Casino Theatre
Encyclopedia
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
from 1882 to 1930 in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. It was located at 1404 Broadway, at W. 39th Street. It originally seated approximately 875 people, but after a fire in 1903 and rebuilding in 1905, it seated 1,300. The Casino Theatre was designed in Moorish Revival style by architect Francis Hatch Kimball and was the first theatre in New York to be lit entirely by electricity.
The theatre opened with productions by the McCaull Comic Opera Company
McCaull Comic Opera Company
McCaull Comic Opera Company, sometimes called the McCaull Opera Comique Company, was founded by Colonel John A. McCaull in 1880. The company produced operetta, comic opera and musical theatre in New York City and on tour in the eastern and midwestern U.S. and Canada until McCaull's death in 1894...
. It was managed by Canary & Lederer
George Lederer
George Lederer was an American producer and director on Broadway from 1894 to 1931. He was the husband of Reine Davies and father of Charles Lederer and Pepi Lederer....
from 1894 to 1903, and from 1903 by the Shuberts. The theatre was home to a number of long-running comic opera
Comic opera
Comic opera denotes a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending.Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a new operatic genre, opera buffa, emerged as an alternative to opera seria...
s, operetta
Operetta
Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...
s and musical comedies
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
. The Casino was demolished in 1930, along with the nearby Knickerbocker Theatre
Knickerbocker Theatre (Broadway)
The Knickerbocker Theatre — previously known as Abbey's Theatre and Henry Abbey's Theatre — was a Broadway theatre located at 1396 Broadway in New York City. It operated from 1893 to 1930...
, to make way for the expanding Garment District
Garment District, Manhattan
The Garment District, also known as the Garment Center, the Fashion District, or the Fashion Center, is a neighborhood located in the Manhattan borough of New York City. The dense concentration of fashion-related uses give the neighborhood, which is generally considered to span between Fifth Avenue...
.
With its 1900 production of Florodora
Florodora
Florodora is an Edwardian musical comedy and became one of the first successful Broadway musicals of the 20th century. The book was written by Jimmy Davis under the pseudonym Owen Hall, the music was by Leslie Stuart with additional songs by Paul Rubens, and the lyrics were by Edward Boyd-Jones...
, the theatre was the first in New York to feature a chorus line, which included Evelyn Nesbit
Evelyn Nesbit
Evelyn Nesbit was an American artists' model and chorus girl, noted for her entanglement in the murder of her ex-lover, architect Stanford White, by her first husband, Harry Kendall Thaw.-Early life:...
.
Notable productions
- 1882: The Queen's Lace HandkerchiefDas Spitzentuch der KöniginDas Spitzentuch der Königin is an operetta by Johann Strauss II. The libretto by Heinrich Bohrmann-Riegen and Richard Genée was based on Cervantes....
- 1883: The Beggar Student
- 1884: Nell GwynneNell Gwynne (operetta)Nell Gwynne is a three-act comic opera composed by Robert Planquette, with a libretto by H. B. Farnie. The libretto is based on the play Rochester by William Thomas Moncrieff. The piece was a rare instance of an opera by a French composer being produced first in London...
- 1885: Die FledermausDie FledermausDie Fledermaus is an operetta composed by Johann Strauss II to a German libretto by Karl Haffner and Richard Genée.- Literary sources :...
- 1886: ErminieErminieErminie is a comic opera in two acts composed by Edward Jakobowski with a libretto by Claxson Bellamy and Harry Paulton, based loosely on Charles Selby's 1834 Robert Macaire...
- 1888: The Yeomen of the GuardThe Yeomen of the GuardThe Yeomen of the Guard; or, The Merryman and His Maid, is a Savoy Opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on 3 October 1888, and ran for 423 performances...
- 1892: Clorindy or Origins of the Cakewalk
- 1894: The Passing ShowThe Passing ShowThe Passing Show was a musical revue in three acts, billed as a "topical extravaganza", with a book and lyrics by Sydney Rosenfeld and music by Ludwig Engländer and various other composers. It featured spoofs of theatrical productions of the past season. The show was presented in 1894 by George...
- 1895: The Wizard of the NileThe Wizard of the NileThe Wizard of the Nile was a burlesque operetta in three acts, composed by Victor Herbert to a libretto by Harry B. Smith.Herbert's second operetta after Prince Ananias, The Wizard of the Nile was his first real success...
- 1897: The Belle of New York
- 1898: In Gay New York
- 1898: Origin of the Cake Walk or Clorindy
- 1900: The Casino Girl
- 1900: FlorodoraFlorodoraFlorodora is an Edwardian musical comedy and became one of the first successful Broadway musicals of the 20th century. The book was written by Jimmy Davis under the pseudonym Owen Hall, the music was by Leslie Stuart with additional songs by Paul Rubens, and the lyrics were by Edward Boyd-Jones...
