London Musicals 1945-1949.pub - Over The Footlights

CALYPSO
London run: Playhouse, May 24 th (32 performances)
Music & Lyrics: Ronnie Hill
Book: Hedley Briggs
Director: Hedley Briggs
Choreographer: John Cranko
Musical Director:
Producer: Jack Hylton & Claude Soman
Cast: Evelyn Dove (Marie), Mabel Lee (Amanda),
Edric Connor (Napoleon), James Browne (Pincher),
Bill Dayne (Lofty), Barry Gosney (Dusty), John Shackell (Nobby),
Norma Amsden (Sally), Gretta Grayson (Lois), Gwenda Grayson (Jean),
Joan Mullen (Anne), Edward Baxter (L/Sergeant Brandon),
Moya Nugent (Miss Dennington)
Songs: The Day to Ourselves, Nobody’s Business, Democracy
1948
Story: An odd mixture of comedy, revue, ballet, negro spirituals and
Edric Connor
West Indian music with very little dialogue and a lot of song and dance,
this was performed by a cast that was half West Indian and half British,. The story involves a Harlem cabaret
singer, Amanda, who has returned to her native village and to Napoleon, her boyfriend, only to become
extremely jealous when she finds he has received a letter from another girl called Julia. (By the end, it turns out
that Julia is his sister!) Meantime four sailors have docked in the port – Pincher, Lofty, Dusty and Nobby – and
very soon they are joined by their girl-friends - Sally, Lois, Jean and Anne - and they provide the “English”
songs in the show. The romantic misunderstandings between all these couples, and between Lieutenant
Sergeant Brandon and a Miss Eddington form the very thin basis of the plot.
Notes: According to The Stage: “It cannot be denied the long succession of little musical numbers tends
towards monotony, and that the vigour of the artists is by no means always matched by their technical ability”.
The music was supplied by two pianos and an onstage steel band. Its tour had brought it to Wimbledon and
then into the Playhouse Theatre, where it ran just under a month.
24
LES CLOCHES DE CORNEVILLE (3 rd Revival)
London run: The Boltons, June 10 th
Music: Robert Planquette
Book & Lyrics: H.B. Farnie & R.Reece
Director: John Wyse
Cast: Wilfred Fletcher (Gaspard), Louise Traill (Germaine),
Terry Trent (Jean Grenicheux), Daphne Anderson (Serpolette),
Dennis Wood (Henri, Marquis de Corneville)
Louise Traill
Notes: The Boltons was a small theatre of the kind that would later be
called a “fringe” venue. This was its second year in existence, and “Les
Cloches de Corneville” was its first production of a “big” musical. The
music was provided by two pianos, and the cast included a very small
chorus. The London critics had very little experience of scaled-down
musicals, and tended to treat shows like these with a great deal of
condescension. Of the young newcomer Louise Traill The Stage said
“she has a pleasing enough voice, but the part is a little beyond her”. Six
years later she was an acclaimed Musetta in the BBC TV production of
“La Boheme”.
Original London run: Folly Theatre/ Globe, February 1878
First revival: 1880
Second revival: Prince Edward, March 1931