Daily Calendars
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Daily Calendars
THE   ADELPHI   THEATRE   CALENDAR
A Record of Dramatic Performances at a Leading Victorian Theatre
Formerly the Sans Pareil (1806-1819), later the Adelphi (1819-1900)
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  Daily Calendar Daily Calendars
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Home page Editor’s page Authors and titles Actors and actresses Composers, Music and Song Musicians and singers Dance, entertainment and spectacles Management and back stage All-Inclusive Index Bibliography Graphics gallery Theatre research Adelphi today Book version

HOME
PAGE

EDITORIAL
PAGE

AUTHORS
& TITLES

ACTORS &
ACTRESSES

COMPOSERS,
MUSIC & SONG

MUSICIANS
& SINGERS

DANCE,
ENTERTAINMENT
& SPECTACLES

MANAGEMENT
& BACK STAGE

All-INCLUSIVE
INDEX

BIBLIOGRAPHY

GRAPHICS
GALLERY

THEATRE
RESEARCH

ADELPHI
TODAY

BOOK
VERSION

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Daily Calendars: 1806-1900

Contents

Daily Calendars: Introduction

At first, Sans Pareil/Adelphi Theatre seasons opened with three or even four pieces.  These ran until the audience had had enough of one of them, or the manager decided to offer more variety and present a new attraction.  Achieving a long run was the goal of every manager, but wise ones kept replacements in readiness.  Some pieces did not survive a week; some lasted a season.  A very few ran longer--there was no way to tell until the audience made its will known.  Generally, the main piece of the matinee or evening performance was retained; while others were changed.  Early in the century, the practice of "half-price" admission made it profitable to change the "bottom" of the bill in hopes of encouraging those who had seen the main production to return on another day, pay half price, and watch a farce or other short piece.  "Second price" officially ended in 1859 when the new theatre opened for its first full season.  As the century progressed, the number of nightly offerings gradually shrank: four pieces became three, and three, two.  Starting with the 1890-91 season, the Adelphi offered only one play.  If this did not please, it was a serious matter.  Hence the value of marquee names of dramatists: Dion Boucicault, Clement Scott, William Gillette, Seymour Hicks, and players: William and Lionel Rignold, Jessie Millward, William Terriss, etc.

All daily calendars open with a digest of the season written by the contributing editor often including criticism of the major pieces and performers from the contemporary press.  Commentary relevant to the theatre building, its fabric, or its ownership is included.  Any significant material about performers, especially new hires, is found in the digest.  Should there be an illustration of the opening play of the season, it will follow.  Other illustrations from contemporary sources are embedded in the text before the first performance of a piece.

Performances are entered chronologically.  Dates of each, the day of the week (evening or matinee), and the theatre's name are on the left side of the entry.  Source information appears on the right.  On the first line is the date of the source (bills usually covered Monday to Wednesday or Thursday to Saturday).  On the second line is the source type, whether a playbill, program, a review in a newspaper or journal, or some other record.  The third line indicates the source location.

Should there be anything particularly noteworthy about a specific night's performance, it will follow the above.  For example, a bill may be annotated with valuable information such as a change of actor due to indisposition or even the substitution of a piece.  It may contain an actor’s Christian name—a very welcome piece of information.  Special performances are also noted here: benefits, charities, command, amateur, farewell, etc. If the theatre is dark, there will be a statement to that effect and a reason if known (usually a death in the royal family or a religious holy day).  For many years, theatres closed on Martyr’s Day—30 January, on which day in 1649, King Charles I was beheaded.  During Lent, theatres were allowed to put on non-dramatic performances (except on Good Friday).

The following information is given on a play’s first night (when available).  The play’s position on the source (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th), the title, number of performances, title comments (if any), authorship (with or without commentary), a "title ladder" (see below), genre in source, an editorial genre assignment, and the number of acts or scenes (if known).  Titles are regularized where possible (sometimes subtitles are omitted or entered as main titles on the source); editorial emendations and corrections are noted.  Punctuation has also been standardized.

Authors’ names are frequently omitted, especially in the earlier years of the century, and they have been added where known.  Once again, editors have found Allardyce Nicoll’s A History of English Drama 1660-1900 invaluable.  Names have been expanded where possible—these addenda are enclosed in brackets.

In the daily calendars, casts are presented in considerable detail.  Sometimes this involves adding names in brackets or expanding initials.  The reader will find a more detailed explanation in the actors and actresses index.

