Foggerty's Fairy, subtitled "An Entirely Original Fairy Farce", is a three-act farce by W.S. Gilbert based loosely on Gilbert's short story, "The Story of a Twelfth Cake", which was published in the Christmas Number of The Graphic in 1874, and elements of other Gilbert plays. The story concerns a man who, with the help of a fairy, changes a small event in his past to try to save his engagement to the girl he loves. This leads to profound changes in his present, and he finds that matters are even worse than before.
Foggerty's Fairy opened at the Criterion Theatre in London on 15 December 1881. Charles Wyndham, the manager of the Criterion, starred as the lead character, Frederick Foggerty. Despite Wyndham's star power, interest in the play's bold and original premise and reviews that were at least partly positive, the play was not a success. It closed on 6 January 1882 after about 25 performances. Disappointed, Gilbert turned back to writing comic operas with Arthur Sullivan.
Background
Genesis
By the time Foggerty's Fairy premiered, Gilbert and Sullivan had already written half a dozen comic opera hits. Since 1877, however, Gilbert had not written a successful play apart from Sullivan. Gilbert wrote Foggerty's Fairy for British actor Edward Sothern, who had commissioned two earlier plays from Gilbert, Dan'l Druce, Blacksmith and The Ne'er-do-weel. Sothern had not been satisfied with The Ne'er-do-weel, despite various rewrites, and he refused the piece. He had already paid Gilbert for the play, and Gilbert was unable immediately to pay him back. After various discussions between Gilbert and Sothern, Gilbert agreed to let Sothern play his recent comedy success, Engaged, in America and promised to write a new play for him.
In the autumn of 1879, Sothern was on one of his lengthy American tours. He intended to open the new Gilbert play at the Park Theatre in New York in the spring of 1880. The Era wrote in October 1979 that "It is proposed, during Mr Sothern's [American] engagement, to bring out revivals of The Crushed Tragedian, Dundreary, and David Garrick, the new comedy by Mr Gilbert being reserved for the spring engagement." At the same time, Gilbert was also busy rehearsing his American productions of H.M.S. Pinafore, the world premiere of The Pirates of Penzance and touring companies to play these and The Sorcerer, as well as British revivals of two of his plays.
On 29 February 1880 The Era reported: "Mr Sothern says that, although his new comedy, by Mr Gilbert, has cost him 3,000 guineas, he would not take 6,000 guineas for it now. It is a piece of the wildest absurdity ever perpetrated, and all the parts are immense." Obviously by that date Sothern had received an early version of the play and was enthusiastic about it. The same issue of The Era states that definite plans had been made for Sothern to appear at the Gaiety Theatre, London in Foggerty's Fairy, as the new play was now called, in October 1880, after the end of his American tour. Sothern did not produce the play in the spring, and scholar Andrew Crowther speculates that Gilbert was late in completing it. In addition, Sothern had been ill for much of the time since the autumn, although he fulfilled his performing commitments.
Sothern came to England for a six-week holiday in June 1880, still planning to produce Foggerty's Fairy in New York. After one illness and a short European tour, Sothern fell seriously ill in the autumn. His health declined until he died in January 1881 never having performed the play but leaving behind a heavily annotated copy. Sothern's sister, Mary Cowan, was the beneficiary of Sothern's will. Sothern's widow contested the will, and it took Cowan until 31 May to probate it. Gilbert contacted Cowan soon after Sothern's death and offered her his help. He suggested that she "underlet" Foggerty's Fairy to him for £525 and half of whatever he received for it until she had been paid 1,500 guineas. The play was first offered to comic actor J. L. Toole, but the deal fell through, and Gilbert next offered the play to actor Charles Wyndham, who was then manager of the Criterion Theatre. After Gilbert had settled these financial dealings with Mrs. Cowan, she wrote to him: "Allow me to say that of all the people with whom I have had any dealings in reference to money since my Brother's death, you have treated me with the greatest kindness & fairness & I feel grateful to you for sparing me any trouble or anxiety."