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Featuring:
Ralph MacPhail, Jr., as Mr. Box -
Libby Weed as Mrs. Bouncer
Allan Longacre (stage director) as
Mr. Cox |
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Report
by Reba Gillman |
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 On
Monday, May 11, we met for our usual rousing good time. Over
50 people gathered in the large rehearsal room at Genesis
Presbyterian Church for an unusual program. Most of you have
heard of the short comic opera called Cox and Box,
for which
Sullivan wrote the music in 1866, but Gilbert did not write the words.
Allan Longacre, our Executive Vice President, planned and directed
an interesting reading and illustriously cast performance of
the work from which Cox and Box was taken. Our Artistic
Director, Ralph MacPhail, Jr., played the part of
Mr. Box; Allan played Mr. Cox; and Libby Weed, our President,
played Mrs. Bouncer. We were glad to welcome a diverse
audience, including many who never come to our Musicales.
 Box and Cox, a hysterical farce written in 1847 by John
Maddison Morton, tells the story of two gentlemen who are
renting the same room but don't know it. Mr. Cox, a hatter,
works all day, coming back to eat supper and sleep at night.
Mr.
Box is a printer who works at night, coming home sleepy to eat
a meal and sleep all day. As the scene opens, this clever
arrangement is beginning to unravel. Mr. Cox is getting ready
to
go to work, complaining that his coals are disappearing and his
sacred lucifers (matches) are not being respected and that his
room smells of smoke. He calls in his landlady, Mrs. Bouncer,
to discuss the problem. She is worried that her clever money-making
arrangement will be discovered, but boldly explains that a (mythical)
upstairs tenant is probably causing the problem. Mr.
Cox leaves and Mr. Box arrives after a night's work. Mrs. Bouncer
stops by to say that the upstairs tenant requests he not smoke
so
much, and he takes umbrage at this. After she leaves, Box lights
his fire and puts a rasher of bacon on to cook. He also is upset
by the rapid disappearance of his coal and matches. But he is
tired, and lies down for a short nap. Mr. Cox returns, unexpectedly
given a day off from work, and is really annoyed to discover
the rasher of bacon cooking. He tosses the bacon out the window
and places his own chop on the fire. When he leaves the room
for a moment, Mr. Box gets up, is angry to discover the loss
of his bacon, and firmly picks up the chop and throws it out
the window. Mr. Cox returns and a heated argument ensues. "Who
are you, Sir?" "If it comes to that, who are you?" and
they struggle with each other.
 One thing leads to another and they soon discover that they have
been engaged to the same woman. Mr. Box was originally about
to marry Penelope Ann Wiggins, but faked his own death to get
out of the agreement. Mr. Cox is beginning to have the same doubts
and tries to persuade Mr. Box to return to life and reclaim Penelope
Ann. Box refuses and the two are about to have a duel to decide
who has to marry the lady, when a letter arrives from Penelope
Ann saying she has married a third man, Mr. Knox. As Cox and
Box rejoice over their narrow escape, Box suddenly proclaims, "You'll
excuse the apparent insanity of the remark, but the more I gaze
on your features, the more I'm convinced that you're my long
lost brother!" Cox: "The very observation
I was going to make to you!" Box: "Ah - tell me - in
mercy tell me - have you such a thing as a strawberry mark on
your left arm?" Cox: "No!" Box: "Then it is he!"
As the laughing audience applauded, Libby asked for a volunteer
to play our traditional music, "Now to the banquet we press." Russell
Gregory came forward to the piano, so we could sing and take
a refreshment break, enjoying the usual goodies. After this intermission
we gathered again to hear our G&S
expert, Rafe MacPhail, describe the theatrical scene in Britain
in the latter half of the nineteenth century, and the light-hearted
dramas that D'Oyly Carte kept playing in his Savoy Theatre. There
was always a need for more material.
When F. C. Burnand concocted
the fanciful story, Cox and Box, based on Morton's original
play, Sullivan composed the music. This was the first comic opera
Sullivan
ever wrote. It was very popular, and its success probably influenced
Sullivan to agree when he was invited to work with Gilbert on
Thespis in 1871. Rafe played recordings of much of the music,
and we could hear Morton's original words repeated in the Burnand
version. Rafe told us that the most significant difference in
plot was that Mrs. Bouncer became Sergeant Bouncer, a military
man. And of course, the addition of Sullivan's delightful music
was a big attraction.
Thus we were able to go home singing or
humming music as usual, and no one could complain (as I heard
at the beginning), "There's no music.
What kind of Musicale is that?" |
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