''Wang'' is a

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...

(the sheet music indicates "

comic opera Comic opera, sometimes known as light opera, is a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending and often including spoken dialogue. Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a ne ...

") with music by

Woolson Morse Henry Woolson Morse (February 24, 1858 – May 3, 1897), usually credited as Woolson Morse, was an American composer of musical theatre. Often working with librettist J. Cheever Goodwin, he produced several scores for Broadway productions in the ...

and book and lyrics by J. Cheever Goodwin. It was first produced in New York in 1891 by

DeWolf Hopper William DeWolf Hopper (March 30, 1858September 23, 1935) was an American actor, singer, comedian, and theatrical producer. A star of vaudeville and musical theater, he became best known for performing the popular baseball poem "Casey at the Bat" ...

and his company and featured

Della Fox Della May Fox (October 13, 1870 – June 15, 1913) was an American singing comedian, whose popularity peaked in the 1890s when the diminutive Fox appeared opposite the very tall DeWolf Hopper in several musicals. She also toured successfully with ...

.Smith, Cecil Michener and Glenn Litton, ''Musical Comedy in America: From

The Black Crook ''The Black Crook'' is a work of musical theatre first produced in New York City with great success in 1866. Many theatre writers have cautiously identified ''The Black Crook'' as the first popular piece that conforms to the modern notion of a mu ...

Through Sweeney Todd'' (London: Routledge, 1981), 55-57 . The show mixed comic opera material with

burlesque A 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.

and was set in

Siam Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 mi ...

. The music does not have "Oriental" color, except for the title character's first entrance – on a "full scale imitation elephant" – and the wedding and coronation marches. The show was termed an "operatic

burletta In theater and music history, a burletta (Italian, meaning "little joke", sometimes burla or burlettina) is a brief comic opera. In eighteenth-century Italy, a burletta was the comic intermezzo between the acts of an ''opera seria''. The extended ...

" because of the burlesque convention of having Fox wearing tights.

Production history

''Wang'' premiered at the now-demolished

Broadway Theatre Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Th ...

, New York City, on May 4, 1891 and closed on October 3, 1891 after 151 performances. The cast featured Helen Beresford as Nannette, Della Fox as Mataya, DeWolf Hopper as Wang, Samuel Reed as Colonel Fracasse,

Alfred Klein Alfred Asher Klein (May 12, 1861 – February 21, 1904)R ...

as Pepat, and Marion Singer as La Veuve Frimousse. A full-scale imitation elephant was built by Edward Siedle for Hopper to ride on during "The Man With an Elephant On His Hands." The show was revived at the Lyric Theatre, running from April 18, 1904 through June 4, 1904, for 57 performances. The production was produced and directed by Sam S. Shubert and again starred Hopper and Singer, with Madge Lessing as Mataya.

Songs

The songs in ''Wang'' (according to the published music, which varies from the song list shown at th
Internet Broadway Database listing
for the 1891 production) are: *A Pretty Girl, A Summer Night – Mataya *Are Then The Vows – *Ask the Man in the Moon – Wang, Mataya and Colonel Fracasse *Baby, Baby, Dance My Darling Baby *Eminent Regent Wang – Wang and Chorus *Every Rose Must Have Its Thorn *If You Love Me As I Love You? (duet) – Wang and La Veuve Frimousse *Kissing Quartet *The Man With an Elephant On His Hands – Wang *Mary! Mary! Why So Contrary? – Gillette and Girls *No Matter What Others May Say (trio) *To Be a Lone Widow – La Veuve Frimousse *Where Are You Going My Pretty Maid? (duet) – Mataya and Marie The song "The Man with an Elephant on his Hands" was later adapted into an unlicensed and short-lived 1905 comic strip series by Everrett E. Lowry.
Stripper's Guide Blog

References

External links

Sheet music for A Pretty Girl, A Summer NightInternet Broadway Database listing, 1891 productionInternet Broadway Database listing, 1904 production
1891 musicals {{musical-theat-stub