Each day a complete cast is given for every piece performed.  Cast changes are performed programmatically.  ADDS signifies an addition to the cast.  In the previous performance of the piece, this role/actor pair did not appear.  (Rarely, an actor is added without a role being assigned.)  In the case of a simple substitution of performers, the word BUT indicates a new actor, and the name of the actor being replaced appears in parenthesis.  OMITS designates actors omitted from the source.  Caution is required here as there are instances where the bill has simply omitted names for no apparent reason.  Here the editor may enter a logical explanation such as "Cast truncated for reasons of space" in the cast comment.

ADDS Cutbush: [Charles] Mathews
  Lady Courtail: Miss Curtis
BUT Mrs. Snaffle: Miss Daly (replaces Mrs. Curtis)
  Lucy: Miss Mary Rorke (replaces Miss A. Raynor)
OMITS brigadier: [John] Sanders
  gen d'arme: [V.] Webster

In cases of an unmatched list of roles and performers or roles with multiple performers, the words OMITS and ADDS indicate additions and omissions.  Specific roles are not available.  If an actor appeared in the cast of the previous performance but not the current one, we indicate this by the word OMITS.  If an actor appears in the current night’s cast but not in the previous one, we indicate this by the word ADDS.  It is reasonable, however, to suppose Addison took Glenville’s role and Gallot that of Thomas P. Cooke.

ADDS corps de garde: Addison
OMITS corps de garde: Glenville
ADDS principal characters: Gallot
OMITS principal characters: T[homas]P. Cooke

After the cast, besides comments on omissions, there may be entries such as "Miss Healey's surname often spelled "Healy" or "appears by kind permission of."

A "title laddering" system permits the user to follow productions forward and backwards throughout the season.  Every performance (except the first) contains the dates of first, previous and next performances.  This system is particularly useful in checking cast changes.

Take, for example, the calendar entry for Tuesday evening, 5 March 1861, marking the one hundred and fiftieth performance of Dion Boucicault's Irish play The Colleen Bawn; or, The Brides of Garryowen.  It is the second piece on the bill:

2) The Colleen Bawn; or, The Brides of Garryowen (150)
  Performances first 10 Sep 1860, previous 4 Mar 1861, next 6 Mar 1861

The laddering system points to the opening night on 10 September 1860.  The prior performance was on 4 March and the next on 6 March.  (Calendar dates and totals are restricted to the current season and do not "carry over.")

In each daily calendar’s seasonal summary and volumes 3 and 4 of the Book Version, is a Summary Cast showing every role/actor pairing.  There is also a total of how often a performer played each role and a window date of his or her first and last performances.

Artistic Supervision follows.  It is a category indicating the person who had overall direction of the play.  In modern terms, the word director would be used.  There are barely any entries before mid-century, but in the latter part of the century, the position assumed greater significance.

All categories following supervision permit the addition of "general" items, signifying they are not associated with a specific production but took place during the evening or matinee.  A great deal of "general" music was played by the Adelphi orchestra, much of it by major composers.  Although song virtually disappeared from the programs toward the end of the century, classical music did not.

Music, song, and dance, of any kind occurring as an entity within an individual piece are indexed next with their position in the course of a piece and nature indicated: (bIV) (before Act IV), waltz, glee, duet, march, clog hornpipe, Scotch pas seul, and/or a title if supplied, e.g. (aII,ii) (after Act II, Sc 2), "Partant pour la Syrie."  The composer and performer follow.  There is a place for commentary in this and the following entries.

Should there be any entertainment or spectacular effect occurring within a piece, it is listed next.  Separating entertainments from spectacles is virtually impossible.  However, they consist of fencing exhibitions, fireworks, explosions, grand phantom combats, and the like.

Scenery made a substantial contribution to the success of a production and is often described in great detail, frequently by act and scene.  Those responsible for designing and painting scenery are listed if they appear on the bill, which they frequently did.  Version 2 of the Adelphi Calendar contains many scenic illustrations.

Costume is, unfortunately, a neglected area except for the names of those who toiled backstage with their needles and thread.  The name Godbee appears more than most in the indexes.

Any other items of significance are included after costume.

Daily Calendars are found in Volumes 5-13 in the "Book Version."

