The Sans Pareil Theatre Seasonal Digest for 1807-1808
Ed. John W. Brokaw
A news item dated 16 November 1807, points out the essential differences between the first and second Sans Pareil seasons: "the small theatre ... was opened on Saturday, 14 November. The company consists of juvenile performers, who appear to great advantage in some little pieces, the music and dancing of which deserves commendation" (clipping in James Winston's Adelphi Scrapbook). The simplicity of the 1806-7 season, with its recitations and magic lantern shows, gives way to more elaborate pieces and to a numerous company, as many as forty-five members appearing on stage. Contrary to what the news item suggests, there were five or six mature performers in the company, but the rest were indeed the children or pupils of Gabriel Giroux, the new associate manager, choreographer and ballet master. Because of this, the Sans Pareil did not attempt pantomimes or melodramas, though now licensed to do so. The principal pieces were ballets of action and ballet or burletta spectacles. (One recitation from the preceding season, Rural Visitors, was given by Jane M. Scott at her benefit, 7 March, 1808.)
Gabriel Giroux had been dancing in London since 1786. He and his children appeared regularly at the Royal Circus for several seasons before coming to the Sans Pareil. Five Giroux daughters performed at the Sans Pareil between 1807 and 1813, but only two, Caroline and Louisa are named in the surviving bills for 1807-8. A February review praises the work of "Little Giroux." This is probably Malcolm, who would for many years perform and teach in London. The principal dancer was Caroline Giroux. Born in 1799, she had danced at the Circus when she was three. In later years, as Mrs. Searle, she had a substantial independent career (Highfill, et al., Biographical Dictionary, VI, 227-8). Gabriel Giroux helped with theatre management and stage production. He also worked closely with Miss Scott, then writing her first plays and doing her first ensemble acting. As one example of the collaboration between Giroux and Miss Scott, Giroux wrote the first piece of the season, the ballet The Fisherman's Daughter, and Miss Scott wrote the second piece, a musical entertainment Successful Cruize, which was described as "a continuation of The Fisherman's Daughter." Jane Scott wrote four pieces in all, as did Giroux. She showed her versatility and adaptability, always hallmarks of her work, in writing three pieces for the child performers. The Magistrate, written for the adult actors, was successful enough to be revived in three later seasons.
Gabriel Giroux's Valdevina the Cruel; or, The Girl of the Desert was a "new grand serious spectacle" in three acts with twenty-four roles, choruses and supernumeraries. Several promising young people performed in this dance spectacle, including Caroline Giroux, Master Leclerq and Master Richard Flexmore. Flexmore became a skilled eccentric dancer and fathered Richard Flexmore (1824-1860), a more famous dancer and pantomimist. A 15 February review praised Giroux's Valdevina highly: "The scenery, dresses and properties are magnificent; the music, by Sanderson, is melodious and scientific; the performance of Little Giroux is beyond description, particularly in the second and last scene, where a picture is formed which would do credit to the first painters; in fact, the tout ensemble of this beautiful piece surpasses all that has been produced at any theatre" (Adelphi Scrapbook).
In addition to engaging Gabriel Giroux, the Scotts acquired their first scenic designer, Morris. In addition, they engaged an experienced bandleader and composer, James Sanderson, who had previously worked with both J. C. Cross and the younger Charles Dibdin. Sanderson contributed much to this theatre in its early years.
The Sans Pareil also began to establish itself as a variety house. This is apparent on the first evening, when the incidental entertainments included songs, dances, "imitations of celebrated performers" and fireworks. Among the entertainers were Mrs. McCartney, who as Miss Minton had begun at Sadler's Wells in 1800, and Andrew Campbell, an amateur at this time, whose impersonations would win him popularity in his several years at the theatre.
The season ended on April 9, after some 112 performances. From July to early September 1808, the Covent Garden corps de ballet leased the house. On September 19, the elder Charles Dibdin gave his one-man show, Rent Day; or, The Yeoman's Friend.
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The Sans Pareil Theatre Seasonal Digest for Summer 1808
Ed. John W. Brokaw
The theatre opened its doors on 4 July 1806, for a short summer season. The corps de ballet from Covent Garden with such luminaries as Wybrow, King, and Thomas Blanchard performed five pieces. Two of them, La Heroine Incomparable and The Maid of Hornsey were played every night. Several of the performers brought their wives.
The company was under the management of Holland, Louis, and Grant--all of Covent Garden. Ryall undertook most of the choreography. It is impossible to determine how many nights the season lasted, as there are few existing records from the first decade of the Sans Pareil's existence.
During the evening's performance, there were sometimes songs by Woolf and King. Included among the titles were "Black-Eyed Susan," "May the King Live Forever," and "The Wig"--the last by Charles Dibdin, the younger. It was King who made Dibdin's "songs 'Giles Scroggins' Ghost' and 'Call Again Tomorrow' with many others, so popular" (Charles Dibdin's Memoirs, p. 54).
Andrew Campbell performed his popular imitations of familiar actors in their best-known roles.
During the pantomime Beauty; or, Harlequin of the Black Isles, Signor Saxoni was engaged for twelve nights to walk the tightrope. Charles Dubois, following in his famous father, Jean Baptiste Dubois's footsteps was "clown to the rope." This character was a buffoon who kept the audience amused while the ropedancer was not in motion. The clown attempted some of the tricks himself and by his utter failure amplified his master's achievement.
Thomas Blanchard, the Pantaloon, had a long career. He was said "to be a magnet at the minors" (Dibdin's Memoirs, p. 136). He did reappear at the Adelphi in the early twenties and was successor to Richard Norman at Covent Garden, but the Times was not overly impressed with him.
Blanchard's Pantaloon is clever, but it wants humour. The real Pantaloons should be a kind of Polonius in Motley. Everybody admits that he deserves to be beaten and cheated, but then one is sorry for him, on account of his gray hairs and the foolishness of his old age as when the other "meddling fool" is stabbed behind the arras. The fault of Mr. Blanchard is that he excites no sympathy. If he is knocked down, or jumped upon, or even killed, you are glad of it (27 December 1828, qtd. in David Mayer, Harlequin in his Element, p. 43).
Mrs. Ridgway was the wife of the Harlequin who appeared with Charles Dibdin at Sadler's Wells. She had sons who later appeared at the Adelphi, and according to Dibdin, they possessed "much merit, and promise to follow the steps of their father who was, in his grade of performing, taking skill and versatility of talent together, unrivalled" (Memoirs, p. 90).
Besides the headliners, there were also those who made a living but not a splash--Miss Vallency (or Valancy) who played a barmaid was still playing small roles fifteen years later. For example, she appeared once as a stand-in at Drury Lane in 1823 dancing Columbine for the frequently ailing Ann Maria Tree in The Golden Axe (James Winston, Drury Lane Journal, p. 63).
Woolf sang the famous "Description of a Storm" by George Alexander Stevens, which became such a familiar favorite at the Adelphi in subsequent years.
The season was successful; a clipping in the Adelphi Scrapbook states, "on Saturday week the corps de ballet of Covent Garden Theatre will close their labours at the Sans Pareil in the Strand. It appears they have made a successful campaign by their efforts to please the public."
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