A DICTIONARY OF THE DRAMA A GUIDE TO THE PLAYS, PLAYWRIGHTS, PLAYERS, AND AMERICA, FROM THE EARLIEST "A DICTIONARY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE," "A BOOK OF BURLESQUE," "WITH POET AND PLAYER," ETC. VOL. I. A--G PHILADELPHIA J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 1904 PREFACE THE aim of this work is to provide the student and the general reader with a handy means of ready reference to the leading facts of the history of the theatre in the United Kingdom and the United States. The scope of the "Dictionary" is so far comprehensive that it seeks to give information about playhouses and their designers, the writers of plays, plays themselves, performers in them, their critics, their scenic and musical illustrators, theatrical terms, and stage literature generally. The accounts of PLAYHOUSES are ranged here under the names of the cities and towns possessing them, and form short sketches of the theatrical history of the more important localities. All the more prominent theatrical architects find a place in these pages. In the case of WRITERS OF PLAYS, the main attempt has been to supply a chronological list of their works, with the dates (where discoverable) of publication or performance, or both. Only in the instance of the more notable dramatists of the past have biographical data been included; in that of living playwrights, the details are confined to their productions. The foreign authors introduced are those who have become well known to the English and American public through translations or adaptations of their works. 79873 PERFORMERS IN PLAYS, whether actors or vocalists, or both, are dealt with on the same principle as the Playwriters. Of the living, no biographical particulars are furnished, beyond an occasional record of the date or place of birth; otherwise the particulars relate solely to rôles (and especially "original" rôles) which they have undertaken. Deceased players are treated, as a rule, more fully, selected criticisms being sometimes given, as well as references to biographical and critical authorities. THEATRICAL MANAGERS, as the producers of plays and operas, necessarily figure here; as do the leading SCENIC ARTISTS and MUSICAL COMPOSERS, the latter ranging from the writers of operas and operettas to the providers of "incidental numbers" for plays. Most of the musicians included are English or American; but mention is also made of foreigners whose works have been produced with English librettos on one side or other of the Atlantic. WRITERS on the subject of the Theatre generally, or of plays and players particularly, receive due attention; and side by side with the historians, biographers, and critics will be found the pamphleteers and satirists in prose and verse. In the case of PLAYS, the endeavour, in general, has been to indicate the author, the date and place of first performance, and in some instances the date of first publication. Sometimes only the title and the name of the writer are given; usually there are details of the first "cast;" and, in all the more important cases, record is made of the principal revivals of the pieces, and of the performers appearing in them. Special pains have been bestowed upon the stage history of Shakespeare's plays and of the other classics of our dramatic literature. Further, plays with the same title or on the same subjects are, for the convenience of the reader, grouped together. Separate entries are made of CHARACTERS IN PLAYS, preference being given, of course, to the most notable. Some are inserted only by way of illustrating the stage nomenclature of the past. A feature is also made of FIRST LINES OF SONGS IN PLAYS; and some explanations are offered of TERMS used familiarly in connection either with plays or with the fabric or appointments of the Theatre. No claim to an impossible "completeness" is made for this work. In all its departments a careful selection has been necessary, and that has been made with a view alike to the limits of space and to the probable requirements of the reader. Nor is it pretended that the "Dictionary" relates the theatrical events of yesterday or the day before. No work of reference, not even an "annual," can be absolutely "up to date." Scattered over these pages are many references to the stage history of the present year; but the object throughout has been to record rather the permanently than the temporarily interesting. Finally, the mass of material collected-very much of it from unprinted sources-has been so great as to necessitate condensation and compression to the fullest extent consistent with clearness and accuracy. As regards the latter quality, every effort has been made to secure it; but, in the multitude of facts and figures contained within these covers, it would be almost miraculous if no misprints were detected. Moreover, theatrical chroniclers often differ as to dates; others, especially when they are autobiographers, offer none or few; many indulge in a perplexing vagueness. In truth, those to whom the subject of this "Dictionary" is most familiar |