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"The Black Crook", the first full-fledged Broadway musical delayed!
"The Black Crook", the first full-fledged Broadway musical delayed!
Item # 711436
September 13, 1866
THE NEW YORK TIMES, Sept. 11, 1866
* "The Black Crook" - opening premiere delayed (2-days)
* Considered the first full-fledged Broadway musical
* Niblo's Garden, New York City
Page 7 has an advertisement of Niblo's Garden noting that although originally scheduled to open on September 10th it would now open on the 12th. The text states in part: "Mr. Wheatley respectfully announces that, owing to the vast amount of labor require for production of THE BLACK CROOK, and in order to give the public a more perfect representation of this establishment WILL NOT OPEN until Wednesday, Sept. 12, 1866...", followed by details of how the rescheduling of tickets purchased for the first few days would be handled.
A terrific and very historic newspaper relating to the first theatrical musical, "The Black Crook". As Wikipedia notes: "Its significance is being considered the first piece of musical theater that conforms to the modern notion of a "book musical". The book is by Charles M. Barras, an American playwright. The music is mostly adaptations, but some new songs were composed for the piece. It opened on September 12, 1866, at Niblo's Garden on Broadway, New York City and ran for a record-breaking 474 performances. This production gave America claim to having originated the musical. The Black Crook is considered a prototype of the modern musical in that its popular songs and dances are interspersed throughout a unifying play and performed by the actors."
Its development is curious and partially accidental, for in May of 1866 a fire at the Academy of Music left a French ballet troupe without a place to perform. The company, its scenery, and its elaborate stage effects were hastily added to a production of "The Black Crook" at Niblo's Garden. The resulting bizarre combination of Faustian drama and tutu-and-tights dance routines became a major hit and is widely considered to be the first full-fledged Broadway musical.
An ad for P.T. Barnum's "New American Museum" is located on the same page, with additional ads and news of the day found throughout. A few single column headings include: "The Indians", "The Robbery of the Adam's Express Company", "Equal Rights in the South", "The Policy of the Radicals - Proclamation of Thadeus Stevens" (regarding the rights of Southern States and negroes), and more.
Complete in eight pages. The 2nd leaf (pgs. 3 & 4) has a small stain, but otherwise the newspaper is in very nice condition.
Category: Post-Civil War
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