Tuxedo (vaudeville)
Encyclopedia
Tuxedo is a vaudeville
with minstrelsy
in which the song "Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay
" was interpolated.
Actor and songwriter Edward Marble wrote and produced Tuxedo for George Thatcher and his minstrel troupe known as Thatcher's Minstrels. It played a tryout in Boston, Massachusetts beginning on August 24, 1891. The song "Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay" was introduced in this show.
Tuxedo arrived in New York at the Park Theatre (at Broadway and 35th Street) on October 5, 1891.
wrote:
Just a week later, a Times critic wrote:
The Tuxedo company toured for years during which many performers joined and left the company. It returned to New York on March 7, 1892, and again on March 21, 1893, this time at the Columbus Theatre.
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
with minstrelsy
Minstrel show
The minstrel show, or minstrelsy, was an American entertainment consisting of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music, performed by white people in blackface or, especially after the Civil War, black people in blackface....
in which the song "Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay
Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay
"Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay" is a vaudeville and music hall song, copyrighted by Henry J. Sayers, and introduced in Boston, Massachusetts in Tuxedo in 1891. The song was best known in the version sung by Lottie Collins in London music halls in 1892....
" was interpolated.
Actor and songwriter Edward Marble wrote and produced Tuxedo for George Thatcher and his minstrel troupe known as Thatcher's Minstrels. It played a tryout in Boston, Massachusetts beginning on August 24, 1891. The song "Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay" was introduced in this show.
Tuxedo arrived in New York at the Park Theatre (at Broadway and 35th Street) on October 5, 1891.
Background
In describing Tuxedo, The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
wrote:
- "The work, it is said, makes no pretension to anything like a connected plot, but affords opportunity for the introduction of a large number of 'specialties' which are relied on to keep alive the interest of the audience. The action takes place in Tuxedo, and during its progress an English Lord, a typical 'tough,' and a number of pretty girls are introduced. The Thatcher company include Hughey Dougherty, George Lewis, Andrew Powers, James H. Powers, E. M. E. O'Rourke, and W. H. Frillman, and among the females of the cast are Ida Fitzhugh, Agnes Halleck, Irene Murphy, and Mamie Gilroy. A burlesque of Faust and Marguerite is a feature of the last act."
Just a week later, a Times critic wrote:
- "The combination of minstrelsy and farce at the Park Theatre called Tuxedo has made the hit of the season at that house, which is rapidly becoming established as the chosen home of this light style of entertainment in New-York. George Thatcher and Hughey Dougherty are the two leading people in the entertainment, and to see Hughey in a white face is of itself enough to crowd the house."
The Tuxedo company toured for years during which many performers joined and left the company. It returned to New York on March 7, 1892, and again on March 21, 1893, this time at the Columbus Theatre.