Darling of the Day

Darling of the Day.

Darling of the Day is a stage musical based on Arnold Bennett's novel Buried Alive and play The Great Adventure.

Cast

• Vincent Price - Priam Farll
• Patricia Routledge - Alice Challice
• Brenda Forbes - Lady Vale
• Teddy Green - Alf
• Peter Woodthorpe - Oxford
• Camila Ashland - Mrs. Leek
• Charles Gerald - The King
• Beth Howland - Rosalind
• Mitchell Jason - Duncan
• Marc Jordan - Bert
• Reid Klein - Sydney
• Michael Lewis - Pennington
• Joy Nichols - Daphne
• Charles Welch - Henry Leek

Plot

In 1905 London, Priam Farll is an artist, brilliant, unconventional and shy, although he can be violently outspoken. He once offended Queen Victoria and was exiled to the South Pacific, but Edward VII has succeeded to the throne, and Farll has been recalled to London to receive a knighthood.

Appalled by "society's" expectations of its "darling of the day" (a common Victorian/Edwardian term meaning something like "fashionable celebrity") Farll seizes the chance to "get out of the world alive" when his faithful butler Henry Leek suddenly dies, and their identities are confused by an official. Instead of correcting the error, Farll quietly assumes the identity of the deceased, and Leek's corpse is officially buried in Westminster Abbey as the famous artist.

He soon finds himself married to Alice Challice, a bright, well-to-do widow who had been corresponding with the real Henry Leek - and settles down to a happy "upper working class" existence. Farll continues to paint, and when his wife runs into financial difficulties he sells a few paintings. Complications naturally ensue, and his "cover" becomes increasingly flimsy. Just as it looks as if he will be compelled to resume his real identity, a piece of truly Gilbertian nonsense brings all to a satisfactory conclusion, and he is allowed to stay plain Henry Leek after all.

Musical numbers

Act I

• "He's A Genius" - Oxford, Farll and Leek
• "To Get Out Of This World Alive" - Farll
• "It's Enough To Make A Lady Fall In Love" - Alice, Alf, Bert, Farll and Duncan
• "A Gentleman's Gentleman" - Alice
• "Let's See What Happens" - Alice
• "Panache" - Oxford and Lady Vale
• "I've Got A Rainbow Working For Me" - Farl
• "Money, Money, Money" - Alf, Bert and Sydney
• "That Something Extra Special" - Alice

Act II

• "What Makes a Marriage Merry" - Alice, Farl, Alf, Bert, Daphne, Rosalind
• "He's A Genius" (Reprise) - Oxford and Assistants
• "Not On Your Nellie" - Alice, Alf and Bert
• "Sunset Tree" - Farll and Alice
• "Butler In The Abbey" - Farll
• "Not On Your Nellie" (Reprise) - Company