Uncle Samuel is a one-act comic opera with a libretto by Arthur Law and music by George Grossmith.
The fashion in the late Victorian era was to present long evenings in the theatre, and so producer Richard D'Oyly Carte preceded his Savoy operas with curtain raisers such as Uncle Samuel.
[1] W. J. MacQueen-Pope commented, concerning such curtain raisers: Jack is Samuel Crow's nephew, whom he threw out of his house many years ago, and who (unbeknown to his uncle) has been brought up by the latter's friend Mr. Daw.
Jack turns up incognito at his uncle's house on the Thames to hatch a plot to gain Crow's consent to the marriage.
Eventually, in a rage at Jenny's determination to marry this unknown man, Crow decides to leave all his money not to her, but to his nephew, Jack, whom he thinks he has not seen for many years.