Event Comment: [The playbill announces The Strangers at Home and The Romp, but "The Beggar's Opera, with The Humourist [were substituted], on account of Mrs Jordan's being too much indisposed to appear in the new opera and The Romp" (Public Advertiser, 19 Dec.).] Receipts: #162 3s. (125/9/0; 35/8/6; 1/5/6)

Event Comment: [In mainpiece the playbill retains Mrs Wells, but she "was so ill last night that she could not perform the part of Jane Shore. It was undertaken by Mrs T. Kennedy" (Public Advertiser, 21 Dec.).] Afterpiece [1st time; P 2, by John O'Keeffe]: The Pantomime, and the whole of the Scenery, Machinery, Dresses, &c. designed and invented by Loutherbourg, and executed under his superintendance and direction by Richards, Carver, Hodgins, Catton Jun., Turner, assisted by two other celebrated artists [all subsequent playbills have "a celebrated artist"; he was the Rev. Matthew William Peters (Public Advertiser, 16 Dec.)]. The Music entirely new, composed by Shield. Books containing a short account of the Pantomime, as well as the Recitatives, Airs, Duets, Trios and Chorusses, and a Description of the Procession, to be had at the Theatre. Nothing under Full Price will be taken. [This was the last theatrical piece for which De Loutherbourg designed the scenery. For a detailed account of it see "De Loutherbourg and Captain Cook", by Ralph G. Allen, Theatre Research, IV, 195-211.] Account-Book, 17 Oct.: Paid De Loutherbourg on acct. #120; 20 Dec.: Paid Goodwin for copying Music #10 14s.; 14 Feb. 1786: Paid O'Keeffe in full for Omai #40. Receipts: #309 19s. (302/7; 7/12)

Event Comment: Afterpiece: With a Procession of the Inhabitants of Otaheite, New Zealand, Tanna, Marquesas, the Friendly, Sandwich, and Easter Islands, Tschutzki, Siberia, Kamtschatka, Nootka Sound, Onalashka, Prince William's Sound, and the other Countries visited by Captain Cook, exactly representing their Dresses and Weapons. Receipts: #237 19s. (231/16; 6/3)

Event Comment: By Permission of the Lord Chamberlain. Benefit for a Performer, thirty years a Servant of the Publick at Covent-garden and Haymarket Theatres [unidentified]. Mainpiece: Written by the ingenious Mrs Behn, with Alterations by a Gentleman well known in the Dramatick World and Republick of Letters. The Characters new dressed in the Habits of the Times. [Writers and speakers of Prologue and Epilogue unknown.] Afterpiece: Altered from Sir John Vanbrugh. The Doors to be opened at 5:00. To begin at 6:00

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; C 5, by John Burgoyne, based in part on Le Pere de Famille, by Denis Diderot. Prologue by the Hon. Richard Fitzpatrick; Epilogue by the author (see text)]: With a Variety of new Scenes [by Greenwood (Daily Universal Register, 16 Jan.)], Dresses, and Decorations. Public Advertiser, 4 Feb. 1786: This Day is published The Heiress (1s. 6d.). "It rarely happens that all the characters of a piece are so well sustained" (Morning Chronicle, 16 Jan.). "We never saw a play more admirably performed in all its parts" (Gazetteer, 16 Jan.). "In point of performance the comedy had every advantage" (Morning Herald, 16 Jan.). Receipts: #226 2s. (205/10; 20/7; 0/5)

Event Comment: Benefit for Mrs Abington. Pit and Boxes will be laid together. Ladies and Gentlemen are most earnestly requested to come early, to prevent Inconvenience in getting to their Places, and to send their Servants to keep them by Four o'clock. "At the close of the entertainment Mrs Abington came forward, and delivered a short poetical address to her fashionable auditory [written by Maurice Morgann (Monthly Mirror, Nov. 1797, p. 263)], apposite to her feelings on the present occasion" (Morning Herald, 11 Feb.). "The character [of Scrub] throughout was well conceived, and executed with a sprightliness and degree of humour that kept the house in a continual roar of laughter" (Public Advertiser, 11 Feb.) "Mrs Abington's voice was in its usual tone; her manners and deportment were inattentive and torpid, rather than active and interesting" (Morning Post, 11 Feb.). "With all her endeavours to give new points to the character, she entirely failed. Her appearance en culottes, so preposterously padded, exceeded nature. Her gestures to look comical could not get the least hold of the audience, though they had seen her before in men's clothes, when playing Portia in The Merchant of Venice, where her figure, dressed as a lawyer in his gown, gave effect to her excellent delivery on mercy, and the audience had been always delighted. But this leu de benefice, comparatively speaking, was disgusting and absurd as she dressed the character ... However, I have heard it originated in a bet she had previously made" (Henry Angelo, Reminiscenes, 11, 281-82). Receipts: #406 13s. 6d. (249/9/6; 1/9/0; tickets: 155/15/0) (charge: free)

