Cups & Saucers

Cups and Saucers is a one-act "satirical musical sketch" written and composed by George Grossmith. It was first produced in 1876 on tour as a vehicle for Grossmith and Florence Marryat, as part of Entre Nous, their series of piano sketches. more...

The piece pokes fun at the china collecting craze of the later Victorian Era.

Cups and Saucers was performed by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company from August 1878 to February 1880 at the Opera Comique as a curtain raiser to H.M.S. Pinafore. It was also toured in 1883 (with Iolanthe) and in 1884 and was revived in 1890 at the Globe Theatre (from 6th to 12th December for 6 performances, as the curtain raiser to Temple's production of Gounod's The Mock Doctor).

The piece runs about 25 minutes.

Roles

• Mrs. Nankeen Worcester, a china maniac
• General Deelah, another

Synopsis

The recently widowed Mrs. Emily Nankeen Worcester and General Edwin Deelah intend to marry each other, feigning love, but each is secretly interested in the other's purportedly valuable collection of "rare" china, which they plan to sell upon marriage.

Mrs. Nankeen Worcester is in her Morning Room anticipating a visit from General Deelah. She recounts how she came to own the single but highly valuable item in her china collection ("A Friend Most Dear"), the sole remaining saucer from Julius Caesar's favorite tea service, appraised at ten thousand pounds.

General Deelah arrives, and, after some shy conversation and gentle flirting, the conversation turns to their china collections. Mrs. Worcester notes that she has but one small saucer and inquires of the General's china collection. Deelah boasts that he has a very large collection of china, but states in an aside, "--in China." He quickly changes the subject by asking, "Would it surprise you to learn that I am related to the Chinese?" He then sings of an extravagantly wealthy Chinese merchant named Foo Choo Chan who wished nothing more than to be English ("Foo Choo Chan Was a Merchant of Japan"). The relationship turned out to be Foo Choo Chan's marriage to the "sister of brother's second aunt, by an uncle on grandmother's side."

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