Theatre Register

Jules Bledsoe

Shows · Jules Bledsoe

Actor 1897–1943 On stage 1927

Julius Lorenzo Cobb Bledsoe (December 29, 1897 – July 14, 1943) was an American baritone, a leading figure in the Harlem Renaissance, the first major Black opera singer in the United States, and one of the first Black artists to gain regular employment on Broadway.

On stage 1 production

1927 Show Boat Ziegfeld Theatre · Original · directed by Zeke Colvan 572 perf.

Each row is a staging this name appears in the cast list of, read from the production record rather than from the person record. The person record names works instead, and a work cannot say which run somebody was in — that is how Elaine Stritch ends up filed under Show Boat 1927 when she was in the 1994 revival. No row here says what part was played, because no cast list records it.

In the literature1 passages

  • Queenie (blackface specialist Tess Gardella, who worked as “Aunt Jemima”) and her husband, Joe (baritone recitalist Jules Bledsoe).ebooks/Mordden, Ethan/Anything Goes_ A History of American Musical Theatre - Ethan Mordden.txt

Passages naming this person, found by keyword across 178 books. A keyword match is not a biography, and a common name will pull in the wrong one.

What this page does not know

  • What this person played. No cast list we hold records a character against a performer.
  • Which of the credits above the roles on this record — actor — apply to. The roles sit on the person and never on a credit, so a director who also acted looks the same here as one who did not.

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