A Country Girl

A Country Girl
or Town and Country
Hayden Coffin as Geoffrey Challoner
MusicLionel Monckton
Paul Rubens
LyricsAdrian Ross
Percy Greenbank
BookJames T. Tanner
Productions1902 West End
1911 Broadway

A Country Girl, or, Town and Country is a musical play in two acts by James T. Tanner, with lyrics by Adrian Ross, additional lyrics by Percy Greenbank, music by Lionel Monckton and additional songs by Paul Rubens.

The musical opened at Daly's Theatre in London, managed by George Edwardes, on 18 January 1902 and ran for 729 performances, which was the fourth longest run for any piece of musical theatre up to that time. It starred Hayden Coffin, Bertram Wallis, Evie Greene, Huntley Wright, Lilian Eldeé, Topsy Sinden, Ethel Irving and Rutland Barrington. Isabel Jay joined the cast later, and Gertie Millar starred in the 1914 revival.[1]

The show also enjoyed a Broadway run at Daly's Theatre, starring Melville Stewart,[2] and later revivals and tours. The piece was popular with amateur theatre groups, particularly in Britain, from World War I until about 1960.[3]

This was Lionel Monckton's first score as principal composer, and his songs included "Molly the Marchioness", "Try Again, Johnny", and "Under the Deodar".

  1. ^ Gänzl, Kurt. "Millar, Gertrude (1879–1952)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press (2004), accessed 16 April 2008
  2. ^ "Daly's Theatre", Internet Broadway Database, accessed November 29, 2018
  3. ^ Bond, Ian. "Rarely Produced Shows" Archived 2011-07-16 at the Wayback Machine. St. David's Players, accessed 22 July 2010