Tita in Thibet is an English two-act musical play

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...

 by Frank Desprez

Frank Desprez

Frank Desprez was an English playwright, essayist, and poet. He wrote more than twenty pieces for the theatre, as well as numerous shorter works, including his famous poem, Lasca.-Life and career:...

. It opened at the Royalty Theatre

Royalty Theatre

The Royalty Theatre was a small London theatre situated at 73 Dean Street, Soho and opened on 25 May 1840 as Miss Kelly's Theatre and Dramatic School and finally closed to the public in 1938. The architect was Samuel Beazley, a resident in Soho Square, who also designed St James's Theatre, among...

 in London on 1 January 1879.

Tita in Thibet was written as a vehicle for the music hall star Kate Santley

Kate Santley

Kate Santley was an American-born English actress, singer, comedienne, and theatre manager. Her brother was the English baritone, Sir Charles Santley, famous in Wagner's Flying Dutchman among other roles.-Musical theatre career:...

. Fred Leslie

Frederick Hobson Leslie

Frederick George Hobson, known as Fred Leslie , was an English actor, singer, comedian and dramatist....

 and W. H. Seymour, who would become the stage manager of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company

D'Oyly Carte Opera Company

The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company was a professional light opera company that staged Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas. The company performed nearly year-round in the UK and sometimes toured in Europe, North America and elsewhere, from the 1870s until it closed in 1982. It was revived in 1988 and...

 for 20 years, also played in the piece, as did ex-D'Oyly Carte player Walter H. Fisher

Walter H. Fisher

Walter Henry Fisher was an English singer and actor of the Victorian era best known as a member of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and the creator of the role of the Defendant in Gilbert and Sullivan's 1875 opera Trial by Jury...

.

The setting of the piece took advantage of the Victorian fad for anything Far East-themed. The became Desprez's most frequently played work and was later played by the Majilton theatre company more than a thousand times in the British provinces.

Synopsis

In China, a European idol merchant called Brum has a jealous wife named Tita. Brum decides to test his wife by pretending that love letters have been sent to him by another woman. Meanwhile, two Tibetan merchants (Chin-Chin and Po-Hi) and a young tea-gardener (Young Hyson) all seek to wed Tita. They point out that the customs of the country permit every wife to have four husbands. Brum is disgusted and enraged.

To punish her husband for his imagined flirtations, Tita pretends to be charmed by the idea of marrying these suitors, and she agrees to meet them in the Temple of Fo to hold the wedding ceremonies. Brum hides in the Temple and disguises himself as an idol to watch the ceremony. Tita dresses Chin-Chin as a woman and fools Po-Hi and Young Hyson into making their expressions of love to "her". Eventually, Tita and Brum reconcile, and all ends happily.

Critical reception

The Era, a London newspaper, reviewed the piece, as follows:

Miss Santley appeared as Tita, a part which seemed to please her immensely. Her singing, like her speaking, was spoiled by affectation, although it is only right to say that in "I wish I was a man" and in "Poor Mrs. B." – both songs of the Music Hall class – she was vociferously applauded by the youths in the gallery. In the second act Miss Santley wears a dress which gives a very liberal display of personal charms. Mr. W. H. Fisher played the part of Brum with considerable "go," and his acting in the idol business of the second act was decidedly funny. Mr. Charles Groves exhibited some dry humour as Chin-Chin, but the everlasting talk about the umbrella which he carries may be modified with advantage. Very comical indeed was the Po-Hi of Mr. Frederick Leslie, whose method of indicating mental anguish called forth considerable merriment. Miss Alma Stanley made an imposing Young Hyson, and was of service in the interpretation of the music; the Great and Little Bonzes being respectively represented by Mr. C. A. White and Mr. W. H. Seymour. To those in search of a good and refined entertainment we certainly cannot recommend a visit to the Royalty.

Roles and original cast

• Brum (a European idol merchant) – Walter H. Fisher
  Walter H. Fisher
  Walter Henry Fisher was an English singer and actor of the Victorian era best known as a member of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and the creator of the role of the Defendant in Gilbert and Sullivan's 1875 opera Trial by Jury...
  
  
• Tita (his jealous wife) – Kate Santley
  Kate Santley
  Kate Santley was an American-born English actress, singer, comedienne, and theatre manager. Her brother was the English baritone, Sir Charles Santley, famous in Wagner's Flying Dutchman among other roles.-Musical theatre career:...
  
  
• Chin-Chin (a mandarin of second class, in love with Tita) – Charles Groves
• Po-Hi (a mandarin of the first class who also seeks to marry Tita) – Fred Leslie
  Frederick Hobson Leslie
  Frederick George Hobson, known as Fred Leslie , was an English actor, singer, comedian and dramatist....
  
  
• Young Hyson (an impassioned young tea-gardener) – Alma Stanley
• The Great Bonze – C. A. White
• The Little Bonze – W. H. Seymour

External links

• Biography of Desprez with information about Tita
• Review of Tita in Thibet at Footnote Lights