Florodora

Florodora
Music	Leslie Stuart Paul Rubens
Lyrics	Paul Rubens Edward Boyd-Jones
Book	Owen Hall (pseudonym for James Davis)
Productions	1899 West End 1900 Broadway 1902 Broadway revival 1905 Broadway revival 1915 West End revival 1920 Broadway revival 1931 West End revival International tour 2006 West End revival

Florodora is an Edwardian musical comedy. After its long run in London, it became one of the first successful Broadway musicals of the 20th century. The book was written by Jimmy Davis under the pseudonym Owen Hall, the music was by Leslie Stuart with additional songs by Paul Rubens, and the lyrics were by Edward Boyd-Jones and Rubens.

The original London production opened in 1899 where it ran for a very successful 455 performances. The New York production was even more popular, opening the following season and running for 552 performances. After this, the piece was produced throughout the English-speaking world and beyond. The show was famous for its double sextet and its chorus line of "Florodora Girls".

The piece was popular with amateur theatre groups, particularly in Britain, into the 1950s.

Florodora was the first of a series of successful musicals by Stuart, including The Silver Slipper (1901), The School Girl (1903), The Belle of Mayfair (1906), and Havana (1908).

Upon opening in London on 11 November 1899 at the Lyric Theatre, the show originally starred Evie Greene, Willie Edouin and Ada Reeve Running for an astounding-for-the-time 455 performances, and closing in March 1901, the show would prove as a training ground for numerous up-and-coming stars of the British theatre. After moving to the Casino Theatre on Broadway in 1900, the spectacle ran for an astonishing 552 performances – the first instance of a London production achieving such a Broadway run, and only the third longest run on Broadway of any theatre piece up to that time. The show was subsequently mounted in Australia in 1900 by J. C. Williamson where it enjoyed another incredibly long run.

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