- 1901: The Little Duchess
- 1902: A Chinese HoneymoonA Chinese HoneymoonA Chinese Honeymoon is a musical comedy in two acts by George Dance, with music by Howard Talbot and additional music by Ivan Caryll and others, and additional lyrics by Harry Greenbank and others...
- 1903: The Runaways
- 1905: The Earl and the GirlThe Earl and the GirlThe Earl and the Girl is a musical comedy in two acts by Seymour Hicks, with lyrics by Percy Greenbank and music by Ivan Caryll. It was produced by William Greet and opened at the Adelphi Theatre in London on 10 December 1903. It transferred to the Lyric Theatre on 12 September 1904, running for...
- 1909: HavanaHavana (Edwardian musical)Havana is an Edwardian musical comedy in three acts, with a book by George Grossmith, Jr. and Graham Hill, music by Leslie Stuart, lyrics by Adrian Ross and additional lyrics by George Arthurs. It premiered on 25 April 1908 at the Gaiety Theatre, London, starring Evie Greene as Consuelo, W. H....
- 1909: The Chocolate SoldierThe Chocolate SoldierThe Chocolate Soldier is an operetta composed in 1908 by Oscar Straus based on George Bernard Shaw's 1894 play, Arms and the Man...
- 1912: The FireflyThe Firefly (operetta)The Firefly is the first operetta written by composer Rudolf Friml, with a libretto by Otto Harbach. The story concerns a young girl, who is a street singer. She disguises herself and serves as a cabin boy on a ship to Bermuda, where she falls in love...
- 1912–13: Seasons of Gilbert and SullivanGilbert and SullivanGilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan . The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S...
- 1914: High Jinks
- 1915: The Blue ParadiseThe Blue ParadiseThe Blue Paradise is a musical with music by Edmund Eysler and Sigmund Romberg, lyrics by Herbert Reynolds, and a book by Edgar Smith, based on the operetta Ein Tag im Paradies by Eysler with original text by Leo Stein and Bela Jenbach. The story is set in a Viennese cafe, where a man realizes...
- 1916: Very Good EddieVery Good EddieVery Good Eddie is a musical with a book by Guy Bolton and Philip Bartholomae, music by Jerome Kern, and lyrics by Schuyler Green and Herbert Reynolds, with additional lyrics by Elsie Janis, Harry B. Smith and John E. Hazzard and additional music by Henry Kailimai. The story was based on the farce...
- 1917: Oh, Boy!Oh, Boy! (musical)Oh, Boy! is a musical in two acts, with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse. The story concerns befuddled George, who elopes with Lou Ellen, the daughter of Judge Carter. He must win over her parents and his Quaker aunt...
- 1918: Oh, Lady! Lady!!Oh, Lady! Lady!!Oh, Lady! Lady!! is a musical with music by Jerome Kern, a book by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse and lyrics by Wodehouse. It was written for the Princess Theatre on Broadway, where it played in 1918 and ran for 219 performances. The story concerns an engaged young man, Bill, whose ex-fiancée...
- 1921: Tangerine
- 1923: Wildflower
- 1923: A Chinese HoneymoonA Chinese HoneymoonA Chinese Honeymoon is a musical comedy in two acts by George Dance, with music by Howard Talbot and additional music by Ivan Caryll and others, and additional lyrics by Harry Greenbank and others...
- 1924: I'll Say She IsI'll Say She IsI'll Say She Is is a stage revue written by brothers Will B. Johnstone and Tom Johnstone and starring the Marx Brothers and Lotta Miles.-Background:...
– Marx BrothersMarx BrothersThe Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act, originally from New York City, that enjoyed success in Vaudeville, Broadway, and motion pictures from the early 1900s to around 1950... - 1925: The Vagabond KingThe Vagabond KingThe Vagabond King is a 1925 operetta by Rudolf Friml in four acts, with a book and lyrics by Brian Hooker and William H. Post, based upon Justin Huntly McCarthy's 1901 romantic play If I Were King...
- 1926: The Desert SongThe Desert SongThe Desert Song is an operetta with music by Sigmund Romberg and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, Otto Harbach and Frank Mandel. It was inspired by the 1925 uprising of the Riffs, a group of Moroccan fighters, against French colonial rule. It was also inspired by stories of Lawrence of...
- 1928: My MarylandMy MarylandMy Maryland is a "musical romance" with book and lyrics by Dorothy Donnelly and music by Sigmund Romberg, based on the play Barbara Frietchie by Clyde Fitch....
- 1929: The New MoonThe New MoonThe New Moon is the name of an operetta with music by Sigmund Romberg and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, Frank Mandel, and Laurence Schwab. The show was the third and last in a string of Broadway hits for Romberg written in the style of Viennese operetta...
- 1930: American Opera CompanyAmerican Opera CompanyThe American Opera Company was the name of four different opera companies active in the United States. The first company was a short-lived opera company founded in New York City in February, 1886 that lasted only one season...
's Madama ButterflyMadama ButterflyMadama Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Puccini based his opera in part on the short story "Madame Butterfly" by John Luther Long, which was dramatized by David Belasco...