Event Comment: Tickets to be had and Places [for the boxes] to be taken of Fosbrook, at the Stage Door of the Theatre. Boxes 5s. Pit 3s. 1st Gallery 2s. Upper Gallery 1s. The Doors to be opened at 5:30. To begin at 6:30 [same throughout oratorio season]. Books of the Performance to be had at the Theatre. New Lady's Magazine, Mar 1786, p. 110: performance under the direction of Dr Arnold, who conducted from the organ. I know that my redeemer liveth sung by Miss George; He was despised and rejected by Master Pring; How beautiful are the feet by Mrs Forster

Event Comment: The New Opera, called The Peruvian [announced on playbill of 14 Mar.] is obliged to be deferred on account of Johnstone's Indisposition. [Afterpiece in place of The Country Wife, also announced on same playbill.] Receipts: #173 14s. (171/12; 2/2)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; CO 3, by A Lady [unidentified], based partly on L'Amitie A l'epreuve, by Charles Simon Favart and Claude Henri de Fusee de Voisenon]: The Overture and the new Music composed by Hook. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. Public Advertiser, 30 Mar. 1786: This Day at Noon is published The Peruvian (1s. 6d.). [The music was printed under the title of The Fair Peruvian (S. A. & P. Thompson [1786]), which was the original title as given in the MS (Larpent 727).] Receipts: #246 8s. (242/16/6; 3/11/6)

Event Comment: Benefit for Sga Ferrarese del Bene. A Serious Opera [1st time; SER 2, by Pietro Giovannini]; the Music entirely new by Cherubini. Tickets, 10s. 6d. each, to be had of Sga Ferrarese del Bene, No. 232, Piccadilly

Event Comment: A new Serious Opera [1st time; SER 2, librettist unknown; a pasticcio]; the Music by Tarchi [who wrote Rubinelli's part, and by Anfossi, Cherubini, Piccinni]. "Rubinelli is a musician of the first class . . . His voice and his science, though both pre-eminent, are never forced forward beyond their proper rank, which, in a musician, is the rank of subserviency to the feelings. The musician that is not felt is no musician" (Public Advertiser, 6 May)

Event Comment: Benefit for Hull. Mainpiece: A New Alteration [by Thomas Hull], from Shakespeare and Shadwell. With characteristic Habits, Scenes and Decorations. [Mrs Duill is identified in Lyons, Collectanea.] Public Advertiser, 2 May: Tickets to be had of Hull, Duke's Court, near Dean's-yard, Westminster. Receipts: #80 10s. (77/5; 3/5; tickets: none listed) (charge: #105)

Event Comment: A new Comic Opera [1st time; COM 2], written by Charles Francis Badini, and set to music by Pasquale Anfossi. "The Author has . . . struck out ideas fit to excite the utmost powers of harmony. We do not think that he has been sufficiently seconded by Signor Anfossi. The music evidently labours under a tedious monotony" (General Advertiser, 22 May)

Event Comment: Benefit for Nix, Mrs Hedges & Miss Barnes. [As mainpiece the playbill announces The School for Scandal, but "Smith having an inflammation in his eyes, and Aickin being suddenly laid up with the gout, the play was obliged to be changed [to] The Beggar's Opera" (Morning Herald, 25 May).] Morning Chronicle, 22 May: Tickets to be had of Nix, No. 21, Crown-court, Little Russel-street, Covent Garden; of Mrs Hedges, No. 168, opposite New Bondstreet, Piccadilly; of Miss Barnes, at Cateman's, No. 52, Drury Lane. Receipts: #300 0s. 6d. (60/10/0; 19/13/6; 2/0/0; tickets: 217/17/0) (charge: #108 8s. 1d.)

Event Comment: Benefit for Babbini. A Serious Opera [1st time; ser 3, by Giovanni de Gamerra]; the Music entirely new by Michele Mortellari. Public Advertiser, 23 May: Tickets to be had of Babbini, No. 17, Great Pulteney-street, Goldensquare

