Dorothy (opera) - Background

Background

Although billed as a "comic opera" like the popular Gilbert and Sullivan operas on the London stage at the same time, Dorothy was a key forerunner of the Edwardian musical comedy, bearing many of the attributes of that genre. Its libretto is more farcical than W. S. Gilbert's satiric libretti, revolving around mistaken identities and topical humour instead of topsy-turvy plot absurdities. Dorothy anticipated George Edwardes's musical comedy hits of the 1890s and 1900s, and its remarkable success showed Edwardes and other theatre managers that audiences were ready for a shift towards the more topical pieces that soon dominated the musical theatre stage.

In 1885, Cellier had composed a song, "There once was a time, my darling", for a piece produced by Edwardes, Little Jack Sheppard (1885). Cellier, who had been a lieutenant of Arthur Sullivan, re-purposed much of the music for Dorothy from his unsuccessful comic opera of ten years earlier, Nell Gwynne. Though a flop, the music of Nell Gwynne had been praised. Stephenson wrote new lyrics and a libretto to fit the music. He wrote a well-crafted play, with literary echoes of familiar themes reminiscent of Jane Austen's Emma, yet with a more modern style, suggesting its eighteenth-century setting lightly rather than with the archaic literary tone common in Victorian drama. Shortly before the première, Cellier's doctors advised him not to spend the winter in England, and he left for Australia. In his absence it became clear that the opera needed a big romantic ballad, and Cellier's publisher suggested using one of his existing songs, "Queen of my Heart", which was interpolated into the piece and became a huge success. The sheet music sold over 40,000 copies, and the popularity of the song saved the opera from failure.