Forgotten Musicals - Alfred Cellier and Dorothy
Two works are considered to be the first examples of modern musicals as we know them today. Alfred Cellier’s Dorothy and Edward Jakobowski’s Erminie. I personally prefer Dorothy so I have chosen it for today’s forgotten musical. Dorothy is a musical in three acts with music by Cellier and a libretto by B. C. Stephenson. The story set in the eighteenth century is a bit of a cross between Martha and Cosí fan Tutte.
Although billed as a "comic opera" like the popular Gilbert and Sullivan operas on the London stage at the same time, Dorothy was a key forerunner of the Edwardian musical comedy, bearing many of the attributes of that genre. Its libretto is more farcical than W. S. Gilbert's satiric libretti, revolving around mistaken identities and topical humour instead of topsy-turvy plot absurdities. Dorothy anticipated George Edwardes's musical comedy hits of the 1890s and 1900s, and its remarkable success showed Edwardes and other theatre managers that audiences were ready for a shift towards the more topical pieces that soon dominated the musical theatre stage.
It was first produced at the Gaiety Theatre in London in 1886. It transferred to the Prince of Wales Theatre later that year and then transferred to the Lyric Theatre in 1888, where it played until 1889. The piece had an initial run of 931 performances, breaking the record for the longest-running musical theatre production up to that time easily beating The Mikado, the most famous of all Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas, which opened in 1887 and ran for only 672 performances.
Alfred Cellier (1844 - 1891) was born in South Hackney, London, to a French father, Arsène Cellier, and Mary Ann Peterine, he sang as a chorister at the Chapel Royal where he befriended future collaborator Arthur Sullivan.
Cellier began his career as an organist at All Saints’ Church, Blackheath, and later in Belfast, where he conducted the Belfast Philharmonic Society. Returning to London, he became a theatre conductor and music director at the Royal Court Theatre and the Prince’s Theatre in Manchester.
In 1877, he joined Richard D’Oyly Carte’s company, conducting the original Gilbert and Sullivan productions such as The Sorcerer and H.M.S. Pinafore and composing his own operettas, including The Spectre Knight and After All!. His later works included Doris (1889) and The Mountebanks (1892 with a libretto W. S. Gilbert).
Cellier spent parts of his career touring and conducting in the United States and Australia. His music, noted for lyrical grace and orchestral elegance, was stylistically similar to Sullivan’s but with a gentler touch. He died in Bloomsbury, London, aged 47, and was buried in West Norwood Cemetery.
You can hear all the music here:
[media=https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nPh04U0ldwugB2E8tf5VGl3AA88GzB8pw&si=OBGVeIZirgWSjCHk]
It is unfortunately without the dialogue. There is no complete performance available to watch but here is the finale.
Although billed as a "comic opera" like the popular Gilbert and Sullivan operas on the London stage at the same time, Dorothy was a key forerunner of the Edwardian musical comedy, bearing many of the attributes of that genre. Its libretto is more farcical than W. S. Gilbert's satiric libretti, revolving around mistaken identities and topical humour instead of topsy-turvy plot absurdities. Dorothy anticipated George Edwardes's musical comedy hits of the 1890s and 1900s, and its remarkable success showed Edwardes and other theatre managers that audiences were ready for a shift towards the more topical pieces that soon dominated the musical theatre stage.
It was first produced at the Gaiety Theatre in London in 1886. It transferred to the Prince of Wales Theatre later that year and then transferred to the Lyric Theatre in 1888, where it played until 1889. The piece had an initial run of 931 performances, breaking the record for the longest-running musical theatre production up to that time easily beating The Mikado, the most famous of all Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas, which opened in 1887 and ran for only 672 performances.
Alfred Cellier (1844 - 1891) was born in South Hackney, London, to a French father, Arsène Cellier, and Mary Ann Peterine, he sang as a chorister at the Chapel Royal where he befriended future collaborator Arthur Sullivan.
Cellier began his career as an organist at All Saints’ Church, Blackheath, and later in Belfast, where he conducted the Belfast Philharmonic Society. Returning to London, he became a theatre conductor and music director at the Royal Court Theatre and the Prince’s Theatre in Manchester.
In 1877, he joined Richard D’Oyly Carte’s company, conducting the original Gilbert and Sullivan productions such as The Sorcerer and H.M.S. Pinafore and composing his own operettas, including The Spectre Knight and After All!. His later works included Doris (1889) and The Mountebanks (1892 with a libretto W. S. Gilbert).
Cellier spent parts of his career touring and conducting in the United States and Australia. His music, noted for lyrical grace and orchestral elegance, was stylistically similar to Sullivan’s but with a gentler touch. He died in Bloomsbury, London, aged 47, and was buried in West Norwood Cemetery.
You can hear all the music here:
[media=https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nPh04U0ldwugB2E8tf5VGl3AA88GzB8pw&si=OBGVeIZirgWSjCHk]
It is unfortunately without the dialogue. There is no complete performance available to watch but here is the finale.
56-60, M