While not a darling of the critics, Faust Up To Date was a hit with Victorian audiences, Its original London production of 1888 did enormous business with sold out houses, became a hard to get ticket and achieved a lengthy run. A burlesque of the Faust tale, the musical coined the phrase "up to date" meaning modish or stylish and up on the latest fashions and started a whole string of other "up to date" musicals including Sims and Pettitt's Carmen Up To Date. It proved such a hit for the Gaiety Theatre company that it toured the musical throughout the United States, including a Broadway run,...
While not a darling of the critics, Faust Up To Date was a hit with Victorian audiences, Its original London production of 1888 did enormous business ...
With their musical burlesques, operettas, and spectacular extravagances, the musical entertainments of London's Gaiety Theatre contributed significantly to the evolution of musical comedy. Starting in 1880 with Robert Reece's "The Forty Theatre," which introduced a full score by a single writing team, the Gaiety musicals of the 1880s blended dialogue and music into a fully integrated story thus creating what would eventually become the pattern in musical theatre. Along with its many accomplishments, the Gaiety Theatre first produced the musical "Dorothy" in 1886 which would later become one...
With their musical burlesques, operettas, and spectacular extravagances, the musical entertainments of London's Gaiety Theatre contributed significant...
