Les Cloches de Corneville - Performance History

Performance History

Les cloches de Corneville was first produced in Paris at the Théàtre des Folies-Dramatiques, opening on April 19, 1877, and ran for 408 performances.

The operetta was then produced as The Chimes of Normandy at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City, beginning on October 22, 1877. There was also another New York run in 1878. Later productions included one as The Bells of Corneville at the Victoria Theater, New York, beginning on April 21, 1902.

In London, it played at the Folly Theatre, with an English libretto by H. B. Farnie and Robert Reece, opening on February 28, 1878 (transferring to the Globe Theatre on 31 August 1878 as The Chimes of Normandy), outlasting H.M.S. Pinafore by running for a world record-setting 705 performances (holding this record until Dorothy in 1886). Violet Cameron and Shiel Barry starred as Germaine and Gaspard. At the same time, the production toured the provinces, starring Florence St. John as Germaine, who then joined the London cast late in the run, making her West End debut.

The work remained popular thereafter; it was translated into several languages and enjoyed numerous productions worldwide. In 1917 it was adapted in Britain as a silent feature film, under its French name, directed by Thomas Bentley. It continued to be performed into the 1940s in Britain and the 1960s in France, and it still receives some productions today.