Event Comment: New
Overture and Pieces of Music Between the Acts. Music by
Barthelemon. New Scenes, Habits and Decorations. The Scenes designed by
DeLoutherberg, and painted by Messrs
French,
Royer, and
Greenwood. Books of the songs and Chorusses to be had at the Theatre.
This piece is got up in a most Superb manner. The Scenery is beyond description fine -& the whole Performance tho' the most complicated upon the stage went off with uncommon Applause.
Mrs Abington played finely--
Mr Slingsby &
Sga Hidou danc'd for the first time & were Amazingly well Rec'ed. The Ballets are very Grand (
Hopkins Diary). [
MacMillan's note from
Kemble differs slightly in wording.] Rec'd stopages #17 18s.;
Paid salary list #567 16s.;
J. French on Acct #5 5s. (Treasurer's Book). Mainpiece: Never performed before, by
John Burgoyne. [The review in the
Westminster Magazine, Nov. 1774, tells the plot, and concludes: "After some superb exhibitions of transparent scenery, several characteristic airs, and elegant dances,
Mr Oldworth...proclaims
Maria his
only daughter and gives her to
Sir Harry. After a dance of
Cupids,
Hymen, &c....offering them eternal wreaths, the
Druid of the Oaks, freed by the present powers of Beauty from that sequestered habitation to which by mystic spells he had long been doomed, appears to ratify their union, and astonishes the spectators by his magic influence, in a glorious vision of that felicity the virtues of the happy pair had so justly insured. An admirable vaudeville, and a grand dance, conclude the dramatic entertainment....Had it not appeared obvious that the whole was intended as a mere vehicle for the splendid spectacle, we do not suppose, in spite of the managers Orders and Puffs, that the author's labors would have been tolerated. The very excellent scenery, however, of the ingenious Mr Loutherbourg preserved
this piece from that damnation, which as a dramatic production, it justly merited."] Receipts: #263 14s. 6d. (Treasurer's Book)