Black Crook

“It is a magnificent sight of an evening to look around and upwards in Niblo’s Garden, and see the immense mass of human beings with which it is filled and has been for the past year, all breathlessly intent upon the business of the stage, and held in mystic silence and admiration by the superb dancing of the  premier danseuses [sic] and the coryphées, as well as the beautiful scenery and mechanical effects which are introduced in the ‘Black Crook,’ the most successful piece ever produced in America.”

“The unequaled Premium Transformation, (which cost $15,000, the largest sum ever expended on a single scene), painted by the celebrated Brothers Brew, of London. The Matchless Ball Room, Fairy Grotto, &c., by Richard Marston, from the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.”

“When a theatrical entertainment has drawn overflowing audiences night after night well into the second year of an unbroken succession of nightly performances, and continues to fill up the gangways, proving a richer placer [sic] to the managers than the richest goldmine of Colorado or Montana, there is something in it which commands investigation. What is it? Legs? We have had the model artists, in puris naturalibus, and they failed. Is it the dancing? There are none better here as dancers, or more pleasing to the eye, than Soto, but Soto was only a nine days’ wonder. Is it the plot of the piece? No; for the plot is but another modification of the universal Ravel plot of a contest between the devil and his imps and a good fairy and her troupe for the possession of a pretty girl in scanty drapery. The secret of this great success must be, then, in the splendid scenery and tableaux of the drama. No; but it is due to the pretty girls and the flocks of them that are brought in—to their beautiful forms that are displayed in their dances—to the splendid scenery, to the gorgeous tableaux, to the varied costumes, to the mechanical effects, the plot being but the thread upon which the many-colored beads are woven. The spectacle is light, brilliant, and pleasing. It appeals to the vanity and the fancy and the special weakness of women, and so it draws like a magnet.” 

“The Imperial Guard, which was lately introduced into ‘The Black Crook’ spectacle, at Niblo’s Garden, and which we described at the time of its first appearance, has proved a very serviceable addition to that entertainment. The legion of children has been thoroughly trained by Mr. Vincent and Mr. Palmer, and its military evolutions are watched with great interest and warmly applauded by the crowds that continually throng to Niblo’s Garden. As the Holidays draw near we may expect to witness still another revival of public interest in the great spectacle. Its days, however, are numbered. Gorgeous as it is, Mr. Wheatley proposes to surpass it, at no distant day, with something still more brilliant.”