Three Little Maids - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Three Little Maids is an English musical by Paul Rubens

Paul Rubens (composer)

Paul Alfred Rubens was an English songwriter and librettist who wrote some of the most popular Edwardian musical comedies of the early twentieth century. He contributed to the success of dozens of musicals....

with additional songs 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 Howard Talbot

Howard Talbot

Richard Lansdale Munkittrick, better known as Howard Talbot , was an American-born, English-raised conductor and composer of Irish descent...

. The story concerns three simple curate's daughters who go to London to earn their livings serving tea in a Bond Street

Bond Street

Bond Street is a major shopping street in the West End of London that runs north-south through Mayfair between Oxford Street and Piccadilly. It has been a fashionable shopping street since the 18th century and is currently the home of many high price fashion shops...

tea shop. They become the romantic rivals of three ladies of fashion but succeed because of their freshness.

The musical opened at the Apollo Theatre

Apollo Theatre

The Apollo Theatre is a Grade II listed West End theatre, on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster. Designed by architect Lewin Sharp for owner Henry Lowenfield, and the fourth legitimate theatre to be constructed on the street, its doors opened on 21 February 1901 with the American...

in London on 10 May 1902 and later transferred to the Prince of Wales Theatre

Prince of Wales Theatre

The Prince of Wales Theatre is a West End theatre on Coventry Street, near Leicester Square in the City of Westminster. It was established in 1884 and rebuilt in 1937, and extensively refurbished in 2004 by Sir Cameron Mackintosh, its current owner...

, running for a total of 348 performances. Edna May

Edna May

Edna May Pettie , known on stage as Edna May, was an American actress and singer. A popular postcard beauty, May was famous for her leading roles in Edwardian Musical Comedies.- Life and career :...

, Delia Mason and Lily Elsie

Lily Elsie

Lily Elsie was a popular English actress and singer during the Edwardian era, best known for her starring role in the hit London premiere of Franz Lehár's operetta The Merry Widow....

(on tour) each starred as Edna Branscombe. Ada Reeve

Ada Reeve

Ada Reeve was an English actress of both stage and film. Reeve began to perform in pantomime and music hall as a child. She gained fame in Edwardian musical comedies in the 1890s....

was a replacement as Ada Branscombe. Choreography was by Willie Warde

Willie Warde

Willie Warde was an English actor, dancer, singer and choreographer. The son of a dancer, his first theatre work was with a dance company. He was engaged to arrange dances for London productions and was later cast as a comic actor in musical theatre...

, scenery by Hawes Craven

Hawes Craven

Henry Hawes Craven Green was an English theatre scene-painter. He collaborated with Henry Irving, Richard D'Oyly Carte and Herbert Beerbohm Tree, producing stage sets of unprecedented realism...

and Joseph Harker, and costumes by C. Wilhelm

William Charles John Pitcher

William John Charles Pitcher , known as Wilhelm or C. Wilhelm, was an English artist, costume and scenery designer, best known for his designs for ballets, pantomimes, comic operas, and Edwardian musical comedies....

.

There were also a Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

production in 1903 and international tours. The New York Times

The New York Times

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

gave the show a rave review after its opening night in New York: "It is just possible that there have been better musical comedies ... but if there have, nobody in the audience could think of them at the end of the evening. ... It was the marvel of ... good looks, good dancing, and good acting working together for the common weal." The paper particularly praised the humour of George Patrick Huntley (1868–1927) and Maurice Farkoa. The title characters were played in New York by Maggie May, Madge Crichton, and Delia Mason. Another rave review was published in The New York Dramatic Mirror".

Synopsis

Act I
The Branscombe girls are three simple curate

Curate

A curate is a person who is invested with the care or cure of souls of a parish. In this sense "curate" correctly means a parish priest but in English-speaking countries a curate is an assistant to the parish priest...

's daughters from the countryside, not far from London. They meet Lady St. Mallory (proprietress of a fashionable tea shop) and her friends from London, including three young gentlemen to whom they immediately are attracted. The girls happily accept Lady St. Mallory's offer to go to London to work as waitresses serving tea in her Bond Street

Bond Street

tea shop.

Act II
The three men, Lord Cheyne, Brian Molyneux and Monsieur de Lorme flirt with the girls at the tea shop, not recognizing them from the earlier out-of-town meeting, as the girls's serving uniform is the costume of Holland. Each of the men also has a London girlfriend of position in London society who becomes jealous of the Branscombe sisters. The society girls decide to disguise themselves as waitresses to meet their rivals on their own ground. The three men prefer the Branscombe girls and invite them to a dance at Lady St. Mallory's country house.

Act III
At the country house, the three girls charm the men and defeat their rivals, who are, fortunately, philosophical about their loss.

