The Girl Behind the Counter

The Girl Behind the Counter

Isabel Jay as Winnie Willoughby
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 Edwardian musical comedy 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.[1]

It opened at Wyndham's Theatre on 21 April 1906.[1] The farcical musical starred Isabel Jay, C. Hayden Coffin and Lawrence Grossmith. It ran for 141 performances in the original London production, and an adaptation ran for twice that long in 1907–08 on Broadway.[1] The Broadway production was "freely adapted and reconstructed by Edgar Smith"[2] and starred Lew Fields and Connie Ediss.[3]

It toured successfully thereafter in the British provinces, the U.S., Australia and elsewhere and enjoyed several revivals.

Synopsis of the Broadway version

[To come]

Musical numbers

Maison Duval
Gussie in a fancy dress
Violet Englefield as Millie and Lawrence Grossmith as Gussie

Act I - The "Maison Duval."

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

Original West End cast

Broadway adaptation

Lew Fields as Henry Schniff.

Lew Fields produced and starred in a Broadway adaptation at the Herald Square Theatre. It ran from 1 October 1907 to 6 June 1908, a total of 282 performances,[2] directed by J. C. Huffman.[4]

The opening night cast for the Broadway adaptation included:[2]

Act I – An American-style department store in London

Henry Schniff, in debt to his landlady for four years' rent, marries her. While on their honeymoon, he learns that he has inherited one million pounds sterling. Now his wife, the former Mrs. Willoughby, insists on mixing in with "society". Her daughter, Winnie Willoughby, does not agree with her mother's choice of a husband for her, the broke and stupid Viscount Augustus Gushington. Instead, Winnie wants to run a flower stall at an American department store in London, "where American methods of handling everything are satirized".[3]

Her first customer is Charlie, recently returned from Africa where he has made his fortune. Romantic sparks fly, but when Winnie loses track of the money in her till, and a £10 note goes missing, she is fired. More trouble: Winnie's father, Sir Wilkie Willoughby, opposes her marriage with Charlie.

Act II – In the "Jardin de Paris"

At a fancy ball, Winnie works to get her father's approval of her marriage to Charlie. She also proves her innocence: the real thief in the affair of the money is Adolphus Dudd, a shop boy, who took the money to impress his sweetheart at the ball. Winnie's father is caught in a flirtation with Ninette, an employee in the millinery department of the store, and so he cannot refuse Winnie his consent.

References

  1. 1 2 3 The Girl Behind the Counter. Guide to Musical Theatre, accessed 21 July 2011
  2. 1 2 3 The Girl Behind the Counter at the Internet Broadway Database
  3. 1 2 "Two more novelties and a revival". (Article 12). The New York Times. 29 September 1907. Retrieved 2011-07-21. External link in |work= (help)
  4. ↑ Hischak, Thomas S. (2006-01-01). Enter the Playmakers: Directors and Choreographers on the New York Stage. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-5747-6. Retrieved 2014-05-30.


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