Monte Cristo Jr. was a Victorian burlesque with a libretto written by Richard Henry, a pseudonym for the writers Richard Butler and Henry Chance Newton. The score was composed by Meyer Lutz, Ivan Caryll, Hamilton Clarke, Tito Mattei, G. W. Hunt and Henry J. Leslie. The ballet and incidental dances were arranged by John D'Auban, and the theatre's musical director, Meyer Lutz, conducted.Theatre Programme for Monte Cristo Jr. (1887) at the Gaiety Theatre, London The play's doggerel verse was loosely based on The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas.Bordman, Gerald and Richard Norton. American Musical Theatre: A Chronicle, Oxford University Press (4th edition, 2011), p. 110

The piece was first performed under the management of George Edwardes, premiering at the Gaiety Theatre in London on 23 December 1886. Nellie Farren, E. J. Lonnen, Fred Leslie, Marion Hood and Jenny Lind appeared in the cast during the run, which ended in early October 1887. It was then toured in Britain, and the following year it was mounted in New York and toured in Australia.

A separate musical of the same name (except with a comma after "Cristo") premiered on Broadway in 1919, composed by Sigmund Romberg.

Background Burlesque of opera or classical works was popular in Britain from the 1860s to the 1880s. Other examples at the Gaiety include The Bohemian G-yurl and the Unapproachable Pole (1877), Blue Beard (1882), Ariel (1883, by F. C. Burnand), Galatea, or Pygmalion Reversed (1883), Little Jack Sheppard (1885), Miss Esmeralda (1887), Frankenstein, or The Vampire's Victim (1887), Mazeppa, Faust up to Date (1888), Ruy Blas and the Blasé Roué (1888), Carmen up to Data (1890), Cinder Ellen up too Late (1891), and Don Juan (1892, with lyrics by Adrian Ross).Programme for Carmen up to Data

John Hollingshead managed the Gaiety Theatre from 1868 to 1886 as a venue for variety, continental operetta, light comedy, and numerous musical burlesques composed or arranged by the theatre's music director, Wilhelm Meyer Lutz. Hollingshead called himself a "licensed dealer in legs, short skirts, French adaptations, Shakespeare, taste and musical glasses."Arthur Lloyd Music Hall site (on Gaiety) Cuttings accessed 01 Mar 2007 In 1886, Hollingshead ceded the management of the theatre to George Edwardes, whom he had hired in 1885. Edwardes expanded the burlesque format from one act to full-length pieces with original music by Lutz, instead of scores compiled from popular tunes, and choreography by the theatre's dance-master, John D'Auban."Theatrical Humour in the Seventies", The Times, 20 February 1914, p. 9, col. D Nellie Farren, as the theatre's "principal boy", and Fred Leslie starred at the Gaiety for over 20 years. Leslie wrote many of its pieces under his pseudonym, "A. C. Torr".Stewart, Maurice. "The spark that lit the bonfire", in Gilbert and Sullivan News (London) Spring 2003. In the early 1890s, as Burlesque went out of fashion, Edwardes changed the focus of the theatre from musical burlesque to the new genre of Edwardian musical comedy.Ganzl, Kurt. "Musicals", London: Carlton (1995), p. 56 ; Hyman, Alan. "The Gaiety Years", London: Cassell (1975), p. 64

Musical numbers Act I

1 Chorus - On the Shores of the Mediterranean 2 Mércedes - Cupid Caught Me (Vocal Waltz) 3 Sailors Chorus 4 Dance A La Hornpipe 5 Graceful Dance (Miss Sylvia Grey) 6 Wedding Chorus - Tempo Di Polka 7 Noirtier - Recitation and Song - Je Suis Un Grand Detective 8 Melus - Recognition 9 Duet (De Villefort and Noirtier) - The Respectable Son and His Awful Dad 10 Finale - Act I

Act II

11 Entr'act 12 Patrol Chorus 13 Melus A La Trovatore 14 Duet - Dantes and Noirtier - 77 & 93 15 Melus - The Leap 16 The Sack Scene 17 Storm 18 The Guides' Quartett 19 Chorus of Explorers 20 Song - Ballyhooly (De Villefort) 21 Soli & Chorus - On A Picnic If You're Going 22 Finale - Act II - From This Hour

Act III 23 Chorus & March - The Patrol 24 Song (Dantes) - A Jolly Little Chap All Round 25 Imitation Song (Noirtier) 26 Sestett & Galop 27 Chorus By Fernand - We're Invited 28 Mashers' Chorus 29 March 30 Mazurka & Finale

1886 Gaiety Theatre Cast

Edmond Dantes, a young sailor – Nellie Farren Fernand, a Catalan fisherman – Jennie McNulty Mércedes, betrothed to Dantes – Marion Hood / Agnes Delaporte Mariette, a lively young person – Lottie Collins / Letty Lind (from 1887) Albert, a fast youth – Lizzie Wilson Valentine, Morel's daughter – Sylvia Grey Carconte, a charming hag – Linda Verner Noirtier, Conspirator – Fred Leslie De Villefort, his son – E. J. Lonnen Danglars, a supercilious super cargo – E. Haslam Caderousse, tailor and toper – George Stone Morel, a shipowner – Charles Danby Boy at the Wheel – Charlie Ross

Later productions Monte Cristo Jr. later toured the United Kingdom with much of the London cast before a production by the London Gaiety Burlesque Company Tour opened at Dockstader's Theatre in New York on 2 April 1888 It then toured Australia in mid-1888 with Alfred Cellier as the conductor and a cast including Danby, Farren, Grey, Hood, Leslie and Lind.Monte Cristo Jr. (1888), The Australian Live Performance Database The Gaiety cast including Farren but augmented by a pretty female American chorus opened on 15 November 1888 in a reworked production at the Standard Theatre on Broadway. While the American audience was largely unappreciative of the play in general and its doggerel verse in particular, it did start a new craze for dancing in long and "swishy" skirts as displayed by the female chorus.Franceschina, John. Incidental and Dance Music in the American Theatre from 1786 to 1923: Volume 3, BearManr Media (2018), p. 636

References