Babil and Bijou

Ocean bottom-feeders, earth-dwelling gnomes, a populace of vegetables, and a group of rebellious apes populate Dion Boucicault’s sprawling nineteenth-century drama, “Babil and Bijou.” The work, commissioned by the thirty-eight-year-old Earl of Londesborough, was intended to be the greatest spectacle ever seen on stage. Boucicault did not disappoint and, when the eighteen-tableaux extravaganza debuted at Covent Garden in August 1872, it was filled with dancers, Amazonian warriors, and abundant, costumed sea life, and ran a total of five hours.

Although lacking in plot and short on dialogue, “Babil and Bijou” was proclaimed by one critic “the most magnificent display ever seen on the boards of a London Theatre.” The play was extremely successful in terms of its critics and audience, running for six months; however, it cost Lord Londesborough a small fortune of £11,000 and was the largest financial failure of the century to that point. Boucicault, perhaps aware that his massive spectacle was hemorrhaging money for his patron, returned to the United States in September 1872, soon after the drama premiered. He had been away from America for twelve years.

The play script digitized here does not include any marginalia penned by Boucicault, but it does offer an entertaining journey through the eighteen tableaux, highlighting all the marvelous characters, songs, scenery, and dialogue that made “Babil and Bijou” an artistic, if not financial, success.