She began with the school-girlish `Always Do As People Say You Should’ (Irma), switched to csárdás-rhythm for the more tempestuous praises of `Romany Life’ (Musette), waxed Irish, Spanish, Chinese, French and finally indulged in a coon song in the sequence `Serenades of All Nations’ whilst still in the character of the gipsy girl, then shifted back to more conventional waltz-time to finish off her multi-coloured evening.
Joseph Cawthorn joined Herbert at the head of the comedy in the rôle of Musette’s father, Richard Golden played the ballet-master of the company where Irma, before becoming un-long-lost is a dancing girl, whilst Marguerite Sylva, as the actress Pompon, picked up the crumbs of the feminine music and also the heroine’s hussar brother, Fedor (whom Irma, for a while, impersonates to ensure her safety from the Pole).įour of the evening’s eight solo songs (in a 16-piece score) fell to the prima donna. Irma, with a little help from Musette, manages to avoid wedding the unprepossessing Polish pianist Count Berezowski (Joseph W Herbert) in favour of the handsome baritone hussar Ladislas (Frank Rushworth), whilst Musette, once everything is satisfactorily explained, pairs off with her jealous gypsy Sándor (Eugene Cowles). The Fortune Teller of the show’s title was the gipsy maiden Musette (Miss Nielsen), whose amazing resemblance to the wealthy and social but long-lost Irma (also Miss Nielsen) provided what plot there was to the piece, and also enabled the canny manageress to play the two largest rôles in the show. Sheet music cover for “The Fortune Teller.”
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