Havana (Edwardian musical)

Scenes from the 1909 New York production of Havana
Alfred Lester and Lawrence Grossmith in the original London production
James T. Powers, star of the American production, in 1909

Havana is an Edwardian musical comedy in three acts, with a book by George Grossmith, Jr. and Graham Hill, music by Leslie Stuart, lyrics by Adrian Ross and additional lyrics by George Arthurs. It premiered on 25 April 1908 at the Gaiety Theatre, London, starring Evie Greene as Consuelo, W. H. Berry as Reginald Brown, Lawrence Grossmith as Don Adolfo and Mabel Russell as Pepita.[1] A young Gladys Cooper was in the chorus.

The production ran for 221 performances before touring the provinces.[2][3] It also soon played in Berlin, Germany. An American production played at the Casino Theatre in New York after a Philadelphia tryout, with revisions by its star, James T. Powers.[4][5] This production was staged by Ned Wayburn and ran from 11 February 1909 to 25 September 1909 for a total of 236 performances.[6]

Among the show's musical numbers are the songs Little Miquette, Cupid's Telephone, How Did the Bird Know That? and Pensacola.[1] Musical selections from the show were recorded by the Victor Light Opera Company in 1909.[7]

  1. ^ a b Cast and productions details at The Play Pictorial website (1902–1910) of the Templeman Library at the University of Kent at Canterbury
  2. ^ Havana in Dundee (1909) Archived 2011-06-12 at the Wayback Machine at the dundeecity website, accessed 4 January 2010
  3. ^ Havana (1909) in the National Library of Scotland Collection, accessed 4 January 2010
  4. ^ Lamb, Andrew. "Leslie Stuart: Composer of Floradora", Routledge, 2002, pp. 189–204 ISBN 0-415-93747-7
  5. ^ "Havana on Broadway", BroadwayWorld.com, accessed 4 January 2010
  6. ^ Havana on the Internet Broadway Database, accessed 4 January 2010
  7. ^ "Leslie Stuart, Composer", Encyclopedic Discography of Victor Recordings, accessed 4 January 2010