After the daily calendars comes a summary of the season under the heading Seasonal Summary.  Where possible, information is listed under the following rubrics:

Theatre information: Theatre name, opening and curtain times, and ticket prices.
Seasonal dates: Opening and closing dates for the season, the number of performances, benefits, and their recipients, dark nights with reasons, and special performances (occasional, juvenile, charity, etc.) and post-seasonal entertainment.
Theatre management: Management, front-of-house personnel and backstage functionaries.
Illustration: Any illustrations relevant to the seasonal productions or players
Author / Pieces: An alphabetical list of all creators of pieces performed, titles and opening night date.  Includes choreographers and composers of full length productions.
Music Composers / Pieces: Those having to do with general music or that of a specific piece, their titles, and date of first performance.  (Operas and operettas are listed under Authors/Pieces.)
Song Composers / Pieces: Those having to do with general songs or those in a specific piece, their titles, and date of first performance.
Choreographers / Pieces: Those having to do with general choreography or that of a specific piece, their titles, and date of first performance.  (Full-length ballets are indexed under Authors/Pieces.)
Entertainment / Pieces: Authors or creators of the entertainment, its description, and date of the first appearance.
Spectacle / Pieces: Authors or creators of a spectacle, its description, and date of the first appearance.
Scenery Designer / Scenes Scenery designers and/or executors, its description, and date of the first appearance.
Pieces Performed and Summary Cast Lists: Alphabetical index by the title of every piece played (with genre and number of acts) its author(s), the number of performances and a window date of first and last performance.  Actor/role pairs of everyone in the piece, number of times in that part with a window date of first and last performance.
Genres: Contributing editors' personal assessment of the genre of the piece (not necessarily what is in the source).
Actors / Actresses: Every performer paired with each role he or she played and how frequently with a window date of first and last appearance in the role.
Dancers: Those who danced with the date of each performance.
Entertainers: Those who entertained with the date of performance.
Musicians: Those who played music with the date of performance.
Singers: Those who sang with the date of performance.
Spectacle Performers: Those associated with a spectacle with the date of performance.
Other Production Credits: Those responsible for aspects of mounting a production not mentioned above.

Daily Calendars: 1806-1900

Contributing editors were assigned a block of dates, either a five or ten year span.  In some instances, through no fault of the editor, additional work was required and carried out by the General Editors or their team.  The following list is the names of contributing editors and any assistant editors.

