The American Maid (operetta)

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The American Maid, composed in 1909 as The Glass Blowers but produced as The American Maid in 1913, was the last fully produced operetta with music composed by John Philip Sousa. The libretto was written by Leonard Liebling. [1]

Contents

The full libretto seems to have been lost, but fragments of the dialogue between musical numbers were collected from The Library of Congress by Arthur O'Dwyer. [2] The piano/vocal score was published by The John Church Company in 1913. [1]

Original Productions

The operetta was first produced at the Schubert Theatre in Rochester, New York, on January 27, 1913. [3] It was also produced on Broadway Theatre (41st Street) for a total of 16 performances. [4]

Revival Productions

A version of the operetta edited by Jerrold Fisher was staged by Glimmerglass Opera in 2000 and 2002. [5]

For that production "Martin has fashioned a libretto from original prompt books and other fragmentary source materials, and Fisher, a conductor and arranger, has reconstructed the music from piano scores and incomplete manuscript orchestrations. Jonathan Sheffer, who is making an impressive City Opera debut as conductor of "The Glassblowers," altered the orchestration to give it more varied sound." [6]

The Victorian Lyric Opera CompanyList of North American opera companies of Rockville, Maryland, produced a semi-staged version of The American Maid in 2012. [7]

A reviewer at that production said "I also liked the inclusive of some visual drop-downs with black and white pictures of factories and scenes from battlegrounds which helped to provide context for the romantic and military adventures of the cast. It was interesting to be drawn back to a time in which it was possible to take a little trip to Santiago, Cuba without thought of the political ramifications or any barriers to getting back into the US of A." [8]

Critical Reception

George Jean Nathan of The Green Book Magazine in July 1913 said "Early last spring, it may be remembered by the four or five persons who through some inscrutable accident happened to see it, a piece was shown on Broadway for a couple of nights or so, said piece being called “The American Maid,” the sounds of speech in which were the labor of Herr Leonard Liebling and the other sounds the labor of Herr J. P. Sousa. Although, to be sure, it is the critical custom always to wax saucy over the lyrics in all native-made musical shows (albeit with adipose justice), the epic truth is that the lyrics in this particular exhibition were as doltish and dolorous a set of rhymes as ever extruded their visages from the proscenium arch." [9]

A review was also made by The New York Times. [10]

Characters

List of characters. [3]

Jack Bartlett, a playboy

Stumpy, Jack Bartlett’s valet

Duke of Branford, a wealthy Englishman

Mr. Silas Pompton, a glassworks tycoon

Col. Vandeveer, Annabelle’s father

Gawkins, the Vandeveers’ butler

Annabelle Vandeveer, a society girl

Geraldine Pompton, a society girl

Mrs. Vandeveer

Mrs. Pompton

Rose Green

Nellie Brown

Society friends of Annabelle’s (six sopranos, two contraltos)

Gladys

Helen

Veronica

Hazel

Alice

Marion

Mabel

Edith

Guests of the Vandeveers

Count Hohenstaupellaufenwitz

Countess Hohenstaupellaufenwitz

John Smith

James Smith

Jerry Smith

Lefty McCarty

Hans Hippel

Pietro Nuttini

Chorus of Guests and Servants

Chorus of Glassblowers and Working Girls

Chorus of Red Cross Nurses and Cuban Girls

Musical Numbers

Order of music. [1]

Overture

Act 1

Act 2

Act 3

Music

The music shows itself as a cross between the popular operetta styles of Arthur Sullivan and the march styles of Sousa. [11]

The main theme throughout the production was made into the band march From Maine To Oregon. [12]

Works cited

References

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