violet Deveney (

) *Bessie Brent ("The Shop Girl") -

(later replaced by

)

Musical numbers

;Act I - The Royal Stores. *No. 1 - Chorus - "This noble institution of financial evolution is the glory of our British trade..." *No. 2 - Hooley & Bessie, with Chorus - "If you ever should engage in trade, you will never find your fortune made..." *No. 3 - Sir George, Count, Hooley & Colonel - "Although I am a man of law, of many years in practice spent..." *No. 4 - Chorus of Stage Beauties - "In us of course you see a charming coterie, whose fascinations all confess..." *No. 5 - Charlie & Foundlings - "If without a single mark of your identity, on a hospitable doorstep you are thrown..." *No. 6 - Beatrice - "When I came to the shop some years ago, I was terribly shy and simple..." *No. 7 - Bessie & Charlie - "Hush-a-bye, hush-a-bye, shut your little eye, dear..." *No. 8 - Beatrice & Chorus - "Over the hills and over into the sunset's glow..." *No. 9 - Bertie & Foundlings - "Foundlings are we, waiting to see who will unravel our pre-natal mystery..." *No. 9a - Reprise - "Foundlings are we, waiting to see..." *No. 10 - Miggles - "It was an evil hour when I met my Mary Ann, oh! woe! woe the day!..." *No. 11 - Ada & Chorus - "Left upon a doorstep at half past nine..." *No. 12 - Finale Act I - "Farewell, farewell, we tender our congratulations truly..." ;Act II - Fancy Bazaar at Kensington. *No. 13 - Chorus - "Charity, charity, charity, charity, fearless are we in a bazaar..." *No. 14 - Song - "I'm a lady not unknown to fame, critics call me by my Christian name..." *No. 14a - Bessie and Chorus - "I lub a gal, 'spose she lubs me too, anyhow she say she do..." *No. 15 - Miggles & Miss Robinson - "I am a Jap, please notice my cap, 'twas copied from off a tea caddy..." *No. 16 - John Brown & Chorus - "In the steerage of a Liner I went out to be a miner..." *No. 17 - Sir George, Count & Colonel - "If you can fully fathom human folly and fatuity..." *No. 18 - Chorus - "We're now to have some mystery, the forecast of our history..." *No. 19 - Charlie & Chorus - "There was once a country maiden came to London for a trip..." *No. 20 - Lady Dodo - "The Man in the Moon is down, he is winning a great renown..." *No. 21 - Bertie & Chorus - "I'm what folks call a Johnnie, of the title I am proud..." *Nos. 22 & 22a - Chorus and soloists - "The show, the show, the show, the show..." *No. 23 - Finale Act II - "Now joy is in the air, their future will be fair, look'd after by this kindly desperado..."

Notes

References

Description, opening night cast list, and links to photos and other information
*Hollingshead, John. ''Good Old Gaiety: An Historiette & Remembrance'' (1903) London:Gaity Theatre Co

External links

Vocal score
* ttp://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchresult.cfm?parent_id=551439&word= Photos from ''The Shop Girl''br>List of longest running plays in London and New York
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shop Girl 1894 musicals West End musicals British musicals