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 Simple Little String" and "The Way to Treat a Lady".
Background
Poster for the New York production
Ellaline Terriss wrote:
One night Sir Arthur Sullivan came to see The Circus Girl and was good enough to come round after the play to my dressing-room. I was a little afraid that he might be contemptuous of our gay, light-hearted trifle, but no, not at all, he said he had been delighted with everything, the comedy, the charm, the setting – it is true that the play was beautifully mounted. Edwardes had caught the atmosphere of the circus ring and the last scene, "The Artists' Ball," was one of the finest The Guv'nor had ever staged. It got rounds of applause when the curtain went up, at every performance. Sullivan was loud in his praises of the music, too – there was no criticism from him. And he expressed great pleasure in my own performance, going so far as to say that he hoped I would be able to create a part in one of his next works.[3]
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.[4]
Synopsis
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (October 2012)
Dick Capel, an understudy who occasionally performed at a Paris circus as "The Cannon King", impressed 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 and has been flirting with the circus girls; he 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 slackwire. La Favorita is a bareback rider.
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