| Collection | Calthrop Boucicault Collection |
| Description | Commissioned by the Earl of Londesborough to produce the most spectacular entertainment ever seen on stage, Boucicault complied with a fairy spectacular for which the costumes and props alone may have cost £17,000. Babil and Bijou, an entertainment in five acts and 18 tableaux, was first performed at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, London, August 29, 1872. Running for six months, usually to packed houses, it was the most expensive failure of Victorian theatre, not nearly recouping the enormous costs of staging it. The Times reviewer of the opening night wrote, "The question whether it is a good play is as irrelevant as the question whether a steamboat is a good windmill. It is a spectacle...".
Material for this play includes programmes, music, correspondence and Calthrop's research notes. There is material for two productions of this play, in 1872 and 1882. |