A Trip to Chinatown

Infobox Musical
name= A Trip to Chinatown
subtitle=


caption= Cover of Vocal Score
music= Percy Gaunt
lyrics= Charles H. Hoyt
book= Charles H. Hoyt
basis=
productions= 1891 Broadway
awards=

A Trip to Chinatown is a musical comedy in three acts by Charles H. Hoyt with music by Percy Gaunt and lyrics by Hoyt, that became a silent film featuring Anna May Wong half a century later. In addition to the Gaunt and Hoyt score, many songs were interpolated into the score at one time or another during the run, as was fashionable for musicals of the era. The story concerns a widow who accidentally maneuvers several young suburban couples into a big city restaurant and brings romance to them and herself, as in "Hello, Dolly!"

After almost a year of touring, the musical opened at Broadway’s Madison Square Theater on November 9 1891 and ran for 657 performances, or just short of two years. This was the longest-running Broadway musical in history up to that time (although London had seen a few longer runs), and it held that record until "Irene" in 1919. The show was such a hit that several road companies played it throughout the country simultaneously with the Broadway production, and at one point a second company was even opened in New York while the original company was still performing on Broadway. The cast included Trixie Friganza.

Background

Hoyt was born in Concord, New Hampshire (USA), on July 26 1859. He had a difficult childhood (his mother died when he was nine years old) and both his first wife, actress Flora Walsh, and his second wife, actress Caroline Miskel, died after only a few years of marriage. The death of his second wife in 1898 led to Hoyt's being committed to an insane asylum in 1900. Although his stay was brief, he returned to his Charlestown, New Hampshire home and died four months later.

"A Trip to Chinatown" was Hoyt's 10th of 18 plays produced between 1883 and 1899. Hoyt's plays emphasized individualized characters drawn from the everyday experiences of ordinary people. Most of his plays were non-musical farces. Two of the songs from the show are still known, "The Bowery" and "Reuben and Cynthia." There were many interpolations of songs into "A Trip to Chinatown" due to the many touring companies, the most famous being Charles K. Harris's "After the Ball," which was not part of the 1891 Broadway production but became a big hit and was later interpolated into "Show Boat" to exemplify the 1890s style.

Versions of the script can be found in the 1941 Princeton University Press collection, "Five Plays by Charles Hoyt" edited by Douglas L. Hunt. In addition the George Washington University has microfiche copies of three versions of Hoyt’s script, which changed as the cast changed, and differed from tour to tour.

ynopsis

A group of young people in San Francisco tell their wealthy guardian, Uncle Ben, that they are going sightseeing in Chinatown. They really plan a night out on the town. They have engaged a chaperone, Mrs. Guyer, but her letter of acceptance is received by Uncle Ben, who misinterprets it as an invitation to a rendezvous. At "The Riche", the restaurant mentioned in the letter, where the young people have booked a table, he gets drunk. He does not see the young couples or Mrs. Guyer and it turns out that he has forgotten his wallet, which leads to humorous complications. Ben is unable to scold the young people for deceiving him, as they point out that they know about his own night out.

Roles

*Welland Strong (a man with one foot in the grave) - Harry Conor
*Ben Gay (a wealthy bachelor) - George A. Beane, Jr.
*Tony Gay (his ward) - Avery Strakosch
*Rashleigh Gay (his nephew) - Lloyd Wilson
*Norman Blood (chum of Rashleigh) - Arthur Pacie
*Willie Grow (a gilded youth - a trouser role) - Blanche Arkwright (later Queenie Vassar)
*Noah Heap (waiter) - Harry Gilfoil
*Slavin Payne (Ben's servant) - Harry Gilfoil
*Turner Swift (runs the ice crusher) - W. S. Lewis
*Isabel Dame (friend of the Gays) - Geraldine McCann
*Hoffman Price (manager of Cliff House) - Frank E. Morsk
*Mrs. Guyer (a widow) - Anna Boyd
*Flirt (Mrs. Guyer's maid) - Patrice
*Dancers

Musical numbers

*The Bowery
*Reuben and Cynthia
*The Widow
*Push Dem Clouds Away (an African cantata)
*The Chaperone
*Out for a Racket
*After the Ball
*The Sunshine of Paradise Alley
*Love Me Little, Love Me Long (the music to this song is lost)
*Do, Do, My Huckleberry, Do (the music and chorus to this song are lost)
*Keep A-Knockin’
*Riding on the Golden Bike
*Her Eyes Don’t Shine like Diamonds
*Only One Girl in the World for Me
*Then Say Good Bye!
*She’s My Best Girl
*Back among the Old Folks Once Again
*McGee’s Back Yard

1926 Film

There is a 1926 silent film version of the play called "A Trip to Chinatown" that features Margaret Livingston, Anna May Wong, and Charles Farrell. The movie was scripted by Beatrice Van from Charles Hale Hoyt's play and directed by Robert P. Kerr. Livingston played the "Woman from the City" the following year in F. W. Murnau's "Sunrise", the rival to Farrell's future screen partner Janet Gaynor.

References

* [http://www.geocities.com/musictheater/trip/china.html Information about the musical]
* [http://www.musicals101.com/1890-1900.htm Profile of the musical and photo of a program]

External links

*
* [http://polish.imdb.com/title/tt0017484/combined "A Trip to Chinatown"] at the IMDB database
* [http://www.liucedarswampcollection.org/template1/hoyt.html Profile and poster of the musical]
* [http://www.dgillan.screaming.net/stage/th-longr.html List of longest-running plays]