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Operette

Sheet Music cover for "Dearest Love"

Musical in 2 Acts by Noel Coward

Opera House, Manchester - 17 February, 1938 - 12 March, 1958

Transferred to Her Majesty's Theatre, London 16 March 1938 - 9 July, 1938 (133 perfs)

Synopsis

Set backstage in early twentieth century London theatreland the story follows the role of a Viennese operetta star who comes to play in The Model Maid - a show within the show. The principals of the story were Rozanne Grey, a member of the sextet of The Model Maid, who is promoted to the leading role and stardom, and Nigel Vaynham who does not marry her but rather returns to his life in the army realising that a marriage to someone in theatre would be a social disaster for him.

The musical part of the show is that of The Model Maid which gives the whole piece a very theatrical air.

In a play within a play (an Edwardian musical comedy, The Model Maid), Liesl Haren, an aging Viennese operetta star, has another chance at stardom.

Young Rozanne Grey, a member of the sextet of The Model Maid, falls in love with Nigel Vaynham, a nobleman serving in the army. Liesl counsels the younger woman not to marry him. Rozanne gains the leading role and stardom, but Nigel returns to the army, realising that a marriage to an actress would destroy his social reputation.

Original Cast

  1. Grace Menteith - Pamela Randell
  2. Violet Travers - Linda Gray
  3. Rozanne Grey - Peggy Wood
  4. Lala Montague - Lisa D'Esterre
  5. Eleanor West - Heidi Anderson
  6. Doreen Manners - Jean Barnes
  7. Lily - Molly Lumley
  8. Duggie - Tommy Hayes
  9. Dora - Gladys Henson
  10. Decima Drury - Winifred Davis
  11. Edgar Fawcett - R J. Thurgood
  12. Paul Trevor - Max Oldaker
  13. Albert - Duncan Rider
  14. Maisie Welbey - Phyllis Monkman
  15. Eddie Gosling - Edward Cooper
  16. Elsie Jewell - Muriel Barron
  17. Liesl Haren - Fritzi Massary
  18. Trudi - Violet Oldak
  1. Phillip Jones - John Lauri
  2. Charles - Charles Peters
  3. Nigel Vaynham - Griffith Jones
  4. Hon. David Messiter - Peter Vokes
  5. Lord Elderley - Hugh French
  6. Lord Camp - Kenneth Carten
  7. Lord Sicken - John Gatrell
  8. Lord Borrowmere - Ross Landon
  9. Hon. Humphrey Gordon - Denis Carew
  10. Jenner - J. Grant Anderson
  11. Mabel - Marcelle Turner
  12. Doris - Rosemary Lomax
  13. George - Leonard Morris
  14. Johnnie Knowles - Charles Gillespie
  15. Blanche Wallace - Moya Nugent
  16. Charles Hobson - George Butler
  17. Countess of Messiter - Irene Vanbrugh
  18. Sextet: Anthony Nicholls, Gordon Brand, Dunstan Hart, Peter Gibson, Donald Gordon, Angus Menzies


with Judy Bennett, Phyllis Edmundsen, Ida Nicklin, Edna Brough, Jacqueline Le Geyt, Dilys Rees, Winifred Comstock, Peggy Hale, Jessica Roland, Daphne Day, Doris Ingham, Adèle Sivière, Janet Dunn, Maria Luth, Nina Terry, June Spencer Dyke, Dorothy Moyne, Diana Nash, Iris White; Peter Luxton, Richard Richards, Hugh Moor, Richard Stovold, Ronald Pope, Brian Vogel, Farleigh Price, Peter Evans.

Principal Musical Numbers:

  1. Prologue
  2. The Opening Chorus
  3. Pom-pom
  4. Dearest Love
  5. Where Are the Songs We Sung?
  6. The Stately Homes Of England
  7. Countess Mitzi
  8. Foolish Virgins
  9. The Island of Ballamazoo
  10. Prologue, Act II
  11. Operette
  12. Sing For Joy
  13. My Dear Miss Dale
  14. Model Maid
  15. Gypsy Melody *

* not London