Haddon Hall (opera)

Haddon Hall is an English light opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by Sydney Grundy. The opera, set at the eponymous hall, dramatises the legend of Dorothy Vernon's elopement with John Manners, resetting the tale in the 17th century.

It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on September 24, 1892 for a modestly successful run of 204 performances. The piece was popular with amateur theatre groups, particularly in Britain, through the 1920s, but it has been produced only sporadically since then.

When the Gilbert and Sullivan partnership disbanded after the production of The Gondoliers in 1889, impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte endeavoured to find a new collaborator with whom Sullivan could write comic operas for the Savoy Theatre. Grundy was familiar to Carte, having written The Vicar of Bray in 1882 with Carte's friend Edward Solomon, and also from his many English adaptations of French works. While a modest success, Haddon Hall was far less successful than Sullivan's earlier Savoy Operas with W. S. Gilbert, and Sullivan did not write any further operas with Grundy.

Haddon Hall is a dramatisation of a nineteenth century legend: Dorothy Vernon's elopement in 1563 with John Manners, son of Thomas Manners, 1st Earl of Rutland. For the opera, Grundy moved the story forward to about 1660, adding the conflict between the Royalists and the Roundheads as a backdrop to the plot.

The opening night cast included such Savoy Theatre favorites as Courtice Pounds as John Manners, Charles Kenningham as Oswald, Rutland Barrington as Rupert Vernon, W. H. Denny as The Mccrankie, Rosina Brandram as Lady Vernon, and Florence Easton as Deborah (later playing Dorothy Vernon). John D'Auban choreographed the production.

...
Wikipedia