The Girl Behind the Counter

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The Girl Behind the Counter
Music Howard Talbot
Lyrics Arthur Anderson
Percy Greenbank
Book Arthur Anderson
Leedham Bantok
Productions 1906 West End
1907 Broadway

The Girl Behind the Counter is an English musical with a book by Arthur Anderson and Leedham Bantok, music by Howard Talbot and lyrics by Arthur Anderson (and additional lyrics by Percy Greenbank), produced by Frank Curzon.

It opened at Wyndham's Theatre on April 21, 1906. The farcical musical starred Isabel Jay, C. Hayden Coffin and Lawrence Grossmith (son of George Grossmith and brother of George Grossmith, Jr.) Though the musical only ran for 141 performances in the original London production, it had a very successful 1907-08 Broadway run at the Herald Square Theatre starring Lew Fields and Connie Ediss (282 performances) with revisions by Edgar Smith. It toured successfully thereafter in the British provinces, the U.S., Australia and elsewhere and enjoyed several revivals.

Contents

[edit] Synopsis

A rugged lodger, in debt to his landlady for four years' rent, seizes upon the opportunity to marry her. While on their honeymoon, he learns that he has inherited one million pounds sterling. Now his wife seems like a burden instead of a windfall, as she insists on mixing in with "society".

[edit] Roles and original cast

  • Charlie Chetwynd - C. Hayden Coffin
  • General Sir Wilkie Willoughby - J. F. McArdle
  • Viscount Gushington ("Gussie") - Lawrence Grossmith
  • Monsieur Duval (Proprietor of the "Maison Duval") - Fred Allandale
  • Adolphus Dudd (Office Boy at the "Maison Duval") - Horace Mills
  • Millie Mostyn (Manageress of the "Maison Duval") - Violet Englefield
  • Ninette (Head of the Millinery Department) - Marie Dainton
  • Susie (Cashier at the "Maison Duval") - Coralie Blythe
  • Winnie Willoughby - Isabel Jay

[edit] Musical numbers

Act I - The "Maison Duval."

  • No. 1 - Opening Chorus - "Hurry, scurry, to and fro..."
  • No. 2 - Song - Duval and Chorus - "Oh! ze managère discreet, 'e is very 'ard to beat..."
  • No. 3 - Song - Gussie - "It's jolly nice to be as deuced popular as I am..."
  • No. 4 - Song - Winnie - "Why should a maid bestow her hand..."
  • No. 5 - Duet - Dudd and Susie - "I mean to start a fancy shop..."
  • No. 6 - Concerted Number - Customers and Chorus - "They've been shopping till they're dropping..."
  • No. 7 - Song - Charlie and Chorus - "A land there is o'er the ocean wide..."
  • No. 8 - Duet - Winnie and Charlie - "Won't you buy a spray, or a choice bouquet..."
  • No. 9 - Song and Dance - Ninette and Chorus - "I'm a little lady who is rather fascinating..."
  • No. 10 - Finale Act I - "Here's a situation! If her tale be true..."

Act II - The Baron's Court Exhibition. "The Rose Carnival."

  • No. 11 - Opening Chorus Act II - "The Exhibition buildings are en fête tonight..."
  • No. 12 - Song - Millie and Chorus of Girls - "In a sleepy country hamlet, in the drowsy vale of Kent..."
  • No. 13 - Duet - Susie and Dudd - "We are orthodox types of an era gone by..."
  • No. 14 - Duet - Ninette and Duval, with Chorus - "We paid our fares and climbed the stairs..."
  • No. 15 - Song - General Sir Wilkie Willoughby,and Chorus - "In good Queen Bess's glorious time..."
  • No. 16 - Duet - Winnie and Charlie - "When you are by my side a king am I..."
  • No. 17 - Song - Charlie - "My heart is yours alone, dear..." (composed by Leslie Stuart under the name of Augustus Barratt)
  • No. 18 - Duet - Millie and Gussie - "When you're my little wife..."
  • No. 19 - Song - Dudd and Chorus - "If there hadn't been an apple on the tree." (by A. J. Mills and Bennett Scott)
  • No. 20 - Song - Ninette and Chorus - "Come with me, if you are melancholic..."
  • No. 21 - Finale Act II - "So come along, and join the merry throng..."
  • Addendum No. 23 - Duet - Millie and Gussie - "I'm glad you take my wooing in this unromantic way..."

[edit] External links