Dorothy
Music by Alfred Cellier · libretto by B. C. Stephenson · premiered 1886
Dorothy is a comic opera in three acts with music by Alfred Cellier and a libretto by B. C. Stephenson.
The story involves a rake who falls in love with his disguised fiancée. It was first produced at the Gaiety Theatre in London in 1886. After a rocky start, it was revised and transferred to the Prince of Wales Theatre later that year and then transferred to the Lyric Theatre in 1888, where it played until 1889. The piece had an initial run of 931 performances, breaking the record for the longest-running musical theatre production in history and holding this record until the run of the musical play A Chinese Honeymoon in the early 1900s. Dorothy also toured in Britain, America and Australia and enjoyed numerous revivals until at least 1908. The piece was popular with amateur theatre groups, particularly in Britain, until World War II. The show's hit songs included the ballad "Queen of My Heart", "Be Wise In Time", "Hark For'ard!", "With A Welcome To All", and "The Time Has Come."
Text from the Wikipedia article "Dorothy (opera)", licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
About the Composer
Alfred Cellier (1 December 1844 – 28 December 1891) was an English composer, orchestrator and conductor. In addition to conducting and music directing the original productions of several of the most famous Gilbert and Sullivan works and writing the overtures to some of them, Cellier conducted at many theatres in London, New York and on tour in Britain, America and Australia. He composed over a dozen operas and other works for the theatre, as well as for orchestra, but his 1886 comic opera, Dorothy, was by far his most successful work. It became the longest-running piece of musical theatre in the nineteenth century.
Text from the Wikipedia article "Alfred Cellier", licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Other Operas by Alfred Cellier
- Dora's Dream (1873)
- Doris (1875)
- After All! (1878)
- In the Sulks (1880)