A COUNTRY GIRL, a musical comedy by Lionel Monckton
A staged concert with dialog, dance and piano accompaniment
Performed November 21 at 8pm, November 22 at 2pm
The Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts
Proceeds from A Country Girl were donated to Music for Minors.
About Musical Comedy
Musical Comedy is a form of theater that was immensly popular all around the world for thirty years, from the 1890's to the 1920's. It was a musical bridge between more classical operetta such as Gilbert and Sullivan and the Broadway Musical of the late 1920's and beyond.
A combination of operetta and more popular forms of song, such Music Halls, these are a light and funny form of stage show. There were thousands of them, and their influence on what became the Broadway Musical was immense.
Musical Comedy will appeal to everybody who likes Broadway, operetta or Music Hall. The plots are light and generally simple to follow, the music is very bright and upbeat and the lyrics are catchy. It is a fun day at The Theater.
We research, revive and produce Musical Comedies for two simple reasons:
-
They are out of copyright and we don't pay royalties - maximizing donations our benefit organizations.
-
We like them. They are cheery and bright and fun to be in.
About A Country Girl
A Country Girl is the story of three country maids from Devonshire attempting to reunite with thier childhood sweethearts after a long separation. An interloping foreign princess interferes with the budding lovers and there are are many comic plot twists and misunderstandings.
A Country Girl was produced in London in 1902 at Daly's Theater, was incredibly popular and ran for an outstanding 729 performances. A Country Girl played around the world and had a major professional revival in London in 1912.
The original book of A Country Girl is long, with far too many anachronistic references and stereotypes.
This new performing edition retains all of the plot elements and characters, but is shorter and clearer for modern audiences. We have cherry-picked the best songs written from the original and revival versions of A Country Girl. You'll hear the best-of-the-best material in our revival production!
The libretto for our revival comes from Robert Ray of The Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Victoria, Australia where A Country Girl received a revival in 2012. Special thanks to our Rob and everyone at GASVIC.
Try Again, Johnnie!
Catherine Bott, "Songs from the Shows"
Yo Ho, Little Girls, Yo Ho!
Richard Suart, "Songs from the Shows"