Miss Hook of Holland

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Miss Hook of Holland is a musical comedy (described as a "Dutch Musical Incident") in two acts, with music and lyrics by Paul Rubens and book by Austen Hurgon and Rubens. It opened at the Prince of Wales Theatre, London, on 31 January 1907, and had a successful run of 462 performances.

Dramatis Personæ

MR. HOOK (a Widower, a Wealthy Liqueur Distiller)

Mr. G. P. Huntley

CAPTAIN ADRIAN PAAP
LIEUTENANT DE COOP
BANDMASTER VAN VUYT

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(of the Mounted Artillery,
quartered at Arndyk)

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Mr. Herbert Clayton
Mr. B. S. Foster
Mr. F. Pope Stamper

LUDWIG SCHNAPPS (Foreman of Distillery, in love with Mina)	Mr. Harry Grattan
AN OLD POLICEMAN	Mr. Morris Harvey
HANS MAAS (a Cheese Merchant at Arndyk)	Mr. J. B. Fraser
HENDRICK DRAEK (a Villager at Arndyk)	Mr. Ralph Holland
VAN ECK (a very ordinary Dutchman)	Mr. A. E. E. Edwards
SIMON SLINKS (a Loafer by the Canal at Arndyk)	Mr. George Barrett
MISS VOOS (really Mrs. Voos, a widow, but posing as a spinster)	Miss Phoebe Mercer

FREDA VOOS
CLARA VOOS

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(Daughters of Mrs. Voos, but sent to
an Orphan School at Amsterdam)

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Miss Gwendoline Brogden
Miss Gladys Ivory

GRETCHEN (Manageress at the Distillery)	Miss Eva Kelly
AN OLD MARKET WOMAN	Miss Alice Coleman
THEKLA (Market Girl)	Miss Maisie Stather
MINA (Maid to the Hooks)	Miss Gracie Leigh
SALLY (Miss Hook of Holland)	Miss Isabel Jay

Musical Numbers

ACT I - The Cheese Market at Arndyk, on the Borders of the Zuyder Zee.

No. 1 - Opening Chorus - "To market, to market, the whole world is going..."
No. 2 - Song - Schnapps & Chorus - "Mister Hook started quite low down in life, in a tiny distillery with a fat lumpy wife..."
No. 3 - Knitting Sextet - Orphans & Girls - "We are little orphans, you can tell us at a glance..."
No. 4 - Slinks & Chorus of Men - "We're a lot of lazy loafers, Oh! we recognise it's true..."
No. 5 - Song - Sally - "A little paper toy at best, a thing as frail as any flower..."
No. 6 - Cheese Chorus - "We've purchased our meat for dinner, bought the best of all we can find..."
No. 7 - Song - Paap & Chorus - "Our enemies may choose to scorn the land that we control..."
No. 8 - Duet - Van Vuyt & Sally, with Chorus - "When the sun is aglow in the west, 'tis the hour of the lover..."
No. 9 - Song - Mina & Chorus - "There lived a young Dutchman of whom you have heard..."
No. 10 - Trio - Schnapps, Slinks & Hook, with Chorus - "Ev'ry Dutchman when he wakes, a little piece of cheese he takes..."
No. 11 - Song - Van Vuyt & Chorus - "Is there any other man so envied in the land..."
No. 12 - Finale Act I - "Is it insubordination? What is all this noise about? Somebody is in disgrace..."

ACT II - The Interior of the Liqueur Distillery, Amsterdam.

No. 13 - Opening Chorus - "Any time you're passing, if there should be anything that you require..."
No. 14 - Unaccompanied Madrigal - "Life inside a Dutch distillery doesn't leave much time for play..."
No. 15 - Song - Freda - "In an old Dutch town once a bold young man loved a maid with a burning passion..."
No. 16 - Song - Sally & Girls - "Little Miss Wooden Shoes, ev'ryone knows, had dear little feet and divine little toes..."
No. 17 - Song - Mina - "I've been spoilt such a lot. It's my fault? No, it's not! It's the men won't leave me alone! ..."
No. 18 - Duet - Sally & Van Vuyt - "Love is a carnival, and one that's free to all of us..."
No. 19 - Concerted Number - "Mister Hook had arranged his house entirely on a novel plan..."
No. 20 - Dance
No. 21 - Song - Van Vuyt & Chorus of Girls - "Had you and I met in those far distant days that are past..."
No. 22 - Duet - Mina & Schnapps - "In a little coat of straw stood a bottle of Schnapps..."
No. 23 - Song - Schnapps & Chorus - "An Englishman, some years ago, had a scheme that dumb-founded the earth..."
No. 24 - Song - Sally - "To ev'ry sun-clad nation belongs that country's good wine..."
No. 25 - Finale Act II - "With his tra! lal, la, la, la..."

Addenda.

No. 26 - Song - Sally - "English girls when they make love simple language are above..."
No. 27 - Song - Mina - "I've never been inside a big town before..."
No. 28 - Song - Van Vuyt - "Before he became a Conductor of a beautiful band of brass..."
No. 29 - Song - Slinks - "I wonder who on earth the fool could have been who first invented work? ..."

MIDI Files

Photographs of early productions.

External Links: Miss Hook of Holland at Wikipedia; Miss Hook of Holland at The Guide to Musical Theatre

British Musical Theatre | Musicals

Page modified 24 January 2017