The Girl from Kays

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The Girl from Kays is an English musical with music by Ivan Caryll, Paul Rubens, Wilhelm Meyer Lutz and Edward Jones, book by Cecil Cook and lyrics by Adrian Ross and Claude Aveling. It was produced by George Edwardes at the Apollo Theatre in London, opening on 15 November 1902, for a run of 432 performances. Gabrielle Ray took over from Letty Lind in the show near the end of its original run. Kitty Gordon also appeared in the show. The show also had very successful New York and Australian runs. It was later revised as The Belle of Bond Street.

The farcical story concerns a misguided kiss.

[edit] Roles

Norah Chalmers
Ellen (Her Maid)
Mrs. Chalmers
Nancy Lowley, Mary Methuen, Cora Paget, Mabel Macdonald, Hilda French (Assistants at Kay's)
Rhoda Leslie, Ella Wyly, Maud Racine,
Gertrude Hildesley, Olive Whitney, Joan Mayen (Norah's Bridesmaids)
Jane
Winnie Harborough (The Girl from Kay's)
Harry Gordon
The Hon. Percy Fitzthistle
Theodore Quench, K.C.
Mr. Chalmers
Joseph (Hall Porter at Flacton Hotel)
Archie Pembridge
Frank (Waiter at Savoy Restaurant)
Pepper (Page Boy of Flacton Hotel)
Scavvin (Proprietor of Flacton Hotel)
Max Hoggenheimer

[edit] Musical numbers

Act I - Chalmers' Flat

No. 1 - Opening Chorus of Bridesmaids, with Norah - "We're the bright and bridal bevy who have recently attended..."
No. 2 - Song - Norah and Bridesmaids - "As I came up the aisle, supported by dear father..."
No. 3 - Scene - Norah and Chorus - "We've come for you ladies, no pretty bridesmaid is allowed to be absent by stealth..."
No. 4 - Song - Winnie - "When a girl of commonsense wants to make a competence..."
No. 5 - Song - Harry - "Oh, when a young man takes a wife, his bachelor chrysalis shedding..."
No. 6 - Finale Act I - "Now we see the carriage stand before the door ... it will take the wedded couple to the station..."

ACT II - Grand Hotel, Flacton-on-Sea

No. 7 - Opening Chorus - "Sunday at Flacton-on-Sea, isn't it jolly in summer? Who isn't happy to be here..."
No. 8 - Duet - Norah & Harry - "We're married, I cannot deny ... Then what are we going to do?..."
No. 9 - Song - Mary & Chorus - "We are good little girls, very worldly and wise, and we can teach you just a few things..."
No. 10 - Song - Winnie & Chorus - "If you'd like to know the ways of the customers at Kay's..."
No. 11 - Song - Ellen & Chorus of Bridesmaids - "Oh, the fine folk with their marriages too fussy always are..."
No. 12 - Song - Norah - "I dreamed my husband's love was pure as snow, Papa! ..."
No. 13 - Coon Song - Nancy - "Sambo was a coffee colour'd coon ..." *** (see note below.)
No. 14 - Song - Harry - "Women are extraordinary beings! Upon my word, I don't know what to think! ..."
No. 15 - Finale Act II - "He has gone his ways with a girl from Kay's, but why should you weep, and why sigh? ..."

ACT III - The Savoy Restaurant

No. 16 - Act III Introduction
No. 17 - Duet - Winnie and Harry - "Wife and I have had a quarrel, she believes me far from moral..."
No. 18 - Song - Mary, with Chorus - "When love stands at the heart's door of a maiden..."
No. 19 - Song - Harry, with Chorus - "Supposing things look black in town, and you feel rather blue..."
No. 20 - Song - Winnie & Chorus - "It's very nice to be a dame of high degree, with blood and reputation beautifully blue..."
No. 21 - Finale - "She'll marry Hoggenheimer of Park Lane..."

Additional numbers

No. 22 - Song - Percy - "When I gaze in this glass my reflections go back to the time when I was a boy..."
No. 23 - Song - Harry - "There was a little builder once to build a house began..."
No. 24 - Quartet - Nancy, Ellen, Fitzthistle, & Frank - "I want to give a birthday party here..."