Cirrus@Austlit

Advertised as a 'new eastern burlesque,' The Queen of Beauty was adapted from Robert Brough and William Brough's 'Arabian Knights' burlesque The Second Calendar, Or, The Queen of Beauty, Who Had a Fight With the Genii.

The Age and Argus theatre critics disagreed in their assessment of George Fawcett's [Rowe] impersonation of C. J. Don, a local MLA. While the Age review describes the role as 'indifferent' and 'not a happy one' (12 November 1861, p.5), the Argus critic writes, 'The local portrait introduced by Mr Fawcett, as it is one of the difficult, so it is one of the most successful he has yet given. Few people will fail to recognise the countenance, accent, gait, and peculiar manner of the original; and the audience appeared to be greatly delighted by this additional specimen of Mr Fawcett's skill as a mimic' (12 November 1861, p.5).

Two known musical numbers were 'Farewell to the Mountains' (sung by Julia Matthews) and the accompaniment to the abduction of Princess Gulnare, 'humorously effected in a Hansom cab drawn by a green dragon'. The music is said to have been founded on the song 'Trab Trab'.