Background
During the gloomy days of World War I, audiences, including servicemen on leave, wanted light and uplifting entertainment, and they flocked to theatres to see lighthearted musical comedies, a number of which broke box-office records. These included The Bing Boys Are Here (1916), Chu Chin Chow (1916), and The Maid of the Mountains (1917). Almost as popular were The Boy and Yes, Uncle! (1917). Greenbank had worked on a dozen shows with each of Monckton and Ross from 1900 to the time of The Boy, and Talbot and Thompson were also frequent collaborators of theirs in the first two decades of the 20th century.
The plot of The Boy closely follows that of The Magistrate, although character names have been changed, and some of the original dialogue is retained. In the Play Pictorial feature, B.W. Findon's review of the musical praised the singing of Nellie Taylor and Peter Gawthhorne, and the comedy of W. H. Berry, as well as the production in general.
Read more about this topic: The Boy (musical)
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