The Merry Widow

The Church Hall, Kitson Barnes

February 1960

Producer – Mollie Clark

Musical Direction – Eric Griffiths

Chorus Master – Joan Kemp Porter

The Merry Widow is a romantic musical comedy or operetta by the Austro-Hungarian composer Franz Lehár. The librettists, Viktor Léon and Leo Stein, based the story — concerning a rich widow, Hanna Glawari, and her attempt to find a husband—on an 1861 comedy play, L’Attaché d’ambassade (The Ambassador’s Attache) by Henri Meilhac.

The operetta was first performed at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna on 30 December 1905 and had several very successful productions in Austria and Germany. In its English adaptation by Basil Hood, with lyrics by Adrian Ross, the show became a sensation in London in 1907, starring Lily Elsie and opened a few months later on Broadway for a very successful run. Thereafter, it was played frequently in America and throughout the English speaking world, and is still frequently revived in English.

Well-known music from the score includes the songs “Vilja”, “You’ll Find Me at Maxim’s”, and “The Merry Widow Waltz”

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CAST

Baron Mirko Zeta – Bernard Mitchell

Valencienne – Norma Evans

Count Danilo Danilovitch – Kenneth Kendrick

Anna Glavari – Geraldine Kendrick

Camille de Rosillon – Frank Mills

Vicompte Cascada – James Karnon

Raoul de St Brioche – George Tydeman

Bogdanovitsch – Vincent Mulligan

Sylvane – June Edgington

Kromov – Edward Maskell

Olga – Barbara Webster

Pritsch – Richard Stringer

Praskovia – Marjory Doughty

Njegus – Edward Bellamy

Lolo – Joy Catford

Dodo – Pat Bradley

Jou-Jou – Monica Turner

Frou-Frou – Evelyn Horsburgh

Clo-Clo – Einna Mulligan

Margot – Cathie Dennis

Principal Dancers – Marjorie Tolley & Anne Blackburn

Ornaments of Parisian Society, Pontevedrians, etc. – Ann Bacon, Pat Brian, Joan Burford, Barbara Hughes, Odette Jobin, Molly Mills, Ruth Price, Mary Robinson, Doris Tanner, John Evans, Brian Hague, Roger Price, John Twining, Peter Whitby, Ian Worth

CREW

Accompanist – Judy Campbell

Stage Manager – Keith Campbell

House Manager – Marcus Johnson

Wardrobe Supervisor – Lilian Parry

Box Office – Geoffrey Needs

BAND

Orchestra Leader – Betty Oglethorpe