235:, and Beebee, who used to be a Brahmin, is of a low caste due to a legal decision that is being appealed. Therefore, they cannot marry. Indru renounces his caste (by eating cow meat) and his royal position to become Beebee's equal, so they can marry. Punka chastises Beebee for seeking the love of one whose caste is above hers. Punka also notes that his meddling relative, Pyjama, stole the idol's eye and then lost it, but that he cannot harm his relative. Just then, Pyjama announces with great amusement that Beebee has won the court appeal and is now a Brahmin; and so now she is a Brahmin, but Indru is not. The law condemns both a Brahmin and his or her lower caste spouse to a traitor's death. Beebee escapes to Europe with the dance troupe, but when Indru tries to join the girls, he is imprisoned under threat of execution.
243:
claimed to be in order to get promotion. Beebee and her girlfriends divert Pyjama with one of their dance numbers so that he is late for the executions, angering Bumbo. Punka announces that Pyjama is the thief who stole the idol's diamond eye. As Pyjama is dragged away to his fate, Beebee and Chinna beg for mercy. Bumbo sees the twinkling diamond around Beebee's neck – it is Bumbo's lost eye. Punka and Indru are restored to their former positions, and Indru and Beebee can fall into each other's arms. The idol climbs back onto his shelf with Chinna turned to wood alongside him, and all ends happily (except for Pyjama).
239:
out of jail. Indru hides as a miracle is announced: Bumbo, the two-thousand-year-old idol, has stepped down from his place. Bumbo is looking for his diamond eye and the villain who stole it. He complains about the neglect of his worship and dismisses Punka as rajah (and condemns him and all his relations to death by crocodile), replacing him with Pyjama (although, being kin, Pyjama also would be condemned). However, Bumbo spots Chinna, and they very soon find themselves discussing marriage.
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602:. … All this may seem rather hard on poor Mr Solomon, the composer upon whom Mr Carte's choice has actually fallen. But then Mr. Solomon has been very hard on me. He has given me the worst headache I ever had in a theatre by an instrumental score which is more wearisome than the conversation of an inveterate punster, and more noisy than the
238:
Pyjama, scheming to become the rajah, has put an anonymous letter on the idol's shrine informing Punka that Indru is a condemned man. The father of a condemned man may not be rajah. Chinna Loofah, a woman seeking a husband, has an affection for Indru (and nearly every other man), and she breaks him
565:
considered that Carte and his authors and composer had done well to present the Savoy audience with a piece in the familiar Savoy genre without direct imitation of
Gilbert and Sullivan. The paper praised the music and libretto, but reserved its highest praise for Carte's production, which "surpassed
242:
Beebee returns from a personally triumphant
European tour, carrying a curious gem on her necklace that had been left for her at a stage door by an admirer, and looks for her Indru. Pyjama claims that he is exempt from the family execution, saying that he is not a relation of Punka's; he had merely
182:
Both Mr. George Dance and Mr. Edward
Solomon have ... subordinated their own individualities to the traditions of the theatre, and have produced a work which, if brought out anonymously, would be unhesitatingly classed, by superficial observers at all events, among the rest of the "Gilbert and
133:
542:
gave the show a good review, though noting that
Solomon did not aspire to Sullivan's "refined melodic inspiration and delicately-finished orchestration", and commenting on a certain monotony in the score caused by an excess of drawing room songs and waltzes.
197:(originally produced in 1880), also joined the D'Oyly Carte repertoire. Desprez had written several curtain raisers for the Savoy during the 1880s. Dance was the younger collaborator, and later he was responsible for the phenomenally successful musical
99:). The part of Chinna Loofa was the last role that Jessie Bond created at the Savoy. She wrote in her memoirs that it was one of her favourites. The title role was played by Lenore Snyder, the last of a number of actresses who had played Gianetta in
606:
which accompanies the knockabout business in a music hall. … Of the opera as an artistic whole I cannot very well speak, because it hardly is an artistic whole. The book was evidently selected for the sake of its resemblance to
623:. In other words, the Savoy has lost its speciality. This, I think, is a misfortune; and if Mr. Carte wishes to remedy it, and cannot discover two new geniuses, he had better make up his mind at once to give a commission to
570:
is less striking and original than some of its predecessors at the Savoy it has merits of its own which the public are not likely to ignore." The least favourable critique was that of
183:
Sullivan" operas. It may, indeed, be doubted whether the older collaborators would have followed their own example so closely as their successors have done.
68:, and ran until 16 January 1892, for a respectable 200 performances, and then Carte toured the piece in the British provinces and colonies.
120:
received its only known North
American performances on 7 and 8 August 2004, in an incomplete version by the Royal English Opera Company of
105:. The opera has been absent from the professional stage since the 19th century but has been revived occasionally by amateur companies.
