The New Moon

For other uses, see New Moon (disambiguation).

The New Moon is the name of an operetta with music by Sigmund Romberg and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, Frank Mandel, and Laurence Schwab. The show was the third and last in a string of Broadway hits for Romberg (after The Student Prince (1924) and The Desert Song (1926)) written in the style of Viennese operetta. It spawned a number of revivals and film versions and is still played by light opera companies.

Performance history

The New Moon debuted in Philadelphia on Christmas Eve, 1927. The tryout was a failure, and the show was extensively revised before moving to New York. Al Goodman conducted in both Philadelphia and New York.

The operetta opened on Broadway at the Imperial Theatre on September 19, 1928, ran for 519 performances, and closed at the Casino Theatre on December 14, 1929. The production used set designs by Donald Oenslager. The work was produced in London's West End in 1929. The operetta was restaged faithfully in 1988 by the New York City Opera and was telecast by PBS in 1989. The Light Opera of Manhattan staged the work several times in the 1980s.

City Center Encores! presented a semi-staged revival at New York City Center in March 2003. An original cast album was made of this revival and released by Ghostlight Records (an imprint of Sh-K-Boom Records) on November 16, 2004. The Encores production was presented during the run-up to the Iraq War and was the scene of an unlikely controversy when, during the five performances, part of the audience responded with loud applause and cheers to the line "One can be loyal to one's country and yet forswear its leader" and others replied to the cheers with boos. However, there was only a smattering of boos discernible at the end of raucous applause that, on at least one occasion (opening night), lasted a good five minutes. It was such a surprise to the cast members that many of them broke from their poses and looked up in awe and admiration at what turned out to be a portentous crowd.

Roles and original Broadway cast

• Marianne Beaunoir (soprano) — Evelyn Herbert
• Monsieur Beaunoir, her father — Pacie Ripple
• Julie, her maid (soprano) — Marie Callahan
• Captain Georges Duval — Edward Nell, Jr.
• Robert Misson (tenor) — Robert Halliday
• Alexander (baritone) —
• Philippe (tenor) — William O'Neal
• Clotilde Lombaste (soprano) — Esther Howard
• Besac, boatswain of the 'New Moon' (baritone) — Lyle Evans
• Jacques, ship's carpenter — Earle Mitchell
• Vicomte Ribaud — Max Figman
• Flower Girl — Olga Albani
• Fouchette — Thomas Dale
• Emile, Brunet, Admiral de Jean, etc.

Synopsis

Robert is a young French aristocrat whose revolutionist inclinations force him to flee his country. Under an assumed name, he sells himself as a bond-servant to planter and ship-owner Monsieur Beaunoir and his family in New Orleans in 1792. Because the Paris police are looking everywhere for him, Robert cannot tell Beaunoir or Beaunoir's beautiful daughter Marianne, with whom he has fallen in love, that he is of noble blood. Eventually he is tracked down by Vicomte Ribaud, the detective villain, and put aboard a ship, The New Moon, so that he can be returned to France. Robert thinks he has been betrayed by Marianne, who has gained her father's consent to travel on the same ship, pretending that she is in love with the ship's captain, Duval. A mutiny occurs, and Robert and the bond-servants come into power. Everyone goes ashore on the Isle of Pines, and a new republic is founded.

The republic flourishes under Robert's guidance. But Marianne, her pride hurt, at first refuses to marry Robert. French ships arrive, apparently to reclaim the island. Vicomte Ribaud expects them to conquer the island for the King of France. But the French Commander reveals that there has been a revolution in France, and that all aristocrats like himself must die unless they renounce their titles. Ribaud, a Royalist, heads for execution, but republican Robert renounces his title. All ends happily for him and Marianne.

Musical numbers

Act I

• Dainty Wisp of a Thistledown (Ensemble)
• Marianne (Robert)
• The Girl on The Prow (Marianne, Besac and Ensemble)
• Gorgeous Alexander (Julie, Alexander and Girls)
• An Interrupted Love Song (Captain Paul Duval, Marianne and Robert)
• Tavern Song (Flower Girl, a Dancer and Ensemble)
• Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise (Philippe and Ensemble)
• Stout-hearted Men (Robert, Philippe and Men)
• Fair Rosita (Girls and The Dancers)
• One Kiss (Marianne and Girls)
• Ladies of the Jury (Alexander, Julie, Clotilde Lombaste and Girls)
• Wanting You (Marianne and Robert)

Act II

• A Chanty (Besac and Men)
• Funny Little Sailor Man (Clotilde Lombaste, Besac and Ensemble)
• Lover, Come Back to Me (Marianne)
• Love Is Quite a Simple Thing (Robert, Besac, Alexander and Julie)
• Try Her Out at Dances (Alexander, Julie and Girls)
• Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise (Phillippe and Men)
• Never (for You) (Marianne)
• Lover, Come Back to Me (Reprise) (Robert and Men)

Film versions

Main article: New Moon (1940 film)

Main article: New Moon (1930 film)

Film versions were produced by MGM in 1930, with a setting in Russia, and in 1940, starring Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. The 1930 version added new songs not by Romberg.

Recordings

There are quite a few recordings of this score. No original Broadway cast recording was made, but the 1928 London cast recorded some selections for EMI. These 78-RPM records have been transferred to CD on the Pearl Label.

Earl Wrightson and Frances Greer starred in Al Goodman's recording for RCA Victor. This has not been released on CD and has not been in print since the LP issue in 1951. Decca made an album in 1953 with Lee Sweetland and Jane Wilson covering six selections from the score which has been reissued on CD paired with The Desert Song. Gordon MacRae recorded a 10-inch LP for Capitol Records of the score. It was later repackaged on one side of a 12-inch album (with Rudolf Friml's The Vagabond King on the reverse), but that album has been out-of-print since the late 1960s.

Reader's Digest include a selection in their album A Treasury of Great Operettas, first offered for sale in 1963. This stereo recording is available on CD. Also in 1963, as part of a series of stereo recordings of classic operettas, Capitol had MacRae and Dorothy Kirsten record a full album of the score. Most of it can be heard on the EMI CD Music of Sigmund Romberg, along with selections from The Student Prince and The Desert Song.

A 2004 concert staging in New York led to the release of a CD containing the entire score and using the original orchestrations. It is available on the Ghostlight label.

References

• Information about the operetta

External links

• IBDB listing for the original Broadway production
• Information about the 1940 film at the Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy site
• NY Times review of the 1986 City Opera production