Leslie Stuart

Leslie Stuart (aka Thomas Augustine Barrett , aka Lester Thomas ; born March 15, 1864 in Southport ; † March 27, 1928 in Richmond / Surrey ) was an English composer.

Stuart performed as a childhood pianist at the Ship Inn in Manchester. From 1878 to 1885 he was organist at the Roman Catholic St John's Cathedral in Salford, then until 1892 at the Church of the Holy Name in Manchester. He was also a composer of popular songs such as The Bandolero Lily of Laguna , Little Dolly Daydream , Sweetheart May , Is Your Mamie Always with You? and Soldiers of the Queen , some of which were sung by Eugene Stratton . As a concert organizer, he presented Ignacy Paderewski with his first appearances in Great Britain and Fanny Moody .

Stuart gained his first theater experience at the Theater of Manchester, for which he wrote a song and drama music. He composed several songs for Lottie Collins for a performance of Aladdin in Liverpool in 1896 . He wrote other titles for the musicals Lousiana Lou , The Circus Girl , The Ballet Girl and The Yashmak .

In collaboration with the librettist Owen Hall , Stuart's most successful work was created, the operetta Floradora , which Tom B. Davis brought to the Lyric Theater stage in 1899 and which had more than 550 performances in the USA from the following year. Other successful works followed, including The Silver Slipper (1901), The School Girl (1903), The Belle of Mayfair (1906), Havana (1908) and Captain Kidd (based on a libretto by Seymour Hicks , 1910). His success led George Edwardes to bring him to the Gaiety Theater as the successor to the Ivan Caryll / Lionel Monckton duo .

In 1911 Peggy was performed at the Gaiety Theater , and in the same year Stuart wrote his several Broadway musical, The Slim Princess (with Elsie Janis in the title role). In the following years he composed several numbers for the Broadway production The Queen of the Movies , for Mark Blow's tour program Tow (1919) and the production of Jenny (1922) at the Empire Theater . His last works Nina and The Girl from Nysa were not performed. His daughter May Leslie Stuart became known as a singer.

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• The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive - British Musical Theater - The Composers - Leslie Stuart
• Leslie Stuart in the Internet Movie Database (English)