NEWCASTLE'S MUSICAL HERITAGE AN INTRODUCTION By ...

masterpiece and was lately performed in Newcastle under very interesting
circumstances. The scene of it is laid at Swalwell, his (Shield) native place, and
its music is most charmingly simple and pastoral in character. Many of the songs
will live as long as Englishmen love music, in proof of which we need only
mention the names of “Old Towler”, “The Heaving of the Lead”, “The Wolf” and
“The Thorn”. They rank with the songs of Purcell, Bishop and Arne, as being so
thoroughly endowed with the spirit of English life and feeling’. Mr D’Oyly Carte’s
Opera Co. began giving performances of Gilbert and Sullivan and he also joined
Charles Wyndham in presenting other operatic works under the banner of the
Olivette Opera Co. Miss Kate Santley, already mentioned above, the daughter of
the famous English baritone, Sir Charles Santley (1834 – 1922), was an enduring
favourite and her company appeared over many seasons. Light opera continued
to pull in the crowds through 1888 and 1889 and there were ever new opera
companies presenting new comedy operas and burlesques such as ‘The Nauch
Girl’ (or ‘ The Rajah of Chutneypore’) On a more serious level there were the
one-off performances such as the Grand Complimentary Concert for Mr
J.H.Beers (one of the towns leading musicians) put on by the elite of the Musical
Circles of Newcastle and Neighbourhood, On the whole though, Newcastle’s
theatres were geared up to the best in musical entertainment (I have always
considered opera to be a theatrical entertainment) In 1886 two hopefuls Van
Biene and Horace Lingard, under the guise of the Comic Opera Co., put on an
opera they had composed called ‘Falka’, which the theatre bills claimed, had
notched up 1000 performances by 8 th April 1886. Such claims were common
place in the theatre and reading the old handbills can be a great source of
amusement as well as interest. ‘Powerful’ was a favourite adjective in Newcastle
theatre handbills and posters – usually applied to the chorus, as though there
were some need to reassure audiences that they would be able to hear them.
One company went so far as to reassure theatregoers that the orchestra would
play efficiently – giving the impression that most pit orchestras of the day were a
shambles. By 1883 theatre programmes were beginning to point out to patrons
that the Electric Bell would ring in the Royal Bars 3 minutes before curtain up.
That was progress. The 1890s began to see a change in the kind of musical
show put on in the theatre; a new look appeared on the playbills of the Theatre
Royal, which was due largely to the fact that English language musicals were
beginning to make an impact on the world of musical theatre, not only in England
but across Europe.
The impact came from London and mostly from the theatres run by that
legendary producer, George Edwardes, known to all as ‘The Guv’ner’. The basic
plots and scheme of things in his musical shows were not so different from those
that had been presented before but instead of fictitious and mythical characters
from the past he peopled his shows with up to date characters, recognisable
modern types who spoke in up-to-date language and wore clothes that were the
height of fashion in the early years of the decade. The first of Edwardes’
presentations at the Theatre Royal in 1893 was ‘In Town’ It was nowhere as
sophisticated as these shows were to become, but it was the beginning of
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