THE GIRL WHO CAME TO SUPPER A Musical Comedy in Two Acts, 16 Scenes. Book by Harry Kurnitz. Based on the play The Sleeping Prince by Terence Rattigan. Music and lyrics by Noel Coward. Broadway Theatre, New York - 8 December, 1963 (112 perfs) SYNOPSIS ACT I On the night before the coronation of George V in 1911, London is in a gala mood. At the Majestic Theatre, the first act finale of a charming period musical The Coconut Girl ends. At its conclusion, the Grand Duke Charles - Prince Regent of Carpathia - visits the company, who honour him by singing the Carpathian National anthem, while his body guards in patriotic fervour fly into a czardas. The Prince Regent then explains his colorful ancestral background. Chorus girl Mary Morgan has caught the Regent's eye, and Northbrook, assigned by the British government to the Carpathian retinue during their stay in London, brings Mary an invitation from the Prince Regent to dine at the Carpathian Embassy after the show. Mary imagines herself as the toast of the international set, cleverly and wittily dazzling all the guests. At the Carpathian Embassy, the normal routine is somewhat upset. The Prince Regent arrives, perturbed by reports of riots in his homeland. Northbrook enters with Mary, who is nervous about how to behave in the presence of nobility. Northbrook instructs her to address royalty as Sir or Ma'am and to obey the rules of protocol. She is suspicious of the prepared supper for two; however, after Northbrook refers to closer Anglo-Carpathian relations, the Congress of Vienna and balance of power, she agrees to stay-for only forty-five minutes. When the Prince Regent and Mary are alone, they seem pleased with one another. He plies her with vodka but is soon interrupted by a series of arrivals: the elderly Queen Mother of Carpathia comes to plead with her son for greater leniency toward his teenage son, King Nicolas, who has been conspiring with the rebels at home against his father's autocratic rule. Further interruptions include a telephone call reporting the arrest of Carpathia's opposition leader, a verbatim recital by Mary of the Bill of Rights, and the arrival of King Nicolas protesting his arrest. When they are alone at last, the Prince Regent pleads that he is lonely, but Mary, who has had too much vodka, passes out. Mingling with the people in St. Martin's Lane, Nicolas meets Ada Cockle, Cockney extraordinaire, peddler of fish and chips, glowing lover of life and London, who belts out Cockney ballads. The next morning, Mary, clad in a bedspread and under the euphoric misconception that she has given all for love, proclaims her newborn love for the Prince Regent. Her "darlings" addressed to him bring only an icy "Miss Morgan" in return, and her rapturous references to last night are met with the acid comment that he was unfortunately unable to be present. Mary dresses hurriedly, and, when Nicholas returns, tells him she is rooting for him against the "mean, stubborn tyrant." She is only partially flattered by the boy's worldly compliment that he likes her better than any of his father's other mistresses. Northbrook's attempts to smuggle Mary out of the Embassy are intercepted by a fanfare and the Carpathian royal retinue in full regalia on their way to the coronation. However, when her lady-in-waiting becomes ill, the Queen Mother appoints Mary to the position for the occasion and bedecks her in diamonds and sable, while the infuriated Prince Regent is forced to invest Mary with the Order of Perseverance, given only for personal service to the head of state. ACT II At Westminster Abbey, the assembled nobles lament their boredom, punctuated by Mary's enthrallment. Mary goes back to the Embassy to return the jewels but is interrupted by Nicholas, who prevails upon her to place a conspiratorial phone call for him to the German ambassador. The call is cut short, however, by the arrival of the Regent, who has had the wires tapped and places his son under house arrest. Mary delivers
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