Opera Scotland

Shop Girl The Shop Girl

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Music

Ivan Caryll (born Liège, 12 May 1861; died New York City, 29 November 1921)

Additional songs by Lionel Monckton and Adrian Ross.

Text

Book by H J W Dam.

Lyrics by H J W Dam and Adrian Ross.

 

Premieres

First Performance: London (Gaiety Theatre), 24 November 1894.

First Performance in Scotland: Edinburgh (Royal Lyceum Theatre), 2 September 1895.

 

Background

The Shop Girl was the first of a string of successful musical comedies produced by George Edwardes with music by Ivan Caryll. Following on after A Gaiety Girl, composed by Sidney Jones, and actually described as a musical farce, it enjoyed a long London run at the Gaiety, and was equally successful on tour. As became customary with such works, significant changes to the performing text were made, in this case new songs by both Lionel Monckton and Adrian Ross being added. Caryll continued to turn out works for the Gaiety for a further seventeen years before he moved to New York, where he continued with equal success.

 

Main Characters

Septimus Hooley, Proprietor of Royal Stores

Charles Appleby, a Medical Student

Sir George Appleby, a Solicitor

Lady Appleby, Charlie's Mother and Wife to Sir George

John Brown, a Millionaire

Count St Vaurian, his Secretary

Bessie Brent, the Shop Girl

 

Plot Summary

Bessie Brent is a foundling and a shop girl, working in the Royal Stores. She loves Charles Appleby, but, although he is only a student, his respectable background makes any formal relationship out of the question. John Brown has returned to the country of his birth, having made a fortune in the American goldmines. As a penniless youth he had sailed to the States in company with a lifelong friend, who had also struck it lucky, but is now dead. Brown's aim is to find the child this friend abandoned long ago, since she stands to inherit the dead man's fortune - the not insignificant sum of £4 million. Inevitably, the child turns out to be Bessie, thus removing the barrier to her marriage to Charlie, since she now has an identity.

In a subplot, the Royal Stores proprietor, Mr Hooley, in a determined search for a wealthy wife, ends up with the wrong person, by mistake.