Lost, Strayed or Stolen is a musical comedy

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...

 in four acts with music by Woolson Morse

Woolson Morse

Henry Woolson Morse , usually credited as Woolson Morse, was an American composer of musical theatre. Often working with librettist J. Cheever Goodwin, he produced several scores for Broadway productions in the 1890s....

 and words by J. Cheever Goodwin, adapted from the French farce Le baptême du petit Oscar by Eugene Grangé and Victor Bernard. It was produced at the Fifth Avenue Theatre

Fifth Avenue Theatre

Fifth Avenue Theatre was a Broadway theatre in New York City in the United States located at 31 West 28th Street and Broadway. It was demolished in 1939....

 in New York City on September 16, 1896, and was directed by Ben Teal. The musical director was John McGhie. Dances in act 4 were arranged by Rose Becket.

Background

One of the first shows created for the Theatrical Syndicate

Theatrical Syndicate

-Beginnings:One day, early in the year 1896, six men gathered for lunch at the Holland House in New York City. These men were Charles Frohman, Al Hayman, A.L. Erlanger, Marc Klaw, Samuel F. Nirdlinger, and Frederick Zimmerman...

, it had its premiere in Chicago, Illinois on June 15, 1896. Jennie Goldthwaite was originally scheduled to play the female lead, Rose D'Ete, but she became indisposed and was relieved by Georgia Caine, who had been assigned the role of the nursemaid. After Caine replaced Goldthwaite, Florence Thornton was hired to play the nursemaid.

Subsequent to its New York run, the musical toured, opening at the Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

 Theatre, on April 12, 1897. It eventually returned to New York at the Harlem Opera House in December 1897.

Act 1, in Bidart's parlor salesrooms

The musical opens with the christening of a baby boy, son of Bidart, a Parisian florist. He has invited a relative to be the godfather. Unknown to him, his wife and mother-in-law have also invited people to be the godfather. To further complicate matters, the child's nurse, while strolling in the park with the baby, was speaking to an admirer while a policeman took the child away, and now returns tearfully revealing the child is missing. The act ends with all going to search for the child.

Act 2, in the 22nd barracks at Pepinière

Since the nursemaid was speaking to a policeman, Bidart and company have arrived at the barracks of the 22nd Regiment. Circumstances force Bidart and his party to wear uniforms, where they are mistaken for undisciplined members of the regiment. Unseen, one of the policemen returns the baby to the nursemaid and they depart. This occurs before Bidart and party realize, and they continue their search. Meanwhile one of the potential godfathers drops out.

Act 3, in the boudoir of Rose d'Ete

The nursemaid is the employee of Rose d'Ete, a famous Parision opera bouffe

Opéra bouffe

Opéra bouffe is a genre of late 19th-century French operetta, closely associated with Jacques Offenbach, who produced many of them at the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens that gave its name to the form....

 prima donna, who supposedly now has the child. When Bidart and his party enter to search for the baby, their identities are confused with those of Rose d'Ete's paramour; when the paramour arrives they pretend they are workmen. They finally learn that the baby has been taken back to the park where he was originally lost. The second of the potential godfathers drops out.

Act 4, in a corner of the gardens of the Luxembourg

The child has been traced to the gardens of Luxembourg

Luxembourg

Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...

. While Bidart searches, the remaining potential godfather gets into trouble by claiming and endeavoring to kidnap a baby and pretend it is the missing one. The climax occurs at the entrance of the christening procession: to the surprise of the three potential godfathers, the baby has been found and christened in their absence.

Cast

• Bidart, a florist: Louis Harrison
• Chachignon, from the south of France: M. A. Kennedy
• Courte Botte de Roquencourt, of the ancien régime: Joseph Herbert
• Galampois, the family notary: Claude Brooke
• Jolivet, a poor relative: John Gilroy
• Honorine Girardin, the godmother: Fannie Bulkeley
• Catherine, a wet nurse: Rose Beaudet
• Pauline: Caroline Leigh
• Gaston de Champignol, an aristocratic conscript: Cyril Scott
• Captain Latour, a military martinet: Edward Wilks
• Corporal Bridoux, a victim of circumstances: Dan Packard
• Achille, a rebellious recruit: David Torence
• Rose D'Ete, opera bouffe prima donna: Georgia Caine
• Julie, lady's maid to Rose: Florence Thornton
• Cerise, a soubrette
• Mlle. Doucy, a contralto
  Contralto
  Contralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above...
  
  
• Esteban Pacheco, a jealous Cuban: Henry Bergman
• Papa Pantin, a Napoleonic veteran: Edward Wilks
• Papa Bigot, a companion-at-arms: Max Rosen
• Renaud, a gendarme: Horace Sparks
• Françoise, a downtrodden nursemaid: Irene Verona
• Ninette, fond of the military: Sue Meade
• Louise, another nursmaid: Emma Janvier

Songs

• A Kiss in the Dark
• Buy a Balloon
• Jean and Jaque were Twins
• Ootchey Coochy
• Our Hearts They are Light (Christening Song)
• Two Heads are Better than One
• When I joined the Army
• When It's a Boy

Critical reception

"Cheever Goodwin, clever at adaptation, at times a most dexterous manipulator in stagecraft, has been singularly successful in this latest venture. Starting of a delightfully humorous set of complications, woven logically together, he has made an honest translation and obtained a genuinely absurd farce which he carries through four acts, sustaining the interest to the end."

Archival Material

Original scores and prompt books in the Tams-Witmark Collection in the University of Wisconsin–Madison

University of Wisconsin–Madison

The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...

.