Event Comment: A Serious Opera in 2 acts [1st time; altered by
Carlo Francesco Badini from
Demetrio, by
Metastasio]; the music by
Gresnick. By
their Majesties' Command no person can be admitted behind the scenes. Pit 10s. 6d. 1st Gallery 5s. 2nd Gallery 3s. The Doors to be opened at 6:30. To begin exactly at 7:30 [see 2 June 1787]. Subscriptions are received at Messrs
Ransom, Morland and Hammersley's, Bankers, No. 57,
Pall-mall, who will deliver the subscription tickets. The Nobility and Gentry, subscribers to the Opera-house, are respectfully intreated to send for them, in order to prevent future mistakes, as nobody can be admitted without producing a ticket. To prevent inconvenience to the Nobility and Gentry in getting to their carriages, they are most respectfully intreated to give positive orders to their servants to set down and take up with their horses' heads towards Pall-mall. The doors in
Market-lane for chairs only. [Synopsis of opera in
Morning Post, 25 Dec.
Mme Perignon and
Goyon were from the
Opera, Paris.] Receipts: #86 11s. 6d. [These receipts, and those on all other nights throughout the opera season, represent the sale of non-subscription tickets. On this night 400 tickets were delivered to
Prendergrass, office-keeper at the
Haymarket pit entrance; of these he sold 84 at 10s. 6d. (i.e. #44 2s.). 100 were delivered to
Reynolds, office-keeper at the
King's Door pit entrance; he sold 6 at 10s. 6d. (i.e. #3 3s.). 300 were delivered to
Butler, office-keeper of the 1st Gallery; he sold 112 at 5s. (i.e. #28). 200 were delivered to
Snelson, office-keeper of the 2nd Gallery; he sold 70 at 3s. (i.e. #10 10s.). "Difference from Gallery to Pit" (i.e. money received from persons who changed their seats from gallery to pit, 16s. 6d.). The delivery of 1,000 non-subscription tickets to be disposed of was almost invariably the case on every night of the season. If a subscriber's box was released for sale it could be had for 2 guineas (see 6 Feb. 1787).
Performances
Dance: End I: Divertissement-Mlle Mozon, Laborie, Henry, Gricourt, Mme Bithmer, Mme Delfevre, Mme Gervais Perignon (1st appearance in England); End Opera: La Chercheuse d'Esprit-Goyon (1st appearance in England), Laborie, Mlle Mozon, Henry, Gricourt, Sala, Mme Delfevre, Mme Bithmer, Giorgi, Mme Gervais Perignon. Scenario (Paris, 1778) lists the parts: Mme Madre, Subtil, Narquois, Nicette, Alain, L'Eveille, Finette