Are You There? is a "farcical musical play in two acts" composed by Ruggero Leoncavallo (with interpolations by Lewis F. Muir) with a book by Albert de Courville and lyrics by Edgar Wallace. It premièred unsuccessfully on 1 November 1913 at The Prince of Wales's Theatre, London to a rowdy audience which almost became a riot. Its star, Shirley Kellogg, was Courville's wife.
There was considerable pre-opening-night publicity in the press emphasizin...
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Are You There? is a "farcical musical play in two acts" composed by Ruggero Leoncavallo (with interpolations by Lewis F. Muir) with a book by Albert de Courville and lyrics by Edgar Wallace. It premièred unsuccessfully on 1 November 1913 at The Prince of Wales's Theatre, London to a rowdy audience which almost became a riot. Its star, Shirley Kellogg, was Courville's wife.
There was considerable pre-opening-night publicity in the press emphasizing the involvement of Leoncavallo, given the success in London of his opera Zingari the previous year A few days before the opening, The New York Times quoted the producer, Ned Weyburn, as saying: "Signor Leoncavallo was eager to write a farcical musical play to demonstrate that he could do it as well as grand opera. The music reminds me of Victor Herbert at his best, although the style is Leoncavallo's own." In fact, it had very little music, and rumours on the opening night suggested that it was an expansion of a short musical sketch by the...
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