The story centres on Lord Fancourt Babberley, an undergraduate whose friends Jack and Charley persuade him to impersonate the latter's aunt.

Jack Chesney and Charley Wykeham are undergraduates at Oxford University in love with, respectively, Kitty Verdun and Amy Spettigue.

Charley receives word that his aunt, Donna Lucia d'Alvadorez, a rich widow from Brazil whom he has never met, is coming to visit him.

They seek out another Oxford undergraduate, Lord Fancourt Babberley (known as "Babbs"), to distract Donna Lucia while they romance their girls.

Babbs tells the boys about his own love, the daughter of an English officer called Delahay, whom he met in Monte Carlo, although he does not remember her name.

Jack soon receives an unexpected visit from his father, Sir Francis Chesney, a retired colonel who served in India.

Sir Francis reveals that he has inherited debts that have wiped out the family's fortunes; instead of going into politics as he had intended, Jack will have to accept a position in Bengal.

Horrified, Jack suggests that Sir Francis should marry Donna Lucia, a widow and a millionaire, in order to clear the family debts.

Meanwhile, the real Donna Lucia, who turns out to be an attractive woman of middle age, arrives with her adopted niece, Miss Ela Delahay, an orphan.

Donna Lucia recounts the story of a colonel named Frank who she once met more than twenty years ago, of whom she was similarly fond.

Sir Francis and Donna Lucia are engaged (he made the proposal before he realized her identity); the young couples can marry; and Babbs confesses his feelings to Ela.

[5] The original and Derby casts were as follows: After a further provincial tour, Penley secured the Royalty Theatre in London, which had suddenly fallen vacant, and opened the play there on 21 December 1892.

[10] It had a major success on Broadway, opening on 2 October 1893 at the Standard Theatre, starring Etienne Girardot, where it ran for another historic long run of four years.

Penley had, on this pretext, secretly negotiated a deal with the American producer, Charles Frohman, which gave Thomas only one third of the royalties.

"[19] Despite this rift, Penley continued to play Fancourt Babberley in frequent West End productions until he retired from acting in 1901.

[34] Performers who played the juvenile roles early in their careers include Noël Coward,[35] John Gielgud,[36] Rex Harrison,[37] Betty Marsden,[30] Ralph Michael[30] and Gerald Harper.

In 1934 a German version Charley's Aunt was released; directed by Robert A. Stemmle it starred Fritz Rasp, Paul Kemp and Max Gülstorff.

Arthur Askey took the leading role in a 1940 British film Charley's (Big-Hearted) Aunt that developed themes from the original play.

A 1959 Danish film version starred Dirch Passer in the principal role and featured Ove Sprogøe, Ghita Nørby and Susse Wold.

In the film, Passer sings the song "Det er svært at være en kvinde nu til dags" (English: "It is hard to be a woman nowadays").

[citation needed] In Spain, there is a 1981 film version starring Paco Martínez Soria, titled La Tía de Carlos.

[42] The earliest operatic adaptation of the play is the 1897 zarzuela La viejecita by Manuel Fernández Caballero, which is still performed in Spain.

The musical was made into a 1952 film (with Bolger repeating his stage role)[45] and had a successful run in London beginning in 1958 at the Palace Theatre.

[46] In 1957, CBS television in the US aired a live production as part of the Playhouse 90 series, starring Art Carney as Babbs, and Orson Bean as Charley and Jeanette MacDonald as the real Donna Lucia.

[47] Richard Briers played Babbs in a 1965 version,[48] and a 1969 production starred Danny La Rue, Coral Browne and Ronnie Barker.

[50] A Chinese version, Li Cha's Aunt, first adapted as a musical play in 2015; it was performed over 500 times and revived.