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Jolly Dogs
A Musical High-Jinks in Two Acts
Inspired by the Victorian Music Hall
by Didi Balle and Leslie Steinweiss
Eos (1841) - Sir Edwin Landseer (1802-1873)
About Jolly Dogs
An Ode to Boisterous Joy
JOLLY DOGS, a two-act musical high-jinks inspired by the Victorian Music Hall (set in London 1868), features Queen Victoria, Sir Edwin Landseer and The Royal Jolly Dogs Company of music hall artistes in the final week of performances before being evicted by a most devious Lord from the acclaimed theatre they themselves built: The Royal Jolly Dogs Music Hall.
Story
How do the rarefied worlds of Queen Victoria and her esteemed painter/artiste of choice, Sir Edwin Landseer, collide with the raucous rollicking world inhabited by The Royal Jolly Dogs Company?
More precisely, how does the fate of a talented troupe of beleaguered bohemian Music Hall artistes (facing eviction and the razing of their beloved theatre) come to the attention of the Empress of the largest Empire in history? And why would she secretly commission Landseer to create a book of caricatures capturing their show?
Last but not least who is the devious personage who dared forge Her Majesty’s signature to documents evicting The Royal Jolly Dogs Company and authorizing demolition of their theatre? This, after the Queen had refused to sign such documents because, as she reasoned, “How much harm could a troupe of musical thespians calling themselves Jolly Dogs do to the Crown?”
Expect subterfuge, mistaken identifies, slander, treachery, a renowned artist going rouge, love, laughter, and a fleet of unmarked Royal carriages bearing the Queen disguised as a lady’s maid most eager to attend The Jolly Dogs Music Hall. And best of all expect a great deal of singing and dancing.
On closing night of a rousing performance of Jolly Dogs we finally discover: the Music Hall’s the Thing!
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Royal Jolly Dogs Music Hall
A former abandoned stables and storefront transformed into a stylish bohemian theatre by Sir Harry Sphinx, Actor-Manager, and his fellow members of The Royal Jolly Dogs Company. A trompe l’oeil theatre with hand-painted proscenium arches adorned with muses and masks, caryatids and canines. The set is a mix of merriment, camp and irreverence executed with artistic flair. To wit:
DSL a larger-than-life painted CUT-OUT of QUEEN VICTORIA seated on the throne.
She presides over the evening as the de facto “Chairman” introducing (as per Music Hall tradition), each song, dance or scene.
The royal figure has cut outs for the face and right hand allowing the actors to
pop in their heads to variously play the Queen introducing acts. A lace cuff and traditional Chairman’s gavel are donned by the actors’ right-hand.
Music & Songs
The score for JOLLY DOGS is a seamless mix of historic classics (“Waiting at the Church,” “Champagne Charlie,” “I Live in Trafalgar Square,” and “Jolly Dogs” interspersed with original music hall songs by Balle & Steinweiss (“It’s a Dog’s Life,” “For the Love of Chocolate,” “There’s Is Nothing Handier Than a Handyman When Your Husband’s Not Around,” “Trois Chiens Chanteuses”) and more.
PLUS original piano solos by Steinweiss inspired by the Jolly Dogs theme. Excerpts from the renowned classical canine composer Schnauzer Clan of Vienna. (Mendel Schnauzer, Ludwig Von Schnauzenheimer and a two-part invention by Schnauzerbach).
Cast of Characters
Queen Victoria (1837-1901)
An ardent theatre-goer, an accomplished musician/singer, and a champion of all things canine.
Self-described as a “broken-hearted widow” attired in perpetual black, the year before our show begins, Queen Victoria opens Parliament for the first time since Prince Albert’s death. She is re-entering life, preparing to publish her “Highlands Journal” with drawings she hopes to improve during art lessons with Sir Edwin Landseer.
When an unexpected opportunity arises to relive her favorite pastime with Prince Albert (visiting villages in Scotland dressed in disguise as commoners), she seizes upon the chance (under the guise of state business) to visit The Royal Jolly Dogs Music Hall incognito. Is the show as slanderous to the Crown as her Ministers suggest? Should the acting troupe be evicted? Their theatre razed? What she discovers is something long-forgotten: laughter.
