The Spring Chicken
Encyclopedia
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
musical comedy adapted by George Grossmith, Jr.
George Grossmith, Jr.
George Grossmith, Jr. was a British actor, theatre producer and manager, director, playwright and songwriter, best remembered for his work in and with Edwardian musical comedies...
from Coquin de Printemps (1897) by Jaime and Duval, with music by Ivan Caryll
Ivan Caryll
Félix Marie Henri Tilkin , better known by his pen name Ivan Caryll, was a Belgian composer of operettas and Edwardian musical comedies in the English language...
and Lionel Monckton
Lionel Monckton
Lionel John Alexander Monckton was an English writer and composer of musical theatre. He was Britain's most popular musical theatre composer of the early years of the 20th century.-Early life:...
and lyrics by Adrian Ross
Adrian Ross
For the NFL player see Adrian Ross Arthur Reed Ropes , better known under the pseudonym Adrian Ross, was a prolific writer of lyrics, contributing songs to more than sixty British musical comedies in the late 19th and early 20th centuries...
, 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 Grossmith, produced by George Edwardes
George Edwardes
George Joseph Edwardes was an English theatre manager of Irish ancestry who brought a new era in musical theatre to the British stage and beyond....
at the Gaiety Theatre
Gaiety Theatre, London
The Gaiety Theatre, London was a West End theatre in London, located on Aldwych at the eastern end of the Strand. The theatre was established as the Strand Musick Hall , in 1864 on the former site of the Lyceum Theatre. It was rebuilt several times, but closed from the beginning of World War II...
, opening on 30 May 1905. It ran for a very successful 401 performances. The London production starred Grossmith, Harry Grattan
Harry Grattan
Harry Grattan was a British stage actor, singer, dancer and writer best known for his performances in musical comedies around 1900.- Life and career :...
, and Gertie Millar
Gertie Millar
Gertrude "Gertie" Millar was one of the most famous English singer-actresses of the early 20th century, known for her performances in Edwardian musical comedies....
, with Henry Lytton
Henry Lytton
Sir Henry Lytton was an English actor and singer who was the leading exponent of the comic patter-baritone roles in Gilbert and Sullivan operas in the early part of the twentieth century...
later joining the cast.
The Spring Chicken had a Broadway run in 1906 and toured in Britain and America.
Roles
- Gustave Babori (Advocate) – George Grossmith, Jr.George Grossmith, Jr.George Grossmith, Jr. was a British actor, theatre producer and manager, director, playwright and songwriter, best remembered for his work in and with Edwardian musical comedies...
- Boniface (His Head Clerk) – Lionel Mackinder
- Baron Papouche (His Client) – Harry GrattanHarry GrattanHarry Grattan was a British stage actor, singer, dancer and writer best known for his performances in musical comedies around 1900.- Life and career :...
- Félix (Head Waiter at "The Crimson Butterfly") – Robert Nainby
- Stephen-Henry (Girdle's Son) – William Spray
- Proprietor of "The Crimson Butterfly" – Arthur Hatherton
- Alexis and Ferdinand (Babori's Clerks) – George Gregory and Harry Taylor
- Waiter – Leigh Ellis
- Napoleon (Office Boy) – Master Cross
- Joseph Boniface (An Artist) – Charles Brown
- Inspector of Police – R. Tremayne
- Mr. Girdle (Babori's Father-in-Law) – Edmund PayneEdmund PayneEdmund Payne , was an actor, comedian, singer and dramatist best known for his comic appearances in Edwardian Musical Comedy. His father was Edmund Payne, a master cabinet builder and his mother was Eliza Payne née Ince....
- Mrs. Girdle – Connie Ediss
- Baroness Papouche – Kate CutlerKate CutlerKate Ellen Louisa Cutler was an English singer and actress, known in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as an ingénue in musical comedies, and later as a character actress in comic and dramatic plays...
- Dulcie Babori (Babori's Wife) – Olive Morell
- Emmy-Lou (Girdle's Niece) – Olive May
- La Modiste – Isabelle Lidster
- Sylvana, Thérèse and Henriette (Clients of Babori) – Gaynor RowlandsGaynor RowlandsGaynor Rowlands , was an English actress, singer, and dancer, born in London, of Welsh parents. In Wales she became known as "Eos Gwalia": The Nightingale of Wales....
