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Gilbert and Sullivan ArchiveA Greek SlaveA Musical Comedy in Two ActsLibretto by Owen HallLyrics by Harry Greenbank and Adrian RossMusic by Sidney JonesAdditional numbers by Lionel MoncktonProduced by George Edwardes at Daly's Theatre, LondonJune 8th, 1898 For a run of 349 performances Closing June 2nd, 1899. |
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About A Greek Slave
A Greek Slave was one of the great Daly's Musicals. The Daly's shows were a series of early musical comedies produced by George Edwardes at Daly's Theatre in London from approximately 1894-1900. During most of this time, Sidney Jones was resident composer and music director at Daly's Theatre, where he composed An Artists Model, The Geisha, A Greek Slave, and San Toy during his tenure. These shows had coherent plots and music specifically composed for the plot of the piece. They were much more like what musical comedy was to become at maturity than their Gaiety Theatre siblings, the more review-like Girl Musicals.Sidney Jones musical style of brevity and brightness is evident in this fine score, perhaps his most ambitious with 28 numbers comprising some 195 pages of score. It contains some exceptional choral writing and beautifull songs, duets and quartettes.
To the uninitiated, a Musical Comedy of this period — especially those of the Daly's series — are rather indistingushable from operettas. The differences come generally in the form of simpler songs of more common popular forms (ie. music hall), concerted numbers, a looser plot, melodramatic finales, and an inclusion of more popular musical syles such as ragtime syncopation. Since the producer George Edwardes owned the show in it's entirety, it was common at his discretion to have numbers by a different popular composer were often interpolated into a show to reflect his taste and what he felt would appeal to his very broad audience. In the case of A Greek Slave these are numbers by Lionel Monckton, but these interpolations are most obviously written specifically for A Greek Slave.
— Marc Kenig
- Plot Synopsis
- Libretto (text file)
- A Greek Slave Web Opera, created by by Marc Kenig -- all of the music, lyrics, and dialogue — a great way to become acquainted with this musical comedy.
- A Discussion of A Greek Slave from the book The British Musical Theatre by Kurt Gänzl.
- Cyclinder Recording — I'M A NAUGHTY GIRL: Miss Beatrice Hart and Chorus from Daly's. Berliner 3078, Recorded in London, 18 January 1899. Note that the first part of this cylinder is damaged, but it gets better once it gets going. [1.6 Meg MP3 File, 1 min. 40 seconds]
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Updated 18 August 2003