Le monde des musicals

Version 1

A Cup of Kindness (1929-05-Aldwych Theatre-London)

Type de série: Original
Théâtre: Aldwych Theatre (Londres - Angleterre)
Durée : 8 mois 1 semaine
Nombre : 291 représentations
Première Preview : Friday 24 May 1929
Première : Friday 24 May 1929
Dernière : Saturday 01 February 1930
Mise en scène : Tom Walls •
Chorégraphie :
Producteur :
Commentaires : The sixth in the series of twelve Aldwych farces presented by the actor-manager Tom Walls at the theatre between 1923 and 1933. Several of the actors formed a regular core cast for the Aldwych farces.
Presse : The Times commented, "It would be quite beside the point to complain that one Aldwych farce is like any other. An orange is no less succulent for resembling the orange of yesterday." At its best, in the paper's view, "this piece is funny in much the same wildly extravagant way that Mr. Wodehouse's stories are funny. The truth is that Mr. Lynn can be more like a Wodehouse figure of fun than anything Mr. Wodehouse has ever succeeded in creating for the theatre".
The Daily Mirror said that there was a laugh in every line of the piece.
In The Observer, St John Ervine thought that the cast and the author showed signs of fatigue, but he allowed that the piece was "immensely entertaining in parts". He singled out Robertson Hare for particular praise.
Ivor Brown in The Manchester Guardian thought that the script needed fine-tuning and concluded, "With time the cast will improve the play; no play could possibly improve the cast".

Version 2

A Night Like This (1930-02-Aldwych Theatre-London)

Type de série: Original
Théâtre: Aldwych Theatre (Londres - Angleterre)
Durée : 9 mois
Nombre : 267 représentations
Première Preview : Tuesday 18 February 1930
Première : Tuesday 18 February 1930
Dernière : Saturday 15 November 1930
Mise en scène : Tom Walls •
Chorégraphie :
Producteur :
Commentaires : The seventh in the series of twelve Aldwych farces
Presse : The play divided critical opinion. The Times thought that "judged by the standard that the Aldwych farces have set for themselves, A Night Like This is a disappointment. It lacks speed … above all, it lacks verbal neatness and surprise".
In The Manchester Guardian, Ivor Brown thought the production "immensely ingenious" with "business of the happiest order".
In The Illustrated London News, J. T. Grein said, "The two comedians have probably never been so amusing as they are in A Night Like This."

Version 3

Dirty Work (1932-03-Aldwych Theatre-London)

Type de série: Original
Théâtre: Aldwych Theatre (Londres - Angleterre)
Durée : 5 mois 3 semaines
Nombre : 195 représentations
Première Preview : Monday 07 March 1932
Première : Monday 07 March 1932
Dernière : Saturday 27 August 1932
Mise en scène : Tom Walls •
Chorégraphie :
Producteur :
Commentaires : The tenth in the series of twelve Aldwych farces, and the seventh written by Travers.
Presse : The Daily Mirror commented, "There have been Aldwych farces with a better plot and more cumulative farcical interest, but in this one Ben Travers, the perennial author, shows that he still has the ability to get a laugh in almost every line."
The Times found "the smooth impulse of Mr Tom Walls is sadly lacking", but considered the play "in general, and with intervals, a pleasant absurdity".
The Manchester Guardian thought the play not quite on a par with earlier Aldwych farces, specifically Rookery Nook or Thark, but granted it "a worthy place in the sequence". The paper praised Travers for lifting English farce "well out of the rut of French night clubs and hotel corridors".
The Observer thought the play "a quieter instalment of the Aldwych serial than usual [but] nevertheless one of the best. It has more purposeful restraint than some, and lays its preposterous mines more cunningly in the fairway."

Version 4

Marry the Girl (1930-11-Aldwych Theatre-London)

Type de série: Original
Théâtre: Aldwych Theatre (Londres - Angleterre)
Durée : 5 mois 3 semaines
Nombre : 195 représentations
Première Preview : Monday 24 November 1930
Première : Monday 24 November 1930
Dernière : Saturday 16 May 1931
Mise en scène : Tom Walls •
Chorégraphie :
Producteur :
Commentaires : Marry the Girl was the eighth of the twelve Aldwych farces, and only the second not written by Ben Travers.
Presse : There was a general view among the critics that although the third act was exceptionally funny, the first two were slow, with some good comic scenes but also quite a lot of not particularly amusing exposition of the plot.
The Times said, "But the Court scene, though it could make no claim to originality, was good fun from beginning to end. Mr Hare, as the presiding Judge, had the best of it but the inanity of Mr Lynn in the witness box was extremely felicitous."
The Illustrated London News predicted a run of more than 100 nights, but "the credit for this will be due to the actors rather than the authors, who have not been lavish in their wit or in inventing notably original or humorous situations". The paper added that the last act was extremely funny and sent the audience from the theatre shaking with laughter.

