The Shop Girl
A Musical Farce in 2 Acts by H.J.W. Dam. Music by Ivan Caryll. Additional numbers by Adrian Ross and Lionel Monckton.
Opened at the Gaiety Theatre, London, on 24th. November 1894. Closed 29 May 1896 (546 perfs)
Synopsis
An attractive and charming London shop girl meets a good-hearted millionaire, who had gone out in the steerage of a liner, "to become a miner", and had struck it rich in Colorado. The millionaire has come back to London to look for the daughter of his mining chum, to whom a fortune of four million pounds was due. She is to be identified by a birthmark. The daughter, of course, turns out to be the shop girl and, after a few misunderstandings, she agrees to marry her sweetheart, a poor but lively young medical student from a good family.
Cast
- Mr. Hooley - (Proprietor of the Royal Stores)
- Charles Appleby - (a Medical Student)
- Bertie Boyd - (One of the Boys)
- John Brown - (a Millionaire)
- Sir George Appleby - (a Solicitor)
- Col. Singleton - (Retired)
- Count St. Vaurien - (Secretary to Mr. Brown)
- Mr. Tweets - (Financial Secretary to Lady Appleby)
- Mr. Miggles - (Shopwalker at the Royal Stores)
- Lady Dodo Singleton - (Charlie's Cousin)
- Miss Robinson - (Fitter at the Royal Stores)
- Lady Appleby - (Charlie's mother, wife of Sir George)
- Ada Smith - (an Apprentice at the Royal Stores)
- Faith, Hope, Charity (Lady Appleby's Daughters)
- Maud Plantagenet, Eva Tudor, Lillie Stuart, Ada Wandesforde, Mabel Beresford, Agnes Howard, Maggie Jocelyn. Violet Deveney - } (of the Syndicate Theatre)
- Bessie Brent - ("The Shop Girl")
Musical Numbers
Act I - The Royal Stores.
- Opening Chorus - "This noble institution of financial evolution is the glory of our British trade..."
- Song - Hooley & Bessie, with Chorus - "If you ever should engage in trade, you will never find your fortune made..."
- Quartet - Sir George, Count, Hooley & Colonel - "Although I am a man of law, of many years in practice spent..."
- Chorus of Stage Beauties - (composed by Lionel Monckton) "In us of course you see a charming coterie, whose fascinations all confess..."
- Song - Charlie & Foundlings - "If without a single mark of your identity, on a hospitable doorstep you are thrown..."
- Song - Beatrice - "When I came to the shop some years ago, I was terribly shy and simple..."
- Perambulator Duet - Bessie & Charlie - "Hush-a-bye, hush-a-bye, shut your little eye, dear..."
- Valse Song - Beatrice & Chorus - "Over the hills and over into the sunset's glow..."
- Concerted Piece - Bertie & Foundlings - "Foundlings are we, waiting to see who will unravel our pre-natal mystery..."
- Exit after Scene (Reprise) - "Foundlings are we, waiting to see..."
- Song - Miggles - "It was an evil hour when I met my Mary Ann, oh! woe! woe the day!..."
- Song - Ada & Chorus - "Left upon a doorstep at half past nine..."
- Finale Act I - "Farewell, farewell, we tender our congratulations truly..."
ACT II - Fancy Bazaar at Kensington.
- Opening Chorus - "Charity, charity, charity, charity, fearless are we in a bazaar..."
- Song - (soloist unspecified) - "I'm a lady not unknown to fame, critics call me by my Christian name..."
- Song - (written and composed by Leslie Stuart) - Bessie & Chorus - "I lub a gal, 'spose she lubs me too, anyhow she say she do..."
- Duet - Miggles & Miss Robinson - "I am a Jap, please notice my cap, 'twas copied from off a tea caddy..."
- Song - (composed by Lionel Monckton) John Brown & Chorus - "In the steerage of a Liner I went out to be a miner..."
- Trio - Sir George, Count & Colonel - "If you can fully fathom human folly and fatuity..."
- Chorus - "We're now to have some mystery, the forecast of our history..."
- Song - (composed by Felix McGlennon) Charlie & Chorus - "There was once a country maiden came to London for a trip..."
- Song - Lady Dodo - "The Man in the Moon is down, he is winning a great renown..."
- Song - (composed by Lionel Monckton) Bertie & Chorus - "I'm what folks call a Johnnie, of the title I am proud..."
- Chorus & Recits. (soloist unspecified) - "The show, the show, the show, the show..."
- Finale Act II - "Now joy is in the air, their future will be fair, look'd after by this kindly desperado..."