Red Feather (opera)

Produced by Florenz Ziegfeld Jr., Red Feather premiered on Broadway at the Lyric Theatre on November 9, 1903.{{cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y5FCAQAAMAAJ&dq=%22red+feather%22+%22de+koven%22&pg=RA19-PA27|title=Red Feather|journal=Musical Courier|page=27|volume=XLVII|date=November 11, 1903|number=20}} It closed at that theatre on January 2, 1904, after 60 performances.Dietz, p. 190-191 The show was remounted at the Grand Opera House in April 1904 for further performances.Brideson & Brideson, p. 441 Louis F. Gottschalk served as musical director for the production and the work was staged by Joseph W. Herbert and Max Figman. Joseph Smith choreographed dances in the show, and the sets were design by Ernest Albert. Caroline Seidle designed the costumes.

Red Feather starred soprano Grace Van Studdiford as Countess Hilda von Draga, a.k.a "Red Feather", George L. Tallman as Captain Trevors, and Thomas Q. Seabrooke as Baron Bulverstrauss. Others in the cast included Stanley Hawkins as H.R.H. Crown Prince of Romancia, Elise de Vère as Mlle. Fifine, Louis Casavant as Colonel McPatrick, Olive Celeste Moore as Anita, Lillian Sefton as Prada, Margaret Hubbard Ayer as Daphne, and F. Stuart Hyatt as Bagstock Bowler.

Setting: The fictional town of Romancia and the Castle of Countess von Draga

Countess Hilda von Draga is romantically pursued by both H.R.H. Crown Prince of Romancia and Captain Trevors. Unknown to both men, the Countess has plans to overthrow the monarchy of Romania, and is in fact the mysterious 'male bandit' "Red Feather" whose activities have been troubling the crown. Captain Trevors is tasked with capturing the elusive Red Feather by the Crown Prince, unaware that his target is the woman he loves.

The published score of Red Feather describes the work as a comic opera in two acts, and the work has an entry in Operas in English: A Dictionary (2013). However, musical theatre scholar Dan Dietz, while noting that the work was described as a "romantic opera" by its creators in interviews, labeled the work as the first "musical" to be performed on the stage of the newly built Lyric Theatre, and overall questioned its description as an opera. In contrast, the Musical Courier critical review at the time of the production had a very different opinion. It stated the following,

"Red Feather is wholly devoid of coarseness. It can not be classed as a 'comic opera'; it is something higher than that. It possesses all the essentials of a romantic opera and is wanting so many of the objectionable features which mar so many of the light operas."

Music historian Richard Traubner included the work as an example of American operetta in his book Operetta: A Theatrical History (2004).Traubner, p. 343

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book|title=Ziegfeld and His Follies: A Biography of Broadway's Greatest Producer|first1=Cynthia|last1=Brideson|first2=Sara|last2=Brideson|year=2015|isbn=9780813160900|publisher=University Press of Kentucky}}
• {{cite book|first1=Dan|last1=Dietz|title=The Complete Book of 1900s Broadway Musicals|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|year=2022|isbn=9781538168943|chapter=Red Feather}}
• {{cite book|chapter=Red Feather|title=Operas in English: A Dictionary|isbn=9780810883253|publisher=Scarecrow Press|author=Margaret Ross Griffel|year=2013}}
• {{cite book|chapter=American operetta|title=Operetta: A Theatrical History|author=Richard Traubner|year=2004|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=9781135887834}}

• {{IBDB show|id=7405}}
• {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5AERAAAAYAAJ&q=%22red+feather%22+%22opera%22|title=Red Feather: A Comic Opera in Two Acts|author=Reginald De Koven, Charles Klein|publisher=J. W. Stern Publishing Company|year=1903}} (opera score)

Category:1903 operas

Category:1903 musicals

Category:Broadway musicals

Category:Musicals set in fictional countries

Category:Musicals set in castles

Category:Operas by Reginald De Koven

Category:English-language operas

Category:Operettas