Event Comment: Afterpiece: 51st [recte 50th] Time [i.e. in continuation of the reckoning for the previous season]. With a Processionv exactly representing the Dresses, Weapons, and Manners of the Inhabitants of Otaheite, New Zealand, Tanna, Marquesas, the Friendly Islands, Sandwich Islands, and Easter Islands, Tschutzki, Siberia, Kamtschatka, Nootka Sound, Onalashka, Prince William's Sound, and the other Countries visited by Captain Cook. Receipts: #263 15s. 6d. (260.5.0; 3.10.6)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; CO 3, by Leonard Macnally, adapted from the same, by Michel Jean Sedaine. Not in Larpent MS; not published; synopsis of plot in Morning Chronicle, 17 Oct. For text of abridged version see 21 Oct.]: Taken from the celebrated French Opera of that Name. With the original Overture, Airs, Duetts, Trios, Chorusses and Finale, by the celebrated Gretry. To which are added Compositions by the following Masters; Anfossi, Bertoni, Duni, David, Rizzio, Carolan, Tenducci, and Shield. With new Dresses, Scenery and other Decorations. Books of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. [The printed score (Longman & Broderip, c. 1786) indicates that the music was adapted by Shield; it does not refer to Duni, Rizzio or Tenducci, but includes Philip Hayes and John Wilson. After the 1st 4 performances the mainpiece was reduced to an afterpiece of 3 short acts; see 21 Oct.] Account-Book, 28 Nov.: Paid Macnally in full for Coeur de Lion #121 18s. 6d. "Inchbald we thought [was] rather hardly dealt with. His voice happened to fail him in a particular turn of the tune he was singing, and some of the audience were ungenerous enough to disconcert him so far that he made a modest bow and retired [leaving his part unfinished. In consequence of this] a duet that was to have been sung by the King from the battlements of the castle, and Blondel without the walls, on which the turn of the fable hinged, was omitted; a circumstance that could not but materially affect the intrinterest, as it destroyed the connexion of the fable" (Morning Chronicle, 17 Oct.). [The following day Inchbald withdrew from his engagement at cg.] Receipts: #249 12s. 6d. (247.11.6; 2.1.0)

Event Comment: Afterpiece [1st time; MD 3, by John Burgoyne]: From the French of Michel Jean? Sedaine. With new Scenery, Dresses and Decorations. The Music by the celebrated Gretry [adapted by Linley Sen.]; and the Paintings by Greenwood. Books of the Dialogue & also of the Songs to be had at the Theatre. Morning Chronicle, 25 Oct 1786: This Day is published Richard Coeur de Lion (1s. 6d.). Receipts: #226 (191.3; 32.14; 2.3)

Event Comment: Mainpiece [1st time; C 5, by Hannah Cowley, based on The Lucky Chance, by Aphra Behn. Prologue and Epilogue by James Cobb (see text)]: With Variety of new Scenes, Dresses, &c. Morning Chronicle, 28 Dec. 1786: This Day is published A School for Grey-Beards (1s. 6d.). Receipts: #220 8s. (206.14; 13.4; 0.10)

Event Comment: The Public are most respectfully informed, that, in consequence of the sudden and violent Indisposition of Mr Parsons, the second Performance of the New Comedy, called A School for Grey-Beards, is unavoidably postponed. This Evening will be presented [as above] (printed slip attached to Kemble playbill). Receipts: #182 13s. 6d. (141.9.0; 38.7.0; 2.15.0; ticket not come in: 0.2.6)

Event Comment: Mainpiece: With new Songs by the Author [John O'Keeffe], and composed by Shield. Receipts: #182 9s. (179.18.6; 2.10.6)

Event Comment: "A new Tragedy, called Eloisa [and Richard Coeur de Lion, both announced on playbill of 16 Dec. were] to have been represented last night; but on account of the illness of Farren [were] obliged to be deferred, and Fontainbleau, with Hob in the Well were announced [in playbill of this present night], but on account of the sudden indisposition of Edwin...both pieces were obliged to be changed to Henry IV, with Barataria" (Public Advertiser, 19 Dec.). Receipts: #117 0s. 6d. (115.0.0; 2.0.6)

Event Comment: Afterpiece [1st time; P 2, by Miles Peter Andrews. Larpent MS 752, as The Castle of Wonders; not published; synopsis of action in Morning Post, 27 Dec.]: With new Music, Scenes, Machinery, Dresses, and Decorations. A few of the Airs compiled from Purcell, Travers, Sacchini, &c. The Rest of the Music composed by Shield. The Scenery and Machinery designed by Richards and Carver, and executed by them, Hodgins, and many Assistants. To conclude with a Representation of the Inside of a Nabob's Palacev. Books of the Songs [which assign only Colombine ] to be had at the Theatre. Nothing under Full Price will be taken. Account-Book, 6 Mar. 1787: Paid Shield in full for Compositions #100. Receipts: #242 4s. (239.8; 2.16)

Event Comment: The Winter's Tale and the new Farce of The First Floor [both announced on playbill of 8 Jan.] are obliged to be deferred, on Account of the Indisposition of two principal Performers. Paid Parrott, Coal Merchant, #76 6s. 6d. Receipts: #150 9s. (120.10.0; 27.18.0; 1.8.6; tickets not come in: 0.12.6)

Event Comment: A Comic Opera, 2 acts; the music [entirely new, composed by Domenico Cimarosa [with additions by Cherubini and Gazzaniga]. Under the direction of Mazzinghi. Receipts: #58 7s. 6d. [non-subscription]