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Advertised as an 'entirely novel, original burlesque; grotesque, poetical, pastoral, pictorial, grand comic pantomime… [with] new local hits [and] new topical songs,' Goody Two Shoes was adapted by a person or person's unknown from E. L. Blanchard's 1862 Drury Lane pantomime (original music by John Barnard). The 1880 Melbourne production was also specially adapted by Mr and Mrs G. B. W. Lewis to accommodate both adult performers and more than a hundred juvenile performers. In reporting on the production in early January the Australian Sketcher with Pen and Pencil records:
The pantomime enables a large number of Mrs G. B. W. Lewis's juvenile company [more than 100 children] to take part, and as the play is woven of two nursery stories, there is a particular fitness in their doing so. The ballet is supported by representatives of the different flowers, and is declared the most beautiful thing of its kind ever attempted on the Melbourne stage. The transformation scene is painted by Mr Grist, and is received with great applause nightly (1 Jan. 1881, 11).
The scenes, as recorded in an Argus advertisement on Christmas Eve 1880 indicates the following settings. Act 1; Sc 1. Village School of Goody Two Shoes; Sc 2. Hunting Lodge on the Borders of the Forest (sunset); Sc 3. The Bramble Brake in the Depth of the Forest; Sc 4. Haunt of the Wood Nymphs in the Enchanted Dell; Grand Tableaux (including ballet); Act 2; Sc 1. Avenue Leading to Buttercup Mead; Sc. 2. Who Killed Cock Robin?; Transformation Scene; Harlequinade ("Grand Double Lilliputian Harlequinade").
Songs included: 'Kiss Me Darling' (sung by Mrs G. B. W. Lewis), 'The Cuckoo' (Baby Flora Graupner), 'Farmer's Song' (Fred Thorne and children), 'Poppies in the Corn' (Mrs G. B. W. Lewis and children), 'He's Got Em On' (topical song by Fred Thorne), 'I Cannot Say Goodbye' (Little Annie May), 'Jack and Jills' (Tiny Amy Brooks), and 'The Repentant Schoolboy' (Mrs G. B. W. Lewis and Fred Thorne).
Other features included a skipping-rope hornpipe (performed by Baby Alice Browning, aged five), 'The Vertiginous Birds of Prey' (comic dance), a comic swing scene (Master Stevenson), Grand Juvenile Floral Ballet (children aged 3 - 13), and a Maypole Dance.
Production Details
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1880: Bijou Theatre, Melbourne; 24 December 1880 - 9 February 1881
- Director Mrs G. B. W. Lewis (aka Rose Edouin); Producer/Lessee Mr G. B. W. Lewis; Scenic Art Harry Grist; Music Arranger W. Wright; Costumes Mrs Forbes; Choral Instructor J. Ure; Choreography Mr Darbyshire and Mrs G. B. W. Lewis.
- Cast incl. - Cast incl. Mrs G. B. W. Lewis (Goody Two Shoes), Harry Daniels (Johnny Stout, the good boy), Fred Thorne (Tommy Green, the bad boy), E. D. Haygarth (Sir Timothy Gripe, Lord of the Manor), Master E. Graupner (his steward), Mary Weir (Fairy Fuchsia, assuming the form of Goody Peabody), Baby Flora Graupner (Little Boy Blue), Juvenile Girards
- NB: The production advertisement published in the Argus (24 Dec. 1880, p.8) includes a comprehensive cast and scene list.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Entertainments: Theatres etc
1881
single work
review
— Appears in: Australasian , 1 January 1881 1881; (p. 19)
— Review of Little Goody Two Shoes ; Or, Harlequin Who Killed Cock Robin? 1880 single work musical theatre -
The Bijou Theatre: 'Little Goody Two Shoes'
1880
single work
review
— Appears in: The Argus , 28 December 1880; (p. 6)
— Review of Little Goody Two Shoes ; Or, Harlequin Who Killed Cock Robin? 1880 single work musical theatre
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The Bijou Theatre: 'Little Goody Two Shoes'
1880
single work
review
— Appears in: The Argus , 28 December 1880; (p. 6)
— Review of Little Goody Two Shoes ; Or, Harlequin Who Killed Cock Robin? 1880 single work musical theatre -
Entertainments: Theatres etc
1881
single work
review
— Appears in: Australasian , 1 January 1881 1881; (p. 19)
— Review of Little Goody Two Shoes ; Or, Harlequin Who Killed Cock Robin? 1880 single work musical theatre