Adrian Ross

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Arthur Reed Ropes (December 23, 1859 – September 10, 1933), better known under the pseudonym Adrian Ross, was a writer of lyrics for more than 60 British musical comedies in the late 19th and early 20th century. He served as the senior lyricist of the British stage for over five decades.

Contents 1 Life and career 1.1 Early career 1.2 Later career 1.3 Musicals 2 External links

[edit] Life and career

Ross was born in Lewisham. He was a Cambridge University graduate and don, historian, and translator of French and German literature and won the Chancellor's Medal for verse. He created the fictitious name due to a concern that writing musicals would compromise his academic career.

[edit] Early career

Ross's first work for the stage was the book and lyrics for a burlesque, Faddimir (1889), with music by fellow Cambridge graduate, Frank Osmond Carr. The piece earned enough praise so that the impressario George Edwardes commissioned the two to write another burlesque, together with the experienced comedian John Shine, Joan of Arc (1891). Songs from that success included "I Went to Find Emin", "Round the Town", and`"Jack the Dandy-O". Ross and Carr's next work, In Town (1892), a smart tale of backstage and society intrigue, broke away from the burlesque style and helped set the new fashion for the series of Gaiety musical hits that followed.

For his next piece, Morocco Bound (1893, with the song "Marguerite from Monte Carlo"), Ross limited himself almost entirely to writing lyrics, which proved to be his most successful model through most of his career. The position of "lyricist" was relatively new, as previously the writers of libretti would invariably write the lyrics themselves. As the new Edwardes-style "musical comedies" took the place of comic opera and operetta on the stage, Ross and Harry Greenbank established the usefulness of a separate lyricist.

Ross contributed lyrics to virtually all of the Gaiety Theatre's shows, beginning with The Shop Girl (1894, with the song "Brown of Colorado"). He also wrote additional numbers for the shows at Daly's Theatre. His small contributions to An Artist's Model (1895) and The Geisha (1896) were successful enough so that Edwardes asked him for major contributions to the rest, beginning with A Greek Slave (1898) especially after the death of Harry Greenbank. When Edwardes switched to continental European operettas, Ross wrote English lyrics for the songs to go with the new English books. His words to the songs in The Merry Widow (1907) became the standard English version of that piece, performed throughout the world for many decades. Other Continental musicals that Ross anglicized were The Girl in the Train (1910), The Dollar Princess (1909), The Count of Luxembourg (1911), and The Marriage Market (1913), all of which had a wide and enduring success in their English versions. Another success from this period was Betty in 1915.

[edit] Later career

Ross continued, after the Edwardes's death, to write lyrics for shows at the Gaiety, Daly's, the Adelphi Theatre, and other London theatres. As tastes changed the "revue" became popular, and Ross worked with Herman Darewski on Three Cheers (1917) and with Lionel Monckton on Airs and Graces. After World War I, he wrote lyrics for the musicalized French comedy Theodore & Co, the Pinero musical The Boy (musical), and Booth Tarkington's Monsieur Beaucaire ("Philomel"). In 1922, he wrote both the book and the lyrics for the popular English version of "Das Dreimdderlhaus", produced in Britain as Lilac Time. In 1927, Ross collaborated with Australian composer Dudley Glass on a musical version of W J Locke's The Beloved Vagabond. His final work was the English version of Ludwig Herzer and Fritz Lohner-Beda's libretto to the operetta Friederike and a musical version of Austin Strong's The Toymaker of Nuremberg played as a Christmas entertainment.

Ross wrote regularly and extensively with all of the most successful British-based composers of his time, including Caryll, Monckton, and Leslie Stuart at the Gaiety and Sidney Jones, at Daly's and, later, Howard Talbot and Andre Messager. Sixteen of his musicals ran for more than 400 performances. Ross tailored each song to fit the style required by the producer -- songs for the Gaiety were different from those for Daly's. Many of his adaptations are still performed today.

Ross also wrote the popular horror novel The Hole Of The Pit in 1914 and a number of short stories.

He died in London at the age of 73.

