Primrose (musical)
Primrose | ||
---|---|---|
Book Guy Bolton and George Grossmith Jr. | | |
Productions | 1924 West End |
Primrose is a
George Gershwin, at 25 years old, was an established songwriter by 1924 when Grossmith and his producing partners, J. A. E. Malone and
Production history
Primrose was produced by Grossmith and J. A. E. Malone, who wanted to follow up on their earlier successes composed by
In their joint memoir
"Must I sing, Mr Grossmith?"
"Yes, Sylvia, you must. All of you have to sing if you want jobs as showgirls in Primrose. The Gershwin score demands it."
"Oh very well," she replied petulantly, and, going down to the floats she handed over a piece of music to the pianist in the pit. The piano struck a chord.
- "God save our gracious King,
- Long live our noble King,
- God save the King."
Grossmith, a strict observer of ritual, rose and stood at attention. His minions rose and stood at attention. Guy, on his way to announce his arrival, stood at attention. As the anthem came to the normal stopping point, George started to sit down, but there is more, much more of the fine old chorale than is generally known. James Carey is credited with a three-stanza version; in another version
knighthood.[8]
An Australian production with Maude Fane and Alfred Frith opened in Melbourne, at His Majesty's Theatre in April 1925, before touring nationally. It was produced by J. C. Williamson's company.[9]
The show was not produced on Broadway, where it would have competed with Lady, Be Good!. The American première of Primrose did not take place until 1987, when an unstaged concert production at the Coolidge Auditorium of the Library of Congress was given, without dialogue, together with another Gershwin score, Pardon My English (1933), both conducted by John McGlinn.[10] Soloists included Rebecca Luker and Kim Criswell. The next performance in North America was in 2003, when Musicals Tonight! presented a series of staged concerts at the 14th Street YMCA in New York City's Greenwich Village, with dialogue, but accompanied only by piano, directed by Thomas Mills.[4][11] Ohio Light Opera mounted the first fully staged American production of the show in 2017.[1][12]
Roles and original cast
- Jason – Ernest Graham
- Freddie Falls – Claude Hulbert
- May Rooker – Vera Lennox
- Sir Benjamin Falls – Guy Vane
- Joan – Margery Hicklin
- Hilary Vane – Percy Heming
- Toby Mopham – Leslie Henson
- Michael – Thomas Weguelin
- Manager of hotel – Harold Bradley
- Pinkie Peach (Mdme Frazeline) – Heather Thatcher
- Lady Sophia Mopham – Murial Barnby
- Pritchard – Sylvia Hawkes
Plot summary
Setting: Act 1: A houseboat moored at a dock along the upper Thames; Act II: A seaside resort in France; Act III: Mopham House, Park Lane, London
Primrose consists of three interconnected love stories about Freddie and May, Hilary and Joan, and Toby and Pinkie. Freddie is reluctantly engaged to his cousin Joan, but falls in love with amateur golfer May Rooker. Joan, a naive, pretty young socialite, loves dashing Hilary Vane, a successful author of romantic yarns who lives on a houseboat. Hilary is writing a story whose heroine, Miss Primrose, is at a similar impasse. Hilary returns Joan's love, but Freddie and Joan are under the thumb of Sir Barnaby Falls – Joan's guardian and Freddie's uncle – who, for financial reasons, refuses consent to their marrying anyone except each other.
The romance of aristocratic Toby Mopham and the vulgar but ambitious beautician Pinkie Peach is impeded by Toby's second thoughts after rashly proposing; he enlists Hilary's to pretend to woo Pinkie so that Toby can catch them in flagrante and break off the engagement. However, Joan also catches Hilary wooing Pinkie. During an eventful dance sequence, Toby overcomes his reluctance to marry, Sir Barnaby gives way, and all three couples are free to marry.
Song list
- Overture
- Leaving Town While We May (The Countryside) – Chorus
- Till I Meet Someone Like You – Freddie and May
- Isn't it Wonderful – Joan and chorus of men
- This Is the Life for a Man – Hilary
- When Toby Is out of Town – Toby and chorus of women
- Some Far-Away Someone – Joan and Hilary
- The Mophams – Toby, Pinkie and Michael
- Finale, Act I – Company
- Opening chorus – Chorus
- Four Little Sirens – Quartet
- Berkeley Square and Kew – Freddie and Joan
- Boy Wanted – Pinkie and chorus
- Mary Queen of Scots – Freddie and Toby
- Wait a Bit, Susie – Hilary, Joan and chorus
- Naughty Baby – Joan and chorus of men
- Finale, Act II – Company
- Ballet – Orchestral
- That New Fangled Mother of Mine – Toby
- I Make Hay when the Moon Shines – Pinkie
- Beau Brummell – Hilary and chorus
- Finale, Act III – Company
Notes
- ^ a b c d Reilly, Lucas. "A Forgotten George Gershwin Musical Just Made Its American Debut", Mental Floss, 8 July 2017
- ^ a b 1987 sleeve notes by John McGlinn to EMI recording CDC 7 47977 2
- ^ Stevenson, Joseph. Primrose, Allmusic, accessed 10 July 2017
- ^ a b "Reviews: Primrose", Musicals Tonight!" 2004, accessed 10 July 2017
- ^ The Times 12 September 1924, p. 8
- ^ Primrose, Gershwin.com, accessed July 10, 2017
- ^ "Lady Sylvia Ashley (née Hawkes)", National Portrait Gallery, accessed 26 April 2012
- Bring on the Girls!(1953), Chapter 13, section 3
- ^ "'Primrose' Charms", Table Talk, issue=2971, 16 April 1925, accessed 9 October 2018, p. 18, via National Library of Australia
- ^ Holden, Stephen, "2 by Gershwin" in the New York Times, 18 May 1987
- ^ Feingold, Michael. "Goods and Disservices", Village Voice 9 December 2003, accessed 10 July 2017
- ^ "2017 Festival Season: June 17–August 12", OhioLightOpera.org, accessed 5 July 2017
References
- Parker, John (1925). Who's Who in the Theatre (Fifthedition ed.). London: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-24864-3.
- Pollack, Howard (2006). George Gershwin: His Life and Work. Pitman. OCLC 468965019.