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''Pretty Polly'' is a one-act playlet by Basil Hood, with music composed by François Cellier. The ten-minute long piece concerns the difficulties of a shy fellow who tries to use a talking parrot as a matrimonial agent. The piece was first produced at the Theatre Royal, Colchester, 26 April 1900, and then at the Savoy Theatre, from 19 May 1900 to 28 June 1900 as a companion piece to Hood and Sir Arthur Sullivan's ''The Rose of Persia'', a run of 26 performances. It then played from 8 December 1900 to 20 April 1901, together with the first revival of Gilbert and Sullivan's 1881 hit, ''Patience'', a run of 102 performances. No printed libretto or vocal score is found in British Library, although the license copy of the libretto is there. The music appears to have been added for the Savoy Theatre production, as it is not indicated in the license copy. ==Background== When the Gilbert and Sullivan partnership disbanded after the production of ''The Gondoliers'' in 1889, impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte filled the Savoy Theatre with a combination of new works (several of which were composed by Arthur Sullivan) and revivals of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas. The fashion in the late Victorian era was to present long evenings in the theatre, and so producer Richard D'Oyly Carte preceded his Savoy operas with curtain raisers.〔Lee Bernard. ("Swash-buckling Savoy curtain-raiser", ) ''Sheffield Telegraph'', 1 August 2008〕 W. J. MacQueen-Pope commented, concerning such curtain raisers: :This was a one-act play, seen only by the early comers. It would play to empty boxes, half-empty upper circle, to a gradually filling stalls and dress circle, but to an attentive, grateful and appreciative pit and gallery. Often these plays were little gems. They deserved much better treatment than they got, but those who saw them delighted in them. ... () served to give young actors and actresses a chance to win their spurs ... the stalls and the boxes lost much by missing the curtain-raiser, but to them dinner was more important.〔MacQueen-Pope, Walter James. ''Carriages at Eleven'' (1947), London: Robert Hale and Co., p. 23〕 The creators of ''Pretty Polly'' were two artists who Carte knew could deliver a good piece. Hood was also the librettist for the main item on the bill, ''The Rose of Persia'', and Cellier was the long-time music director of the Savoy Theatre and had produced other works for Carte. The little curtain raiser was warmly received. ''The Pall Mall Gazette'' wrote: "''Pretty Polly,'' which preceded ''The Rose of Persia'' for the first time on Saturday night, is a little duologue by Mr. Basil Hood, which almost reconciles one to the curtain-raiser superfluity. If such things must be, this one is a model; only about ten minutes, and each one of them full of hearty laughter. Miss Louie Pounds is very charming in her part, and Mr. Henry Lytton acquits himself well in his; while a special word is due for the voice behind the scenes which talks for the live parrot on the stage."〔''The Pall Mall Gazette'', 21 May 1900〕 Sir Arthur Sullivan died shortly before the opening of the revival of ''Pretty Polly'', and both Richard D'Oyly Carte and Queen Victoria died during the revival. As a mark of respect, the Savoy Theatre was kept dark for a period of time after each of these sad events. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Pretty Polly (play)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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