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From its first performance on September 12, 1866, at Niblo’s Theatre in New York,
The Black Crook drew in audiences to become one of
the first successful musical spectacles in the United States. The script from
a
Faustian melodrama, several songs by assorted composers, and the services of a
stranded Parisian ballet troupe were combined with elaborate sets and costumes
to
create a spectacle that spawned 15 subsequent Broadway revivals and numerous touring
productions. |
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The Black Crook's scandalously dressed dancers, who were
the first to perform the Can-Can on an American stage, delighted and shocked
audiences. After attending a performance of The Black
Crook in New York, Mark Twain, in a March 3, 1868 column in Alta,
California, wrote that the musical "debauched many a pure mind." |
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The Black Crook Collection contains books, a
photocopy of an original promptbook from the Harvard Theatre Collection, sheet
music, playbills, programs, clippings, drawings, and photographs related to
performances of the musical. |
