All Change 'Wolverton Refreshment Room' music and lyrics (Act 1 - Sc.14).
Extract of music and lyrics for ‘Wolverton Refreshment Room’ from Scene 14.
Jeremy Cunningham wrote the words and music of ‘Wolverton Refreshment Room’ taking the main elements from a Punch report, which was quoted at some length in a history of Wolverton. The first part of the tune was adapted from a folk song called ‘Sixteen Marrow Bones’. He has the original manuscripts relating to this, but as with all the others, he did not write any of the music down in notation.
‘There was one way in which the song was changed by the director or music director… and that was the substitution of the word ‘fair’ for ‘very’ in the phrase- ‘seven very young ladies’. They obviously thought it would be easier to sing, (especially for a chorus) but actually it rather spoils the bouncy rhythm. Interestingly enough, the notation version has the original wording. I am credited for this song in the 1985 programme, but not specifically in the original programme’.
‘A vivid contemporary account of the refreshment room in Srokers and Pokers’ by Sir Francis Bond Head provided … ample material for the song … The … [use] … of the 1845 Punch with its description of Punch’s attempt to drink hot soup before his train departed … set the action and from then … choreography and cominc invention fell into place …’
Creator
Stantonbury Campus Drama Group, Jeremy Cunningham.
Extent
1 typed page
Reference number
ALC/028/009
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