The New Aladdin

About the show

The New Aladdin is an Edwardian musical comedy in two acts by James T. Tanner and W. H. Risque, with music by Ivan Caryll, Lionel Monckton, and additional numbers by Frank E. Tours, and lyrics by Adrian Ross, Percy Greenbank, W. H. Risque, and George Grossmith, Jr. It was produced by George Edwardes at the Gaiety Theatre, opening on 29 September 1906 and running for 203 performances. The London production starred Grossmith, Harry Grattan (who also choreographed), Lily Elsie, Edmund Payne and Gaby Deslys (making her London debut). Gertie Millar, the established star of the Gaiety soon became available and replaced Elsie in the leading role, but shortly thereafter The Merry Widow made Elsie a big star. The Aladdin story had been dramatised extensively in England before and was very popular in pantomime versions, but this was the first book musical on the subject. P. G. Wodehouse wrote a comic dramatisation of the creation of The New Aladdin called "The Cooks and the Gaiety Broth" as part of Plum Punch: The Life of Writers.