German Reed Entertainment was founded in 1855 and operated by Thomas German Reed (1817–1888) together with his wife, Priscilla Reed née Horton (1818–1895). The entertainments were held at the Royal Gallery of Illustration, Lower Regent Street, and later at St. George's Hall, Langham Place, in London. Thomas German Reed also composed the music for many of the entertainments, and his wife usually appeared in them. Thomas German Reed (June 27, 1817–March 21, 1888) was an English composer and theatrical manager best known for creating the German Reed Entertainments, a genre of musical plays that made theatre-going respectable at a time when the stage was considered disreputable. ...

The German Reed theatrical revolution

This form of entertainment consisted of musical plays "of a refined nature". During the early Victorian era, visiting the theatre was considered distasteful to the respectable public. Shakespeare was played, but the London stage became dominated by risque burlesques and bad adaptations of French operettas. Jessie Bond wrote, Queen Victoria (shown here on the morning of her Ascension to the Throne, 20 June 1837) gave her name to the historic era The Victorian Era of Great Britain marked the height of the British industrial revolution and the apex of the British Empire. ... Shakespeare redirects here. ... Photograph of Sally Rand, 1934. ... Operetta (literally, little opera) is a performance art-form similar to opera, though it generally deals with less serious topics. ... Jessie Bond (January 10, 1853–June 17, 1942) was an English singer and actress best known for creating most of the mezzo-soprano soubrette roles in the Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas. ...

"The stage was at a low ebb, Elizabethan glories and Georgian artificialities had alike faded into the past, stilted tragedy and vulgar farce were all the would-be playgoer had to choose from, and the theatre had become a place of evil repute to the righteous British householder.... A first effort to bridge the gap was made by the German Reed Entertainers....[1]

The German Reed Entertainments became the first respectable venue for dramatic amusement to which the public could safely bring their children, presenting gentle, intelligent, comic musical entertainment.

Forty years of entertainments

In 1855, the first performance of "Miss P. Horton's Illustrative Gatherings," musical theatre performances took place. The entertainments usually consisted of one or two brief comic operas designed for a small number of characters. These eventually became "Mr. And Mrs. German Reeds Entertainments". They called the establishment, euphemistically, the "Gallery of Illustration," rather than a theatre, and the pieces were called "entertainments" or "illustrations", eschewing the words "play", "extravaganza", "melodrama" or "burlesque". Reed himself composed the music for many of these pieces, and often appeared in them, along with Mrs. German Reed. Reed experimented with what he called opera di camera - small chamber operas by young composers. There was nothing else like this establishment in London. The Gallery rapidly achieved popularity. Comic opera is a subcategory of opera, and denotes a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature. ... Poster for The Perils of Pauline (1914). ...

The Gallery was an intimate 500-seat theatre. The accompaniment consisted of piano, harmonium and sometimes a harp. But the German Reeds were able to attract fine young composers such as Molloy, Clay, Sullivan, and Cellier, the best scenic designers for their tiny stage, and the best young writers from Punch and Fun magazines. At first, the entertainments utilized a cast of three, but by the mid-1860s, they had expanded to pieces with a cast of four. Often the pieces' plots involved mistaken identities and disguises. From 1860 to 1877, the German Reeds were assisted by John Orlando Parry (1810-1879), a pianoforte player, mimic, parodist and humorous singer. He created a new type of musical and dramatic monologue that became popular. Fanny Holland appeared in scores of the entertainments beginning in 1869 and, except for two years, continuously thereafter until 1895. Her husband, dramatist Arthur Law, wrote many of the entertainments. Leonora Braham, who later went on to create several of the soprano heroine roles in the Savoy Operas in the 1880s, played in the entertainments for several years beginning in 1870. Carlotta Carrington was also a frequent player with the German Reeds. Frederic Clay (born August 3, 1838 in Paris; died November 24, 1889 at Great Marlow) was an English musical composer. ... Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan (May 13, 1842 – November 22, 1900) was an English composer best known for his operatic collaborations with librettist W. S. Gilbert. ... Alfred Cellier (1844 – 1891), English musical composer, was born at Hackney on the 1st of December 1844. ... Leonora Braham Leonora Braham (February 3, 1853 – November 23, 1931) was an English opera singer and actress primarily known as the creator of principal soprano roles in the Gilbert & Sullivan comic operas. ... Look up soprano in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The Savoy Operas are a series of operettas written by Gilbert and Sullivan. ...

