"Finale of Act I" (Original Broadway Cast)

FLORODORA The Story of Florodora             Home | Music | Main | Tell Me,Pretty Maiden

SYNOPSIS

Prepared by Ellwood Annaheim

Dolores is the daughter of the previous owner of Florodora. But, although she is now forced to work for Gilfain, she is ever optimistic (THE SILVER STAR OF LOVE). Frank Abercoed, who is really Lord Abercoed and traveling incognito, has arrived on the island to act as Gilfain's manager. He meets, and is immediately smitten with, Dolores (SOMEBODY).

A ship has docked at the Florodora harbor. There are 26 principal characters in “Florodora,” not including the chorus, and most of them are aboard this ship. First we meet Leandro, overseer of farms on the island, and Valleda, head of one of the Florodorean farms. Next we are introduced to Lady Holyrood, a lady of title and little else. Penniless, she has come to Florodora at Gilfain's suggestion, to find a husband--specifically, our hero Frank. She is accompanied by Gilfain's daughter Angela who is betrothed to Captain Arthur Donegal of the 4th Royal Life Guards, the brother of Lady Holyrood. Also aboard the ship is Anthony Tweedlepunch, a detective who is searching for the girl who rightfully owns the perfume business. He comes to the island disguised as a traveling showman, phrenologist, hypnotist, and palmist. And finally, we are introduced to the villain, Cyrus W. Gilfain, as the entire company joins voices to welcome him (CHORUS OF WELCOME).

Angela has invited six of her dearest friends to accompany her: Miss Daisy Chain, Miss Mamie Rowe, Miss Lucy Ling, Miss Cynthia Belmont, Miss Lotie Chalmers, and Miss Clare Fitzclarence (the famous Florodora Girls). Gilfain's clerks are beside themselves to meet such cultured beauties, and they agree to show the girls around their island (COME AND SEE OUR ISLAND).

In three separate scenes, we are given a closer look at our leading characters: Lady Holyrood has also created quite a stir around the island. Privately, she invites us to experience the effect she had on the populous of London (WHEN I LEAVE TOWN); Dolores, hopelessly in love with Frank, sings to the famed Florodora flower (HE LOVES, HE LOVES ME NOT); and Angela and Captain Arthur Donegal, very much in love, have a very proper discourse on the subject (GALLOPING).

Gilfain discovers that Frank and Dolores have fallen in love. In an effort to thwart Dolores' rightful claim to the Florodora fortune, Gilfain plans to marry her himself. He hires Tweedlepunch, who he thinks is an actor, to break up the love affair between Dolores and Frank, thereby making Frank available to marry Lady Holyrood. Here, the trio, Gilfain, Tweedlepunch, and Lady Holyrood, discuss her marital possibilities (I WANT TO MARRY A MAN, I DO).

In this next song, which is very reminiscent of Victor Herbert, Angela tells us the tale of a young girl who knew what she wanted in a husband, and how her perseverance paid off (THE FELLOW WHO MIGHT)

Tweedlepunch, who you will remember is a detective in disguise pursuing the girl who really owns the Florodora business, explains the precise science of phrenology to Gilfain, Valleda, and Leandro. (Phrenology is the study of the bumps on your head and how they relate to certain personality traits.) The four characters discuss the possibility of finding a mate through the use of phrenology (PHRENOLOGY).

By presenting Tweedlepunch as a highly respected phrenologist, Gilfain plots to marry off his clerks to the heads of the Florodora farms (all young island girls), thereby attaining even more control of the island. For his part, Tweedlepunch must examine everyone's cranial bumps of love and pronounce the proper marriage couples. But, he is later chastised by Lady Holyrood, Angela, and Captain Donegal for interfering with the love affairs of the island (WHEN AN INTERFERING PERSON)

Tweedlepunch has succeeded in braking up the relationships between the English Girls and Gilfain's clerks, and the young island girls and their boyfriends. Frank has refused to marry Lady Holyrood, and Gilfain discharges him. Gilfain, based on the fraudulent pronouncements of Tweedlepunch, has decreed that the clerks will wed the island girls or be discharged. Needless to say everyone is upset. Frank must now return to England, and in one of the scores most beautiful melodies, he tells Dolores he must go but will return for her if she waits patiently (THE SHADE OF THE PALM). The entire cast meets at the dock to see off Frank (FINALE ACT I).

The second act of Florodora is set at Abercoed Castle, Frank's ancestral home in Wales. Six months have past, and somehow, during intermission, Gilfain has managed to become the castle's new owner. Also, all 26 characters and the chorus have made the journey with him (OPENING CHORUS).

(Act Two contains the bulk of the interpolated material and, therefore, has fewer character songs than Act One. Most of the following material serves the performer more than the plot.)

Privately, Lady Holyrood discloses to us how to survive in society without money (TACT); Gilfain shares his philosophy on living a rich life (THE MILLIONAIRE); the clerks, having been discharged by Gilfain rather than be forced into marriage with the island girls, finally meet up with their fair English Girls (TELL ME, PRETTY MAIDEN); and Angela sings a charming song for no apparent reason (WILLIE WAS A GAY BOY).

Tweedlepunch, who has finally realized that Dolores is the rightful heir to the Florodora fortune, has told her that her father was his only friend, and that he will help her retrieve her family business. They break into the Abercoed castle but are surprised by a chorus of lords and ladies who demand to know who they are. In desperation they try to convince everyone that they are the evening’s entertainment (WHEN WE ARE ON THE STAGE).

Lady Holyrood, with no perspective husbands in sight, decides that Gilfain will become her next husband (I'VE AN INKLING). Frank, who has been refused entrance to the castle by Gilfain, defies orders and maneuvers his way inside the courtyard. There he sees Dolores for the first time since he left the island. Heartbroken that he never returned as he said he would, she sings to him a story about a similar romance gone wrong (QUEEN OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS). Back inside the castle, Captain Arthur Donegal,entertains the invited lords and ladies (I WANT TO BE A MILITARY MAN), and Valleda and Leandro, pretending to be servants, enlighten us to what makes them better than the aristocracy they serve (WE GET UP AT 8 A.M.).

Frank tells Dolores that he is really Lord Abercoed and was unable to return to her in Florodora because he was trying to keep Gilfain from acquiring his ancestral home. Tweedlepunch finally confronts Gilfain and spins a wild ghost yarn that terrifies Gilfain into admitting that he has stolen the perfume business. Gilfain returns the properties he has taken from Dolores and Frank, and the final curtain comes down on a triple happy ending. Frank marries Dolores; Gilfain marries Lady Holyrood; and Gilfain's daughter, Angela, marries Captain Donegal of the Life Guards (THE ISLAND OF LOVE).