Sir Edwin Landseer R.A. (1802-1873)
Artistic genius, raconteur, considered by Victorian society as some of the “best company of the day.” Scotch a favored companion.
First commissioned by King William IV to paint his 18-year-old niece Princess Victoria with her beloved Spaniel, Dash (1836). Landseer’s portraits of dramatic power and imagination include a minimum of 12 of Queen Victoria’s cherished dogs, plus portraits of horses, hunts, Highlands and a husband.
At the top our show we find Landseer in the final years of life. Queen Victoria returned him to her circle in 1864 after a ten year hiatus, renewing an unspoken artistic camaraderie. He resumes teaching the Queen watercolor, and receives a secret commission involving Jolly Dogs.
THE ROYAL JOLLY DOGS COMPANY
The Royal Jolly Dogs Company is a troupe of versatile Victorian singers, dancers, serio-comics, impersonators and more who created the music hall they call home. A celebratory mix of gender, race, age, height, weight, talent, temperament and beauty, they embody the multifaceted world of music hall theatricality. Everyone plays/sings a variety of roles.
Males (3). Females (4). Male and Female Impersonators (as they were known at the time) multiply possibilities. Company Pianist (1) male.
Sir Harry Sphinx
Actor-Manager, founder of The Royal Jolly Dogs Company. Gruff and elegant from Coster to King. Former Shakespearean actor abandoned the Bard for the music hall Muse. His vision/skills transformed a stables/storefront into The Royal Jolly Dogs Music Hall. 50s-60s. Bass-baritone
Langford Gauntry
Lion Comique. Dashing and debonair ladies-man whether playing a toff or coster flirt. Tall, athletic. Makes the ladies swoon. 30s. Baritone
Mr. Lucky Perkins
A retired jockey. A pocket-sized comedian. Ageless, boyish charm. Sings and dances non compare. 40s. Tenor
Dame Maggie Mergatroyd
Grande Dame. Shapely, robust. An unerring stage presence and vocal command. On the prowl for her third husband. Comic, bawdy, irrepressible. 50s-60s. Mezzo
Daisy Darlington
A resplendent female beauty who claims to be Parisian by birth, but her fellow actors swear she was born in a bedsit in Brighton. Svelte, stylish, self-made. The jammiest bit of jam you ever did see. 30s. Soprano
Elsie Lamb
A talented painter who designed/painted the theatre. A lithe androgynous beauty with great bones. Serio-comic most fetching in trouser roles. 40s. Alto
Floxie Driscoll
Nubile, petite, fairy-like. A comedienne who writes her own songs. Gymnastic abilities. 20s. Lyric Soprano
Albert Prince, King Of The Ivories
The Royal Jolly Dogs Company’s musical director/pianist, an eccentric virtuoso. Despite a tousled mane, wire-rims, and a dusty Oxford demeanor, his introverted nature transforms nightly in the presence of theatrical and musical excess.
Creative Team
DIDI BALLE (Story. Lyrics. Script). Credits as a produced playwright and stage director include numerous commissions, broadcasts and staged productions of her work spanning Symphonic Plays™, radio musicals, plays, musical theater, variety shows, song cycles and opera. Didi's shows/musical plays have been commissioned, performed and premiered by companies and orchestras from The Philadelphia Orchestra to the Baltimore Symphony to New York City Opera to The City of London Sinfonia; in venues from Lincoln Center to Verizon Symphony Hall to the Barbican Center for the Arts in London, with performances broadcast live from the BBC to WNYC. See more... https://www.didiballe.com/bio.html
LESLIE STEINWEISS (Music. Arrangements) is a talented Brooklyn-based composer, lyricist, and pianist. A graduate of The High School of Performing Arts and Mannes College of Music, he has honed craft through prestigious programs like Lehman Engel's BMI Music Theater Workshop and the ASCAP Theater Workshop. With a rich background in music, Leslie brings creativity and passion to every project he undertakes. See more... https://www.lesliesteinweiss.com/bio