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was not greatly impressed by the score, and referred the opera's "ghastly attempt at humour", but praised the staging and the cast.
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was originally cast as Hollee Beebee, the title character, but she "resigned" the role a month before the show opened.
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of
Chutneypore, is soft-hearted. His life is beset by many problems, including the love of his son, Indru, for the
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in the cast list printed in its 4 July 1891 issue gives it as Lenore, as does the original Savoy theatre programme.
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Carte authorized his
American producing partner, John Stetson, to mount the opera in the United States, but
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to produce any new
Solomon works in the US and threatened a lawsuit; neither of them produced the piece.
729:
661:
Rollins and Witts give her name as
Leonore, as does the Gilbert and Sullivan Archive. See Stone, David.
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863:
The D'Oyly Carte Opera
Company in Gilbert and Sullivan Operas: A Record of Productions, 1875–1961
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95:, when Barrington left the company for several months to tour in a series of "musical duologues" with
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If We Travel by Way of Brindisi (Baboo Currie, Beebee, Banyan, Tiffin, Kalee, Indru and Punka)
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Gently bear my lady to her chamber (Beebee, Banyan, Tiffin, Kalee, Currie, Pyjama and Chorus)
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Pyjama; and a missing diamond that serves as the national idol's right eye. Indru is a
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Chorus of Nautch Girls, Ladies of the Court, Soldiers, Priests, Coolies, Pariahs, etc.
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was forced to find new works to present at the Savoy Theatre. This was the first non-
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Quite Another Different Kind of Person Altogether (Punka, Beebee, Pyjama, Chinna)
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sustains the orchestral traditions of comic opera – the delicacy and humor of
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considered Dance and Desprez sensible to have modelled their work on that of
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166:", but it was designed to resemble its G&S predecessors, in particular
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dancer Hollee Beebee; Punka's sponging relatives, especially the scheming
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Carte knew Solomon well, and he had presented Solomon's 1881 comic opera,
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We Are Punka's Poor Relations (Chinna, Cheetah, Suttee and relations)
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The cast included several players familiar to the Savoy's audiences:
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26:(c), with Gilbert (l) and Sullivan irate at his success at the
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all previous effects at the Savoy." The review concluded, If
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Shaw's Music: The Complete Musical Criticism of Bernard Shaw
251:
16:
1892 opera by George Dance, Frank Desprez and Edward Solomon
761:, Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 18 September 2008
216:
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amounts to no more than can be said for any piece at the
477:
What is caste to you and me? (Indru, Beebee and Ensemble)
730:"Social Discourse in the Savoy Theatre's Productions of
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With Merry Song (Banyan, Tiffin, Kalee and Nautch Girls)
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Beneath the Sky of Blue – Opening Chorus (Pariahs)
697:"Among the Stage Folk: Trouble Brewing Over Solomon's
520:
When All the World Was Bright, Love (Indru and Beebee)
860:
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The Secret of My Past Success (Pyjama and relations)
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with links to the libretto, Midi files, score, etc.
1057:
847:, 8 July 1891 reproduced in Laurence, pp. 388–93
738:(1893): Exoticism and Victorian Self-Reflection"
456:One, Two, Three (Hollee Beebee and Nautch Girls)
450:Roses are Fair (Indru, Baboo Currie and Pariahs)
148:partnership disbanded after the production of
954:
652:Rollins and Witts, pp. 13, 26, 76, and 78–80
594:, or the musicianly smoothness and charm of
459:When Our Shackles Are Undone (Beebee, Indru)
688:, St. David's Players, accessed 6 June 2023
505:When a Fashionable Tenor (Bumbo and Chorus)
468:Do Not Think Me Overbold (Chinna and Punka)
462:The Rajah of Chutneypore (Punka and Chorus)
961:
947:
881:, Max Reinhardt, London, 1981. Volume 1,
496:Duet: A Little Caged Bird (Chinna, Indru)
929:Synopsis at the Guide to Musical Theatre
826:"The Nautch Girl at the Savoy Theatre",
538:The reviews were generally favourable.
474:Beebee's a Bride (Indru, Beebee, Chorus)
471:Merrily, Merrily Ring the Bells (Chorus)
250:
131:
18:
759:Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
665:, at the Gilbert and Sullivan Archive.
502:As I Sat on My Shelf (Bumbo and Chorus)
447:The Sun Was Setting (Indru and Pariahs)
399:Louie Rowe, Annie Cole and Cora Tinnie
191:, on tour in 1882. In 1893, Solomon's
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924:Programme from the original production
861:Rollins, Cyril; R. John Witts (1962).
