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Crest of the Wave is a musical with book and music by Ivor Novello and lyrics by Christopher Hassall. [1]

It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London, on 1 September 1937, starring Novello as both hero and villain, Dorothy Dickson, Olive Gilbert, Walter Crisham and Edgar Elmes. Directed by Novello's frequent collaborator Leontine Sagan, it ran for 203 performances. [2]

The best-known songs from the musical are " Rose of England", "Why isn't it you?", "Haven of your heart" and "If you only knew". The story concerns an impoverished nobleman, The Duke of Cheviot, who is shot by a lover and pursued by the villainous Otto Fresch. The staging featured a spectacular train crash, one of several Novello musicals featuring a spectacular disaster: Glamorous Night has a shipwreck and Careless Rapture depicts an earthquake. [3]

Original cast

  • The Duke of Cheviot ("Don") / Otto French (a Film Star) - Ivor Novello
  • The Knight of Gantry - Edgar Elmes
  • Stone - Kenneth Howell
  • Lord William Gantry - Peter Graves
  • Virginia, Duchess of Cheviot - Marie Lohr
  • 1st Woman - Judith Wren
  • 2nd Woman - Dorothy Batley
  • Leonora Hayden - Ena Burrill
  • Josef von Palasti - Oscar Alexander
  • Assistant / 3rd English Type - John Palmer
  • Honey Wortle - Dorothy Dickson
  • Mrs. Wortle - Minnie Rayner
  • The Queen (in Fair Maid of France) / Manuelita - Olive Gilbert
  • Freddie Layton - Walter Crisham
  • Frampton / 1st English Type - Reginald Smith
  • A Steward / Nightclub Manager/ a Porter - Fred Hearne
  • Passport Official - Jack Glyn
  • Telegraph Boy - Sandy Williamson
  • Chair Steward - Aubrey Rouse
  • Entertainments Organiser - Harry Fergusson
  • Filomena/Phyllis - Renee Stocker
  • Glutz - Finlay Currie
  • 2nd English Type - Basil Neale
  • Footman - Eric Davy
  • A Stranger - Charles Tully
  • The Vicar - Selwyn Morgan

The production was designed by Alick Johnstone. [4] [5]

Critical reception

Alan Bott wrote in the Tatler of the production and of Novello: "Once a year he delivers the formula, the story, the tunes, the ideas for spectacle, the personality, the profile, the archness, the attitudes, and the variegated goods; and that once a year is enough to fill London's Largest Theatre until half-way through the next year. He draws to the Lane thousands who enter a theatre hardly ever. As to his formula, it has given pleasure to a million or two." [6]

References

  1. ^ "'Rose of England', a song from Crest of the Wave". British Library.
  2. ^ Rees, Mary (21 April 2012). Gwyneth. Xlibris Corporation USA. ISBN  978-1469185842 – via Google Books.
  3. ^ Gordon, Robert; Jubin, Olaf (2016). The Oxford Handbook of the British Musical. Oxford University Press UK. ISBN  978-0199988747 – via Google Books.
  4. ^ "Production of Crest of the Wave - Theatricalia". theatricalia.com.
  5. ^ "LONDON THEATRE ROYAL - CREST OF THE WAVE - 1940S - IVOR NOVELLO". Theatrememorabilia.co.uk.
  6. ^ Wright, Adrian (2010). A Tanner's Worth of Tune: Rediscovering the Post-war British Musical. Boydell & Brewer UK. ISBN  978-1843835424 – via Google Books.
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