Morocco Bound is a farcical English Edwardian musical comedy in two acts by , with music by F. Osmond Carr and lyrics by Adrian Ross. It opened at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London, on 13 April 1893, under the management of Fred J. Harris, and transferred to the Trafalgar Square Theatre on 8 January 1894, running for a total of 295 performances. A young George Grossmith, Jr. was in the cast (where he made the most of the small role of Sir Percy Pimpleton by adding ad-libs), as was Letty Lind. Harry Grattan and Richard Temple later joined the cast.
This musical opened in the same year as Gilbert and Sullivan's Utopia, Limited and shared a number of features with that opera, including a distant, exotic locale, and both presented British archetypes as exemplars.[1]Morocco Bound crystallized the music-hall influenced "variety musical" form and was more representative than Utopia of the prevailing taste of London theatre audiences, which was turning away from comic opera.
An Irish adventurer enlists the help of a retired costermonger and an assortment of British characters to travel to Morocco, where the Irishman had hopes of winning the right to sell theatre concessions. Once there, he fools the local Vizier into believing that his companions are representatives of "the flower of the British music hall" and eventually secures his business venture.
Musical numbers[]
Act I - Mokeleigh Hall, an English stately home
No. 1 - Opening Chorus - "England is diversified by eligible mansions..."
No. 2 - Song - Musket - "I've serv'd the boards of 'aughty lords..." (three verses)
No. 3 - Duet - Maude & Lady Walkover - "The latest social appetite, of course, you know..."
No. 4 - Song - Ethel - "When maidens fair in days of old..."
No. 5 - Song - Spoofah - "If I had cash to cut a dash, I'd run as straight as any..."
No. 6 - Duet - Comtesse & Spoofah - "In pastoral seclusion how happily we'll fare..."
No. 7 - Chorus - "Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah, hurrah for the Squire..."
No. 8 - Song - Squire ("Honesty Jim") - "I never 'ad friends for to foster, or give me a show at a stall..."
