The New Moon is anoperetta with music bySigmund Romberg, lyrics byOscar Hammerstein II and book by Oscar Hammerstein II,Frank Mandel, andLaurence Schwab. The show was the third in a string ofBroadway hits for Romberg (afterThe Student Prince (1924) andThe Desert Song (1926)) written in the style ofViennese operetta. Set around the time of theFrench Revolution, the story centers on a young French aristocrat in disguise, who has fled his country and falls in love with the daughter of a prominentNew Orleans planter.
It premiered inPhiladelphia in 1927 and played onBroadway in 1928. It spawned a number of revivals and twofilm adaptations, and it remains popular with light opera companies. The piece turned out to be "Broadway's last hit operetta",[1] asWorld War II and theGolden Age of musicals approached, heralding a change in musical theatre genres.[2]
The New Moon debuted inPhiladelphia on December 22, 1927 at theChestnut Street Opera House.[3] The tryout was a failure, and the show was extensively revised before another tryout inCleveland in August 1928 and then moving to New York City.Al Goodman conducted in both Philadelphia and New York.[4][5]
The operetta opened on Broadway at theImperial Theatre on September 19,1928, ran for 519 performances, and closed at theCasino Theatre on December 14, 1929. The production used set designs byDonald Oenslager. The work was produced in London'sWest End at theDrury Lane Theatre in 1929.[6] Although the piece received international productions and stock revivals lasting into the 1950s,[7] it subsequently disappeared from the repertoire for a few decades. One commentator wrote, "What has keptThe New Moon from being as familiar asNaughty Marietta orThe Student Prince is perhaps its chronological place at the end of operetta's reign over the musical stage.[5]
The operetta was restaged faithfully in 1986 by theNew York City Opera[8] and was telecast byPBS in 1989. TheLight Opera of Manhattan staged the work several times in the 1980s.[9]
City Center Encores! presented a semi-staged revival atNew York City Center in March 2003. The Encores production was presented during the run-up to theIraq War and 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".[1][7]
Robert is a young French aristocrat whoserevolutionist 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 inNew 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 byVicomte Ribaud, the detective villain, and put aboard a ship, theNew 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. Amutiny 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 arevolution in France, and that all aristocrats must die unless they renounce their titles. Ribaud, aRoyalist, heads for execution, but republican Robert renounces his title. All ends happily for him and Marianne.
Two film versions were produced byMGM. The first, in1930, starredGrace Moore andLawrence Tibbett, with a setting inRussia. It added two new songs byHerbert Stothart andClifford Grey. The second, in1940, starredJeanette MacDonald andNelson Eddy.
A television version of a performance atNew York City Opera aired onPBS'sGreat Performances in 1989 and was subsequently issued onVHS andDVD.
No original Broadway cast recording was made, but the 1928 London cast recorded some selections forColumbia. These 78 rpm records have been transferred to CD on the Pearl Label. The song "Stout-hearted Men" was recorded in 1930 byPerry Askam[10] and in 1967 byBarbra Streisand, peaking at No. 2 on theEasy Listening chart.[11]
Earl Wrightson andFrances Greer starred inAl Goodman's recording forRCA Victor (LK-1011).[12]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 withThe Desert Song.[citation needed]Gordon MacRae recorded a 10-inch LP forCapitol Records (Capitol H-219) in 1950 withLucille Norman. It was repackaged as a split release in 1956 on one side of a 12-inch album withRudolf Friml'sThe Vagabond King on the reverse, also with Lucille Norman (Capitol T-219). That release was reissued on CD in 2011 by Vintage Music.[13]
Reader's Digest included the operetta in the 1963 collection,A Treasury of Great Operettas, starringJeanette Scovotti andPeter Palmer and conducted byLehman Engel. As part of a new series of stereo recordings of classic operettas, Capitol had MacRae andDorothy Kirsten record three studio cast albums in 1962 and 1963. Their selections fromThe New Moon (Capitol SW-1966) are available on the EMI CDMusic of Sigmund Romberg, along with selections fromThe Student Prince (Capitol SW-1841), andThe Desert Song (Capitol SW-1842).[14]
The Encores! cast recorded the score in 2004, using the original orchestrations, forGhostlight Records. A reviewer wrote inPlaybill that the recording "is eminently enjoyable. ...The New Moon is vibrant, full-bodied and – yes – stouthearted."[7]John Kenrick praisedRodney Gilfry,Christiane Noll,Brandon Jovanovich, the supporting cast and the conducting, writing: "What a spectacular delight! ... [the] songs soar, exploding with romance and swashbuckling bravado."[15]