830:, 1 July 1891, p. 3; and "The Opera",
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784:
782:
877:Shaw, Bernard, ed. Dan H. Laurence.
533:
356:Cissie Saumarez and Nellie Lawrence
172:, with its exotic oriental setting.
514:Crocodile (Punka, Bumbo and Chinna)
60:. It opened on 30 June 1891 at the
13:
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934:Photographs from a 1901 production
843:Shaw, Bernard. "The Nautch Girl",
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590:, the inimitable effervescence of
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14:
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1044:Category:Operas by Edward Solomon
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800:"The Nautch Girl at the Savoy",
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511:Vive la Liberté (Bumbo, Chinna)
136:Caricature of Solomon (r) with
112:claimed that he had an ongoing
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627:for his next libretto, and to
255:Lenore Snyder as Hollee Beebee
178:review of 1 July 1891 noted:
1:
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363:proprietor of a Nautch troupe
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755:"Talbot, Howard (1865–1928)"
517:Near thee Once More (Beebee)
444:Bow Not, Good People (Indru)
7:
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48:in two acts, with music by
10:
1127:
865:. London: Michael Joseph.
391:Banyan, Kalee and Tiffin,
329:a poor relation of Punka's
56:, and lyrics by Dance and
1091:Libretti by Frank Desprez
1035:
976:
742:University of North Texas
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347:poor relations of Punka's
1076:Operas by Edward Solomon
719:, winter 2004, pp. 27-31
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277:the Rajah of Chutneypore
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41:The Rajah of Chutneypore
1066:English-language operas
704:New York Evening World
508:Hymn to Bumbo (Chorus)
499:Bow Ye People (Chorus)
256:
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114:right of first refusal
30:
832:The Pall Mall Gazette
815:The Pall Mall Gazette
773:The Pall Mall Gazette
546:The Pall Mall Gazette
254:
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22:
1071:English comic operas
834:, 27 July 1893, p. 1
791:, 4 July 1891, p. 9
707:, 22 July 1891, p. 3
345:Suttee and Cheetah,
160:Gilbert and Sullivan
156:Richard D'Oyly Carte
154:in 1889, impresario
146:Gilbert and Sullivan
138:Richard D'Oyly Carte
91:(Punka, replaced by
66:Richard D'Oyly Carte
1096:Operas set in India
817:, 1 July 1891, p. 1
813:"The Nautch Girl",
804:, 1 July 1891, p.14
776:, 2 June 1891, p. 1
635:for his next score.
572:George Bernard Shaw
200:A Chinese Honeymoon
87:(Baboo Currie) and
993:Quite an Adventure
900:Information about
770:"Stage and Song",
728:Hicks, William L.
287:Rutland Barrington
257:
142:
89:Rutland Barrington
31:
1111:Works about dance
1051:
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1009:The Vicar of Bray
534:Critical response
529:Finale (Ensemble)
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377:Hollee Beebee,
305:Courtice Pounds
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73:Courtice Pounds
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54:George Dance
52:, a book by
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1086:1891 operas
734:(1891) and
699:Nautch Girl
680:Bond, Ian.
582:Nothing in
416:W. H. Denny
371:Frank Wyatt
339:Jessie Bond
265:Voice type
215:Punka, the
164:Savoy Opera
97:Jessie Bond
85:Frank Wyatt
81:W. H. Denny
46:comic opera
1060:Categories
855:References
717:The Gaiety
625:Mr. Grundy
609:The Mikado
169:The Mikado
128:Background
79:(Pyjama),
871:504581419
845:The World
633:Mr. Cowen
604:melodrame
592:Offenbach
576:The World
487:Entr'acte
231:, a high
175:The Times
144:When the
83:(Bumbo),
75:(Indru),
909:Plot of
596:Sullivan
367:baritone
352:sopranos
311:Pyjama,
282:baritone
211:Synopsis
122:Rockford
789:The Era
668:The Era
619:or the
600:Cellier
562:The Era
406:an Idol
404:Bumbo,
383:soprano
295:his son
293:Indru,
275:Punka,
229:Brahmin
24:Solomon
1081:Operas
1028:(1891)
1020:(1889)
1012:(1882)
1004:(1881)
996:(1881)
988:(1880)
893:
885:
869:
482:Act II
225:Vizier
221:nautch
140:, 1891
38:, or,
977:Opera
640:Notes
617:Lyric
588:Auber
574:, in
436:Act I
300:tenor
262:Role
247:Roles
233:caste
217:rajah
44:is a
28:Savoy
891:ISBN
883:ISBN
867:OCLC
598:and
701:",
631:or
1062::
781:^
757:,
740:,
578::
962:e
955:t
948:v
873:.
686:"
162:"
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