Roles

Edna, Hilda and Ada Branscombe (Daughters of the Rev. Theodore Branscombe) – Edna May
Edna May
Edna May Pettie , known on stage as Edna May, was an American actress and singer. A popular postcard beauty, May was famous for her leading roles in Edwardian Musical Comedies.- Life and career :...

, Hilda Moody, and Madge Crichton
Lady St. Mallory – Lottie Venne
Lottie Venne
Lottie Venne was a British comedienne, actress and singer of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, who enjoyed a theatre career spanning five decades. Venne began her stage career in musical burlesque before moving into farce and comedy. She appeared in several works by each of F. C. Burnand and W. S...
Lady Rosemary Beaulieu, Venetia Grafton, and Lady Marjory Crichton (Protégées of Lady St. Mallory) – Millie Legarde, Betty Belknap and Ruby Ray
Miss Deare (Postmistress at Market Mallory) – Sybil Grey
Sybil Grey
Sybil Grey was a British opera singer during the Victorian era best known for creating a series of minor roles in productions by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, including roles in several of the famous Gilbert and Sullivan operas, between 1880 to 1888...
Miss Crane (A Village Girl) – Hilda Jeffreys
Miss Price (Manageress of the Tea Shop) – Jane May
Hon. Bobbie Windsor (An Eton Boy) – Miss Vincent
Miss Effie Thames – Effie Rivers
Lord Cheyne (Nicknamed "Daisy") – G. P. Huntley
Brian Molyneux – J. L. Mackay
Rev. Theodore Branscombe (Vicar of Market Mallory) – John Beauchamp
"Cupid" (A Caddy) – George Carroll
M. De L'Orme (of the French Embassy) – Maurice Farkoa

Musical numbers

ACT I - Golf Links at Market Mallory

No. 1 - Opening Chorus - "Since daybreak the sun very brightly has shone..."
No. 2 - Song - Mrs. Deare & Chorus - "When I first saw Market Mallory, there wasn't much Market then..."
No. 3 - Trio - Edna, Hilda & Ada - "When the season's over, and you want a holiday 'mong the corn and clover..."
No. 4 - Sextet - Country Girls & London Girls - "A mouse once lived in the country..."
No. 5 - Song - Cupid - "I keep my eye on those maidens three, and strictly entre nous..."
No. 6 - Song - de l'Orme & Chorus - "Of all the games that a man can play, Love is the hardest to beat..."
No. 7 - Duet - Edna & Brian - "In the future, come what may, I shall not forget today..."
No. 8 - Song - Ada - "I'm sure you've never seen a gal like my gal Sal..."
No. 9 - Duet - Cheyne & Ada - "Golf is an excellent game in its way -- But ev'rything's all "in the way,"..."
No. 10 - Finale Act I - "All the luggage has been put upon the cart; they've a drive of half an hour, or more or less..."

ACT II - A Bond Street Tea Shop

No. 11 - Opening Chorus - "When Society goes shopping in the regions of the West..."
No. 12 - Song - Hilda & Chorus - "A miller's daughter liv'd beside a mill..."
No. 13 - Song - de l'Orme - "When you are by my side, the world seems gay..."
No. 14 - Song - Edna - "When I think of all the tales you've told me..."
No. 15 - Song - Ada - "You men are a terrible bore, why were you ever invented? ..."
No. 16 - Song - Cupid & Chorus - "Tho' I'm only a boy it is true, women play havoc with me as with you..."
No. 17 - Song - Cheyne - "You must have met a friend of mine called Algy, that's his name..."
No. 18 - Trio - Edna, Hilda & Ada - "We are little tea girls, as you see; you will never see such girls as we..."
No. 19 - Sextet - Ada, Edna, Hilda, Cheyne, Brian & de l'Orme - "You pull at a lever or press a knob..."
No. 20 - Finale Act II

ACT III - Lady St. Mallory's Drawing-room at Market Mallory

No. 21 - Opening Chorus - "Lady St. Mallory's friends this ev'ning are highly delighted..."
No. 22 - Song - Edna - "When a maid loves a man, 'tis a sad to-do..."
No. 23 - Song - Hilda & Chorus - "When a little lady first comes out, she'll find no end of men about..."
No. 24 - Song - Ada & Chorus - "I don't believe I'm witty, I cannot think I'm smart..."
No. 25 - Duet - Hilda & de l'Orme - "Je vous adore, ev'ry day more, oh! how I long for the day when you're mine..."
No. 26 - Sextet - Edna & Brian, Hilda & de l'Orme, Ada & Cheyne - "Oh, what a splendid thing, to have a wedding ring..."
No. 27 - Finale Act III (reprise of no. 26) - "Oh, what a splendid thing, to have a wedding ring..."

Addendum

No. 28 - Song - Hilda, with Cheyne - "It won't be very long before I get to town, and there I mean to be a lady of renown..."

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Synopsis

Roles

Musical numbers

External links