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.
Read more about this topic: Les Cloches De Corneville
Famous quotes containing the words performance and/or history:
“So long as the source of our identity is external—vested in how others judge our performance at work, or how others judge our children’s performance, or how much money we make—we will find ourselves hopelessly flawed, forever short of the ideal.”
—Melinda M. Marshall (20th century)
“Racism is an ism to which everyone in the world today is exposed; for or against, we must take sides. And the history of the future will differ according to the decision which we make.”
—Ruth Benedict (1887–1948)