Sweethearts can refer to two stage works, a play by W.S. Gilbert and a musical play by Victor Herbert

Sweethearts is a comic play in two acts by W. S. Gilbert ()[].

The original text

Billed as a "dramatic contrast" in two acts it is a play about the differing recollections of a man and a woman about their last meeting together before being separated and reunited after 30 years.

First produced on 7 November 1874 at the Prince of Wales's Theatre in London, running for 132 performances until 13 April 1875. There have been many revivals till the 1920s.

Translations and adaptations

The plot suggests this could have been a source of inspiration for the superb BBC TV series As Time Goes By.

Performance history in South Africa

Sweethearts an operetta/ musical play in two acts by Victor Herbert

The music is by Victor Herbert ()[], lyrics by Robert B. Smith ()[] and book by Harry B. Smith ()[] and Fred de Gresac ()[].

The original text

First performed at the Academy of Music in Baltimore during March 1913. A shortened and overhauled version was then tried out in Philadelphia and in Boston for ten weeks before opening on Broadway at the New Amsterdam Theatre on September 8, 1913. It transferred to the Liberty Theatre on November 10, 1913 where it ran for a total of 136 performances.

Translations and adaptations

Performance history in South Africa

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweethearts_(play)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweethearts_(musical)

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 1932. (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.203-205

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