Little Jack Sheppard

"Little Jack Sheppard" is a burlesque melodrama written by Henry Pottinger Stephens and William Yardley, with music by Meyer Lutz, with songs contributed by: Florian Pascal, Corney Grain, Arthur Cecil, Michael Watson, H. T. Leslie, Alfred Cellier and Hamilton Clarke. The comedy lampooned the serious plays based on the life of Jack Sheppard, especially the popular 1839 play by John Buckstone, which was in turn based on the novel of that year by William Harrison Ainsworth.

The piece opened at the Gaiety Theatre in London on 26 December 1885 and ran for 155 performances. It featured Nellie Farren as Jack Sheppard, Fred Leslie as Jonathan Wild, David James as Blueskin, Mathilde Wadman as Thames Darrell and Marion Hood as Winifred Wood. [http://gabrielleray.150m.com/ArchiveTextL/LittleJackSheppardGaiety1885.html Information about the original production] ] Other cast members included: Willie Warde (who also choreographed the dances), Emily Duncan, Emily Robina, Harriet Coveney and Sylvia Grey.

The piece enjoyed performances in New York City in 1886 at The Bijou Theatre [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E02E2DC1E30E533A25757C2A96F9C94679FD7CF Review of the New York production] ] , and in Melbourne, Australia in December 1886 at the Melbourne Opera House. [ [http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~melbear/1886.htm History of Theatre in Melbourne] ]

Background

This production was to be John Hollingshead's last burlesque at the Gaiety Theatre, and George Edwardes joined as his co-producer. [Traubner, p. 196] Hollingshead had created a popular following at the Gaiety Theatre for musical burlesque, or travesty. Other examples include "The Bohemian G-yurl and the Unapproachable Pole" (1877), "Blue Beard" (1882), "Ariel" (1883, by F. C. Burnand), and "Galatea, or Pygmalion Reversed" (1883). Beginning with "Little Jack Sheppard", however, Hollingshead's successor, George Edwardes, expanded the format of the burlesqes to full-length pieces with original music by Meyer Lutz, instead of scores compiled from popular tunes. ["Theatrical Humour in the Seventies", "The Times", 20 February 1914, p. 9, col. D] These included "Pretty Esmeralda" (1887), "Frankenstein, or The Vampire's Victim" (1887), "Mazeppa", "Faust up to Date" (1888), "Ruy Blas and the Blase Roue"(1888), "Carmen up to Data" (1890), "Cinder Ellen up too Late" (1891), and "Don Juan" (1892, with lyrics by Adrian Ross). [ [http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/Archive/August/prog1detail1.htm Programme for "Carmen up to Data"] ]

John Hollingshead had managed the Gaiety Theatre from 1868 to 1886 as a venue for variety, continental operetta, light comedy, and numerous musical burlesques composed or arranged by the theatre's music director, Wilhelm Meyer Lutz. Hollingshead called himself a "licensed dealer in legs, short skirts, French adaptations, Shakespeare, taste and musical glasses." [http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/Gaiety.htm Arthur Lloyd Music Hall site (on Gaiety) "Cuttings"] accessed 01 Mar 2007] In 1886, Hollingshead ceded the management of the theatre to Edwardes, whom he had hired in 1885. Nellie Farren, as the theatre's "principal boy," and Fred Leslie starred at the Gaiety for over 20 years. Leslie wrote many of its pieces under his pseudonym, "A. C. Torr". [Stewart, Maurice. 'The spark that lit the bonfire', in "Gilbert and Sullivan News" (London) Spring 2003.] In the early 1990s, as Burlesque went out of fashion, Edwardes changed the focus of the theatre from musical burlesque to the new genre of Edwardian musical comedy.

Many works of literature and theatre have been based on Sheppard's life. Perhaps the most prominent theatrical work is John Gay's "The Beggar's Opera" (1728). Sheppard was the inspiration for the character of Macheath, and his nemesis, Peachum, is based on Jonathan Wild. A melodrama, "Jack Sheppard, The Housebreaker, or London in 1724", by William Thomas Moncrieff was published in 1825. Ainsworth's popular novel was published in "Bentley's Miscellany" from January 1839, with illustrations by George Cruikshank. [Ainsworth, [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/16215 "Jack Sheppard"] at Project Gutenberg. See also an [http://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=4370 analysis] at The Literary Encyclopedia. Retrieved 5 February 2007.] Ainsworth's novel was adapted into a successful play by John Buckstone. The Ainsworth and Buckstone versions portrayed Sheppard as a swashbucking hero, and the fear that young people might emulate Sheppard's behaviour led the Lord Chamberlain to ban, at least in London, the licensing of any plays with "Jack Sheppard" in the title for forty years. [Moore, Lucy. "The Thieves' Opera." Viking (1997), p. 229 ISBN 0-670-87215-6]

elected musical numbers

The musical numbers were composed by Meyer Lutz, except as otherwise indicated:
*If you take into your head (Duet) - Florian Pascal
*Winifred Wood - Pascal
*A Fairy Tale (Duet) - Hamilton Clark
*There once was a time, my darling - Alfred Cellier
*Farewell to Old England
*Polyglot Duet
*Keep the ball a-rolling (Quintet)
*Chorus and march of Janissaries - Pascal
*Jonathan Wild - Arthur Cecil
*Jack's alive 'O
*They call me the Belle of Dollis Hill - Pascal
*You mustn't believe all you hear
*Silver star - Pascal
*Leave the whole business to me (Trio)
*Botany Bay
*All nations (Duet)
*Chorus of Peasants and Bridesmaids

Notes

References

*Traubner, Richard. "Operetta: A Theatrical History", (2003) Routledge.
*Adams, William Davenport. [http://books.google.com/books?id=tjwOAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22faust+up+to+date%22+stone+florence+lonnen&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0 "A dictionary of the drama"] (1904) Chatto & Windus
*Hollingshead, John. "Good Old Gaiety: An Historiette & Remembrance" (1903) London:Gaity Theatre Co

External links

* [http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchresult.cfm?parent_id=537607&word= Photos from "Little Jack Sheppard]
* [http://www.peopleplayuk.org.uk/guided_tours/musicals_tour/first_musicals/burlesques.php Information about Burlesque from the PeoplePlay UK website]
* [http://www.peopleplayuk.org.uk/collections/object.php?object_id=1597 Poster and further information from the PeoplePlay UK website]