The Fascinating Widow | |
---|---|
Music | Frederick W. Mills |
Lyrics | Otto Harbach |
Book | Otto Harbach |
Premiere | November 14, 1910 : Apollo Theatre, Atlantic City, New Jersey |
The Fascinating Widow is a 1910 musical comedy with music by Frederick W. Mills and both book and lyrics by Otto Harbach. It was created as a starring vehicle for the female impersonator Julian Eltinge. The play premiered in Atlantic City, New Jersey, then toured the United States for 10 months before appearing on Broadway in September 1911.
The play premiered at the Apollo Theatre in Atlantic City, New Jersey on November 14, 1910, with A.H. Woods producing. [1] Woods toured the show around the United States, [2] then brought it back to the Apollo in August 1911, [3] before taking it to Broadway. It opened on Broadway at the Liberty Theatre on September 11, 1911. [4] After a seven-week run on Broadway, the show returned to the road, where it ran for several more years.
The characters and cast from the Broadway production are given below:
Character | Broadway cast |
---|---|
Ivy Tracy | Natalie Alt |
Bessie Bothwell | Marie Baxter |
Harriet Halford | Blanche Burnham |
Reverend Wilbur Watts | Charles W. Butler |
Hal Blake/Mrs. Monte | Julian Eltinge |
Lottie Lovedale | Gladys Feldman |
Lankton Wells | Edward Garvie |
Tessie Danforth | June Mathis |
Ethel Ethridge | Jean Morrell |
Maisie Mannering | Louise Orth |
Mrs. Leffingwell | Carrie E. Perkins |
Nella Northrup | Dorothy Sanders |
Cissie Cyril | Natalie Seymour |
Tuthill Leffingwell | James Spottswood |
Nick Bulgler | James E. Sullivan |
Oswald Wentworth | Lionel Walsh |
John Wilson | Frank Wentworth |
Rholla Rollins | Dorothy Wilcox |
Margaret Leffingwell | Winona Winter |
The play was adapted as a silent film in 1925.
Otto Abels Harbach, born Otto Abels Hauerbach was an American lyricist and librettist of nearly 50 musical comedies and operettas. Harbach collaborated as lyricist or librettist with many of the leading Broadway composers of the early 20th century, including Jerome Kern, Louis Hirsch, Herbert Stothart, Vincent Youmans, George Gershwin, and Sigmund Romberg. Harbach believed that music, lyrics, and story should be closely connected, and, as Oscar Hammerstein II's mentor, he encouraged Hammerstein to write musicals in this manner. Harbach is considered one of the first great Broadway lyricists, and he helped raise the status of the lyricist in an age more concerned with music, spectacle, and stars. Some of his more famous lyrics are "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes", "Indian Love Call" and "Cuddle up a Little Closer, Lovey Mine".
Julian Eltinge, born William Julian Dalton, was an American stage and film actor and female impersonator. After appearing in the Boston Cadets Revue at the age of ten in feminine garb, Eltinge garnered notice from other producers and made his first appearance on Broadway in 1904. As his star began to rise, he appeared in vaudeville and toured Europe and the United States, even giving a command performance before King Edward VII. Eltinge appeared in a series of musical comedies written specifically for his talents starting in 1910 with The Fascinating Widow, returning to vaudeville in 1918. His popularity soon earned him the moniker "Mr. Lillian Russell" for the popular beauty and musical comedy star.
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