This run, the second longest of any musical up to that time, would be beaten three years later by Edwardes' San Toy, which was written by Jones, Greenbank and Monckton.

The cast included Marie Tempest in the role of O Mimosa San and Letty Lind as the dancing soubrette Molly Seamore.

Hall had taken some of the sauciness out of his style, since An Artist's Model, and evolved a combination of sprightly, up-to-date comedy and old-fashioned romance, into which he would insert parodies when the opportunity arose.

The Gaiety Girls were, as The Sketch noted in its 1896 review of The Geisha, "clothed in accordance with the very latest and most extreme modes of the moment, and the result is a piquantly striking contrast, as you may imagine.

The Geisha was also an immediate success abroad, with an 1896–97 production in New York at Daly's Theatre (starring Dorothy Morton, replaced by Nancy McIntosh in November).

[6] It has been "ranked as the first internationally successful British musical," helping to introduce the previously obscure term "Geisha" into many languages as a symbol of Japanese culture.

Two years later, Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was present at its premiere in the Russian resort town of Yalta and mentions the show as a backdrop to the climactic scene in one of his best-known stories, "The Lady with the Dog" (1899).

There he meets the geisha O Mimosa San, with whom he builds a friendship, but she is in love with Katana, a soldier, so she discourages him with her tale of 'The Amorous Goldfish'.

The local overlord Marquis Imari, who also fancies Mimosa, is annoyed that his intended bride is consorting with the newly-arrived British sailors, and he orders that the teahouse be closed and the girls be sold off.

In the chrysanthemum gardens of the Imari palace, Molly, still disguised as Roli Poli, awaits her impending marriage to the Marquis, who has become much attracted to her.

The wedding ceremony starts, and the plan is put into effect: Juliette is exchanged with Molly, and the Marquis unwittingly marries the wrong bride.

[1] Some of these are listed in contemporary vocal scores as "Supplementary songs":[15] The first complete recording of the musical was made in London in 1998 by Hyperion, with the New London Light Opera and Orchestra, conducted by Ronald Corp, with Lillian Watson as O Mimosa San, Sarah Walker as Molly, Richard Suart as Wun-Hi and Christopher Maltman as Fairfax.