Babette is a Broadway

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its s ...

with a libretto by

Harry B. Smith Harry Bache Smith (December 28, 1860 – January 1, 1936) was a writer, lyricist and composer. The most prolific of all American stage writers, he is said to have written over 300 librettos and more than 6000 lyrics. Some of his best-known works ...

and music by Victor Herbert, which premiered in 1903.

Productions

The original production opened at the Broadway Theatre on November 16, 1903, and closed on January 9, 1904, after 59 performances. In 1976 Bel Canto Opera staged an

off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

revival of the show, which opened on May 21 and ran for four performances.

Synopsis

Babette, the letter-writer of a small Flemish village, travels with a group of Flemish patriots to Versailles to seek help from the French king in their desire for freedom from the Spanish.

Songs

Act l

* ''Opening Chorus'' (Ensemble) * ''My Honor and My Sword'' (Mondragon and Chorus) * ''On the Other Side of The Wall'' (Mondragon and Vinetta) * ''Entrance of Babette'' (Ensemble) * ''Letter I Write all day (Letter-writing Song)'' (Babette) * ''He Who’d Thrive (Clockmaker’s Song)'' (Van Tympel and Chorus) * ''I’ll Bribe the Stars (Picture Painting Song)'' (Babette and Marcel) * ''Finale I'' (Ensemble)

Act ll

* ''Opening Chorus Act II'' (Ensemble) * ''Tony the Peddler'' (Mondragon and Chorus) * ''Hear the Coachman Crack His Whip'' (Ensemble) * ''We're Very Highly Polished at the Court'' (Baltazar and Vinetta) * ''To the Sound of the Pipe and the Roll of the Drum'' (Babette, Vinetta, Eva and Chorus) * ''On The Stage'' (Van Tymple) * ''Be Kind to poor Pierrot'' (Babette) * ''There once was an owl'' (Marcel, Vinetta, Eva, Mondragon, Katrina, Theresa) * ''My Lady ‘Tis For Thee'' (Marcel) * ''The Life of a Bold Free Lance'' (Captain Guzman and Chorus) * ''Finale II'' (Ensemble)

Act lll

* ''Opening Chorus Act III'' (Ensemble) * ''It’s A way we have in Spain'' (Van Tromp, Eva, Mondragon, Marcel and Chorus) * ''My Lady of the Manor'' (Vinette, Eva, Marcel and Mondragon) * ''Where the Fairest Flow’rs (Butterfly Waltz)'' (Babette) * ''Finale III'' (Ensemble)

Cast

Reception

The 1903 production received positive reviews for Scheff in the lead role and Herbert's music, but generally negative reviews for the show's book.{{Cite book , last=Bordman , first=Gerald Martin , url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/656556582 , title=American musical theatre : a chronicle , date=2010 , publisher=Oxford University Press , others=Richard Norton , isbn=978-0-19-972970-8 , edition=4th , location=New York , pages=230 , oclc=656556582

External links

Babette at the IBDB

References

1903 operas 1903 musicals Broadway musicals Off-Broadway musicals Musicals set in Belgium Musicals set in Île-de-France Musicals set in palaces