Carmen up to Data
Carmen up to Data | |
---|---|
G. R. Sims Henry Pettitt | |
Productions | 1890 West End |
Carmen up to Data is a musical
After a tryout in Liverpool in September 1890, the piece premiered at the Gaiety Theatre, London, on 4 October 1890, produced by George Edwardes.[2] It starred Florence St. John in the title role, Letty Lind as Mercedes, Jenny Dawson as Escamillo, Maria Jones as Michaela, Blanche Massey as Morales, Horace Mills as Remendado, E. J. Lonnen as José and Arthur Williams as Captain Zuniga.[3]
The piece was a success and toured throughout the English-speaking world, reaching Australia by 1892.[4]
Background
Bizet's Carmen had first been produced in English in London in 1878 at
Critical reception
In the December 1890 issue of Punch magazine, the reviewer wrote, "In calling their burlesque Carmen up to Data possibly the two dear clever boys who wrote it intended some crypto-jocosity of which the hidden meaning is known only to the initiated in these sublime mysteries. Why 'Data'? On the other hand, 'Why not?' However attractive or not as a heading in a bill of the play, the Gaiety Carmen is, on the whole, a merry, bright, and light burlesque-ish piece."[10]
References
- Adams, William Davenport. A dictionary of the drama (1904) Chatto & Windus
- Hollingshead, John. Good Old Gaiety: An Historiette & Remembrance (1903) London: Gaiety Theatre Co
Notes
- ISBN 9780195384567.
- ^ Adams, p. 255
- ^ a b Programme for Carmen up to Data Archived 2008-12-10 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Theatre in Melbourne 1892" Archived 2009-02-16 at the Wayback Machine, Mel Moratti's Gilbert and Sullivan Down Under site
- ^ Adams, pp. 254–55
- ^ Arthur Lloyd Music Hall site (on Gaiety) Cuttings Archived 2009-02-12 at the Wayback Machine accessed 01 Mar 2007
- ^ "Theatrical Humour in the Seventies", The Times, 20 February 1914, p. 9, col. D
- ^ Stewart, Maurice. 'The spark that lit the bonfire', in Gilbert and Sullivan News (London) Spring 2003.
- ISBN 0-304-29372-5
- ^ "Carmen Up To Data, a Souvenir of the Gaiety Theater" Archived January 18, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, Grey Heron Prints