Trilby (play)

In the play, a young Irish woman, Trilby O'Ferrall, falls under the control of Svengali, who uses hypnosis to make her abandon her fiancé and become a singer.

The play debuted in Boston, Massachusetts in March 1895, where the role of Svengali was created by American actor Wilton Lackaye at the Park Theatre.

[1] It was a success in England as directed, produced by and starring Herbert Beerbohm Tree as Svengali, with Dorothea Baird in the title role, opening at the Haymarket Theatre in October 1895.

While touring the United States in the Spring of 1895 Tree heard of the success of an adaptation of du Maurier's novel by Paul M. Potter being performed by the company of theatrical manager Albert Marshall Palmer at the Boston Museum.

[5] For the lead role of Trilby O'Ferrall he chose the 20-year-old Dorothea Baird, who had made her London debut in 1894 as Hippolyta in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

It became so popular that it was travestied, including as A Model Trilby; or, A Day or Two After Du Maurier (1895) by Charles H. E. Brookfield and William Yardley, with music by Meyer Lutz, at the Opera Comique, produced by the retired Nellie Farren.

'Taffy' Wynne and Sandy McAlister are attracted by the young Irish model Trilby O'Ferrall, but 'Little Billee' Bagot wants to marry her, even though he is upset by her posing nude.

As soon as she sees the portrait Trilby falls into a trance, sings a few notes of her favourite ballad and collapses and dies in the arms of Little Billee.