GAY'S THE WORD

Book and music by Ivor Novello. Lyrics by Alan Melville

Premiered at the Palace Theatre, Manchester - 17 October 1950
Transferred to the Saville Theatre 16 February, 1951 (504 perfs.)

Gay's The Word is really a series of set pieces linked with dialogue and sub plot.

The Story

Gay Daventry is to bring a musical to London but which, in the event, it turns out to be a flop. It was a "Novello-type" musical and the author-composer started the show with a satire on his own work. After a Novello love song, Gay leaves the theatre to muse on the show's unlikely prospects.

The ingénue of the show offers Gay £2000 to set up a drama school which she does - in Folkestone. A subplot follows the fortunes of a couple of smugglers who are anxious to use the school as a front for their operations. Teaching her students ballet, Gay drums into her pupils the recipe for success is "Vitality".

Act 2 takes place as the end-of-term show at the Town Hall. The school's dance teacher having resigned means that Gay has to go on stage as a Greek dancer. Other scenes include an auction scene in which Gay, disguised as an auctioneer sells off the contents of her basement, including a trunk used by the smugglers to conceal their contraband. The final scene is the new show which gets Gay and her pupils back on to the professional stage.

Cast:

Prince
Rosetta`
Gay Daventry
Stage Door Keeper
Mrs Cheadle
Peter Lynton
Monica Stevens
Birdie Wentworth
Madame Nicolini
Margaret Fallowfield
Pierre Silvano
Sir Claude Burton

Plus Chorus

Musical Numbers

Ruritania
Guards of the Parade
Bees are Buzzin'
An Englishman In Love
Everything Reminds Me of You
Father Thames
Finder, Please Return
Gaiety Glad
If Only He'd Looked My Way
It's Bound To Be Right On the Night
Matter of Minutes
On Such A Night As This
Vitality
Sweet Thames