The Fashionable Lady

The Fashionable Lady
Written byJames Ralph
Date premieredApril 2, 1730 (1730-04-02) [1]
Place premieredGoodman's Fields Theatre
Original languageEnglish
GenreBallad opera [1]

The Fashionable Lady; or, Harlequin's Opera is a 1730 ballad opera by James Ralph (opened 2 April 1730 at Goodman's Fields Theatre; performances are recorded through 4 December 1730 and 4 May 1731).[1][2]

Background and production

James Ralph turned to satire and stage work after the cool reception of his early serious poems, collaborating in the theatre from 1729 (including the prologue to Henry Fielding's The Temple Beau).[3] The play premiered at Goodman's Fields Theatre on 2 April 1730; the printed text was issued for J. Watts and advertised in the Daily Post that day.[1]

Performance history

It was performed at Goodman's Fields Theatre on 2, 4, 13, 18, 21, and 23 April; 28 May; 2 and 17 June; 27 July; 11 November; 4 December 1730; and 4 May 1731.[2]

Cast

Men

  • Mr. Ballad – Mr. Penkethman[4]
  • Mr. Meanwell – Mr. W. Giffard[4][5]
  • Mr. Modely – Mr. Bullock[4]
  • Mr. Drama – Mr. Lacy[4][5]
  • Mr. Merit – Mr. W. Williams[4]
  • Mr. Smooth – Mrs. Thomas[4]
  • Captain Hackum – Mr. Huddy[4]
  • Mr. Whim – Mr. Smith[4][5]
  • Mr. Trifle – Mr. Collett[4]
  • Voice, Harlequin's Man – Mr. Bardin[4]

Women

Mutes

  • Harlequin – Mr. Burney, Jun.[4]
  • Scaramouch – Sandham[5]
  • Pierot – Eaton[5]
  • Punch – R. Williams[5]
  • Pantaloon – Dukes[5]
  • Colombine[4]

Sir Peevish Terrible the Critick, Poets, Sailors, Gods, Goddesses, Witches, Dragons, Devis, &c.[4]

Style and reception

The Fashionable Lady lampoons the state of English drama, contemporary theatre management, and the vogue for Italian opera; its dialogue follows the Congreve–Vanbrugh school, and the action is punctuated by songs to familiar airs, recalling The Beggar's Opera.[6] Its dramatis personae include types such as Mr Ballad, Mrs Prattle, Messrs Modely, Hackum, and Trifle, and Sir Peevish Terrible, the critic.[7] This theatrical satire parallels Ralph's earlier essays in The Touch-Stone, which mocked Italian opera for "singing in an unknown dialect".[8] It also engages self-reflexively with the commercial ethos of ballad opera; one character quips, "All Poets. Ay, ay, any thing for Money."[9]

Assessments of the play vary: Elizabeth R. McKinsey has called it "a hyperbolic take-off" on The Beggar's Opera, describing it as "a mediocre play about writing a bad play" and likening it to Federico Fellini's 8½, "a bad movie about making a bad movie".[7] In contrast, nineteenth-century theatre historian John Genest recorded that it "met with tolerable success" and was "not badly written".[6][10]

Legacy and designation

Although The Fashionable Lady has often been described as the first play on the London stage written by an American,[6][11][7] archival research published in 1964 established that Ralph was born in London around 1705.[12] Some later musicological commentary has also styled it "the first opera by an American".[13]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Burling 1992, p. 134.
  2. ^ a b Nicoll 1929, p. 350.
  3. ^ McKinsey 1973, pp. 62, 67.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Ralph 1730, p. vi.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h London Stage Database n.d., 17 June 1730, Goodman's Fields (Event 13495).
  6. ^ a b c Kenny 1940, p. 222.
  7. ^ a b c McKinsey 1973, p. 67.
  8. ^ Hughes 1922, pp. 21, 27.
  9. ^ Rodgers 2011, p. 66.
  10. ^ Genest 1832, p. 277.
  11. ^ Harris 1935.
  12. ^ Shipley 1964, pp. 343–346.
  13. ^ McKay 1979, p. 360.

Sources

  • London Stage Database (n.d.). "17 June 1730 @ Goodman's Fields: The Fashionable Lady". University of Oregon. Retrieved 11 August 2025.
  • Burling, William J. (1992). A Checklist of New Plays and Entertainments on the London Stage, 1700–1737. Rutherford, New Jersey; London; Cranbury, New Jersey: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press; Associated University Presses. ISBN 0838634516. Retrieved 11 August 2025 – via Internet Archive.
  • Genest, John (1832). Some Account of the English Stage from the Restoration in 1660 to 1830. Vol. 3. Bath: H. E. Carrington. Retrieved 12 August 2025.
  • Harris, R. (1935). "Ralph, James". Dictionary of American Biography. Vol. 15. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.
  • Hughes, Merritt Y. (1922). James Ralph, Political Writer and Historian. University of Wisconsin Studies in Language and Literature. Vol. 14. Madison: University of Wisconsin. Retrieved 12 August 2025 – via Internet Archive.
  • Kenny, Robert W. (1940). "James Ralph: An Eighteenth-Century Philadelphian in Grub Street". Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. 64 (2): 218–242. JSTOR 20087279.
  • McKay, David P. (1979). ""The Fashionable Lady:" The First Opera by an American". The Musical Quarterly. 65 (3): 360–367. JSTOR 741490.
  • McKinsey, Elizabeth R. (1973). "James Ralph: The Professional Writer Comes of Age". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. 117 (1): 59–78. JSTOR 985948.
  • Nicoll, Allardyce (1929). A History of Early Eighteenth Century Drama: 1700–1750 (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 11 August 2025.
  • Ralph, James (1730). The Fashionable Lady; or, Harlequin's Opera. In the manner of a rehearsal. As it is perform'd at the Theatre in Goodman's-Fields. London: J. Watts. Retrieved 12 August 2025 – via Internet Archive.
  • Rodgers, Michael (2011). Ballad Opera, Imitation, and the Formation of Genre (PhD dissertation). Northwestern University. Retrieved 12 August 2025.
  • Shipley, John B. (1964). "James Ralph's Place and Date of Birth". American Literature. 36 (3): 343–346. JSTOR 2923549.
  • Fleuron ornament from The Fashionable Lady, decoration from the 1730 printed edition
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.