The dramatist W. S. Gilbert wrote the librettos for six entertainments presented by the German Reeds from 1869 to 1875, some of them with music by Reed himself, including No Cards, Ages Ago, Our Island Home, A Sensation Novel, Happy Arcadia, and Eyes and No Eyes. Several of these pieces had ideas in embryonic form that would later re-appear in the Savoy Operas. Ages Ago, for instance, had a gallery of portraits that come to life, an idea re-used in Ruddigore. Reed also mounted the first professional production of Arthur Sullivan and F. C. Burnand's Cox and Box and commissioned a second opera from the pair, The Contrabandista. Given his role in both Gilbert's and Sullivan's first operatic successes, one wag commented that the Gilbert and Sullivan operas were "cradled among the Reeds." Sir William Schwenck Gilbert Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (November 18, 1836 – May 29, 1911) was an English dramatist, librettist and illustrator best known for the fourteen comic operas produced in collaboration with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan. ... No Cards is a musical piece in one act for four characters, written by W. S. Gilbert, with music composed and arranged by Thomas German-Reed. ... Ages Ago is a musical entertaiment with a libretto by W. S. Gilbert and music by Frederic Clay that premiered on 22 November 1869. ... Our Island Home is a musical entertaiment with a libretto by W. S. Gilbert and music by Thomas German Reed that premiered on June 20, 1870 at the Gallery of Illustration. ... A Sensation Novel is a comic musical play in three acts (or volumes) written by librettist W. S. Gilbert and composer Thomas German Reed. ... Happy Arcadia is a musical entertaiment with a libretto by W. S. Gilbert and music originally by Frederic Clay that premiered on October 28, 1872 at the Gallery of Illustration. ... Eyes and No Eyes, or The Art of Seeing is a one-act musical entertainment with a libretto by W. S. Gilbert and music originally by Thomas German Reed that premiered on July 5, 1875 at St. ... Ruddigore, or The Witchs Curse, is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. ... Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan (May 13, 1842 – November 22, 1900) was an English composer best known for his operatic collaborations with librettist W. S. Gilbert. ... From The History of Punch Sir Francis Cowley Burnand (November 29, 1836 - April 21, 1917) was an editor of Punch, taking over from Tom Taylor in 1880, until 1906, when he was succeeded by Sir Owen Seaman. ... Cox and Box (video tape cover) Cox and Box is a comic opera with a libretto by by Francis Cowley Burnand and music by Arthur Sullivan, based on the farce Box and Cox, by John Maddison Morton. ... The Contrabandista, or The Law of the Ladrones, is a two-act comic opera by Arthur Sullivan and F. C. Burnand. ... W. S. Gilbert Sir Arthur Sullivan Librettist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900) collaborated on a series of fourteen comic operas in Victorian England between 1871 and 1896. ...

Other German Reed entertainments included A Night Surprise by Law; Number 204, by Burnand; A Happy Bungalow by Law; Once in a Century by Gilbert a Beckett; In Possession, Babel and Bijouand; Back from India by Henry Pottinger Stephens; Our New Doll’s House by W. Wye; and Nobody's Fault by Law.

After 1870, Corney Grain, a clever, refined, and humorous society entertainer, joined the German Reeds, gradually taking over where Parry left off. After the retirement of the elder German Reeds, their son, Alfred (1846-1895), also an actor, carried on the business in partnership with Grain at the St. George's Hall, Regent Street. The deaths of Alfred German Reed and Grain, both in 1895, ended the entertainments.

References

• Stedman, Jane W. (1996). W. S. Gilbert, A Classic Victorian & His Theatre. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-816174-3.
• Stedman, Jane W., Ed. (1969). Six comic plays by W. S. Gilbert. Chicago: University of Chicago Press; London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, Ltd. (with an introduction by Stedman)
• Stedman, Jane, ed. (1967). Gilbert Before Sullivan. University of Chicago Press.

External links

• Information and links about Gilbert's works for the German Reeds
• Encyclopedia entry about the entertainments
• Information about Fanny Holland, who performed in scores of the entertainments
• An 1882 review of one of the Entertainments