Musical
Frankenstein, or The Vampire's Victim
(sometimes called
Frankenstein, or The Model Man
) is a
musical burlesque
in three acts written by
Richard Henry
(a pseudonym of
Richard Butler
and
Henry Chance Newton
). The music was composed by
Meyer Lutz
. The piece is a burlesque loosely based on the 1818
Mary Shelley
novel
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus
and the
Adelphi Theatre
drama based on the novel.
Opening at the
Gaiety Theatre, London
on 24 December 1887, the production was a flop, closing after a week. It starred
Nellie Farren
as Dr. Frankenstein and
Fred Leslie
as a monster who is in touch with his feminine side. The Victorian audiences found the piece too feminist in tone. In addition, the public was annoyed at George Edwardes, who had reduced the size of the inexpensive "pit" in favour of more "stalls".
[1]
The piece also featured
Marion Hood
as the doctor's love interest Tartina;
E. J. Lonnen
as the vampire Visconti; Emily Cross as Mary Ann;
Sylvia Grey
as Tamburina, goddess of the sun;
Sybil Grey
as Vanilla; the dancer
John D'Auban
as Demonico; and
Frank Thornton
as Schwank.
[2]
[3]
Plot
[
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]
Frankenstein, or The Vampire's Victim
features a convoluted plot with Act I featuring a
golem
like creature who kidnaps Frankenstein in Germany; Act II featuring Frankenstein as a prisoner of Spanish bandits who eventually becomes their leader; and Act III beginning in the Vampire's Club and then after several misadventures ultimately concluding in the
Arctic
with a scene of dancing sailors and bears; one of whom is Frankenstein in disguise.
[4]
Background
[
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]
This type of work, the
Victorian burlesque
, was popular in Britain at the time. Other examples 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),
Monte Cristo Jr.
(1886),
Miss Esmeralda
(1887),
Mazeppa
,
Faust up to Date
(1888),
Ruy Blas and the Blase Roue
(1888),
Carmen up to Data
(1890), and
Don Juan
(1892, with lyrics by
Adrian Ross
).
[5]
John Hollingshead
had 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."
[6]
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
.
[7]
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".
[8]
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
.
[9]
Notes
[
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]
- ^
Hollingshead (1903), pp. 14 and 55
- ^
Hollingshead (1903), p. 53
- ^
Stuart, Roxana.
"Stage blood: vampires of the 19th-century stage"
, p. 331, Popular Press, 1994
ISBN
0-87972-660-1
- ^
Andrew Smith, ed. (2016).
The Cambridge Companion to Frankenstein
.
Cambridge University Press
. p. 186.
ISBN
9781316760468
.
- ^
Programme for
Carmen up to Data
Archived
December 10, 2008, at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
Arthur Lloyd Music Hall site (on Gaiety)
Cuttings
Archived
January 4, 2008, at the
Wayback Machine
accessed 01 Mar 2007
- ^
"Theatrical Humour in the Seventies",
The Times
, 20 February 1914, p. 9, col. D
- ^
Stewart, Maurice. 'The spark that lit the bonfire', in
Gilbert and Sullivan News
(London) Spring 2003.
- ^
Ganzl, Kurt, "Musicals", London: Carlton (1995), p. 56
ISBN
0-7475-2381-9
; Hyman, Alan, "The Gaiety Years", London: Cassell (1975), p. 64
ISBN
0-304-29372-5
References
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External links
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