In Town

In Town is a musical comedy in two acts by Adrian Ross (1859-1933)[1], James Leader (1858—1915)[2] and Frank Osmond Carr (1858-1916)[3].

The original text

Referred to by a number of sources as "the first Edwardian musical comedy" and the start of the Gaiety movement in theatre, it was first performed in 1892 in the Prince of Wales Theatre, London, on 15 October.

Translations and adaptations

Performance history in South Africa

1894: Performed by the Cairns James Company, in the Good Hope Theatre on 9 June, 1894, under the auspices of the Wheeler Theatre Company. The enormous company included Cairns James, James Leverett, Jessie Moore, Charles Wibrow, William Philip, Leslie Holland, E.D. Wardes, E. Daintree, Arthur Ryley, Alice Aynsley Cook, Florence Neville, Phoebe Carlo, Lena Flowerdey, Jessie Davis, Mabel Wynn, May Glynne, Ivy Warner. Stage management by Cairns James, and musical direction by Brigata Buccalossi. The production was extremely highly regarded by D.C. Boonzaier (1923), who judged it as the best performed musical comedy he had seen in Cape Town in his whole career as critic.

Sources

http://www.gsarchive.net/british/authors/ross.html

http://www.gsarchive.net/british/composers/carr.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_T._Tanner

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwardian_musical_comedy

D.C. Boonzaier. 1923. "My playgoing days – 30 years in the history of the Cape Town stage", in SA Review, 9 March and 24 August 1923. (Reprinted in Bosman 1980: pp. 374-439.)

F.C.L. Bosman. 1980. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel II, 1856-1912. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik: pp.399, 400

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