The Circus Girl

The Circus Girl
Ellaline Terriss as Dora
Music	Ivan Caryll Lionel Monckton
Lyrics	Harry Greenbank Adrian Ross
Book	James T. Tanner Walter Apllant (Palings)
Productions	1896 West End 1897 Broadway

The Circus Girl is a musical comedy in two acts by James T. Tanner and Walter Apllant (Palings), with lyrics by Harry Greenbank and Adrian Ross, music by Ivan Caryll, and additional music by Lionel Monckton.

The musical was produced at George Edwardes's Gaiety Theatre, beginning 5 December 1896, and ran for a very successful 497 performances. It starred Seymour Hicks as Dick Capel and his wife Ellaline Terriss as Dora Wemyss. Edmund Payne and Arthur Williams also appeared. The show also had a successful New York run at two theatres in 1897 for a total of 172 performances. It was produced by Charles Frohman.Mabelle Gilman Corey played Lucille and Nancy McIntosh played La Favorita in New York.

Set in Paris, the plot concerns a group of English tourists who get mixed up with a circus troupe. Two of the famous songs from the show are "A Little Bit of String" and "The Way to Treat a Lady".

Ellaline Terriss wrote:

Later during the London production, Terriss's father, actor William Terriss, was murdered outside the Adelphi Theatre in London, creating a sensation in the press and an outpouring of sympathy for Terriss and Hicks.

Dick Capel deputized occasionally at a Paris circus as "The Cannon King", impressing pretty Dora Wemyss, a school girl. Dick, however, is engaged to be married. Dora's father, Sir Titus, an English tourist, has been hiding in the cannon, because he has been flirting with the circus girls and is avoiding his wife. Dick shoots Sir Titus out of the cannon. Meanwhile, Bugs, a silly American bartender, agrees to fight a celebrated wrestler, The Terrible Turk, in order to win over Lucille, the girl who walks the slack wire. La Favorita is a bareback rider.

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