The Catch of the Season is an Edwardian musical comedy by Seymour Hicks and Cosmo Hamilton, with music by Herbert Haines and Evelyn Baker and lyrics by Charles H. Taylor, based on the fairy tale Cinderella.

It was produced at the Vaudeville Theatre in London on 9 September 1904 and ran for 621 performances.

Dramatis Personæ

THE HON. SOPHIA BEDFORD THE HON. HONORIA BEDFORD

(her Daughters)

Miss Ethel Matthews Miss Hilda Jacobsen

MIDI Files

ACT I   -   Lady Crystal's House, Mayfair.

• No. 1 - Opening Chorus - "Tea and tittle-tattle to the pleasant rattle of the cup and the spoon;  and the frou-frou of chatter through a smart afternoon..."
• No. 2 - Entrance of Gibson Girls - "We've become the great attraction of the season - you ask the reason?  We'll tell you why..."
• No. 3 - Song - Gibson and Chorus - "I started out to make a name in an underpaid profession, but I married and ten daughters came in horribly quick succession."
• No. 4 - Cigarette Song - Honoria and Chorus - "Come from the box where your form lies hid, magical box with its dainty lid; white cigarette of the golden tip..."
• No. 5 - Song - Miss Snyder Caw and Chorus - "There's an ivy-cover'd cottage in a little leafy lane, and in summer time it's like a bower of roses..."
• No. 6 - Song - Angela and Chorus - "Lad and lass together shelter 'neath a tree, hoping that the rain-storm ended soon will be.  Comes a burst of sunshine..."
• No. 7 - Song - Angela - "Oh! am I always going to be subjected to the rule that ev'ryone drumm'd into me before I went to school?  Do let me go, and I'll be good..."
• No. 8 - Song - Bucket and Chorus - "If I were King of Babylon, and you would share my crown, for your sweet sake I'd boldly take my jewilled skeptre down..."
• No. 9 - Song - Angela - "Doggie there, you look so wise with towsled hair and big brown eyes, they shine so clearly.  Whene'er I call, you run to me..."
• No. 10 - Song - Finale Act I - "Fairy attendants!  O le joli rôle!  Que nous allons jouer!  Quelle fantaisie!  Que ça sera drôle!  Une féerie de la Rue d'la Paix! ..."

ACT II - Scene 1   -   Ballroom at the Duchess of St. Jermyn's.

• No. 11 - Opening Chorus - "Ev'ry year there's somebody who sets the world of femininity mysteriously conniving, and artfully contriving to circulate in his vicinity..."
• No. 12 - Parody - Bucket - "When others tips the next as runs and answers to the bell, wot fails to answer it at once and answers back as well..."
• No. 13 - Song - St. Jermyns and Chorus - "If you want to see a thrilling sight, go to the Park on Sunday. ... Go to the Park, go to the Park..."
etc.
• No. 14 - Song - Honoria - "When I look at these trophies I'm filled, be it said, with a feeling akin to alarm;  for they tell how the years and the lovers have sped..."
• No. 15 - Chorus - "Hail!  Miss O'Halloran, Belle of County Clare!  Whom she may be we are not aware, not aware;  but we'll pay to land and parentage..."
• No. 16 - Song - Angela - "I'm a shlip of a girl from the County of Clare, an' it's bothered I am by the bhoys over there, for they tell me it's sunbeams that hide..."
• No. 17 - Song - St. Jermyns and Chorus - "A rooster sat on a barn-yard fence, and proudly gazed around.  Beneath there a hen so fair he spied upon the ground..."
• No. 18 - Duet - St. Jermyns and Angela - "If someone came who was waiting for a chance to become the very best of friends, and wanted for encouragement..."
• No. 19 - Song - Angela - "I had a dolly, when quite a tiny person of three years old.  She was so jolly, curls bright and shiny covered her head with gold..."
• No. 20a - Finale Scene 1

ACT II - Scene 2   -   Angela's Wedding.

• No. 20b - Change of Scene
• No. 20c - Finale Act II - "The Church Parade beats ev'rything!  The Church Parade, when in full swing, is a thing to see and wonder at for oh! the wealth displayed..."

Additional Songs.

• No. 21 - Song - singer unspecified - "The coon was in love, but the girl was shy;  he was her first sweetheart, that's why; and though he spoke to her frequently..."
• No. 22 - Song - Angela - "When I was a baby girl and first began to walk, my dear old nurse encouraged me with quaint old-fashioned talk..."

Nos. 2, 5, 8, 15 and 16 were composed by Evelyn Baker, No.6 by Henry E. Pether,
No. 12 by M. W. Balfe, No. 17 by Theodore Morse, and No. 19 by Luke Forwood.
Extra song No. 21 entitled "Rosalie, I want you so" was written by Fred W. Leigh, with music by J. Airlie Dix.

Seymour Hicks as the Duke of St. Jermyns and Zena Dare as Angela	Seymour Hicks as the Duke of St. Jermyns	Seymour Hicks as the Duke of St. Jermyns and Zena Dare as Angela

External Links

The Catch of the Season at Wikipedia

Vocal Score at Rochester University

Page modified 15 October 2016