James Albery
Encyclopedia
Life and career
Albery was born in London. On leaving school Albery entered an architect's office, and started to write plays. His farceFarce
In theatre, a farce is a comedy which aims at entertaining the audience by means of unlikely, extravagant, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication, which may include word play, and a fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases,...
A Pretty Piece of Chiselling was given its first production by the Ingoldsby Club in 1864. After some failures, his adaptation, Dr Davy, was produced at the Lyceum Theatre, London (1866). His most successful piece, Two Roses, a comedy, was produced at the Vaudeville Theatre
Vaudeville Theatre
The Vaudeville Theatre is a West End theatre on The Strand in the City of Westminster. As the name suggests, the theatre held mostly vaudeville shows and musical revues in its early days. It opened in 1870 and was rebuilt twice, although each new building retained elements of the previous...
in 1870, in which Sir Henry Irving made one of his earliest London successes as Digby Grant. The production ran for 300 performances.
Albery was the author of a large number of other plays and adaptations, including Coquettes (1870); Pickwick, a four-act drama (based on Dickens's The Pickwick Papers
The Pickwick Papers
The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club is the first novel by Charles Dickens. After the publication, the widow of the illustrator Robert Seymour claimed that the idea for the novel was originally her husband's; however, in his preface to the 1867 edition, Dickens strenuously denied any...
(1871); Pink Dominos (1877), a farce
Farce
In theatre, a farce is a comedy which aims at entertaining the audience by means of unlikely, extravagant, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication, which may include word play, and a fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases,...
that ran for an extremely successful 555 performances and was one of a series of adaptations from the French which he made for the Criterion Theatre
Criterion Theatre
The Criterion Theatre is a West End theatre situated on Piccadilly Circus in the City of Westminster, and is a Grade II* listed building. It has an official capacity of 588.-Building the theatre:...
, where his wife, the actress Mary Moore (who after his death became Lady Charles Wyndham (1861—1931)), played the leading parts; Jingle (a farcical version of Pickwick), produced at the Lyceum in 1878; and Oriana (with music by Frederic Clay
Frederic Clay
Frederic Emes Clay was an English composer known principally for his music written for the stage. Clay, a great friend of Arthur Sullivan's, wrote four comic operas with W. S...
).
His one-act operetta
Operetta
Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...
, The Spectre Knight
The Spectre Knight
The Spectre Knight is a one-act "fanciful operetta" with a libretto by James Albery and music by Alfred Cellier. It was first performed on 9 February 1878 at the Opera Comique by the Comedy Opera Company as a companion piece to The Sorcerer...
, with music by Alfred Cellier
Alfred Cellier
Alfred Cellier was an English composer, orchestrator and conductor.In addition to conducting and music directing the original productions of several of the most famous Gilbert and Sullivan works and writing the overtures to some of them, Cellier conducted at many theatres in London, New York and...
, ran as a companion piece to Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan . The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S...
's The Sorcerer
The Sorcerer
The Sorcerer is a two-act comic opera, with a libretto by W. S. Gilbert and music by Arthur Sullivan. It was the British duo's third operatic collaboration. The plot of The Sorcerer is based on a Christmas story, An Elixir of Love, that Gilbert wrote for The Graphic magazine in 1876...
and then H.M.S. Pinafore
H.M.S. Pinafore
H.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It opened at the Opera Comique in London, England, on 25 May 1878 and ran for 571 performances, which was the second-longest run of any musical...
at the Opera Comique
Opera Comique
The Opera Comique was a 19th-century theatre constructed in Westminster, London, between Wych Street and Holywell Street with entrances on the East Strand. It opened in 1870 and was demolished in 1902, to make way for the construction of the Aldwych and Kingsway...
in 1878 and on tour. He also wrote the farce Brighton (1888) among other later plays. Albery also wrote a book called Where's the Cat? in 1880.
Albery's and Moore's son was Bronson Albery
Bronson Albery
Sir Bronson James Albery was an English theatre director and impresario. He was knighted in 1949 for his services to the theatre. The Albery Theatre in London was named in his honour and his son, Sir Donald Albery, was also a theatrical impresario.-References:...
(1881-1971), a theatre director, after whom the Albery Theatre is named. He wrote this epitaph for himself: "He slept beneath the moon/He basked beneath the sun;/He lived a life of going-to-do,/And died with nothing done."