She travels through the Spider Forest to seek help from the kind Master Toymaker. In this version, Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep, and her evil Uncle Barnaby is to blame. The program has toured annually since that time. Prerecorded puppet voices were created, featuring Mickey Rooney as the Master Toymaker and his wife Jan Rooney as Mother Goose. In 2003, in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the operetta, Hampton, Virginia–based Rainbow Puppet Productions created a touring puppet version of the show entitled "Toyland!" The new script was adapted by David Messick Jr. The ensemble becomes a mechanical militia of toys for the "March of the Toys", and children from the audience are brought up to help "wind-up" the toy dancers. LOOM played this operetta as a Christmas show for six to eight weeks each year thereafter for 13 seasons with considerable success, and this version of the book and lyrics has since been used by various companies, including Troupe America and others. It was directed by Aborn and choreographed by Virginie Mauret.Ī new book and lyrics for the show were written for the off-Broadway Light Opera of Manhattan (LOOM) in 1975 by Alice Hammerstein Mathias (the daughter of Oscar Hammerstein II) and the company's director-producer William Mount-Burke. Another Broadway revival opened on Decemat the Imperial Theatre, closing in January 1931. Ī Broadway revival opened on Decemat Jolson's 59th Street Theatre, closing on January 11, 1930. The operetta has been staged nine times at The Muny, beginning in 1920. The second-class tour with a reduced cast and orchestra was streamlined for short stays on the road. The first-class one played a three-week return engagement beginning on Januat the Majestic, and then continuing its tour, kept the scenic effects and much of the original cast, making stops in major cities for extended periods of time. In September 1904, two tours went on the road. Young and Homer Emens, with costumes designed by Caroline Siedle. Large audiences were drawn to the musical by the spectacular settings and opulent sets (e.g., the Floral Palace of the Moth Queen, the Garden of Contrary Mary) of Toyland. Īfter a three-month tryout beginning on Jat the Grand Opera House in Chicago, followed by a tour to several East Coast cities, the original New York production opened on Octoat the Majestic Theatre at Columbus Circle in Manhattan (where The Wizard of Oz had played) and closed after 192 performances on March 19, 1904. The piece was so popular that it spawned other "fairy-tale" shows over the next decade. This was followed by many successful tours and revivals. The original production opened at the Chicago Grand Opera house in June 1903, produced by Hamlin and directed by Mitchell, and toured to several East Coast cities before opening in New York in October 1903 and ran for 192 performances. The theme song "Toyland", and the most famous instrumental piece from the operetta, "March of the Toys", occasionally show up on Christmas compilations. Babes in Toyland features some of Herbert's most famous songs – among them "Toyland", "March of the Toys", "Go To Sleep, Slumber Deep", and "I Can't Do the Sum". Mitchell and MacDonough persuaded Victor Herbert to join the production. MacDonough had helped Mitchell with revisions to the Oz libretto by L. Hamlin and director Julian Mitchell hoped to create more family musicals. Following the extraordinary success of their stage musical The Wizard of Oz, which was produced in New York beginning in January 1903, producer Fred R. Babes in Toyland is an operetta composed by Victor Herbert with a libretto by Glen MacDonough, which wove together various characters from Mother Goose nursery rhymes into a Christmas-themed musical extravaganza.
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