Chu Chin Chow

For the film adaptations, see Chu-Chin-Chow (1925 film) and Chu Chin Chow (1934 film).
Chu Chin Chow

Oscar Asche in Chu Chin Chow
Music Frederic Norton
Book Oscar Asche
Basis Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves
Productions 1916 West End
1917 Broadway
1940/1941 West End revival

Chu Chin Chow is a musical comedy written, produced and directed by Oscar Asche, with music by Frederic Norton, based (with minor embellishments) on the story of Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves. The piece premièred at His Majesty's Theatre in London on 3 August 1916 and ran for five years and a total of 2,238 performances (more than twice as many as any previous musical), an astonishing record that stood for nearly forty years until Salad Days.[1][2] The show's first American production in New York, with additional lyrics by Arthur Anderson, played for 208 performances in 1917–1918.[3] It subsequently had successful seasons elsewhere in America and Australia, including in 1920, 1921 and 1922.

A silent film of the musical was produced in 1925 using some of the music. A talking film, with the score intact, was made by the Gainsborough Studios in 1934, with George Robey playing the part of Ali Baba, Fritz Kortner as Abu Hassan, Anna May Wong as Zahrat Al-Kulub and Laurence Hanray as Kasim.[3] The show toured the British provinces for many years. It returned to London in 1940 for 80 performances, when it was interrupted by the London bombing but then returned in 1941 for another 158 nights. In 1953, an ice version was produced at London’s Empire Pool, Wembley, which also toured the provinces. Occasional productions are still mounted, including one in July 2008 by the Finborough Theatre in London, England.[4]

Background

The success of the "Arabian Nights" adaptation Kismet, a 1911 play by Edward Knoblock, inspired Oscar Asche to write and produce Chu Chin Chow. Asche also played the lead role of Abu Hasan, leader of the forty thieves (the "Chu Chin Chow" of the title refers to the robber chief when impersonating one of his victims). Besides Asche, the production starred his wife, Lily Brayton, and Courtice Pounds. Costumes were by the designer Percy Anderson.[5]

Chu Chin Chow was described as a combination of musical comedy and pantomime. It was a big budget spectacular costing £5,300, with over a dozen scene changes, fantastic sets, big dance routines, exotic costumes and Asche's well-known innovative lighting designs. The design for the show was influenced by the English taste for all things connected with Asia (known as "orientalism") which had originated with Diaghilev’s production of the ballet Scheherazade. Theatre journal The Era said that Norton's music had "a touch of the East but for the most part it was on a level with the tender melody of musical comedy" and "hardly inspired". Nevertheless, many of the songs became hits, and "The Cobbler's Song" and "Any Time’s Kissing Time" in particular entered the repertoire of ballad singers for at least three or four decades.

Tickets to see Chu Chin Chow were particularly eagerly sought by troops on leave from the Western Front. One of the attractions for the on-leave soldiers was the chorus of pretty slave girls who, for the period, were very scantily dressed. Complaints, not by the soldiers, resulted in the Lord Chamberlain (the British theatre censor) viewing the show and requiring "this naughtiness" to be stopped—at least for a while. The cast was large and included a camel, a donkey, poultry and snakes. 2.8 million tickets to the show were issued. The year following the premiere of the musical, a souvenir booklet was prepared, which included a novelized version of the play by Willam A. Page. He included additional background explanations to explain the scenery and physical attributes of the characters.[6]

Chu Chin Chow was one of three hit musical shows that are most associated with the London musical stage during World War I (the others being The Bing Boys Are Here and The Maid of the Mountains), and music or scenes from these have been included as background in many films set in this period. Interestingly, the three shows were each very different from each other. The Bing Boys was a revue, The Maid was essentially an operetta, and Chu Chin Chow is often considered an adult pantomime. Other popular musicals of the period were Theodore & Co (1916), The Happy Day (1916), The Boy (1917) and Yes, Uncle! (1917). Audiences wanted light and uplifting entertainment during the war, and all these shows delivered it.[7]

Synopsis

The wealthy merchant Kasim Baba (brother of Ali Baba) is preparing to give a lavish banquet for a wealthy Chinese merchant, Chu Chin Chow, who is on his way from China. The Robber Chieftain, Abu Hasan, wishes to add to his riches the property of Kasim. Abu Hasan forces his captive, the beautiful Zahrat Al-Kulub, to spy for him in Kasim's house by holding her lover hostage. She is nearly found out several times. Zahrat sends a message to Abu Hasan, letting him know about the banquet. Hasan arrives at Kasim's palace in disguise as Chu Chin Chow, whom his gang has robbed and murdered. He tries to glean information that will enable him to rob his host.

Meanwhile, the slaves tell Ali Baba about Hasan's secret cave and the password "open sesame". Ali Baba helps himself to some of the thieves' treasure. Kasim persuades his brother to tell him where his sudden wealth came from and slips out to see what he can find at Hasan's cave. Kasim finds the treasure but is captured by Abu Hasan and put to death. Finally, on the eve of an attack on Ali Baba’s family planned by Abu Hasan, Zahrat gets her revenge by disposing of the forty thieves using boiling oil and stabbing Abu Hasan, and generally saving the day. The lovers are united, and all ends happily.

Original cast

Costume designs shown in the Tatler, 1917

Roles

Role Premiere cast,
3 August 1916		 Original Broadway cast,
22 October 1917
Abu Hasan Oscar Asche Tyrone Power, Sr.
Kassim Baba Frank Cochrane Albert Howson
Ali Baba Courtice Pounds Henry Dixey
Nur Al-Huda Ali J V Bryant George Rasely
Abdullah Norman Williams Francis J. Boyle
Marjanah Violet Essex Tessa Kosta
Zahrat Al-Kulub Lily Brayton Florence Reed
Alcolom Aileen D'Orme Kate Condon
Mahbubah Sydney Fairbrother Lucy Beaumont

Songs

Act 1
Act 2
Additional Songs added in the 1940 revival

Production history

In popular culture

Notes

  1. ↑ Compilation of longest-running plays in history
  2. ↑ Although Salad Days was the first musical to break the Chu Chin Chow record, the first play to break its record was Abie's Irish Rose in 1927. See: "Abroad", The Manchester Guardian June 2, 1927, ProQuest Historical Newspapers, The Guardian and The Observer, p. 15
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Chu Chin Chow (1934): A Robust Operetta". The New York Times, 22 September 1934, accessed 2 August, 2010
  4. ↑ Chu Chin Chow (2008) at the Finborough Theatre, London, website archive, accessed 23 December 2010
  5. ↑ "A Tonic to the Imagination" (Anderson's costume designs on display at the Harry Ransom Center collection), The University of Texas at Austin, accessed 26 May 2012
  6. ↑ Trutt, David (ed). Introduction to "Chu Chin Chow" novelization, p. 3, 2010, accessed 18 November 2010
  7. ↑ Chu Chin Chow, Musical Theatre Guided Tour (PeoplePlay UK), accessed October 3, 2008
  8. ↑ The Times, 27 December 1928
  9. ↑ "Chu Chin Chow at The Finborough", 2008
  10. ↑ "Bullpen Bulletins" (Jun. 2000 Marvel comics): "Stan's Soapbox", by Stan Lee. Lee states this in the audio interview in Amazing Marvel Universe by Roy Thomas and Stan Lee.

References

External links