Editor Season Theatre Name Company Name
John Brokaw and Frank McHugh 1806-1807 Season Sans Pareil Theatre Sans Pareil
John Brokaw and Frank McHugh 1807-1808 Season Sans Pareil Theatre Sans Pareil
John Brokaw and Gilbert B. Cross 1808 Summer Season Sans Pareil Theatre Covent Garden Corps de Ballet
John Brokaw and Frank McHugh 1808-1809 Season Sans Pareil Theatre Sans Pareil
John Brokaw and Frank McHugh 1809-1810 Season Sans Pareil Theatre Sans Pareil
John Brokaw and Gilbert B. Cross 1810 Summer Season Sans Pareil Theatre Covent Garden
Frank McHugh 1810-1811 Season Sans Pareil Theatre Sans Pareil
Frank McHugh 1811-1812 Season Sans Pareil Theatre Sans Pareil
Frank McHugh 1812-1813 Season Sans Pareil Theatre Sans Pareil
Frank McHugh 1813-1814 Season Sans Pareil Theatre Sans Pareil
Frank McHugh 1814-1815 Season Sans Pareil Theatre Sans Pareil
Franklin Case 1815-1816 Season Sans Pareil Theatre Sans Pareil
Franklin Case 1816-1817 Season Sans Pareil Theatre Sans Pareil
Franklin Case 1817-1818 Season Sans Pareil Theatre Sans Pareil
Franklin Case 1818-1819 Season Sans Pareil Theatre Sans Pareil
Franklin Case 1819-1820 Season Adelphi Theatre Adelphi
Alfred L. Nelson and Gilbert B. Cross 1820-1821 Season Adelphi Theatre Adelphi
Alfred L. Nelson and Gilbert B. Cross 1821-1822 Season Adelphi Theatre Adelphi
Alfred L. Nelson and Gilbert B. Cross 1822-1823 Season Adelphi Theatre Adelphi
Alfred L. Nelson and Gilbert B. Cross 1823-1824 Season Adelphi Theatre Adelphi
Alfred L. Nelson and Gilbert B. Cross 1824-1825 Season Adelphi Theatre Adelphi
Alfrida Lee 1825-1826 Season Adelphi Theatre Adelphi
Alfrida Lee 1826-1827 Season Adelphi Theatre Adelphi
Alfrida Lee 1827-1828 Season Adelphi Theatre Adelphi
Alfrida Lee 1828-1829 Season Adelphi Theatre Adelphi
Alfrida Lee 1829-1830 Season Theatre Royal, Adelphi Adelphi
Alfrida Lee 1830 Summer Season Theatre Royal, Adelphi English Opera House
Alicia Kae Koger 1830-1831 Season Theatre Royal, Adelphi Adelphi
Alicia Kae Koger 1831 Summer Season Theatre Royal, Adelphi English Opera House
Alicia Kae Koger 1831-1832 Season Theatre Royal, Adelphi Adelphi
Alicia Kae Koger 1832-1833 Season Theatre Royal, Adelphi Adelphi
Alicia Kae Koger 1833 Summer Season Theatre Royal, Adelphi English Opera House
Alicia Kae Koger 1833-1834 Season Theatre Royal, Adelphi Adelphi
Alicia Kae Koger 1834-1835 Season Theatre Royal, Adelphi Adelphi
Alicia Kae Koger 1835-1836 Season Theatre Royal, Adelphi Adelphi
Alicia Kae Koger 1836-1837 Season Theatre Royal, Adelphi Adelphi
Alicia Kae Koger 1837-1838 Season Theatre Royal, Adelphi Adelphi
Alicia Kae Koger 1838-1839 Season Theatre Royal, Adelphi Adelphi
Alicia Kae Koger 1839-1840 Season Theatre Royal, Adelphi Adelphi
Franklin Case and Mary Case 1840-1841 Season Theatre Royal, Adelphi Adelphi
Franklin Case and Mary Case 1841-1842 Season Theatre Royal, Adelphi Adelphi
Franklin Case and Mary Case 1842-1843 Season Theatre Royal, Adelphi Adelphi
Franklin Case and Mary Case 1843-1844 Season Theatre Royal, Adelphi Adelphi
Franklin Case and Mary Case 1844-1845 Season Theatre Royal, Adelphi Adelphi
Gayle Harris 1845-1846 Season Theatre Royal, Adelphi Adelphi
Gayle Harris 1846-1847 Season Theatre Royal, Adelphi Adelphi
Gayle Harris 1847-1848 Season Theatre Royal, Adelphi Adelphi
Gayle Harris 1848-1849 Season Theatre Royal, Adelphi Adelphi
Gilbert Cross 1849-1850 Season Theatre Royal, Adelphi Adelphi
Alicia Kae Koger 1850-1851 Season Theatre Royal, Adelphi Adelphi
Alicia Kae Koger 1851-1852 Season Theatre Royal, Adelphi Adelphi
Alicia Kae Koger 1852-1853 Season Theatre Royal, Adelphi Adelphi
Alicia Kae Koger 1853-1854 Season Theatre Royal, Adelphi Adelphi
Alicia Kae Koger 1854-1855 Season Theatre Royal, Adelphi Adelphi
Alicia Kae Koger 1855-1856 Season Theatre Royal, Adelphi Adelphi
Alicia Kae Koger 1856-1857 Season Theatre Royal, Adelphi Adelphi
Alicia Kae Koger 1857-1858 Season Theatre Royal, Adelphi Adelphi
Alicia Kae Koger 1858-1859 Season Theatre Royal, New Adelphi Adelphi
Alicia Kae Koger 1859-1860 Season Theatre Royal, New Adelphi Adelphi
Alfrida Lee 1860-1861 Season Theatre Royal, New Adelphi Adelphi
Alfrida Lee 1861-1862 Season Theatre Royal, New Adelphi Adelphi
Alfrida Lee 1862-1863 Season Theatre Royal, New Adelphi Adelphi
Alfrida Lee 1863-1864 Season Theatre Royal, New Adelphi Adelphi
Alfrida Lee 1864-1865 Season Theatre Royal, New Adelphi Adelphi
Alfrida Lee 1865-1866 Season Theatre Royal, New Adelphi Adelphi
Alfrida Lee 1866-1867 Season Theatre Royal, New Adelphi Adelphi
Alfrida Lee 1867-1868 Season Theatre Royal, Adelphi Adelphi
Alfrida Lee 1868-1869 Season Theatre Royal, Adelphi Adelphi
Alfrida Lee 1869-1870 Season Theatre Royal, Adelphi Adelphi
Frank McHugh and Gilbert B. Cross 1870-1871 Season Royal Adelphi Theatre Adelphi
Frank McHugh and Gilbert B. Cross 1871-1872 Season Royal Adelphi Theatre Adelphi
Frank McHugh and Gilbert B. Cross 1872-1873 Season Royal Adelphi Theatre Adelphi
Frank McHugh and Gilbert B. Cross 1873-1874 Season Royal Adelphi Theatre Adelphi
Frank McHugh and Gilbert B. Cross 1874-1875 Season Royal Adelphi Theatre Adelphi
Frank McHugh and Gilbert B. Cross 1875-1876 Season Royal Adelphi Theatre Adelphi
Frank McHugh and Gilbert B. Cross 1876-1877 Season Royal Adelphi Theatre Adelphi
Frank McHugh and Gilbert B. Cross 1877-1878 Season Royal Adelphi Theatre Adelphi
Frank McHugh and Gilbert B. Cross 1878-1879 Season Royal Adelphi Theatre Adelphi
Frank McHugh and Gilbert B. Cross 1879-1880 Season Adelphi Theatre Adelphi
Peggy Russo 1880-1881 Season Adelphi Theatre Adelphi
Peggy Russo 1881-1882 Season Adelphi Theatre Adelphi
Peggy Russo 1882-1883 Season Royal Adelphi Theatre Adelphi
Peggy Russo 1883-1884 Season Royal Adelphi Theatre Adelphi
Peggy Russo 1884-1885 Season Royal Adelphi Theatre Adelphi
Peggy Russo 1885-1886 Season Royal Adelphi Theatre Adelphi
Peggy Russo 1886-1887 Season Royal Adelphi Theatre Adelphi
Peggy Russo 1887-1888 Season Royal Adelphi Theatre Adelphi
Peggy Russo 1888-1889 Season Royal Adelphi Theatre Adelphi
Peggy Russo 1889-1890 Season Royal Adelphi Theatre Adelphi
Meredith Klaus 1890-1891 Season Royal Adelphi Theatre Adelphi
Meredith Klaus 1891-1892 Season Royal Adelphi Theatre Adelphi
Meredith Klaus 1892-1893 Season Royal Adelphi Theatre Adelphi
Meredith Klaus 1893-1894 Season Royal Adelphi Theatre Adelphi
Meredith Klaus 1894-1895 Season Royal Adelphi Theatre Adelphi
Thirza Cady 1895-1896 Season Royal Adelphi Theatre Adelphi
Thirza Cady 1896-1897 Season Royal Adelphi Theatre Adelphi
Thirza Cady 1897-1898 Season Royal Adelphi Theatre Adelphi
Thirza Cady 1898-1899 Season Royal Adelphi Theatre Adelphi
Thirza Cady 1899-1900 Season Royal Adelphi Theatre Adelphi

