Laura Keene's Theatre

Event Information

Venue(s):
Laura Keene's Theatre (1862-63)

Proprietor / Lessee:
Laura Keene

Manager / Director:
Laura Keene

Conductor(s):
Thomas Baker

Event Type:
Choral, Play With Music

Record Information

Status:
Published

Last Updated:
13 September 2010

Performance Date(s) and Time(s)

09 Feb 1863, Evening

Program Details

Thomas Baker, arr. & cond.; Mr. J.G. Maeder, arr.

Fair one with the golden locks includes:
Opening Chorus, “Lucidora, surnamed the Fair One” (chorus)
Medley, “There are Ladies who dwell” (Wood)
Aria and Chorus, “Comb it genteelly” (Wood, Raymond, Brown, chorus)
Three Part Song, “Fair Queen, I beg my suit you’ll grant” (Wood, Raymond, Brown)
Duet, “Madam, with all humility” (Wood and Brown)
Song, “Lucidoram the pride of this heart” (Brown)
Brindisi, “Ills, so great, oh!” (Wood)
Chorus, “See, here comes the King” (chorus)
Trio, “Simple as A, B, C” (Wood, Walcot, Raymond)
Duet and Chorus, “Begone, Sir” (Wood, Walcot, chorus)
Duet, “Sir, a secret” (Wood, Walcot)
Concerted Piece, “Here’s a go” (Wood, Walcot, Raymond, Brown, chorus)
“NOTE – This piece is a novelty never before attempted.”
Overture (company – “The Characters sing a celebrated Overture.”)
Trio, “From these coves could I fly, love” (Wood, Walcot, Brown)
Finale, “Now our rivalry is o’er” (Wood, chorus)

Performers and/or Works Performed

1)
Text Author: Morton
2)
Text Author: Planché, Walcot
Participants:  Laura Keene's Theatre, corps de ballet;  Laura Keene's Theatre, chorus;  Mary Sedley [actor-voc.] Brown (role: Prince Naryred);  John T. Raymond (role: Count Pleniposo);  Charles Melton, Jr. Walcot (role: King Lachrymose);  Mrs. John Wood (role: Queen Lucidora, Page Pitchin, and an Old Jew Peddler)

Citations

1)
Announcement: New York Herald, 26 January 1863, 8.
Announced for Feb. 2.
2)
Advertisement: New-York Times, 26 January 1863, 7.
Announced for Feb. 2.
3)
Announcement: New York Herald, 02 February 1863, 2.
“’Fair One with the Golden Locks’ has been postponed until Monday next, and is positively announced for that date.”
4)
Advertisement: New-York Times, 04 February 1863, 7.
“New music has been arranged expressly by Mr. J.G. Maeder, also a new Overture by Mr. Thomas Baker.”
5)
Advertisement: New York Herald, 09 February 1863, 7.
Large ad. Lots of information – list of songs, etc. “Mrs. John Wood, The Empress of The French Style of performing.”
6)
Advertisement: New-York Times, 09 February 1863, 7.
“[A] Comical Fairy Extravaganza, the best part of which is already well-known to the public as J.R. Planche’s production, but which, for the purpose of affording the incomparable Mrs. Wood a wider field for the display of her rare genius, has been so altered and elaborated that, at the same time she will make her first appearance as Queen Lucidora, first appearance as Page Pitchin, first appearance as An Old Jew Peddler, thus displaying her versatility by the portrayal of Three Distinct Characters. New Selections of Music, of the most popular character, have been made, and some novel effects originated by the compiler, and all arranged by Mr. J.G. Maeder and Mr. Thomas Baker; also, a new Overture, composed and arranged expressly for the piece by Mr. Thomas Baker . . . for the first time, a new version (compiled by Charles M. Walcot) of Planche’s celebrated Fairy Extravaganza of The Fair One with the Golden Locks.”
7)
Review: New York Post, 10 February 1863, 2.
“Planche, revised by Walcot, was brought before our theatre-goers last night. . . . [Mrs. John Wood] sang and acted with all her usual vivacity. The music, by the way, adds largely to the attractions of the piece, and among the modern operas which lend their contributions are ‘Traviata,’ ‘Trovatore,’ ‘Beatrice di Tenda,’ ‘Bohemian Girl,’ and ‘Lombardi.’ With the pleasant freedom of burlesques, this music, like Bottom, is ‘transformed,’ the chorus singing what were once solos, and a delicate soprano screaming out a tenor’s song of vengeance. . . . After pruning it and enlivening the last scenes, the extravaganza would be sure of a fair lease of life.”
8)
Review: New-York Times, 11 February 1863, 5.
“A new version of Planche’s celebrated burlesque . . . was produced here on Monday evening with moderate success. It has been ‘adapted’ by a local playwright on a new and thoroughly unsatisfactory plan, and has suffered moreover the addition of several verbose jokes and diffuse puns. . . . Mrs. John Wood, who is thus heavily endowed, satisfies the audience by her charming presence and vivacious style of acting, but when she is not on the stage the work drags. . . . The music is almost exclusively operatic, and in some instances – where Mr. Walcot sings, for example – is too ambitious. The best morceaux, however, were rendered with neat effect by Mrs. John Wood and Mrs. Sedley Brown – the latter a rising and talented actress. . . . Greatly excised, it will undoubtedly form an agreeable addition to Mrs. Wood’s somewhat limited and entirely antiquated repertoire.”
9)
Review: New York Herald, 16 February 1863, 8.
“[I]mmense audiences nightly . . . The piece has been improved since the first night, and more fun has been crowded into the closing scenes. . . . The scenery is very pretty, and the music worth hearing, but the characters – Mrs. Wood’s excepted – do not amount to very much, and are not very well acted. Mrs. Sedley Brown, for example, does not seem to understand that she is playing a burlesque, and Mr. Charles Walcott, Sr., understands perfectly what he ought to do, but appears not quite able to do it. . . . The Arabian Giant is quite a star.”
10)
Review: New-York Daily Tribune, 16 February 1863, 8.
Section of an article on Juignet’s French Theatre that includes the following: “Even a musical farce is better liked than one that is not musical. Mrs. John Wood owes a great part of her popularity to the fact that she is liberal in introducing music to her audiences. Mrs. Sedley Brown is more in the mind of the public as a graceful singer than as a charming actress, albeit her real strength is in her acting. Wherever a musical reputation is associated with any theater, or any individual connected with a theater, it is invariably beneficial.”