1903 in Theatre - 1903 Musicals, 1903 Plays, the Scarlet Pimpernel, Babes in Toyland, the Duchess of Dantzic, Kuolema, the Orchid (Paperback)

Chapters: 1903 Musicals, 1903 Plays, the Scarlet Pimpernel, Babes in Toyland, the Duchess of Dantzic, Kuolema, the Orchid, the Earl and the Girl, in Dahomey, the Man From Blankley's, Man and Superman, Summerfolk, in the Shadow of the Glen, Walker and Williams in Dahomey, the Pretty Sister of Jose. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 64. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Babes in Toyland Babes in Toyland is an operetta composed by Victor Herbert with a libretto by Glen MacDonough (1870 1924), which wove together various characters from Mother Goose nursery rhymes into a Christmas-themed musical extravaganza. The creators wanted to cash in on the extraordinary success of The Wizard of Oz, on which MacDonough had assisted, which was produced on Broadway beginning in January 1903, with the same producer, Fred R. Hamlin, and director, Julian P. Mitchell. Babes in Toyland features some of Herbert's most famous songs among them "Toyland," "March of the Toys," "Go To Sleep, Slumber Deep," and "I Can't Do The Sum." The theme song "Toyland" and "March of the Toys" occasionally show up on Christmas compilations.The original production opened at the Chicago Grand Opera house on June 17, 1903, playing for three months, then toured east, opening on Broadway on October 13, 1903 and ran for 192 performances. This was followed by many successful tours and revivals.A new book and lyrics for the show were written for the Light Opera of Manhattan (LOOM) in the 1970s by Alice Hammerstein-Matthias (the daughter of Oscar Hammerstein II ) and director-producer William Mount-Burke. LOOM played this operetta as a Christmas show for several weeks each year thereafter for 13 seasons with considerable success, and the rewritten book and lyrics has since been used by other companies, including Troupe America. The ensemble becomes a mechanical milit...