AustLit

Farce.

A topical and musical burlesque founded on the Bellini opera, it was presented as the second production for Harry Leston's season of burlesque under the Dan Tracey management.

With its material written and arranged by Harry Leston, possibly influenced by H. J. Byron's burlesque Little Don Giovanni; Or, Leporello and the Stone Statue (1865), this burlesque of the Mozart opera heralded the first appearance of Leston, the well-known Australian actor/comic as both producer and star of a short season of burlesque at Sydney's School of Arts. American-born entrepreneur, Dan Tracey, had no doubt keenly sought Leston after the actor's previously successful burlesque engagement with Frank Smith at the Alhambra in late 1890.

The production, which included local songs and dances, was presented as a second part to an evening's entertainment of minstrelsy and vaudeville.

Faust Up-to-Date was presented as the second part entertainment by Dan Tracey at the School of Arts, and adapted from the G. R. Sims and Henry Pettit burlesque (the original score was written by Meyer Lutz). As with two earlier School of Arts burlesques (Black-Eyed Susan and Cinderella), it was likely to have been adapted by Percy St John, possibly with contributions from other senior members of the company.

One of the highlights of the production was said to have been the Sherwood Sisters 'sensational skirt dance' (Sydney Morning Herald 28 December 1891, p6).

The premiere production for Dan Tracey's end of the year 'Grand Burlesque season' (which continued well into 1892), this burlesque operetta was adapted, localised, and arranged by Percy St John, most likely in collaboration with other members of the troupe. As with many other locally produced burlesques from around this period, it likely re-used the main plot developments from the original source, with the addition of new material, such as songs and comic routines.

In Douglas William Jerrold's original 1829 melodrama, Blackeyed Susan;Or, All in the Downs,Susan is forced to endure the attentions of her rapacious uncle and an over-amorous sea captain while her sailor husband is away. He is eventually court-martialled and sentenced to death for defending her honour.

Farce.

Although likely a burlesque on Augustin Daly's 1867 melodrama Under the Gaslight (the play that introduced the famous thrill scene in which a villain ties someone to the railroad tracks), the Sydney Morning Herald indicates in 1893 that part of the action revolves around two waiters who go through 'all sorts of antics with the knives, plates, bottles, fruit and lamp found on a table conveniently at hand.' Among the other specialty acts included in the production were a butterfly dance and some American trick dancing (26 June 1893, p.4).