, Gertrude Glyn and Marguerite Gray - Yvonne, Yvette and Céleste (GrisettesGrisette (French)The word grisette has referred to a French working-class woman from the late 17th century and remained in common use through the Belle Époque era, albeit with some modifications to its meaning. It derives from gris, , and refers to the cheap grey fabric of the dresses these women originally wore...
) – Kitty Mason, Fanny Dango (one of the Rudge SistersRudge SistersThe Rudge sisters were British actresses and dancers from Birmingham.The sisters were actually first cousins. Their mothers were all sisters. The Rudge Sisters were:* Letitia Elizabeth Rudge - Letty Lind ,...
), Ethel Oliver - Rosalie – Gertie MillarGertie MillarGertrude "Gertie" Millar was one of the most famous English singer-actresses of the early 20th century, known for her performances in Edwardian musical comedies....
Musical numbers
ACT I - Office of M. Babori at his Residence, Paris- No. 1 - Opening Chorus - "If we live in the land we love, we must love in the land we live..."
- No. 2 - Song - Baron & Chorus - "As one of the Old Noblesse, I'm eager to seek redress..."
- No. 3 - Trio - Baroness, Babori & Baron - "Were you my client, Baroness, I boldly should assert you..."
- No. 4 - Song - Dulcie - "When sun and showers awake the flowers to venture forth..."
- No. 5 - Quartet - Mr. & Mrs. Girdle, Emmy-Lou & Stephen-Henry - "It seemed a dreadful bore to leave our native shore..."
- No. 6 - Song - Girdle & Chorus - "I'm slightly past the age of thirty-one, and all the many foolish things I've done..."
- No. 7 - Song - Rosalie - "I'm a country lass, you know, fresh to all the streets and houses..."
- No. 8 - Concerted Piece - " Open windows, open doors, sprinkle tea-leaves on the floors..."
- No. 9 - Quartet - Rosalie, Emmy-Lou, Boniface & Stephen-Henry - " The swallow's a dear little bird..."
- No. 10 - Song - Mrs. Girdle & Chorus - " I don't say that husbands are all of them bad..."
- No. 11 - Concerted Number - "A modiste modeste, she has done her best to make us look all most exquisitely dressed! ..."
- No. 12 - March Song - Babori & Chorus - "When the Autumn leaves are falling, I can hear my conscience calling..."
- No. 13 - Duet - Rosalie & Girdle - "I'd like to go on a London spree ... Then come with me! ..." (four verses)
- No. 14 - Finale Act I - "Here is news that's really very unpleasant! We've been patiently waiting all the day..."
ACT II - Scene 1 - The Crimson Butterfly Restaurant, Malmaison. Scene 2 - A Studio at Malmaison
- No. 15 - Opening Chorus - "If you're tired of having your meals 'mid the noise and the traffic of town..."
- No. 16 - Song - Felix & Chorus - "If the mysteries you're eager to unravel, of the world and all the doings of the day..."
- No. 17 - Duet - Rosalie & Boniface, with Chorus - "When I was a child about so high, and feeding the ducks and chickens..."
- No. 18 - Song - Rosalie & Chorus - "There once was a dear little girl you must know; you've heard of such girls, I think..."
- No. 19 - Song - Dulcie & Chorus - "When Gustave proposed to me, he went down on bended knee..." (six verses)
- No. 20 - Song - Boniface & Chorus - "Do you know the jolly student band who come in joyous train? ..."
- No. 21 - Song - Baroness & Chorus - "I wanted to obtain advice from a lawyer at his leisure..."
- No. 22 - Duet - Babori & Girdle - "When a man is young, under thirty-five, he is handsomer, stronger and sounder..."
- No. 23 - Song - Rosalie & Chorus - "Here we are you see, in our dear Paris; all is love and laughter..."
- No. 24 - Recit. and Song - Babori & Chorus - "I am the manager of the National Theatre / The drama of Britain is limping..."
- No. 25 - Finale Act II - "So come to France when you've a chance..." (reprise of parts of nos. 23 & 12)