AustLit

Possibly based on (or influenced by) one of several burlesque/operatic extravaganzas based on the exploits of infamous English thief Jack Sheppard (1702-1724). Arrested five times in 1724, Sheppard escaped four times, garnering himself a degree of public notoriety before he was convicted and hanged.

Advertising for the 1898 Brisbane season records that 'Jack will be presented with all the old popular melodies and a large number of the very latest musical successes of '98' (Brisbane Courier 22 Jan. 1898, p.2). Among these songs were 'As Bad as They Make 'Em' (Jack), 'The Penny Whistler' (Blueskin), 'Will O' the Wisp' (Jonathon Wild), 'Somebody Loves Me' (Thames), and 'A Fairy Tale' (duet sung by Jack and Thames). Other musical numbers included a 'Maypole Dance' and 'The Bridesmaids Chorus', both of which were presented as the finale to Act I.

J. C. Bain appeared during Act 2 in a specially inserted variety scene, performing comic routines such as 'Grandad's Birthday' and the songs 'What a Time', 'The Story of a Kiss', and 'Ada's Serenade.'

Although the authorship of this second-part burlesque has not been established (as is the situation with other productions then being included in the Kate Howarde Pantomime and Burlesque Company tour), advertising and reviews indicate that the songs and comic business included a good deal of both new and original material.

The story, which is loosely based on Fra Diavolo; Ou, L'hôtellerie de Terracine (Fra Diavolo; Or, The Inn of Terracina), an opera comique by French composer Daniel-François-Esprit Auber and librettist Eugène Scribe (1830), concerns Neapolitan guerilla leader Michele Pezza, who was active in southern Italy around 1800-1806. Pezza was known by the name Fra Diavolo, meaning 'Brother Devil.' In reviewing Howarde's production, the Brisbane Courier critic writes, '[Diavolo Up-To-Date] certainly [contains] very little of the opera; there was the merest outline. Still that is not expected in an openly confessed burlesque' (10 January 1898, p.6).

Songs known to have been incorporated into the production were 'Dreaming as She Sleeps' (sung by the Countess), and 'I Fear No Foe' and the duet 'Funiculi, Funicula' (both sung by the brigands).

In reviewing the 1897 Brisbane season, the Brisbane Courier records that were it not 'for the enterprise of Miss Kate Howarde there would probably have been no pantomime this year... [and] the public appreciation was manifested by the presence of an audience which literally crowded the Gaiety Theatre to the doors. Many people were unable to obtain seats.'

In relation to the production itself, the critic writes:

'The ordinary book of the pantomime was enlivened by various local allusions, which, if in one or two instances of a rather personal character, were on the whole, pointed and effective. The allusion, for instance, to the delay in the wood paving at once struck home, and in one or two references to the Merkara case, excited the risible faculties of the audience. Taken altogether, [however], the book was not as smartly local as it might have been, but that could hardly have been expected with a company so new to town and so unfamiliar with its most salient questions' (28 December 1897, p.5).

The 1899 version comprised the following scenes:

Act 1:Scene 1. Under the Sea;

Scene 2. Port of Cadiz.

Act 2: Scene 1. Wreck of the Hesperis;

Scene 2. Diamond Valley.

Act 3: A Nautical Tableaux of Great Britain and America,

Transformation Scene; and

Harlequinade.

Songs known to have been presented within the 1897 production were 'Sinbad, Don't You Go to Sea' and 'Mary Ann Maginty' (performed by Kate Howarde) and 'Bedouin Love Song' (Arthur Hunter).

The 1899 production included 'The Carnival' and 'I Was Dreaming' (sung by Violet Bertram), 'Only Once More' (Dorothy L'Estrange), 'I Want You Ma Honey' (Myra James), 'Sons of the Sea' and 'Soldiers of the Queen' (Arthur Hunter), 'If I hadn't Been So Shy' (Sydney Carden) and 'The Dandy Fifth' (Minnie Shipp, Therese Leoni, and Myra James).