Macbeth
Event Information
Venue(s):
Olympic Theatre
Event Type:
Play With Music
Record Information
Status:
Published
Last Updated:
27 February 2022
Performance Date(s) and Time(s)
18 Apr 1870, Evening19 Apr 1870, Evening
20 Apr 1870, Evening
20 Apr 1870, 2:00 PM
21 Apr 1870, Evening
22 Apr 1870, Evening
23 Apr 1870, Evening
23 Apr 1870, 2:00 PM
Performers and/or Works Performed
Citations
“Macbeth on Monday, with everything new and all the original music.”
Full cast list with roles. Summary of scenes with titles of songs and choruses in each.
“At the Olympic Theater the new travestie of ‘Macbeth’ will be offered this evening. Mr. Fox will personate ‘The Thane of Chowder,’ and the entire company at the Olympic will participate in singing Lock’s music. There is reason to anticipate a great deal of amusement from this representation.”
“All Locke’s original music will be sung, and the mise en scene and appointments will be in the best style of this establishment.”
“It is always a dangerous thing to follow up a recognized theatrical success with an imitation. Fox’s travesty of ‘Macbeth’ falls rather tamely after his Hamlet. In the latter case there was a direct interest in the original play, in consequence of the performances of Booth and Fechter; but ‘Macbeth’ travestied has no such immediate claim to public attention, and must depend for its success entirely on its own intrinsic merits. These merits are not overpowering…
“There is a large amount of singing in the burlesque, Locke’s music being reproduced often with excellent effect. Among the vocalists Miss Prior received the most applause…”
Long and positive review. “…a great deal of merriment was elicited…the first night of the extravaganza gave promise of having numerous successors… The serious element in the burletta is furnished by Locke’s music to the play, which is rendered in its entirety by soloists and a very strong chorus, and several passages of which, yesterday, were repeated amid much enthusiasm.”
Notes “good house” despite inclement weather. “…The burlesque is quite a good one, and although in several respects it does not come up to the standard of Hamlet, which preceded it, there is enough fun in it to satisfying the most exacting… The choruses and the music were very good in the first act, but somehow or another the chorus did not do well in the last scenes of the play.” No further mention of music.
Macbeth is “a palpable hit at the Olympic Theater…Mr. Fox has opened a fruitful vein of merriment, by which the public will profit.” No mention of music.
“The management have spared no expense in order to give proper effect to this quaint and popular music. Additional vocal talent has been expressly engaged for the proper execution of THE WITCHES’ CHORUSES.”