Version 5

Plunder (1928-06-Aldwych Theatre-London)

Type de série: Original
Théâtre: Aldwych Theatre (Londres - Angleterre)
Durée : 10 mois
Nombre : 344 représentations
Première Preview : Tuesday 26 June 1928
Première : Tuesday 26 June 1928
Dernière : Saturday 27 April 1929
Mise en scène : Tom Walls •
Chorégraphie :
Producteur :
Commentaires : The fifth in the series of twelve Aldwych farces presented by the actor-manager Tom Walls at the theatre between 1923 and 1933. Several of the actors formed a regular core cast for the Aldwych farces.
Presse : The Times thought the piece "a very entertaining piece of nonsense … Miss Mary Brough bounces through it all with hearty accomplishment; Miss Winifred Shotter decorates it prettily; Mr. Gordon James and Mr. Robertson Hare contribute the farce of solemnity … Mr. Walls and Mr. Lynn at Scotland Yard are delightful".
The Observer critic wrote of his "grateful laughter", found the entire cast "in tip-top form" and predicted "A year's hard labour" for them all.
The Manchester Guardian called the piece, "an exquisitely involved, briskly moving and thoroughly funny show."
The Illustrated London News declared it "London's funniest play".

By the time of the play's second London revival, in 1996, Michael Billington in The Guardian found the piece uncomfortably dated in its snobbish attitudes to class and its sexism, both, in his view exemplified by the slighting remarks about the fat, proletarian character Mrs Hewlett, originally played by Mary Brough. He concluded that Travers assumed that "you can get away with theft, and even an accidental killing, as long as you are well-bred old school chums."

Version 6

Thark (1927-07-Aldwych Theatre-London)

Type de série: Original
Théâtre: Aldwych Theatre (Londres - Angleterre)
Durée : 11 mois 2 semaines
Nombre : 401 représentations
Première Preview : Monday 04 July 1927
Première : Monday 04 July 1927
Dernière : Saturday 16 June 1928
Mise en scène : Tom Walls •
Chorégraphie :
Producteur :
Avec : Mary Brough, Ralph Lynn, Winifred Shotter, Robertson Hare, Tom Walls, Ethel Coleridge et Gordon James
Commentaires : The fourth in the series of twelve Aldwych farces presented at the theatre by the actor-manager Tom Walls between 1923 and 1933. It starred the same cast members as many of the other Aldwych farces.
Presse : The Times praised the performances but thought the play too unsubstantial to be wholly satisfactory, although it found it "full of entertaining fragments".
Ivor Brown in The Manchester Guardian also praised the actors, and judged that "Thark provides them with good enough territory for their latest skirmish."
The Daily Express said that the scene in the haunted bedroom had "mirth-provoking qualities [that] can rarely been equalled in the West End" and "made even a sophisticated audience laugh until it cried."

Version 7

Turkey Time (1931-05-Aldwych Theatre-London)

Type de série: Original
Théâtre: Aldwych Theatre (Londres - Angleterre)
Durée : 7 mois 3 semaines
Nombre : 263 représentations
Première Preview : Tuesday 26 May 1931
Première : Tuesday 26 May 1931
Dernière : Saturday 16 January 1932
Mise en scène : Tom Walls •
Chorégraphie :
Producteur :
Commentaires : The ninth in the series of twelve Aldwych farces, and the seventh written by Travers.
Presse : The Daily Mirror commented, "There have been Aldwych farces with a better plot and more cumulative farcical interest, but in this one Ben Travers, the perennial author, shows that he still has the ability to get a laugh in almost every line."
The Times found "the smooth impulse of Mr Tom Walls is sadly lacking", but considered the play "in general, and with intervals, a pleasant absurdity".
The Manchester Guardian thought the play not quite on a par with earlier Aldwych farces, specifically Rookery Nook or Thark, but granted it "a worthy place in the sequence". The paper praised Travers for lifting English farce "well out of the rut of French night clubs and hotel corridors".
The Observer thought the play "a quieter instalment of the Aldwych serial than usual [but] nevertheless one of the best. It has more purposeful restraint than some, and lays its preposterous mines more cunningly in the fairway."