HIDE AND SEEK: A PETIT OPERA, In Two Acts, 1784-1863 BY JOSEPH LUNN, ESQ. = AUTHOR OF WHITE LIES, LOFTY PROJECTS, ROSES AND THORNS, FISH OUT OF WATER, FAMILY JARS, &C. PRINTED FROM THE ACTING COPY, WITH REMARKS, BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL, To which are added, A DESCRIPTION OF THE COSTUME,-CAST OF THE CHARACTERS,ENTRANCES AND EXITS, RELATIVE POSITIONS OF THE PERFORMERS ON THE STAGE, AND THE WHOLE OF THE STAGE BUSINESS. As now performed at the THEATRES ROYAL, LONDON. EMBELLISHED WITH A WOOD ENGRAVING. LONDON: JOHN CUMBERLAND, 19, LUDGATE HILL. The following trifle, (which, with the exception of the poetry, is little better than a bare translation from a favourite French vaudeville) was hastily writ ten, at a late period of the season, for the purpose of uniting the talents of two of our most distinguished female vocalists, then performing at the Haymarket Theatre; and the author humbly conceives, that its dialogue and incidents possess as much interest and whim as are usually exhibited by pieces of a similar description, which are, for the most part, mere vehicles for music. Unforeseen events having, however, delayed its production until both the ladies alluded to had closed their engagements, the circumstance of the characters designed for them being allotted to two performers, whose minor celebrity, as singers, involved the necessity of a great diminution of the music, and considerable alteration in the remainder, together with that of Mr. Liston's extreme hoarseness on the first night of its representation, operated to prevent its remaining before the public so long as it is confidently presumed it would have done, had the author's original views been realized. N. B. The whole of the music may, be obtained by application to Mr. George Perry, composer to the Theatre-royal, Haymarket. |