Shakespeare Ladies Club gained influence over Drury Lane their popularity and success began to be recognized in prologues to performances of new plays and new adaptations of Shakespeare's plays. For the premiere of "The Universal Passion", an adaptation of "Much Ado About Nothing" by James Miller, the prologue included an “ecstatic eulogy of the Shakespeare Ladies Club”: Has slumb’ring lain near half a Cent’ry past, But now what Joy! to find the Night is o’er! To see the Lamp of Science shine once more; To see the Reign of Farce and Dulness end, And Albion’s noble Fair to Shakespear’s Sense attend. Fond to
Much Ado talents I have found is his ability to write music in the style befitting the age his work is set, as MUCH ADO so admirably demonstrates. Paul McGann's singing voice adds style. and panache to his solo numbers (If I Could Write A Sonnet and The Strange Affliction Called Love) as well as a pleasing accompaniment to the redoubtable Claire Moore In Disdain" and Then Kill For Me. Of course, as always Claire Moore gives a breathtaking performance with (among others) I'll Never Marry and How Can This Be, but then that lady can do no wrong in my book.