Considerably More 'Go'

In 1906, Florodora composer Leslie Stuart (right) was asked in an interview about being judged against the example of Gilbert and Sullivan. He said, "We living composers either imitate - unpardonable sin - or do not imitate - which is worse".


Florodora - having premiered in the same city and the same month as The Rose of Persia - would naturally be compared to Savoy Operas. Tom B. Davis, a Florodora producer, commented: "In some respects it may be said to resemble a Savoy Opera, but with all due respect to those really, in many cases beautiful creations, Florodora has considerably more 'go' than they have, whilst about its music, it has that peculiar charm that Stuart seems to have made so peculiarly his own".


By the time he composed Florodora 36-year-old Stuart (real name, Thomas Barrett) was already an established composer of popular song and contributor to musical comedies. In the British Empire he was famous as composer of the song Soldiers of the Queen (or King, depending...) and a large number of once popular but now entirely regrettable music hall "coon" songs.


Well aware that he lived and composed in the long shadow of a master, a portrait of Sullivan hung above the reed organ on which Stuart composed. His own compositions were more in the style of popular music and more 20th century rhythmic invention, utilizing more counterpoint, syncopation, layering, and an abundance of dotted meters in, on average, brighter, brisker tempi. In the biography "Leslie Stuart - The Man Who Composed Florodora" Andrew Lamb writes:

Altogether, Leslie Stuart was surely more adventurous than Sullivan in the way he set out to create effects, even if those effects did not always succeed in the way that Sullivan's painstaking settings of his lyricists words did.

Why Florodora?

Florodora was the world's first international mega-musical. As time went on it became a showbiz legend - the first musical theater legend. Almost 30 years before Showboat, before Oklahoma!, before Les Miserables and Phantom of the Opera there was Florodora, which showed what could happen when a stage musical permeates popular culture. Liken it to how Pinafore electrified the world of operetta twenty years earlier.

There was Florodora soap, clasps, hats, cigars and, of course, perfume. The Gibson Girl was replaced by the Florodora Girl. Every major town in the English speaking world saw a production or tour. The world's first ever cast recording was of, you guessed it, Florodora.

Florodora opened in London in 1899 and ran for nearly 3 years and was almost immediately revived. The next year saw an even longer run on Broadway in New York City. Florodora circled the globe to every major city. It opened in Seattle in 1901 and eventually in the Bay Area in 1907. It achieved the financial success and lasting fame that every major musical was measured against for decades.

"They are goddesses, the first of their class to immortalize the chorus girl," one critic stated in fulsome tribute to the damsels.

The much hyped celebrities of Florodora, The Six Florodora Girls, became international celebrities and for no rational reason, were whisked off the stage by rich bachelors at an astounding rate. During the two year run of the show in London and New York, hundreds of women were replaced in the role, and even more claimed to have been.

In San Francisco, ballet audiences were given the chance to vote on which choristers would become the Florodora Girls! In reality, as you can see, they weren't "chorus girls" as we know them, but very well coiffed, stylish and modestly costumed English ladies.

Whether or not you'll think that Florodora is the greatest show ever composed, its music was known and played for years. Celebrities kept Florodora on their bios for their entire lives - Milton Berle kept it on his resume (as a youth he was a Florodora Boy), Gypsy Rose Lee's mother claimed to have been a Florodora Girl, In My Man (1928) Fannie Brice sang "I Was a Florodora Baby,". The lives of the "original six" were chronicled until their deaths. Harry Truman played selections on the piano while in the White House. There was a feature movie in 1930, The Florodora Girl, and reference to the show appeared in literature and advertising for decades. Evelyn Nesbitt, the notorious femme fatale of Ragtime fame, was a chorister in the show (though it is unclear whether she was ever actually one of THE Six).

And we get to perform it, see it and hear it next summer!

Where Things Stand

We have applied for a venue and dates for the show and as soon as they are confirmed, they'll be posted here. I think the venue will prove exciting, convenient and commodious. It is a little different from the spaces where we've performed Discovery shows before. Tantalized? Stay tuned.

Ann Byler and I are getting together to look over the orchestrations and work out other issues concerning having the orchestra join in on the fun. The pars are old, but many of them are quite readable and serviceable - in fact it looks as though some have never been used. how much we re-create will depend on staffing, speaking of which...

Ann Byler is also the head of the Production Staffing committee. Lyric needs to select the production staff for Florodora. Soon.

I've got two unedited librettos of the Florodora in electronic format. As with most shows we look at for Discovery, Florodora has undergone many changes in the last 109 years. I feel particularly lucky to have found a libretto which corresponds to the numbers and their order in the band parts, although we are missing the vocal line to a couple of songs and the re-written Act 2 finale (it is a restatement of a previous song as say, Pirates, so shouldn't be too hard to re-construct). Thankfully, Act 1 is virtually identical in every way and every source.

I'm on a global hunt (via e-mail) for those missing numbers and will post progress. Those numbers are a particularly tantalizing riddle - we have the lyrics and the orchestral accompaniment, just not the vocal lines! We don't know when they were added to the show. In the end the sheet music may be found, the tunes may be (mostly) reconstructible from the orchestration, or the numbers may have to be cut.

In my search thus far, I've contacted musicologists, orchestrators and operetta lovers worldwide. They all wish us luck and can't wait to see and hear the finished result.

Welcome to Floroblog!

I've decided to create a blog for the upcoming Discovery show Florodora to help Discoverites understand, participate and comment on the process of creating our Discovery 2009 production. I hope that by opening the ongoing process of reviving a Discovery show, the Lyric Theatre community will get more involved and excited. Until now, the process of revival has been somewhat opaque - naturally since a relatively small (but intense) production team has worked on the performing editions and the various issues surrounding the show revivals.

I'd like to change that and rev-up enthusiasm and interest by both opening up the process and, when appropriate, asking for help from other volunteers. For some of the tasks, individual or small group effort will be the most appropriate, and for others the participation and enthusiasm of others will be encouraged.

Florodora is a smashing show (much more about it later) and will be a lot of fun. As our 10th Discovery (could it have been that many already?) many know that I have the fool idea of presenting Florodora with orchestra, extending the Lyric community of performers involved in Discovery to our fine orchestra, and serving up to the audience - as a one-off - with the color and delight of the orchestral music of a staged version.

I don't expect all too many of you will be interested in the academic research involved in digging up the up scarce source materials - but I hope some might and there's always work to do there. I don't expect solving the puzzles of the various production aspects will appeal to everyone, either - but some might be interested in helping and there's always work to do there solving problems both practical and process to streamline and present an even greater show.

It doesn't stretch the imagination that staging a Discovery with an orchestra - dozens of more people - will involve more work and require more volunteer dedication and perseverance. I KNOW we can build on - and improve upon - the experience of Merrie England, Rose of Persia, The Maid of the Mountains, Robin Hood, Dorothy, The Arcadians, The Serenade, The Quaker Girl, Erminie and now, Florodora. Gosh, what a list!

So please subscribe to the blog to see posts all about Florodora - the revival and the production process - announcements, and the occasional appeal for volunteers and, if you can, reply with constructive ideas and comments. Thanks.