Billee Taylor, or The Reward of Virtue is "a nautical comedy opera" by Edward Solomon, with a libretto by Henry Pottinger Stephens.
The piece was first produced at the Imperial Theatre in London on 30 October 1880, starring Arthur Williams as Sir Mincing Lane and Frederick Rivers as Billee. It played at the Standard Theatre in New York later that year, starring J. H. Ryley and Alice Burville. Billee Taylor was a strong success on both sides of the Atlantic and enjoyed many revivals both in Britain and in the United States. Early revivals included The Gaiety Theatre, London (1885, with Marion Hood as Phoebe and Arthur Roberts as Barnacle) and Toole's Theatre (1886).[1]
The satiric, cynical risqué story is based on the nautical poem and song of the same title by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. A version of this adult-themed story was created for children and published in 1881.
- ^ Adams, p. 159