Little Jack Sheppard is a burlesque melodrama written by Henry Pottinger Stephens and William Yardley, with music by Meyer Lutz, with songs contributed by Florian Pascal,[1] Corney Grain, Arthur Cecil, Michael Watson, Henry J. Leslie, Alfred Cellier and Hamilton Clarke. The comedy lampooned the serious plays based on the life of Jack Sheppard, especially the popular 1839 play by John Buckstone, which was in turn based on the novel of that year by William Harrison Ainsworth.
The piece opened at the Gaiety Theatre in London on 26 December 1885 and initially ran for 155 performances. It featured Nellie Farren as Jack Sheppard, Fred Leslie as Jonathan Wild,[2] David James as Blueskin. Marion Hood and Sylvia Grey. Other cast members included Willie Warde, who also choreographed the dances. The piece was presented in the U.S. and Australia in 1886 and was given revivals and extensive tours in Britain for nearly a decade.
- ^ Florian Pascal was a pseudonym for Joseph Williams, Jr. (1847-1923), a music publisher and composer. See Florian Pascal profile at the Gilbert and Sullivan Archive Archived 2015-10-14 at the Wayback Machine, "A Thirty-ninth Garland of British Light Music Composers" at MusicWeb International and Songs by Florian Pascal
- ^ According to press reports, Leslie introduced parodic elements caricaturing Oscar Wilde into his portrayal of Jonathan Wild: see "Theatres", The Graphic, 2 January 1886, p. 7