Dorothy (opera) - Production and Aftermath

Production and Aftermath

The piece opened at the Gaiety Theatre on 25 September 1886. It starred Marion Hood in the title role opposite the popular Hayden Coffin, with comedians Arthur Williams, Furneaux Cook and John Le Hay. This was the first production at the Gaiety by new managing director (and later owner) of the theatre, George Edwardes, who misjudged his audience. The Gaiety was then known for burlesque, and its audiences were not looking for Gilbert and Sullivan style comic opera. The piece received lukewarm notices, and neither the music nor the libretto attracted critical praise. The Times wrote, "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." After a few months, Edwardes sold the production to his accountant, Henry J. Leslie.

Stephenson and Cellier revised the show, and Leslie added new stars, including Ben Davies and Marie Tempest, who took over the title role from the ailing Hood and became one of musical theatre's biggest stars. The piece reopened at the Prince of Wales Theatre on 20 December 1886 and transferred to the Lyric Theatre on 17 December 1888, where it closed on 6 April 1889. Marie Tempest took over in the title role, and Florence Perry made her London stage debut in 1887 in the role of Phyllis Tuppitt.

The revised Dorothy became a great success at the box office and had an initial run of 931 performances, breaking the record for the longest-running musical theatre production in history and holding this record until the run of the musical play A Chinese Honeymoon in the early 1900s. It was also the second longest known run for a stage production of any kind, after Our Boys, an 1875 vaudeville play, until both were surpassed by the run of Charley's Aunt in the 1890s. The show's hit songs included the ballad "Queen of My Heart", "Be Wise In Time", "Hark For'ard!", "With A Welcome To All", and "The Time Has Come." Henry Leslie made so much money from Dorothy that he was able to build the Lyric Theatre, where the show transferred in 1888. The success of the show also spurred revivals of some of Cellier's earlier works. Some critics reconsidered their earlier condemnation, the work became regarded as a classic Victorian piece, and the initially despised plot was traced seriously back to the Restoration playwrights David Garrick and Aphra Behn, and to Oliver Goldsmith and even Shakespeare.

Dorothy also toured and enjoyed numerous revivals in Britain until at least 1908, with four or five separate and simultaneous companies during the early years. Decima Moore played the title role in the 1892 revival. Courtice Pounds played Wilder on a 1900 provincial tour. There was also a New York run from 5 November 1887 to April 1888 starring Lillian Russell as the title character, and the show was revived in America until about 1900. A successful tour of Australia also began in 1887, with Leonora Braham making her Australian debut, followed by an 1888 production starring Nellie Stewart and more revivals into the 1890s. John D'Auban choreographed a West End revival in 1892 at the Trafalgar Square Theatre.

The story of Dorothy reflects touches of cynicism, early feminism, and utilises plenty of mistaken-identity and social-class-distinction comic situations. Elements of the story are derived from the 1847 opera Martha by Friedrich von Flotow, a tale of two wealthy young ladies who dress as peasants to go to the fair, fall in love with two young farmers and, after exploits, identity-confusion and ring-exchanges, are reunited with them.