MISS HOOK OF HOLLAND
A Dutch Musical Incident (Musical Comedy) in 2 acts: Music and lyrics by Paul Rubens, Book by Paul Rubens & Austen Hurgon
Criterion Theatre, Broadway 31 December, 1907 (119 perfs)
Prince of Wales Theatre, London January 31, 1907
Synopsis
Mrs Hook made her exit from a troubled world when her husband was about thirty years of age. As some compensation for her early departure she bequeathed him a legacy in the shape of a daughter, Sally, who, in addition to a pretty face and an excellent voice, possessed a remarkable aptitude for business. By force of her character and her shrewdness, plus her invention of a wonderful liqueur, Mr Hook eventually finds himself at the head of a thriving establishment and with a considerable fortune in the bank.
One day he happens to drop from his pocket the recipe of the precious liqueur. It is picked up by a loafer who, for a consideration, passes it on to Captain Adrian Paap, a dashing officer in love with Sally, and who thinks the possession of the little bit of paper will considerably help his cause with the distiller's daughter. But the young lady has given her heart, and she intend to follow up with her hand, to a handsome bandmaster. Being a lady of some character she carries her point and brings the piece to a satisfactory conclusion.
Musical Numbers
- OPENING Chorus - (To market, to market, the whole world is going)
- SONG (Schnapps) and Chorus - Miss Hook - (Mr. Hook started quite low down in life)
- KNITTING SEXTET (Orphans) - (We are little orphans)
- SONG (Slinks) and Chorus of men - Lazy Loafers - (We're a lot of lazy loafers)
- SONG (Sally) - Fly away, Kite - (A little paper toy at best)
- CHEESE CHORUS - (We've purchased our meat for dinner)
- SONG (Paap) and Chorus - Soldiers of the Netherlands - (Our enemies may choose to scorn the land that we control)
- DUET (Sally and Van Vuyt) and chorus - The Sleepy Canal - (When the sun is aglow in the West)
- SONG (Mina) and Chorus - The Flying Dutchman - (There lived a young Dutchman of whom you have heard)
- TRIO (Schnapps, Slinks, and Rook) and Chorus - A Little Bit of Cheese - (Every Dutchman when he wakes, a little piece of cheese he takes)
- SONG (Van Vial) and Chorus - Tra-la-la - (Is there any other man so envied in the land?)
- FINALE - (Is it insubordination ?)
ACT II
- OPENING CHORUS - (Any time you're passing, if there should be anything you require)
- MADRIGAL - Bottles - (Life inside a Dutch distillery does not leave much time for play)
- SONG (Freda) - The cigar he brought her - (In an old Dutch town)
- SONG (Sally) and Chorus of girls - Little Miss Wooden Shoes
- - (Little Miss Wooden Shoes, every one knows, had dear little feet)
- SONG (Mina) - A Pink Petty from Peter - (I've been spoilt such a lot)
- DUET (Sally and Van Vuyt) - Love is a carnival - (Love is a carnival)
- CONCERTED NUMBER - The House that Hook built - (Mr. Hook had arranged his house entirely on a novel plan)
- DANCE
- SONG (Van Vuyt) and Chorus of Girls) - Little Liqueurs - (Had you and I met in those far distant days)
- DUET (Mina and Schnapps) - Pop, pop, pop - (In a little coat of straw stood, a bottle of Schnapps)
- SONG (Schnapps) and Chorus - Harwich to Hook - (An Englishman, some years ago,had a scheme)
- SONG (Sally) and Chorus - Cream of the Sky - (To every sun-clad nation belongs that country's good wine)
- FINALE
Addenda
- SONG (Sally) - I want to be your wife - (English girls when they make love simple language are above)
- SONG (Mina) - Have you been to Arndyk? - (I've never been inside a big town before)
- SONG (Van Vuyt) - The Violoncello - (Before he became the conductor)
Cast:
Mr Hook - a widower, a wealthy liqueur distiller
Sally - Miss Hook of Holland
Captain Adrian Paap
Lieutenant de Coop
Bandmaster van Vuyt
Ludwig Schnapps - Foreman of the distellry, in love with Mina
Hans Maas - A cheese merchant at Arndyk
Hendrick Draek - a villager at Arndyk
Van Eck - a very ordinary Dutchman
Simon Slinks - a loafer by the canal at Arndyk
Miss Voss - really Mrs Voos, a widow but posing as a spinster
Freda Voos - her daughter
Clara Voos - her youngest daughter
Gretchen - Manageress at the Distillery
Thekla - a market girl
Chorus of market folk, soldiers, cheese merchants, villagers, assistants at the Liqueur Distillery, &c
Scenes and Setting
Act I - The Cheese Market at Arndyk. On the borders of the Zuyder Zee
Act II - The Interior of the Liqueur Distillery, Amsterdam