2-913-518 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Lyceum - Scene from "King Charming; or, The Blue Bird of Paradise", 1850. London stage production of James Planché's play. 'Madame Vestris enacts King Charming with right regal grace: her dress was evidently taken from the state costume of the Nepaulese Ambassador. Mr. Frank Matthews and his wife, as King Henpeckt and his spouse, were admirably comic; and Miss St. George was very fascinating as the heroine. It is impossible to bestow too much praise upon the scenery, painted by Mr. Beverly and Mr. Meadows...The plot of the piece hinges chiefly upon the resolve of a queenly step-mother to marry her own rather than her step-daughter to King Charming, who is accordingly tricked into eloping with the "wrong lady"; and when, on discovering his blunder, he refuses to wed the lady, is transformed by her fairy god-mother into a bird of paradise...'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.