Dorothy (opera) - Critical Reception

Critical Reception

The press praised the music and the original production but had mixed reactions to the performances; they disliked the libretto. The Pall Mall Gazette said, "The story is curiously devoid of any interest, the dialogue is of the weakest, the lyrics have no point.... Mr Cellier's music is worthy a better fate." Other papers agreed: "To put it plainly, the libretto is not worthy of the music." Punch wrote, "The music is much better than the plot – not that this is saying much.... I fancy that Herr Meyer Lutz must have received instructions not to indulge in any of his old frivolous ways, but to conduct the music gravely and sedately – which he did. I was wondering whether he was awake all the time." Many of the critics complained that the libretto was derivative, primarily of She Stoops to Conquer.

George Bernard Shaw, seeing the piece well into its long run, wrote of his pity for the cast: "Here are several young persons doomed to spend the flower of their years in mechanically repeating the silliest libretto in modern theatrical literature, set to music which, pretty as it is, must pall somewhat on the seven hundred and eighty-eighth performance.... I did not wait for the third act. My companion had all but fallen into the pit from sleep and heaviness of spirit combined.... It is a criminal waste of young lives and young talents." The Times wrote:

Not a trace of the loudness and vulgarity of the old Gaiety burlesque remains. Gentility reigns supreme, and with it unfortunately also a good deal of the refined feebleness and the ineptitude which are the defects of that quality. Neither Mr. Stephenson nor Mr. Cellier has quite met the requirements of the occasion. The former has provided a disjointed and uninteresting book and the latter a score which, although elegant, varied, and full of colour, consists almost entirely of concerted pieces, notwithstanding that there are some excellent singers in the cast.... As a desperate expedient in construction we have seen few situations to equal that at the close of the second act of Dorothy. The inmates of Chanticleer-hall (among whom the female element appears to be in an immense preponderance) are aroused from their slumbers in the middle of the night, and troop upon the stage in their night dresses. A climax to this scene, however, is needed, and Mr. Stephenson finds it in the advent of a troop of scarlet clad huntsmen, with whom the ladies, forgetful of their attire, go off to the chase—an incident that supplies the composer with opportunity for a fine hunting chorus. The music is throughout by far the best feature of the piece. Miss Marion Hood plays with much sprightliness and considerable vocal ability the part of Dorothy, and is well supported by Miss Florence Dysart as Lydia. Mr. Redfern Rollins, who has a voice but no acting capacity, is young Wilder, and Mr. Hayden Coffin, who can both sing and act, but who unfortunately is not provided with a single song, is Sherwood. In other respects the rest is as good as need be.

By the time of a 1908 revival, The Times had a more favourable view: "It is twenty-one years since Dorothy was produced.... Clearly, it is impossible to bring a cool mind to bear in judgment on Dorothy. It belongs to the golden past; it is enshrined in memory; to hear it is to grow young again. To analyse it or criticize it would be to question the beauty of the ladies with whom we were then in love.... And the pleasantest feeling of all is the conviction that Dorothy completely deserves the admiration we lavished on it. It is one of the most tuneful, most charming, and most shapely of English comic operas."