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''Bluebell in Fairyland'' is a Christmas-season children's entertainment described as "a musical dream play", in two acts, with a book by Seymour Hicks, lyrics by Aubrey Hopwood (son of John Turner Hopwood〔("Hopkinson-Hornby" ). 'Who's Who'', Volume 57, Henry Robert Addison, Charles Henry Oakes, William John Lawson and Douglas Brooke Wheelton Sladen (eds.), 1905, p. 795, A & C Black, accessed 12 July 2011〕) and Charles H. Taylor, and music by Walter Slaughter. It was produced by Charles Frohman. The creators sought to distinguish the work from a Christmas pantomime. The story concerns a flower girl, Bluebell, who on Christmas Eve goes to fairyland in search of the "Sleeping King", seeking to restore him to his throne, which has been usurped by the "Reigning King". First produced in 1901 in London, ''Bluebell in Fairyland'' was a hit, running for 300 performances.〔("Bluebell in Fairyland" ), at the Guide to Musical Theatre, accessed 26 February 2010〕 The piece provided inspiration for J. M. Barrie's stories of Peter Pan.〔Birkin, Andrew. (''J.M. Barrie & the Lost Boys'' ), pp. 92–93, Yale University Press, 2003 ISBN 0-300-09822-7〕 ==Background== Seymour Hicks was a writer-producer-actor in London who, with his singer-actress wife, Ellaline Terriss, created a number of hit musicals and plays in London in the 1890s and for decades thereafter, later turning to film. Other successes in the years after ''Bluebell'' were ''The Cherry Girl'' (1902), ''Quality Street'' (1902), ''The Earl and the Girl'' (1903) and ''The Catch of the Season'' (1904). They were so successful with these shows that they were able to build two theatres with the profits, the Aldwych Theatre and the Hicks Theatre (now the Gielgud). ''Bluebell in Fairyland'' was first produced at the Vaudeville Theatre in London on 18 December 1901 and played for two performances daily until it closed on 26 June 1902, running for 300 performances. It starred Hicks as Dicky and his wife, Ellaline Terriss, as the title character. Phyllis Dare played Mab. Costumes were by C. Wilhelm.〔〔"The Vaudeville", ''The Penny Illustrated Paper'', 23 November 1901, p. 321〕 The play was a critical and financial hit; it was revived regularly in London over the next four decades and played in other theatres throughout Britain and elsewhere in the English-speaking world.〔("Sir Seymour Hicks (1871–1949)", ) ''Collectors Post'', 14 February 2010〕 When Hicks built the Aldwych Theatre, he opened the house in 1905 with a long-running revival of the work.〔(The Aldwych Theatre ) at the Arthur Lloyd theatre site, accessed 26 February 2010〕 ''The New York Times'' called the piece "really a charming and beautiful thing, of a simple, reminiscent kind, with capital music by Walter Slaughter and fine scenery.... Ellaline Terriss acts with exquisite simplicity ... while Hicks himself bears a large share of the work with his accustomed energy and confidence."〔("Theatricals in London; Christmas Week to be Given Over to Children's Plays", ) ''The New York Times'', 22 December 1901, p. 7, accessed 26 February 2010〕 J. M. Barrie and his friends the Llewelyn Davies boys were so taken with the play that Barrie began to think about writing his own fairy play, and so it provided inspiration for the Peter Pan segment in his book ''The Little White Bird'' and the subsequent play ''Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up''.〔 In its review of the 1923 revival at the Aldwych, ''The Times'' said that the piece "wears quite well". It praised the cast, particularly Phyllis Black as Bluebell, Geoffrey Saville as Dickie, George Zucco as the Reigning King, and the children's chorus.〔"Bluebell in Fairyland", ''The Times'', 27 December 1923, p. 5〕 Gladys Cooper, Jessie Matthews, Charles Hawtrey and many other actors began their careers as children in the piece. 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「Bluebell in Fairyland」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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