My Lady Molly - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

My Lady Molly is a comic opera

Comic opera

Comic opera denotes a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending.Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a new operatic genre, opera buffa, emerged as an alternative to opera seria...

in two acts with a libretto by George H. Jessop, with additional lyrics by Percy Greenbank

Percy Greenbank

Percy Greenbank was an English lyricist, best known for his contribution of lyrics to a number of successful Edwardian musical comedies in the early years of the 20th century. His older brother, lyricist Harry Greenbank, had a brilliant career in the 1890s that was cut short by his death at the...

and Charles H. Taylor

Charles H. Taylor (lyricist)

Charles Henry Taylor was a British lyricist, best known for his lyrics for early 20th century West End musical comedies and a comic opera, Tom Jones.-Life and career:...

, and music by Sidney Jones

Sidney Jones

James Sidney Jones , usually credited as Sidney Jones, was an English conductor and composer, most famous for producing the musical scores for a series of musical comedy hits in the late Victorian and Edwardian periods....

. It opened at the Theatre Royal in Brighton

Brighton

Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...

, England, on 11 August 1902 and then at Terry's Theatre

Terry's Theatre

Terry's Theatre was a West End theatre on Strand, in the City of Westminster, London. Built in 1887, it became a cinema in 1910 before being demolished in 1923.-History:...

in London on 14 March 1903, under the management of Frederick Mouillot, running for 342 performances. It featured Decima Moore

Decima Moore

Lilian Decima, Lady Moore-Guggisberg, CBE , better known by her stage name Decima Moore, was an English singer and actress, known for her performances in soprano roles with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and in musical comedies. She was the youngest of ten siblings...

. It also enjoyed tours and had a brief Broadway run.

The piece is the last successful English comic opera in the tradition of 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...

's Dorothy
Dorothy (opera)
Dorothy is a comic opera in three acts with music by Alfred Cellier and a libretto by B. C. Stephenson. The story involves a rake who falls in love with his disguised fiancée.It was first produced at the Gaiety Theatre in London on in 1886...

and Arthur Sullivan

Arthur Sullivan

Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan MVO was an English composer of Irish and Italian ancestry. He is best known for his series of 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including such enduring works as H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado...

's Haddon Hall
Haddon Hall (opera)
Haddon Hall is an English light opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by Sydney Grundy. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on September 24, 1892 for a modestly successful run of 204 performances...

, as distinguished from the style of the lighter musical comedies of the period.http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/notes/67006.html

Roles and original cast

Captain Harry Romney – Richard Green
Lionel Bland – Walter Hyde
Sir Miles Coverdale – Chas. F. Cooke
Mickey O'dowd (Servant To Captain Harry) – Bert Gilbert
Landlord (Of The Coverdale Arms) – H. M. Imano
Head Groom – William Waite
Rev. Silas Wapshott (Vicar Of Coverdale) – Walter Wright
Judge Romney (Father To Harry) – Cecil Howard
Lady Molly Martindale – Sybil Arundale
Sybil Arundale
Sybil Arundale was a stage and film actress.In 1893 she appeared in music halls with her sister, Grace where they were billed as "The Sisters Arundale". She also starred in musicals, including My Lady Molly...
Hester (Her Confidential Maid) – Mabel Allen
Alice Coverdale (Daughter To Sir Miles) – Decima Moore
Decima Moore
Lilian Decima, Lady Moore-Guggisberg, CBE , better known by her stage name Decima Moore, was an English singer and actress, known for her performances in soprano roles with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and in musical comedies. She was the youngest of ten siblings...
Mademoiselle Mirabeau (Governess To Alice) – Andrée Corday
Housekeeper (At Coverdale Arms) – Dorothy Cameron
Lucy and Allison (Chambermaids) – Miss Arundale and Rose Batchelor

Musical numbers

Overture

ACT I - The Courtyard at Coverdale Arms. "Morning."

No. 1 - Opening Chorus - "Brushes and brooms sweeping the corridors, dusting the rooms, up with the lark..."
No. 1a - Solo - Landlord - "There is the Key. Let ev'ry man go in and fetch his measure of bran..."
No. 2 - Song - Landlord, with Chorus - "A man may know no voice of friend; may travel far from kith and kin..."
No. 3 - Song - Lionel & Chorus of Maidservants - "There's a little maid I know. She is so very sweet..."
No. 4 - Duet - Alice & Lionel - "When we were children, I and you, of course you recollect..."
Nos. 4a & 5 - Recit. & Quartette - Mirabeau, Alice, Lionel & Landlord - "Your worship's breakfast waits..."
No. 6 - Song - Mickey, with Chorus - "Ye sarve a man for sivin years and follow him about..."
No. 7 - Duet - Lady Molly & Hester - "Oh, I'll greet him soft and low, fan the old-time embers..."
No. 8 - Trio - Lady Molly, Hester & Mickey - "Wear 'em wid an air, hat an' boots an' them things..."
No. 9 - Chorus, and Solo - Sir Miles - "Ye-ho yoicks! Run to earth, there's the sign! ..."
No. 10 - Song - Alice, with Chorus - "Now a gallant knight lov'd a maiden fair in medieval fashion..."
No. 11 - Chorus - "Topers, fling your glasses aside; quit your vows, Sir Lover..."
No. 12 - Duet - Harry & Lionel - "Though you may choose your future bride, I do not dread what you may do..."
No. 13 - Chorus & Trio - Molly, Hester & Mickey - "Maggie, Winnie, Catkin, Minnie, Alison and Sue..."
No. 14 - Chorus, Recit. amp; Song - Harry - "We saw the swords, upon our words! the naked steel flash'd out! ..."
No. 15 - Finale Act I - "Rogue detected! There's a gentleman present here, now in this room..."

Act II - The Hall in Coverdale Castle. "Night."

No. 16 - Opening Chorus - "How do you do? And you, my dear? You rode, no doubt; I came by post..."
No. 17 - Song - Alice & Chorus - "I know that I've been naughty all my life; my conduct's most provoking, I'm afraid..."
No. 18 - Duet - Mickey & Mirabeau - "It's dreadfully hard to understand the things you foreigners say..."
No. 19 - Song - Lady Molly - "When a maiden is wooed by a man, his advances she frequently spurns..."
No. 20 - Trio - Sir Miles, Alice & Lady Molly, with Chorus - "Yoicks ho! Were I younger I'd teach you to dance..."
No. 21 - Song - Harry - "There's an eye that is watching me all unseen, a bold dark eye with a winsome light..."
No. 22 - Quartette - Alice, Molly, Lionel & Harry - "Suppose a Highwayman you were, and went to rob a coach..."
No. 23 - Entrance of Bridesmaids, and Song - Hester - "What a show of pretty things, light and airy..."
No. 24 - Flower Chorus - "A chance, dear girls, to exercise your pow'rs; we're ask'd to deck the castle for the fête..."
No. 25 - Song - Mickey O'Dowd - "There's times when the world is a beautiful place, wid niver an ache nor a trouble..."
No. 26 - Chorus - Bridal March - "Now the chancel waits the bride, brilliantly lighted, radiant with flow'rs..."
No. 27 - Song - Mirabeau - "'Opeless ze state of me, sad ees ze fate of me, bygone ze date of me..."
No. 28 - Chorus - Bridal March - "What has happened, what's the matter? Is it that the bride was nervous? ..."
No. 29 - Duet - Molly & Harry - "I craved for that kiss last year, and a word that you would not say..."
No. 30 - Finale Act II - "But today, yes, today hope blossoms anew, and the weary days were not all in vain..."

External links

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