{{Short description|Comic opera with music by Howard Talbot}} {{italictitle}} [[File:Wapping Old Stairs opera 1894.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Scene from ''Wapping Old Stairs'' - ''The Illustrated London News'' (March 1894)]] '''''Wapping Old Stairs''''' is an 1894 comic opera in three acts, with music by Howard Talbot, which played at the Vaudeville Theatre in London. It included D'Oyly Carte Opera Company regulars Courtice Pounds, Richard Temple and Jessie Bond in the cast.<ref name=Wearing>J. P. Wearing, [https://books.google.com/books?id=nF8pAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA200 ''The London Stage 1890-1899: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel''], Rowman & Littlefield (2014) – Google Books, p. 200</ref><ref name=Opinion/>
==Production== thumb|upright|Postcard of the Vaudeville Theatre, c. 1905 ''Wapping Old Stairs'' had a lot of competition in London in 1894, which saw the openings of ''The Chieftain'' by Arthur Sullivan and F. C. Burnand, ''His Excellency'' by F. Osmond Carr and W. S. Gilbert, ''Go-Bang'' by Adrian Ross and Carr, ''The Lady Slavey'' by John Crook and George Dance, a revival of ''Little Jack Sheppard'' by Meyer Lutz and H. P. Stephens at the Gaiety Theatre, ''Mirette'' by André Messager and Ross, and ''The Shop Girl'', an extremely successful musical comedy by H. J. W. Dam, Ivan Caryll, Lionel Monckton and Ross.
Written around the title of an old song, ''Wapping Old Stairs'' was first mounted at the Theatre Royal in King's Lynn from 4 to 6 January 1894 before transferring to the Vaudeville Theatre in London.<ref name=Opinion>[https://books.google.com/books?id=815JAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA180 Musical and Dramatic Notes], ''Public Opinion'', Volumes 65–66, 9 February 1894, p. 180</ref><ref>[https://gsarchive.net/british/composers/talbot.html Howard Talbot], British Musical Theatre website at the Gilbert and Sullivan Archive</ref> It has a libretto by Stuart Robertson and a score by Howard Talbot and was Talbot's first full professionally produced comic opera; it was directed and produced by Richard Temple.<ref>John Franceschina, [https://books.google.com/books?id=R4tEDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT457 ''Incidental and Dance Music in the American Theatre from 1786 to 1923: Volume 3''], Bear Manor Media (2018) - Google Books</ref> The success of this production in King's Lynn, where the musical magazine ''The Lute'' commented, "there is a freshness and vivacity in Mr. Talbot's music – particularly in the opening numbers – that as a modern comic opera entitle the work to more than ordinary consideration"<ref>"Opera in the Provinces", ''The Lute'', 1 February 1894, p. 294</ref> led to a transfer of the show to the Vaudeville Theatre in London; there it ran for 43 performances, from 17 February to 6 April 1894. Despite a strong London cast including Jessie Bond, Courtice Pounds and Richard Temple from the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, the show was not well received in the West End, with the critic for ''The Times'' writing that the piece was an example "of the modified variety entertainment which is now in vogue" and which had "the complete absence of plot".<ref>''The Times'', 19 February 1894, p. 11</ref> In March 1894 various alterations were made to the piece to improve it, including introducing the ballad ''Wapping Old Stairs'' on which the work was based.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=815JAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA374 Musical and Dramatic Notes], ''Public Opinion'', Volumes 65-66, 23 March 1894 – Google Books, p. 374</ref>
==Synopsis== A review in ''St James's Gazette'' said of the production: <blockquote> “The author and composer of ‘Wapping Old Stairs’, the new opera or operetta produced at the Vaudeville on Saturday night, may be congratulated on having achieved a genuine musical and dramatic success. There is but little of the spectacular element in the piece; the same set scene does duty throughout, and almost the only dresses are those of sailors and of their constant associates, ‘the merry maids of Wapping’. The eminent musician in using for his score the old melody of ‘Wapping old Stairs’ , which might have been treated with dramatic effect.
Mr Stuart Robertson’s book, with but little dramatic basis is ingeniously constructed, and his lyrics are written with grace and point. It appears that in the last century, or even earlier, two sailors of Wapping fell in love with the same girl; on which the most unscrupulous of the young woman’s admirers committed a murder, and so arranged matters that his rival was looked upon as the assassin and, to save his life, fled to foreign parts. But after the lapse of many years the truth came out; when the good man returned to the land of his birth and the girl of his heart, while the bad man was executed, and after ‘ suspension by the neck’ hung ignominiously in chains.
This story is, no doubt a little tragic for a comic opera, and the librettist, whilst softening its harsher features, has introduced in abundance the element of mirth.”<ref>[https://alondoninheritance.com/the-thames/wapping-old-stairs "Wapping Old Stairs"], London Inheritance website</ref> </blockquote>
==Cast== *Sir Wormwood Scrubs - Herbert Sparling *Mark Mainstay - Courtice Pounds *Captain Crook - Henry Bourchier/Charles Collette *Ben Brace - Avon Saxon *Dick Fid - Richard Temple/T. P. Haynes *Quartermaster - William Vokes *Nancy Joy - Mary Turner *Molly Joy - Hannah Jones *Daisy Pennant - Mary Hutton *Kate Capstan - M. Warren *Betsy Binnacle - L. Stewart *Susan Sinnett - Jessie Bond/Fanny Marriott *Nellie Caper - Lennox *Annie Alport - Amy Bell *Bessie Bouncer - Fane *Dolly Hawser - Annie Laurie<ref name=Wearing/>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wapping Old Stairs}} Category:1894 musicals Category:1894 operas Category:West End musicals Category:Original musicals Category:English comic operas Category:English-language operas Category:Operas