Cirrus@Austlit

'Mr Sheridan … and his collaborators have succeeded in introducing an old friend to the public in a new and very pleasing guise… Departing entirely from any traditional form of the story, there are introduced scenes which suggest Meyerbeer's Robert Le Diable, Planquette's Rip Van Winkle and from that downwards to A Trip to Chinatown. Every now and then the action of the plot - if there is a plot - is interrupted by the introduction of some little pleasantry' (Sydney Morning Herald 27 December 1902, p.6).

Advertised as a 'refined musical extravaganza,' this localised version of the F. C. Burnand burlesque on Douglas Jerrold's original 1929 drama had an extensive musical component, containing (according to one source) some forty musical numbers. The story was set in seven scenes, with these being:

• Act 1; Scene 1. Susan' Cottage

• Scene 2. Rocky Pass

• Scene 3. The Jolly Mugs

• Scene 4. Dame Halley's Cottage

• Act 2; Scene 1. The Jolly Mugs

• Scene 2. The Gaol

• Scene 3. Deck of H.M.S. Calliope

The additional material supplied by Bert Royle no doubt required of him some intensive research into local identities and recent events when the production was taken on tour. For example, its staging in Brisbane (1890) saw part of the story is set in the Brisbane Gaol, which suggests that the text would have contained satirical hits aimed at the local audience. The Brisbane Courier writes in regard to this aspect of the 1890 production, 'Mr Sheridan, as Henry Irving Smith, a smuggler, and afterwards Captain Crossgrain, was irresistibly funny, and had been supplied with any number of local hits' (28 April 1890, p.4). When the company returned for a two night season a week later (having opened for two nights at Ipswich during the week), the paper's critic further noted that 'the dialogue was interspersed with many local allusions to persons and occurrences [which] were appreciated, and created a great deal of amusement' (3 May 1890, p.5).

The musical programme inserted into the production included 'a magnificent song, '"Traveller's All" [sung] by Mr Montague, [of which] it is said… had not been heard in Australia for over a quarter of a century,' 'The Villagers Chorus,' 'Merry Little Bridesmaids' (female trio), 'The Smugglers, Silence and Fun' (male trio), 'The Coquette' (solo), 'How He Carries On' (solo), 'On Board the Lugger' (company), 'Two Lovely Black-Eyes' and 'Villains of the Deepest Dye' (quintet), 'Heave Away' (solo/ chorus), 'It's English, You Know' (with dialect verses in English, Irish, Scotch, French, Yankee and Dutch sung by J. F. Sheridan), 'Farewell My Own,' and 'Pretty See-U-Pass' (company), 'Moonlight Killarney' (duo), 'The Kranky Boys' (quartette), 'Turn on Old Time' (trio), 'Tooral-I-Oo-Ral-I' (company), 'Beautiful Moon' (duet) and the solo/chorus 'The Blatherun' (Brisbane Courier 28 April, p4). The Sydney season (1891) was commended, too, for the quality of the several ballets, the highlights being 'The Snow Ballet,' which was described as 'a scenic and terpsichorian display [that ranked] as the most wonderful and picturesque ever presented to an Australian audience' and 'The Grand Sailor Ballet' (Sydney Morning Herald 25 Apr. 1891, 2). John F. Sheridan also performed two new numbers, 'You Can't Think of Everything' and 'Is He Guilty?' (a parody on 'Bright Little Glass').

According to the Brisbane Courier theatre critic in 1890, this version of Harriet Beecher Stowe's 'moral and religious drama,' was 'widely different from the orthodox rendering.' Indeed, the advertising, which calls attention to 'the songs, the dances, the lovely melodies, the sparkling humour, the light and brightness, the happy tout ensemble of this entire production,' suggests that it was more in line with minstrel entertainment than with the sentiments traditionally associated with story's dramatic retelling. In this respect the Courier notes that 'in Mr Sheridan's version the sentimental defects of the original drama have to a great extent been rectified, and [that] the possibilities of the plot for scenic display have been more largely availed of:'

Instead of aiming to make his audience weep Mr Sheridan has sought to amuse them, and though he may have taken liberties with the accepted idea of Uncle Tom's Cabin, the end has certainly justified the means. The drama has lost some of its painful original characteristics, and has taken on itself lighter, brighter and more healthy qualities. Advantage has been taken of the plantation scenes to introduce songs and dances which, while giving a realistic effect, open up quite a fund of amusement. The music was rendered by a choir which sang the negro melodies with expression. The dances, such as would be seen at a minstrel entertainment, harmonised well with the surroundings of the plantation ('The Opera House,' 8 April 1890, p.6).

Reports from newspapers in 1886 and 1890 also indicate that the productions staged in 1890 took the variety theatre aspects to a much higher level. In addition to members of the Bristol Musical Comedy Company, which supplemented the 'dramatic' endeavours of Williamson Garner and Musgrove's Royal Dramatic Company, were a number of high profile minstrels - namely Charlie Pope, Walsh and Kennedy, specialist banjo musician Hosia Easton (Melbourne) and Harry Crawford and the Bovis Brothers (Brisbane).

The 1890 production incorporated the following scenes:

• Act 1 Scene 1. The Old Kentucky House
• Scene 2: The Interior of Shelby's House
• Scene 3: Uncle Tom's Cabin
• Scene 4: "The Birthday Festival" - introducing "Children Come Along" (chorus), "Down Where the Sugar Cane Grows (song and dance by Messrs Bovis, Crawford and Bovis), "Billy's Dream" (Charles Pope), Duet and sand dance (Walsh and Kennedy), "Roll Jordan Roll" (Easton and Company), "Tell Us What De're Gwine to Do"(Messrs Fredericks, Easton and company), "My Lord Deliver Daniel" (Easton and company)
• Act 2 Scene 1: Tavern on the Ohio River Banks
• Scene 2: Wood
• Scene 3: The Frozen River, The Great Ice Scene, Escape of Eliza
• Act 3: Deck of Mississippi Steamer
• Act 4 Scene 1: St Clare's Cotton Plantation - Happy Southern Life scenes and "Eva's Birthday" - incl. "Who's Dat a Callin'" (Gracie Whiteford), banjo solo and orchestral accompaniment by Hosea Easton; clog dances by Bovis Bros, Maher Bros and Watts and Swift; banjo quintette and dance by Messrs Easton, Marion and Misses Bell, Whiteford and Arline; musical sketches by Minnie Bell and Dace Marion; "De Trumpet in de Cornfield" by Charles Pope; double quartette song and dance by Messrs Crawford, Bovis Bros, Maher Bros, Marion, and Watts and Swift
• Scene 2: Room in St Clare's House
• Scene 3: Exterior of St Clare's House and 'Death of Eva'
• Act 5 Scene 1: Slave Sale
• Scene 2: Rocky Pass
• Scene 3: Legree's Slave Quarters; Death of Uncle Tom, Bowie Knife Fight between Legree and George Harris.

[Source: Australian Variety Theatre Archive - "1886"]

Musical comedy.

With its action taking place in an uptown New York house and later on the Sound steamer Bristol, the story revolves around an the elderly Irish widow O'Brien and her two daughters. Both women have become enraptured by Gilbert and Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore, and as a consequence are to be taken to a lunatic asylum.