[edit] Musicals

Ross contributed lyrics to the following musicals, often in collaboration with other lyricists:

• Faddimir, or The Triumph of Orthodoxy (1889)
• Joan of Arc (musical) (1891)
• The Young Recruit (1892)
• In Town (musical) (1892) (292 performances)
• Morocco Bound (1893) (295 performances)
• Don Juan (1893)
• Go-Bang (1894) (129 performances)
• The Shop Girl (1894) (546 performances)
• Mirette revised English version (1894) (total of 102 performances in both versions)
• Bobbo (1895)
• Biarritz (1896) (71 performances)
• My Girl (1896) (183 performances)
• Weather or No (1896) (209 performances)
• The Circus Girl (1896) (497 performances)
• His Majesty, or The Court of Vignolia (1897) (61 performances)
• The Ballet Girl (1897)
• The Grand Duchess (1897) (104 performances)
• The Transit of Venus (1898)
• Billy (1898)
• A Greek Slave (1898) (349 performances)
• Milord Sir Smith (1898) (82 performances)
• The Lucky Star (1899) (143 performances)
• San Toy (1899) (768 performances)
• The Messenger Boy (1900) (429 performances)
• The Toreador (1901) (675 performances)
• Kitty Grey (1901) (220 performances)
• A Country Girl (1902) (729 performances)
• The Girl from Kays (1903) (432 performances)
• The Orchid (1903) (559 performances)
• The Cingalee (1904) (365 performances)
• The Spring Chicken (1905) (401 performances)
• The Little Cherub (1906) (114 performances)
• Naughty Nero (1906)
• The New Aladdin (1906) (203 performances)
• See-See (1906) (152 performances)
• Les Merveilleuses (1906) (196 performances)
• The Girls of Gottenberg (1907) (303 performances)
• The Merry Widow (1907) – English Adaptation (778 performances)
  

  

  Cover of the Vocal Score
• A Waltz Dream (1908) (146 performances)
• Havana (musical) (1908) (221 performances)
• King of Cadonia (1908) (333 performances)
• The Dollar Princess (1909) (428 performances)
• The Antelope (1909)
• Our Miss Gibbs (1909) (636 performances)
• The Dashing Little Duke (1909) (101 performances)
• Captain Kidd (musical) (1910)
• The Girl in the Train (1910)
• The Quaker Girl (1911) (536 performances)
• Castles in the Air (Frau Luna) (1911)
• The Count of Luxembourg (1911) (240 performances)
• Gipsy Love (1912) (299 performances)
• The Wedding Morning (1912)
• Tantalising Tommy (1912)
• The Dancing Mistress (1912) (241 performances)
• The Girl on the Film (Filmzauber) (1913) (232 performances)
• The Marriage Market (Lednyedsdr) (1913)
• The Girl from Utah (1913) (195 performances)
• The Belle of Bond Street revised version of The Girl from Kays (1914)
• Betty (1915) (391 performances)
• The Light Blues (1915)
• The Happy Day (1916) (241 performances)
• Theodore & Co (1916) (503 performances)
• Oh! Caesar (1916) (toured only)
• The Happy Family (1916)
• Arlette (1917)
• The Boy (musical) (1917) (801 performances)
• Three Cheers (1917) (revue)
• Monsieur Beaucaire (1919) (400 performances)
• The Kiss Call (1919)
• Maggie (1919)
• The Eclipse (1919)
• Medorah (1920)
• A Southern Maid (1920) (306 performances)
• The Love Flower (1920)
• The Naughty Princess (1920)
• Faust on Toast (1921)
• Love's Awakening (1921)
• Lilac Time (1922) (626 performances)
• The Cousin from Nowhere (1922)
• Head Over Heels (1923)
• The Beloved Vagabond (1927) (107 performances)
• Frederica (Friederike) (1930)
• The Toymaker of Nuremberg (1930) (32 performances)

[edit] External links

• Listing of English musicals with links
• Profile of Ross
• Ross's extensive Broadway show credits
• Brief profile of Ross from the comprehensive musicals101 site
• Links to poems by Ross