- Source: Rang Tang
Rang Tang is a musical that premiered July 12, 1927, on Broadway at the Royale Theater and ran for 119 performances, including a 14-week overrun, during which, the production moved September 12, 1927, to the Majestic – finishing October 24, 1927. It was acclaimed as one of the most successful black musical revues of the latter 1920s, and owed much to a star-laden cast headlined by Flournoy Miller and Aubrey Lyles. The book — in 2 acts and 12 scenes (2 scenes added later) — is by Kaj Gynt; the lyrics are by Joseph H. Trent; the music is composed by Ford Dabney, who tailored some of the songs for Mae Barnes and Evelyn Preer; the score and post-production music was published by Leo Feist; all copyrighted in 1927 and copyrights renewed in 1954.
History
The production premiered 1 month and 22 days after the world's first solo transatlantic flight – from Roosevelt Field, Mineola, Long Island, to Le Bourget Aerodrome, Paris, by Charles Lindbergh. The musical title, Rang Tang, is slang for orangutan.
= Plot
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Sam Peck (Miller) and Steve Jenkins (Lyles) are two debt-ridden Jimtown barbers who flee their creditors, steal an airplane, and, in the spirit of Charles Lindbergh, embark on another, further, albeit non-solo, first transatlantic non-stop flight from America to Africa in search of treasure. Toward the end of their destination, however, while in flight, the plane begins to malfunction and the wings fall off. Following a safe emergency splash landing in the sea near Madagascar, they meet (i) the Queen of Sheba (Josephine Hall), (ii) the King of Madagascar (Daniel L. Haynes), and (iii) a Zulu tribe. Peck and Jenkins become involved in series of comedic misadventures with natives and fierce animals in the forests, jungles, and deserts – staged as a mythical, exotic, and, at times, terrifying native land. They find a buried treasure, return to the U.S., and arrive at a Harlem cabaret, where they celebrate in grand style their new status as two of the richest men in the world.
Book, lyrics, melodies, arrangements
Premier production
Opening night cast
Male chorus
Ladies of the ensemble
Ford Dabney's Rang Tang Orchestra
In September 1927, "The Witch Doctor," a new scene by Trent and Dabney was added to the show.
‡ Member of the 1921 Shuffle Along cast
Songs
Post Broadway performances
After closing on Broadway, Rang Tang opened in
Brooklyn: Werba's Theater
Baltimore: Ford's Theatre – opened October 24, 1927, for a 1-week engagement
Boston: Tremont Theatre – November 28, 1927
New Haven, Connecticut: Shubert Theatre – opened December 29, 1927
Jamaica, Queens, New York City: Cort Theater – January 1928; John Cort's theater, on 175th Street at Jamaica Avenue; opened August 22, 1927, with the American stage premier of Mr. What's His Name; the structure was designed by Eugene DeRosa
Harlem: Lafayette Theatre – opened February 13, 1928
Other productions
Staged and produced by Edward E. Daley (1884–1933), starring Billy Higgins (1888–1937) and Joe Byrd (né Joseph Byrd; 1886–1946)
Chicago: Woods Theatre – opened June 20, 1928, close July 14, 1928
Detroit (Paradise Valley): Koppin Theater – opened July 28, 1928; note: the Koppin Theater, owned by Henry Koppin (né Henry Emil Koppin; 1900–1961), opened August 27, 1927, and closed in 1929, after the Wall Street Crash of 1929
Legacy as employer of African Americans in Broadway theater
In an informal survey of integrated casts in the 1927 Broadway season, Pittsburgh Courier reporter Floyd J. Calvin (1902–1939) wrote:
Among the white shows that have taken in colored actors are Oscar Hammerstein's Golden Dawn (1927), about 30, with William C. Elkins (né William Calvin Elkins; 1872–1954) in charge of the chorus; Florenz Ziegfeld's Show Boat, about 45, with Jules Bledsoe in the lead; David Belasco's Lulu Belle (1926), about 60 with Edna Thomas and others; In Abraham's Bosom (1926), about 18; Sidewalks of New York (1927), about 8; Porgy (1927), 52; Rang Tang, 80.
Gallery
See also
African-American musical theater
Notes, copyrights, references
= Notes
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= Copyrights
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Original copyrights
Renewals
= Genealogical records
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= Further reading
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= Inline
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= Historic newspapers, magazines, and journals
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External links
Flournoy Miller collection, 1928–1971 at Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division at the New York Public Library
Helen Armstead-Johnson miscellaneous theater collections, 1831–1993 at Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division at the New York Public Library
Rang Tang (1928) (show) at the Internet Broadway Database
Rang Tang (1928) (production) at the Internet Broadway Database
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