The Night Casey Was Born by John Evangelist Walsh

Author:John Evangelist Walsh [EVANGELIST WALSH, JOHN]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: SPO003000, SPO003000, SPO003020, HIS036040
ISBN: 9781468301434
Publisher: ABRAMS, Inc. (Ignition)
Published: 2012-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

Wallack’s Theater where DeWolf Hopper first introduced Casey at the Bat to an audience. On Broadway at the southwest corner of 30th Street, it was New York’s newest theater, often used for productions of McCaull Light Opera Company.

A few minutes later came the overture, a lively interlude. Another few minutes, and the tall, heavy curtain parted.

The book of Prince Methusalem (written originally in German by Karl Truemann) was the usual light-hearted nonsense, in this case involving two mythical kingdoms, Trocadero and Riccarac, and their rulers. Hopper played Prince Sigismund, ruler of Trocadero. His daughter, Pulcinella, is betrothed to Prince Methusalem, son of Riccarac’s ruler, Duke Cyprian. The two countries are about to conclude a military treaty, and the young royals are actually married. Before they can consummate the union, however, unexpected trouble arises between the two countries, so that the lovers are separated and kept apart … but enough of this nonsense about palace intrigue and thwarted love!

What counts in a Strauss operetta is not the silly plot, but the music, the big numbers. In this operetta the biggest number comes in Act II, Scene 2, and was sung by Hopper.

The scene opens on a room in the Trocadero palace, with two frustrated lovers, the Prince and Pulcinella, “discovered on a sofa.” They sing a love duet, then hear someone approaching. Methusalem scampers off, and Pulcinella hides behind a curtain. Sigismund/Hopper, elaborately costumed, enters trailed by four pages—the difference in height between the very tall Hopper and the little page boys is extreme. Hopper strides broodingly around the stage, stops short to say something, and the pages bump into him and fall down in roly-poly fashion.

For the next ten minutes various characters enter, exchange dialogue with Sigismund, advancing and complicating, then uncomplicating, the screwball plot. All remain on stage, taking seats at a large oval table at stage center. When finally the stage is crowded, Duke Cyprian enters, and Pulcinella reveals herself. A messenger comes in with good news—by now no one understands what he’s talking about—but Sigismund/Hopper issues an invitation:

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