The Merry Widow, performed with Lily Elsie as Sonia at the Daly's Theatre, London, on 8 June 1907

   Scenes from The Merry Widow, performed with Lily Elsie as Sonia at the Daly's Theatre, London, on 8 June 1907, running for 778 performances.

   In its English adaptation by Basil Hood, with lyrics by Adrian Ross, The Merry Widow became a sensation at Daly's Theatre in London, opening on 8 June 1907, starring Lily Elsie and Joseph Coyne and featuring George Graves as the Baron, Robert Evett as Camille and W. H. Berry as Nisch, with costumes by Lucile and Percy Anderson.

   The Merry Widow is an operetta by the Austro-Hungarian composer Franz Lehár. The librettists, Viktor Léon and Leo Stein, based the story – concerning a rich widow, and her countrymen's attempt to keep her money in the principality by finding her the right husband – on an 1861 comedy play, L'attaché d'ambassade (The Embassy Attaché) by Henri Meilhac.

Joseph Coyne and Lily Elsie in a 1907 production of The Merry Widow by Franz Lehár.

Lily Elsie as Sonia in Act III, wearing an immense crinoline hat, by Lucile (1863-1935). Lucille's costumes for Lily Elsie earned fulsome praises by The Play Pictorial magazine. England, 1907.

Lily Elsie as Sonia in ‘The Merry Widow’ (1907)

Miss Irene Desmond as Sylvaine in "The Merry Widow," at Daly's Theatre. 1907.