The Black Crook, 1866

The run closed January 4, 1868

Opened

1866

Closed

January 4, 1868

Performances

474

Previews

—

Theatre

—

Of the 119 productions we hold that opened in the 1860s and record a performance count, this is the 2nd longest. That is a rank within what we hold, not within everything that was staged.

Other stagings of The Black Crook 2 more that season

Who was in it66 named

Armande
Artois
Miss Atkins
George Atkins
E Barry
St Bertrand
J W Blaisdell
Marie Bonfanti
George Boniface
Miss Brown
J G Burnett
Milly Cavendish
Rose Cheri
F Clark
Miss Consoll
Helene Delval
Rose Delval
Marie Doche
Marie Duclos
Elise
F Ellis
Mr Evans
Hernandez Foster
Mr Gage
Guiseppe
Helene
Miss Hodges
E B Holmes
Fleur Jollie
Miss Josephine
Lacroix
Mr Law
Frank Little
Luisidi
Marie
Giovana Mazzeri
Louisa Mazzeri
Miss Mclean
Mr Miles
C H Morton
Rose Morton
Miss Moseley
Nathile
Paulina
Portois
Leoni Portois
Mr Pray
Mr Rendle
Miss Richardson
Betty Rigl
Emily Rigl
Rita Sangalli
Mr Snowden
Mr Tuttle
Urban
H Weaver
Mr Webb
Mr Wells
Mary Wells
Mr West
Miss C Whitlock
Mr Willis
Zuardi
Amelie Zuccoli
Eugenia Zuccoli

1 of these 66 names have a person record behind them and link to one. The other 65 are set from the identifier in the cast list, which is a slug of the name — so hyphens and full stops are lost and a few come out wrong. We hold nothing else about them. Nobody here is matched to a character: the cast list records who was in the company and not what they played.

Creative team

Director

William Wheatley

A producer is one string on this record, however many people or companies it names. Directors and choreographers are held both as text and as identifiers; where an identifier exists the name links to a page.

Around this production

The show only happened because a fire at the Academy of Music left a French ballet troupe stranded in New York, and the producer merged their act with an existing melodrama.

• He takes for his starting point The Black Crook — staged in 1866 and usually accepted as the first Broadway musical — a farouche extravaganza which for the first time combined dancing and singing with an underlying plot and dialogue (a form of entertainment which could recently have been seen in London’s Drury Lane in… Broadway Musicals Show By Show Seventh Edition Stanley Green Cary Ginell, p. 5
• Broadway Musicals Show by Show is a combination history, guide, fact book, and photograph album of the most memorable productions presented both on and off Broadway from The Black Crook in 1866 to Big River in 1985. Broadway Musicals Show By Show Seventh Edition Stanley Green Cary Ginell, p. 7
• American plays embellished with songs were being offered in New York as early as Colonial days, but The Black Crook was the first long-running musical hit, with a record run that was not overtaken until Adonis established a new mark in the late 1880’s. Broadway Musicals Show By Show Seventh Edition Stanley Green Cary Ginell, p. 14
• From then on, plays embellished with songs became a major attraction for seekers of theatrical entertainment along the Great White Way. Broadway Musicals Show By Show Green Stanley Green Kay 5th Ed Rev and Updated By, p. 21
• The Black Crookwas the first long-running musical hit, with a record run that was not overtaken until Adonis established a new mark in the late 1880’s. Broadway Musicals Show By Show Green Stanley Green Kay 5th Ed Rev and Updated By, p. 27

Passages naming this production, found by keyword across 178 books. Where it turns up in the literature, not curated notes about it.

What this page does not know

• No photograph of this staging. 48 of 13,459 productions hold one.
• No character names. We can say who was in the company and not who they played.
• No recording is held for The Black Crook at all.
• Reviews, box office, running order, understudies and designers: none of it is held for any production.