The Black Crook

Infobox Musical
name= The Black Crook


caption= Finale of "The Black Crook"
music= Thomas Baker
Giuseppe Operti
George Bickwell
lyrics= Theodore Kennick
book= Charles M. Barras
basis=
productions= 1866 Broadway
1870 Broadway revival
1872 Broadway revival
awards=

"The Black Crook" is considered to be the first piece of musical theatre that conforms to the modern notion of a "book musical". The book is by Charles M. Barras (1826-1873), an American playwright. The music is mostly adaptations, but some new songs were composed for the play, notably "March of the Amazons" by Giuseppe Operti, and "You Naughty, Naughty Men", with music by George Bickwell and lyrics by Theodore Kennick.

It opened on September 12 1866 at the 3,200-seat Niblo's Garden on Broadway, New York City and ran for a record-breaking 474 performances. It was then toured extensively for decades and revived on Broadway in 1870-71, 1871-72 and many more times after that. It was originally produced by the theatre's manager, William Wheatley, who also directed the piece. The cast also included Annie Kemp Bowler, Charles Morton, Marie Bonfanti, J.W. Blaisdell, E.B. Holmes, Millie Cavendish and George Boniface. [ [http://www.musicalheaven.com/Detailed/645.html Information from the Musical Heaven website] ]

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.Morley, p. 15]

The British production of "The Black Crook", which opened at the Alhambra Theatre on December 23 1872, was an opera bouffe version based on the same French source material, with new music by Frederic Clay and Georges Jacobi. The author, Harry Paulton, starred as Dandelion, opposite the comedienne Kate Santley, who had appeared in the 1871-72 Broadway revival.

"The Black Crook" was also produced in 1882 in Birmingham, Alabama as the opening-night attraction at O'Brien's Opera House. [Baggett, James (November 2007) "Timepiece". "Birmingham" magazine, vol. 47, No. 11, pp. 266-67]

Background

by combining their ballet forces with Barras's melodrama. [ [http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=593620 Article on the creation of "The Black Crook"] ]

In operas, even comic operas with dialogue like "The Magic Flute", the principal singers leave the dancing to the ballet troupe. In burlesque, music hall and vaudeville, there is little or no unifying story, just a series of sketches. So "The Black Crook", with song and dance for everyone, was an evolutionary step. The production was a staggering five-and-a-half hours long, but despite its length, it ran for a record-breaking 474 performances and exceeded a record-shattering one million dollars. The same year, "The Black Domino/Between You, Me and the Post" was the first show to call itself a "musical comedy."

In the late 1860s, as post-Civil War business boomed, there was a sharp increase in the number of working and middle class people in New York, and these more affluent people sought entertainment. Theaters became more popular, and Niblo's Garden, which had formerly hosted opera, began to offer light comedy. "The Black Crook" was followed by "The White Fawn" (1868), "Le Barbe Blue" (1868) and "Evangeline" (1873). [http://www.musicals101.com/1860to79.htm Article at the Musicals101 website] ]

The production included state-of-the-art special effects, including a "transformation scene" that converted a rocky grotto into a fairyland throne room in full view of the audience. A scantily-clad female dancing chorus of 100 ballerinas in skin-colored tights, choreographed in semi-classical style by David Costa, was a big draw. It was respectable enough for the middle-class audience, but very daring and controversial enough to attract a great deal of press attention. The show's prima ballerina, Marie Bonfanti, became the a star in New York.

An apparently similar show from six years earlier, "The Seven Sisters" (1860), which also ran for a very long run of 253 performances, is now lost and forgotten. It also included special effects and scene changes. Theatre historian John Kenrick suggests that "The Black Crook's" greater success resulted from changes brought about by the Civil War: First, respectable women, having had to work during the war, no longer felt tied to their homes and could attend the theatre, although many did so heavily veiled. This substantially increased the potential audience for popular entertainment. Second, America's railroad system had improved during the war, making it feasible for large productions to tour.

ynopsis

", and other well-known works.

Evil, wealthy Count Wolfenstein seeks to marry the lovely village girl, Amina. With the help of Amina's scheming foster mother Barbara, the Count arranges for Amina's fiancé, Rodolphe, an impoverished artist, to fall into the hands of Hertzog, an ancient, crook-backed master of black magic. Hertzog has made a pact with the Devil (Zamiel, "The Arch Fiend"): he can live forever if he provides Zamiel with a fresh soul every New Year's Eve. As Rodolphe is led to this horrible fate, he escapes, discovers a buried treasure, and saves a dove. The dove magically turns out to be Stalacta, Fairy Queen of the Golden Realm, who is pretending to be a bird. The grateful Queen rescues Rudolph by bringing him to fairyland and then reuniting him with his beloved Amina. The Count is defeated, demons drag the evil Hertzog into hell, and Rodolphe and Amina live happily ever after.

Musical numbers

;Act I
*Early in the Morning ..... Carline
*You Naughty, Naughty Men .... Carline
*March of the Amazons .... Chorus;Act II
*Dare I Tell
*Flow On, Silver Stream ....... Stalacta
*(The) Power of Love ....... Stalacta

Notes

References

* Sheridan, Morley. "Spread A Little Happiness", New York: Thames and Hudson, 1987
* Barras, C. M. (1866). "The Black crook a most wonderful history". Philadelphia: Barclay. [http://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/iudl/wright2/wright2-0304 text available here] .
* "New Complete Book of the American Musical Theatre" by David Ewen, 1970
* "Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography" edited by James Grant Wilson, John Fiske and Stanley L. Klos, 1999

External links

* [http://www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=12518 "The Black Crook" at the IBDB database]
* [http://www.musicals101.com/1860to79.htm History of the Musical Stage 1860s: The Black Crook]
* [http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchresult.cfm?parent_id=142115&word= Photos and drawings from "The Black Crook"]
* [http://www.c20th.com/GSnon.htm Information about NY and London productions]
* [http://www.room5001.com Company which produced the first New York revival since 1896 in March 2007]
* [http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/University_Library/exhibits/SMC/blkcrk.html Cover art for the 1867 "Transformation Polka" musical arrangement]