Niblo's Garden

Event Information

Venue(s):
Niblo's Garden

Proprietor / Lessee:
William Wheatley

Manager / Director:
William Wheatley

Conductor(s):
Harvey Bradley Dodworth

Ballet Director / Choreographer:
Mr. Ronzani

Event Type:
Play With Music, Orchestral

Record Information

Status:
Published

Last Updated:
27 September 2010

Performance Date(s) and Time(s)

01 Jun 1863, 8:00 PM
02 Jun 1863, 8:00 PM
03 Jun 1863, 8:00 PM
04 Jun 1863, 8:00 PM
05 Jun 1863, 8:00 PM
06 Jun 1863, 8:00 PM

Program Details

Opening Night of the Summer Season [MON].

Additional performers:

First time in America. “Brougham’s adaptation was made with the consent and assistance of Mr. Feval.” R: NYH 06/02/63, p.4.

Performers and/or Works Performed

2)
aka I am all here to-night
Text Author: Brougham
3)
Composer(s): Dodworth
Text Author: Brougham
Participants:  John Collins [actor]
4)
Composer(s): Dodworth
Text Author: Brougham
Participants:  John Collins [actor]
5)
Composer(s): Ronzani
6)
Composer(s): Ronzani
7)
aka Choice selections of popular music; American popular airs
Conductor: Dodworth, Harvey Bradley

Citations

2)
Advertisement: New York Herald, 01 June 1863, 7.
Full cast, synopsis of play.
3)
Announcement: New York Post, 01 June 1863, 2.
“‘The Duke’s Motto,’ to be produced to-night at Niblo’s Garden for the first time in America, will doubtless create an impression here no less marked than that which followed its appearance on the London stage. . . . A ballet company has been organized especially for this piece by Ronzani. . . . The original music of the play will be presented under the direction of Harvey B. Dodworth, together with some entirely new songs written for Mr. Collins, who owns the right to produce the drama in this country.”
4)
Review: New York Herald, 02 June 1863, 4.
“Wheatley opened the real and beautiful gardens attached to this theatre, and inaugurated his summer season with the great London sensation play, ‘The Duke’s Motto.’  In point of fact, this melodrama swept over the city last night like a tornado.  Besides ‘The Duke’s Motto’ at Niblo’s, we had another version of the same piece, called ‘The Duke’s Signal,’ at the New Bowery theatre; a third version, called ‘The Duke’s Device,’ at the Old Bowery theatre, and a burlesque, entitled ‘I Am Here,’ at the immortal and inimitable Bryants’ Minstrels.  We deem it proper to give Manager Wheatley’s production priority of notice, however, for he has the original title and the original play by Paul Feval and John Brougham, and he has placed it upon the stage with a taste, skill and liberality which mark him as one of the most enterprising, as he is one of the most successful, caterers for the amusement of the public.  
‘The Duke’s Motto’ is a translation and adaptation by John Brougham of Paul Feval’s play ‘Le Bossu.’ . . . Brougham’s adaptation was made with the consent and assistance of Mr. Feval and has been running over a hundred nights to crowded houses at the Lyceum, London. . . . The result is a most striking play. . . .
The cast was exceedingly strong. . . . [Collins was] better than we have ever seen him before, and sang two new songs, the words by Brougham and the music by Harvey B. Dodworth.  The first song, ‘The Amber Tide of Usquebaugh,’ is not set to a popular tune, but the other, ‘Where There’s Life There’s Hope,’ was written in Brougham’s best vein, and was tremendously encored.  Mr. Collins’ singing was, of course, admirable. . . . 
. . . The audience overcrowded the theatre, and the involuntary exclamations of wonder, surprise and pleasure and the constantly recurring applause stamped ‘The Duke’s Motto’ as one of the greatest successes of the day.”
5)
Advertisement: New York Herald, 02 June 1863, 12.
Full ad.
6)
Advertisement: New York Herald, 02 June 1863, 12.
Small ad.  “THE DUKE’S MOTTO.  The above piece being copyrighted, and Mr. Collins, the Irish comedian, having purchased from John Brougham the sole right for its representation in America, any infringement of the same will be strictly prohibited by law.”
7)
Review: New-York Daily Tribune, 03 June 1863, 3.
Talks about Wheatley as a manager.  Long synopsis of the play.  Difficult to read at times.  “[I]n ‘The Duke’s Motto,’ which was produced last Monday night with unqualified success, [Wheatley] has accomplished a culmination of theatrical gorgeousness and grandeur compared with which his previous achievements become luminaries of second, third or fourth magnitude.  
‘The Duke’s Motto’ is a play of a very inferior but at the same time a very effective French class. . . .
. . . The theater was crowded.”
8)
Advertisement: New-York Times, 04 June 1863, 7.
Includes excerpts from various reviews, including NYH 06/02/63, NYT 06/03/63, NYTr 06/03/63.  From the World: “The ‘Duke’s Motto’ is cleverly constructed, is brilliantly put upon the stage, and forms altogether the best example of the modern romantic drama yet produced here or in England. . . . PAUL FEVAL, who wrote the original of the ‘Duke’s Motto,’ ‘Le Bossu,’ may congratulate himself that his fiction was prepared for the English boards by so skillful a dramatist as JOHN BROUGHAM.” – World, June 3.
9)
Advertisement: New York Herald, 04 June 1863, 12.
With excerpts of reviews from various newspapers.
 
10)
Announcement: New York Post, 05 June 1863, 2.
“‘The Duke’s Motto’ fills the house at Niblo’s Garden nightly, and it is necessary to secure seats in advance, or, at least at an early hour in the day.”
11)
Announcement: New York Clipper, 06 June 1863, 59.

12)
Advertisement: New York Clipper, 06 June 1863, 62.
“Celebrated Irish Comedian and Vocalist, Mr. Collins.”
13)
Advertisement: New-York Times, 06 June 1863, 7.

14)
Review: New-York Times, 08 June 1863, 5.
“The new drama of the ‘Duke’s Motto’ has been received with so much favor by the frequenters of Niblo’s Garden, and is in fact so well calculated to work itself into a white heat of popularity, that there can hardly be a doubt about its running through the summer months.  The cast is all the piece requires . . . and the incidental music hurries on the scene with the requisite velocity.  Under these circumstances it is not surprising that increasing audiences reward Mr. WHEATLEY’S enterprise.”
15)
Review: New-York Daily Tribune, 08 June 1863, 8.
“[T]he opening success . . . last week, was beyond all precedent. . . . It has been suggested that the only fault of ‘The Duke’s Motto’ is its extreme length.  It might be shortened advantageously by the omission of Mr. Collins’ songs.”
16)
Review: New York Clipper, 13 June 1863, 67.
Long synopsis of the plot.  “On Monday evening, the 1st inst., was performed at this house for the first time in this country, ‘The Duke’s Motto,’ a translation and adaptation by that clever dramatist, John Brougham, from Paul Feval’s play of ‘Le Bossu.’ . . . The piece was produced by Mr. Collins, who obtained the exclusive right of producing it in this country.  Monday night being the first of a new play, as well as the re-entree of Mr. Collins, and the first appearance of Manager Wheatley, after a rest of six months, the house was, of course, crowded. . . . We unhesitatingly pronounce this piece one of the greatest successes that we have ever witnessed. . . . Wheatley deserves great credit for the manner in which he has placed it upon the stage.”
17)
Review: New York Clipper, 13 June 1863, 67.
“A very large business was done throughout the week.”