Tom and Jerry, or Life in London

[2] The first stage adaptation was produced at Astley's Theatre in September 1821, arranged by W. Barrymore, as Life in London, or Day and Night Scenes of Tom and Jerry in their Rambles and Sprees through the Metropolis.

[2] The Morning Post judged it favourably: "It is replete with wit and bustle; and while it abounds with laughable incident, it affords an excellent moral, by exhibiting the ill effects of dissipation and bad company [and] drunkenness, quarrelling and duelling.

"[4] The most successful version was written by W. T. Moncrieff, and produced under the title Tom and Jerry, or Life in London, at the Adelphi Theatre on 26 November 1821, described as a Burletta in three acts.

The Cruikshank brothers designed the costumes and scenery; Benjamin Wrench and Watkins Burroughs starred in the title roles, with the comedian Robert Keeley in a supporting part.

[1] Moncrieff wrote in his introduction to the published text of the play that some puritanical religious figures denounced Tom and Jerry from the pulpit, and the less liberal elements of the press complained of its immorality.

According to the Oxford Companion to American Theatre, the play's combination of a tour of London interspersed with song and dance, gave rise to numerous similar, loosely constructed entertainments, and "planted the seeds for later musical comedy and revue".