Theodore & Co: History and Key Facts

Theodore & Co is an English musical comedy in two acts with a book by H. M. Harwood and George Grossmith Jr. based on the French comedy Théodore et Cie by Paul Armont and Nicolas Nancey, with music by Ivor Novello and Jerome Kern and lyrics by Adrian Ross and Clifford Grey. It was produced by Grossmith and Edward Laurillard and directed by Austen Hurgon, opening at the Gaiety Theatre on 19 September 1916 and running for 503 performances. It starred Grossmith, Fred Leslie and Leslie Henson.

Theodore & Co opened during World War I in the same year as two other tremendously successful shows in London: Chu Chin Chow and The Bing Boys are Here, and the successful The Happy Day. Audiences wanted light and uplifting entertainment during the war, and these shows delivered it.

This show established Ivor Novello as a theatrical composer and was Kern's first show in London. Novello's songs from the show include "What A Duke Should Be" and "Oh, How I Want To Marry".

Source and attribution

Text excerpted from Theodore & Co by Wikipedia contributors, available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0. The extract is abridged and formatting has been adjusted; the adapted text on this page is shared under the same licence. Revision history.