Crest of the Wave is a musical

Musical theatre

Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...

 with book and music by Ivor Novello

Ivor Novello

David Ivor Davies , better known as Ivor Novello, was a Welsh composer, singer and actor who became one of the most popular British entertainers of the first half of the 20th century. Born into a musical family, his first successes were as a songwriter...

 and lyrics by Christopher Hassall

Christopher Hassall

Christopher Vernon Hassall was an English actor, dramatist, librettist, lyricist and poet, who found his greatest fame in a memorable musical partnership with the actor and composer Ivor Novello after working together in the same touring company...

.

It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane

Theatre Royal, Drury Lane

The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is a West End theatre in Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster, a borough of London. The building faces Catherine Street and backs onto Drury Lane. The building standing today is the most recent in a line of four theatres at the same location dating back to 1663,...

 in London, on 1 September 1937, starring Novello as both hero and villain, Dorothy Dickson

Dorothy Dickson

Dorothy Dickson , was an American-born, London-based theater actress and singer.-Biography:Dickson is known mostly for her rendition of the Jerome Kern song "Look for the Silver Lining". She was also a member of the Ziegfeld Follies and made many appearances in New York and abroad...

, Olive Gilbert

Olive Gilbert

Olive Sarah Gilbert was an operatic singer and actress, who performed in many of Ivor Novello's musicals.-Biography:Gilbert was born in Carmarthen, Wales....

, Walter Crisham and Edgar Elmes. It ran for 203 performances.

The best-known songs from the musical are "Rose of England

Rose of England

"Rose of England" is a patriotic song written by Welsh composer Ivor Novello in 1937 for his musical 'Crest of the Wave'. Contrary to some reports, it was not popularised by Vera Lynn during the war years. The only recording which she made of the song was on the long-playing album 'More Hits of the...

", "Why isn't it you?", "Haven of your heart" and "If you only knew". The story concerns an impoverished nobleman, The Duke of Cheviot, who is shot by a lover and pursued by the villainous Otto Fresch. It featured a spectacular train crash, one of several Novello musicals featuring a spectacular disaster: Glamorous Night

Glamorous Night

Glamorous Night is a musical with a book and music by Ivor Novello and lyrics by Christopher Hassall, Novello's collaborator in six of the eight Novello musicals staged between 1935 and 1951...

has a shipwreck and Careless Rapture

Careless Rapture

Careless Rapture is a 'musical play' by the Welsh composer Ivor Novello and lyrics by Christopher Hassall. It premiered on 11 September 1936 at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane...

depicts an earthquake.