The Fascinating Widow
{{Short description|Play by Otto Hauerbach}}
{{Infobox musical
| name = The Fascinating Widow
| image = Julian Eltinge (the fascinating widow).jpg
| image_size =
| image_alt =
| caption =
| music = Frederick W. Mills
| lyrics = Otto Harbach
| book = Otto Harbach
| characters =
| setting =
| premiere_date = {{Start date|1910|11|14}}
| premiere_location = Apollo Theatre, Atlantic City, New Jersey
| subject =
}}
The Fascinating Widow is a 1910 musical comedy with music by Frederick W. Mills and both book and lyrics by Otto Harbach. It was created as a starring vehicle for the female impersonator Julian Eltinge. The play premiered in Atlantic City, New Jersey, then toured the United States for 10 months before appearing on Broadway in September 1911.
Productions
The play premiered at the Apollo Theatre in Atlantic City, New Jersey on November 14, 1910, with A.H. Woods producing.{{cite news |title=Eltinge as 'The Widow' |work=Variety |volume=20 |issue=11 |date=November 19, 1910 |page=4 |url=https://archive.org/details/variety20-1910-11}} Woods toured the show around the United States,{{cite book|last1=Bragdon|first1=May|title=May Bragdon Diaries|date=December 31, 1914|publisher=University of Rochester|location=Rochester, NY|page=332|url=https://maybragdon.lib.rochester.edu/islandora/object/maybragdon%3A16177?islandora_paged_content_page=333#page/333/mode/1up/search/whittles|accessdate=26 February 2018}} then brought it back to the Apollo in August 1911,{{cite news |title=Julian Eltinge in Fascinating Widow |work=The New York Times |date=August 29, 1911 |volume=60 |issue=19,575 |page=7 |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=980DE5DA1531E233A2575AC2A96E9C946096D6CF}} before taking it to Broadway. It opened on Broadway at the Liberty Theatre on September 11, 1911.{{cite news |title=Eltinge in Musical Play |work=The New York Times |date=September 12, 1911 |volume=60 |issue=19,589 |page=11 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1911/09/12/104874712.pdf}} After a seven-week run on Broadway, the show returned to the road, where it ran for several more years.
Cast and characters
File:Julian-Eltinge-Fascinating-Widow.jpg
The characters and cast from the Broadway production are given below:
| class="wikitable"
|+ Cast of the Broadway production ! scope="col" | Character ! scope="col" | Broadway cast | |
| Ivy Tracy | Natalie Alt |
| Bessie Bothwell | Marie Baxter |
| Harriet Halford | Blanche Burnham |
| Reverend Wilbur Watts | Charles W. Butler |
| Hal Blake/Mrs. Monte | Julian Eltinge |
| Lottie Lovedale | Gladys Feldman |
| Lankton Wells | Edward Garvie |
| Tessie Danforth | June Mathis |
| Ethel Ethridge | Jean Morrell |
| Maisie Mannering | Louise Orth |
| Mrs. Leffingwell | Carrie E. Perkins |
| Nella Northrup | Dorothy Sanders |
| Cissie Cyril | Natalie Seymour |
| Tuthill Leffingwell | James Spottswood |
| Nick Bulgler | James E. Sullivan |
| Oswald Wentworth | Lionel Walsh |
| John Wilson | Frank Wentworth |
| Rholla Rollins | Dorothy Wilcox |
| Margaret Leffingwell | Winona Winter |
Adaptations
The play was adapted as a silent film in 1925.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category|The Fascinating Widow}}
- {{IBDB show|3478|The Fascinating Widow}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fascinating Widow}}
Category:English-language plays
Category:American plays adapted into films