The Wedding Day is a comic opera in three acts with music by Julian Edwards and a libretto by Stanislaus Stange. Prior to a production on Broadway, the work premiered for the grand opening of the newly renovated Wieting Opera House in Syracuse, New York, on September 15, 1896. [1] [2] It was staged at The Boston Theatre where it began a two-week run on February 7, 1897. [3] Critic Roland Burke Hennessy of The Illustrated American wrote, "I consider The Wedding Day to be by far the best native comic opera we have had in many a year." [4]
The original production moved to Broadway's Casino Theatre where it opened on April 8, 1897, running for a total of 36 performances. [5] The production was directed by Richard Barker and used sets designed by Ernest Albert and costumes by Caroline Siedle. [6] The cast included Lillian Russell as Lucille D' Herblay, Jefferson De Angelis as Polycop, Della Fox as Rose-Marie, Winfield Blake as Sergeant Sabre, and May Cuthbert as Mille Courcey among others. [6]
The Wedding Day was revived by Henry W. Savage's Boston-based Castle Square Opera Company in 1901 who presented performances of the work on tour to Chicago at The Studebaker in May of that year. [7] The Castle Square cast was led by soprano Gertrude Quinlan. [7]
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1901.
Henry Louis Reginald De Koven was an American music critic and prolific composer, particularly of comic operas.
Lillian Russell was an American actress and singer. She became one of the most famous actresses and singers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, praised for her beauty and style, as well as for her voice and stage presence.
The Shubert Organization is a theatrical producing organization and a major owner of theatres based in Manhattan, New York City. It was founded by the three Shubert brothers — Lee, Sam, and Jacob J. Shubert — in the late 19th century. They steadily expanded, owning many theaters in New York and across the United States. Since then it has gone through changes of ownership, but it is still a major theater chain.
Ethel Jackson was a United States actress and comic prima donna of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She appeared in Broadway theatrical productions, creating the title role in the original Broadway production of The Merry Widow.
The Casino Theatre was a Broadway theatre located at 1404 Broadway and West 39th Street in New York City. Built in 1882, it was a leading presenter of mostly musicals and operettas until it closed in 1930.
Tuxedo was a vaudeville show with minstrelsy in which the song "Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay" was interpolated.
The Melodeon was a concert hall and performance space in 19th-century Boston, Massachusetts, located on Washington Street, near West Street. Musical concerts, lectures, sermons, conferences, visual displays, and popular entertainments occurred there.
The Garden Theatre was a major theater on Madison Avenue and 27th Street in Manhattan, New York City. The theatre opened on September 27, 1890, and closed in 1925. Part of the second Madison Square Garden complex, the theatre presented Broadway plays for two decades and then, as high-end theatres moved uptown to the Times Square area, became a facility for German and Yiddish theatre, motion pictures, lectures, and meetings of trade and political groups.
Julian Edwards was an English composer of light operatic music, who composed many successful Broadway shows in the Progressive Era. He attempted to introduce new levels of musical sophistication to the genre. Some of his songs achieved popularity at the time.
Stanislaus Stange (1862–1917) was a playwright, librettist and lyricist who created many Broadway shows in the fin-de-siecle era and early 20th century. After minor success as an actor, Stange made his career as a writer in the musical theatre, moving towards more varied theatrical work before his death.
The Park Theatre (est.1879) was a playhouse in Boston, Massachusetts, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It later became the State cinema. Located on Washington Street, near Boylston Street, the building existed until 1990.
Lillian Lawrence was an American theatre and silent film actress. Her daughter Ethel Grey Terry was also an actress.
Mary Elizabeth Wieting Johnson was an American opera house manager and philanthropist who ran the Wieting Opera House in Syracuse, New York, after the death of her husband, John Wieting. She oversaw management of the Wieting Opera House and its reconstruction after it burned down for the third time in 1896.
The Wieting Opera House was a performance hall in Syracuse, New York, that hosted operas, films, and other performances from 1852 to 1930. Initially built by John Wieting in 1852 as Wieting Hall, the building burnt down in 1856. He rebuilt it that year, and in 1870 renovated the hall into an opera house. Towards the end of the 19th century, the opera house was a major theater in the Eastern United States, and held test performances of shows that were bound for performance on Broadway in New York City. The opera house burnt down in 1881 and 1896, and was rebuilt both times, the second time by Wieting's wife, Mary Elizabeth Wieting. The opera house began showing movies in the early 20th century, and closed in 1930, when it was replaced with a parking garage.
The Bastable Theatre was a theatre in Syracuse, New York, from 1893 to 1923, when it burnt down. First built by Frederick Bastable, Sam S. Shubert began his theatre management at the Bastable in 1897. He and his brothers established The Shubert Organization, which became a major theatre owner. During Shubert's early years of management, he competed with the city's Wieting Opera House, which was controlled by The Theatrical Syndicate. The Bastable itself hosted a number of touring companies in the city and became known for hosting stock companies and melodramas. The State Tower Building was constructed on the site of the theatre after it burnt down.
Louis Harrison was an actor, playwright, comedian, lyricist, librettist, and theatre director. As both a performer and playwright, he was mainly active within the genres of musical theatre and light opera.
Ernest Albert, born Ernest Albert Brown, was an American painter, illustrator, muralist, and scenic designer. He was a prolific scenic designer, first in St. Louis and Chicago and then on Broadway. He is considered a major American landscape painter and was elected the first president of the Allied Artists of America in 1919.
Frederick Charles Solomon, sometimes given as Fred Solomon or Frederic Solomon, was a British-born American composer, conductor, actor, librettist, playwright, theatre director, and multi-instrumentalist. After studying music at the School of Military Music, he began his career playing the cornet and acting in Britain before emigrating to the United States in 1885.
Winfield Blake was an American actor, comedian, bass, lyricist, playwright, theatre director and producer, talent manager, and costume designer. He was the son of oil business magnate Isaac E. Blake who founded the Continental Oil Company in Denver in 1875.