Edward Everett Rice was an American musical composer and theater producer active during the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, known primarily for being a pioneer of American musical theater and introducing to Broadway a musical by African-American writers and performers.

Biography

Edward Everett Rice was born 21 December 1847 in Brighton, Massachusetts to Edmund Rice and Martha A. (Fletcher) Rice. Rice married Clara E. Rich, daughter of Isaac E. Rich, in 1869 and they had a daughter Carrie B. Rice (b. 1870) and sons, Aubrey L. Rice (b. 1876) and Anthony D. Rice (b. 1876).

Rice was one of the creators of Evangeline, along with John Cheever Goodwin. Evangeline was an extravaganza

Extravaganza

An extravaganza is a literary or musical work characterized by freedom of style and structure and usually containing elements of burlesque, pantomime, music hall and parody. It sometimes also has elements of cabaret, circus, revue, variety, vaudeville and mime...

 and burlesque

Burlesque

Burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects...

 show that became, in 1874, the first American production billed as musical comedy. Rice composed more than eighteen productions that appeared on Broadway, and created many productions, including Summer Nights, that toured the country. He also introduced popular performers Pauline Hall

Pauline Hall

Pauline Hall , born Pauline Fredrika Schmidgall, was a stage actress and singer. One of the most popular turn-of-the-century prima donnas in America, she left school at the age of 14 and began her career as a dancer in her native Cincinnati, Ohio in 1875.Shortly thereafter, Hall joined the Alice...

, Lillian Russell

Lillian Russell

Lillian Russell was an American actress and singer. She became one of the most famous actresses and singers of the late 19th century and early 20th century, known for her beauty and style, as well as for her voice and stage presence.Russell was born in Iowa but raised in Chicago...

, and Fay Templeton

Fay Templeton

Fay Templeton was an American stage actress.Her parents were actors/vaudevillians and she followed in their footsteps, making her Broadway debut in 1900. She continued to appear there until 1934...

, and in 1892, he booked Clorindy or Origins of the Cakewalk by Will Marion Cook

Will Marion Cook

William Mercer Cook , better known as Will Marion Cook, was an African American composer and violinist from the United States. Cook was a student of Antonín Dvořák and performed for King George V among others...

 and Paul Laurence Dunbar

Paul Laurence Dunbar

Paul Laurence Dunbar was a seminal African American poet of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Dunbar gained national recognition for his 1896 "Ode to Ethiopia", one poem in the collection Lyrics of Lowly Life....

, one of the earliest musicals by African Americans and the first to appear on Broadway at the prestigious Casino Theatre. Rice's biggest hit was 1894's Adonis, which starred Henry Dixey, one of the most popular performers of the era. He produced the "burlesque extravaganza" musical 1492 Up To Date

1492 Up To Date

1492 Up To Date is a burlesque, created in observance of the quadricentennial of Columbus's finding the New World. The libretto is by R. A. Barnet, with music by Carl Pflueger. It was presented by Edward E. Rice's "Surprise Party."It was originally written for and presented by the Boston...

in 1893 in New York City. Rice's final Broadway production was Mr. Wix of Wickham in 1904. He died 16 November 1924 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...

.

Genealogy

Edward E. Rice's first cousin Edmund Rice was a brigadier general and Medal of Honor

Medal of Honor

The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government. It is bestowed by the President, in the name of Congress, upon members of the United States Armed Forces who distinguish themselves through "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his or her...

 awardee. Rice was was a direct descendant of Edmund Rice

Edmund Rice (1638)

Edmund Rice , was an early immigrant to Massachusetts Bay Colony who was born in Suffolk, England, and lived in Stanstead, Suffolk and Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire prior to sailing with his family to America. He arrived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in summer or fall of 1638, presumed to be first...

, an English immigrant to Massachusetts Bay Colony

Massachusetts Bay Colony

The Massachusetts Bay Colony was an English settlement on the east coast of North America in the 17th century, in New England, situated around the present-day cities of Salem and Boston. The territory administered by the colony included much of present-day central New England, including portions...

, as follows:

• Edward Everett Rice, son of
• Edmund Rice (1813 – 1888), son of

• Edmund Rice (1785 – 1860), son of
• Edmund Rice (1755 – 1841), son of
• Edmund Rice (1725 – 1796), son of

• Jason Rice (1692 – 1730), son of
• Edmund Rice (1653 – 1719), son of
• Edward Rice (1622 – 1712), son of

• Edmund Rice
  Edmund Rice (1638)
  Edmund Rice , was an early immigrant to Massachusetts Bay Colony who was born in Suffolk, England, and lived in Stanstead, Suffolk and Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire prior to sailing with his family to America. He arrived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in summer or fall of 1638, presumed to be first...
  
  (1594 – 1663)