JOSHUA WILLIAM GELB

Conceived & Adapted by Joshua William Gelb
From Material by Barras, Goethe & Marlowe
Music & Lyrics by Bicknell, Collins, Kennick, Operti, Packard, Reuter, Sedgwick & Wimmerstedt

"Man must approach theatre as he would a love-affair."

Plot Summary:
The year was 1866. All manager Henry C. Jarrett needed was a theatre. All producer Bill Wheatley needed was a script. And all struggling playwright Charles M. Barras could dream of was enough cash to salvage his career and save his slowly dying wife. The result: An Original, Magical & Spectacular Drama that would change Broadway forever.

Originally performed at Niblo's Garden and universally admitted to be the most brilliant spectacle of Modern Times, the original Black Crook tells the story of Rodolphe, a young painter who sells his soul to a local sorcerer, Hertzog, in order to save his fiance from the wicked clutches of Count Wolfenstein. In this reimagining of the original melodrama, notoriously rumored to be the first American musical, the epic story of Rodolphe plays out side by side with the trials of author Charles M. Barras as his Black Crook becomes a Broadway legend.

Featuring once popular tunes as "You Naughty, Naughty Men" and "The March of the Amazons" this small scale musical adaptation depicts with acute historical accuracy and theatrical ingenuity the on-stage grandeur and the back-stage scheming of Nineteenth Century Melodrama.

Cast:
Five men, three women.

Orchestration:
One pianist.

Running time:
1 3/4 Hours
+Intermission

Previous Productions and Readings:
A Room5001 Theatre Company Production
The Independent Theater
March 2007
Directed by Joshua William Gelb
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