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To top of page Home page Editor’s page Daily calendar Authors and titles Actors and actresses Composers, Music and Song Musicians and singers Dance, entertainment and spectacles Management and back stage All-Inclusive Index Bibliography Graphics gallery Theatre research Adelphi today Book version Site map

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OF PAGE

HOME
PAGE

EDITORIAL
PAGE

DAILY
CALENDAR

AUTHORS
& TITLES

ACTORS &
ACTRESSES

COMPOSERS,
MUSIC & SONG

MUSICIANS
& SINGERS

DANCE,
ENTERTAINMENT
& SPECTACLES

MANAGEMENT
& BACK STAGE

All-INCLUSIVE
INDEX

BIBLIOGRAPHY

GRAPHICS
GALLERY

THEATRE
RESEARCH

ADELPHI
TODAY

BOOK
VERSION

SITE
MAP

Space
Thank you for visiting this site.
Copyright © 1988, 1992, 2013 and 2016 by Alfred L. Nelson, Gilbert B. Cross, Joseph Donohue.
Originally published by Greenwood Press as The Sans Pareil Theatre 1806-1819, Adelphi Theatre 1819-1850: An Index to Authors, Titles, Performers, 1988, and The Adelphi Theatre 1850-1900: An Index to Authors, Titles, Performers and Management, 1992.
Creative Commons License
The Adelphi Theatre Calendar revised, reconstructed and amplified.  Copyright © 2013 and 2016  by Alfred L. Nelson, Gilbert B. Cross, Joseph Donohue.  This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License, with the exception of graphics from The Clip Art Book, edited by Gerard Quinn and published by Crescent in 1990.  These images are reproduced in accord with the publisher’s note, which states "The Clip Art Book is a new compilation of illustrations that are in the public domain.  The individual illustrations are copyright free and may be reproduced without permission or payment.  However, the selection of illustrations and their layout is the copyright of the publisher, so that one page or more may not be photocopied or reproduced without first contacting the publishers."