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Dorothy (opera)

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"Queen of my Heart", Dorothy's hit song, was very popular as a parlour ballad.

Dorothy is a comic opera in three acts with music by Alfred Cellier and a libretto by B. C. Stephenson. It was first produced at the Gaiety Theatre in London on September 25 1886. After a few months, the director (and later owner) of The Gaiety, George Edwardes, sold the production to his accountant, Henry Leslie. Leslie revised and recast the show, adding among others the popular Marie Tempest and Hayden Coffin, and reopened it at the Prince of Wales Theatre on December 20 1886.

The revised Dorothy had an initial run of 931 performances, breaking the record for the longest running musical production, until the run of the musical play A Chinese Honeymoon in the early 1900s. It was also the second-longest known run for a stage production of any kind, after Our Boys, an 1875 vaudeville play, until both were surpassed by the run of Charley's Aunt in the 1890s. The show also toured for decades in Britain, with four or five separate and simultaneous companies during the early years. There was also a New York run from November 5 1887 to April 1888 starring Lillian Russell as the title character.

The plot consisted of a sweet tale of a rake who falls in love with his disguised fiancée. The show's hit songs included the ballad "Queen of My Heart."

Cellier re-purposed much of the music from his unsuccessful comic opera of ten years earlier, Nell Gwynne. Stephenson wrote new lyrics and a libretto to fit the music. Although billed as a comic opera, some consider Dorothy a forerunner of the integrated musical comedy, bearing many of the attributes of that genre.

Roles

  • Sir John Bantam, "The Squire" of Chanticleer Hall
  • Geoffrey Wilder, Sir John Bantam's nephew and heir, a London Gallant
  • Harry Sherwood, Geoffrey Wilder's friend
  • John Tuppitt, Landlord of the "Hop-Pole Inn"
  • William Lurcher, A Sheriff's Officer
  • Tom Strutt (or Tom Grass), A Young Farmer
  • Dorothy Bantam, Sir John Bantam's Daughter
  • Lydia Hawthorne, Her Cousin
  • Phyllis Tuppitt, The Landlord's Daughter, in love with Tom Strutt
  • Lady Betty, A Spinster
  • Mrs. Privett, A Widow
  • Chorus of Hop-Pickers, Peasants, Guests, Bridesmaids, etc.

Setting

Rural Kent in 1740.

  • Act I: The Hop Field, outside the "Hop-Pole Inn."
  • Act II: Chanticleer Hall, home of Squire Bantam.
  • Act III: The Round Coppice.

Synopsis

The story concerns the Squire's daughter, Dorothy, and her cousin Lydia. Tired of the social rounds, they pose as villagers during the Festival of the Hop Pole at the end of the Hop picking season. There they meet Geoffrey and Harry, who are traveling in disguise to escape Lurcher, a sheriff's officer, who has warrants for their arrest. The men and girls are mutually attracted, but neither pair knows the other's true identity. Lurcher is tricked into posing as a servant to the two men when they visit the house of the Squire. There is a faked burglary, Lurcher overeats, identities are exposed, the usual romantic complications ensue, and all ends happily.

Musical Numbers

Act I

  • 1. Opening Chorus and Ballet – "Lads and lasses round about the hop-pole trip"
  • 2. Song with Trio – "Be wise in time, Oh Phyllis mine" (Dorothy, Lydia, and Phyllis)
  • 3. Quartet – "We're sorry to delay you" (Dorothy, Lydia, Wilder, and Sherwood)
  • 4. Ballad – "With such a dainty dame none can compare" (Wilder)
  • 5 Quintet – "A father's pride and joy they are" (Dorothy, Lydia, Wilder, Sherwood, and Tuppitt)
  • 6. Song and Trio – "I am the Sheriff's faithful man" (Lurcher, Wilder, and Sherwood)
  • 7. Quartet – "You swear to be good and true" (Dorothy, Lydia, Wilder, and Sherwood)
  • 8. Chorus with Solo – "Under the pump" (Lurcher)
  • 9. Act I Finale – "Now take your seats at table spread"

Act II

  • 10. Act II Introduction and Country Dance
  • 11. Song – "Though born a man of high degree" (Wilder and Chorus)
  • 12. Music for the Entrance of Dorothy and Lydia
  • 13. Graceful Dance
  • 14. Song – "Contentment I give you and all that it brings" (Bantam)
  • 15. Septet and Chorus – "Now let's to bed" (Dorothy, Lydia, Wilder, Sherwood, Lurcher, and Bantam)
  • 16. Recit and Quartett – "One moment pray" (Dorothy, Lydia, Wilder, and Sherwood)
  • 16a. Ballad – "I stand at your threshold sighing" ("Queen of my Heart") (Sherwood)
  • 17. Trio – "Are you sure that they are all in bed?" (Wilder, Sherwood, and Bantam)
  • 18. Chorus with Dorothy, Lydia, Wilder, Sherwood, Bantam, and Lurcher – "What noise was that"
  • 19. Act II Finale – "Hark forward"

Act III

  • 20. Act III – Ballet
  • 21. Chorus – "Dancing is not what it used to be"
  • 22. Ballad – "The time has come when I must yield" (Phyllis)
  • 23. Septet and Chorus – "What joy untold to feel at last"
  • 24. Act III Finale – "You swore to be good and true"

No. 16a became a successful ballad standard, "Queen of My Heart."

References

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