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''Faust up to Date'' is a musical burlesque with a score written by Meyer Lutz (a few songs by others were interpolated into the show). The libretto was written by G. R. Sims and Henry Pettitt. It is a spoof of Gounod's opera, ''Faust'', which had first been performed in London in 1864, and followed on from an earlier Lutz musical, ''Mephistopheles, or Faust and Marguerite''. The piece was first performed at the Gaiety Theatre, London on 30 October 1888, produced by George Edwardes, and ran until August 1889. It starred Florence St. John as Margaret, E. J. Lonnen as Mephistopheles and Mabel Love as Totchen. It was revived in July 1892, with Florence St. John again playing the role of Margaret, Edmund Payne as Mephistopheles and Arthur Williams as Valentine. The piece enjoyed subsequent productions in New York, Australia (with Robert Courtneidge as Valentine) and elsewhere. ==Background== This type of burlesque, or travesty was popular in Britain at the time. Other examples include ''The Bohemian G-yurl and the Unapproachable Pole'' (1877), ''Blue Beard'' (1882), ''Ariel'' (1883, by F. C. Burnand), ''Galatea, or Pygmalion Reversed'' (1883), ''Little Jack Sheppard'' (1885), ''Monte Cristo Jr'' (1886), ''Miss Esmeralda'' (1887), ''Frankenstein, or The Vampire's Victim'' (1887), ''Mazeppa'', ''Ruy Blas and the Blase Roue'' (1888), ''Carmen up to Data'' (1890), ''Cinder Ellen up too Late'' (1891) and ''Don Juan'' (1892, with lyrics by Adrian Ross).〔(Programme for ''Carmen up to Data'' )〕 John Hollingshead had managed the Gaiety Theatre, London, from 1868 to 1886 as a venue for variety, continental operetta, light comedy, and numerous musical burlesques composed or arranged by the theatre's music director, Wilhelm Meyer Lutz. Hollingshead called himself a "licensed dealer in legs, short skirts, French adaptations, Shakespeare, taste and musical glasses."〔(Arthur Lloyd Music Hall site (on Gaiety) ''Cuttings'' ) accessed 1 March 2007〕 In 1886, Hollingshead ceded the management of the theatre to George Edwardes, whom he had hired in 1885. Edwardes expanded the burlesque format from often one-act to full-length pieces, with original music by Lutz instead of scores compiled from popular tunes, and choreography by the theatre's dance-master, John D'Auban.〔"Theatrical Humour in the Seventies", ''The Times'', 20 February 1914, p. 9〕 Lutz's ballet music, a ''Pas de Quatre'' (1888), originally choreographed by D'Auban, became very popular and is still available today on CD.〔("Pas de Quatre" ), track 7 on ''British Light Music Classics'', Hyperion, 1996, accessed 15 December 2009〕 Nellie Farren starred as the "principal boy" at the Gaiety for nearly 25 years, from 1868 to 1892. Fred Leslie joined her there in 1885 and wrote many of its most successful burlesques under his pseudonym, "A. C. Torr".〔Stewart, Maurice. "The spark that lit the bonfire", in ''Gilbert and Sullivan News'' (London) Spring 2003, The Gilbert and Sullivan Society.〕 In the early 1890s, as Burlesque went out of fashion, Edwardes changed the focus of the theatre from musical burlesque to the new genre of Edwardian musical comedy. 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「Faust up to Date」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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