- The Water Gypsies
Book and lyrics by Alan (A. P.) Herbert, from his novel of the
same name
Music by Vivian Ellis
Original London cast: Dora Bryan, Laurie Payne, Pamela Charles,
Peter Graves, Doris Hare, Ernest Butcher, Jerry Verno, Roy Godfrey.
Musical director: Jack Coles
SONGS: Why Did You Call Me Lily?; Clip Clop; I Should
Worry; When I'm Washing Up; Jane's Prayer; Lily's Tale; He Doesn't
Care; Castles And Hearts And Roses; Peace And Quiet; Little Boat;
Why Should Spring Have All The Flowers?; This Is Our Secret;
It Would Cramp My Style; You Never Know With Men
-
- The final collaboration between A. P. Herbert and Vivian
Ellis already seemed as if it belonged to an age that had passed
when it premiered at the Winter Garden Theatre in August 1955.
Dora Bryan, playing the flighty and not over-intelligent Lily
Bell, stole the notices but was on and off throughout the run,
replaced frequently by Vivienne Martin, whom Herbert subsequently
claimed had been funnier than Bryan. Nevertheless, without her
presence, this quaint observation of low-life riverside dwellers
could not survive beyond its not disgraceful 239 performances.
Nothing the show offered seemed able to eclipse its first song,
Bryan's 'Why Did You Call Me Lily?', a last minute addition to
the score that was too late to catch the original 10" recording,
but makes it on the excellent World Records re-issue. Things
pep up whenever Bryan appears, but the rest of her numbers are
not very bright. Pamela Charles is the most enchanting of heroines,
playing the innocent Jane in the most ingenuous of voices. With
the simple air of 'When I'm Washing Up' she conjures up a lost
world of genuine charm and homespun truth. There is a selection
of young men to provide the romantic interest, notably Laurie
Payne as the illiterate bargee who fully understands his relationship
with his old grey mare in 'Clip Clop', providing the show with
its most bewitching melody. Payne leads the company in a rousing
salute to 'Castles And Hearts And Roses', cleverly crafted as
is everything here. As the sophisticated artist who for a while
catches Jane's affection, Peter Graves helps Charles to intone
the big duet 'This Is Our Secret', in which the chorus, obviously
letting the secret out of the bag, lustily join. Roy Godfrey
makes the most of his chances as another low-life boyfriend of
Bryan's, and there is a reflective contribution from the more
mature Ernest Butcher in the pretty 'Little Boat', originally
written by Ellis for a film of Herbert's novel in 1931. Doris
Hare and Jerry Verno take another stand for the older generation
in the rolling fun of 'Why Should Spring Have All The Flowers?',
a song that may sum up this show's gentle, uneventful progress.
The world has moved on, but it would be a stern heart that could
altogether resist The Water Gipsies.
RETURN TO RECORD CABINET
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