Carib Song

Carib Song is a 1945 Broadway musical with book and lyrics by William Archibald and music by Baldwin Bergersen.[1] It opened at the Adelphi Theatre on September 27, 1945, and closed on October 27 after 36 performances.[1][2][3] It was billed as "A Musical Play of the West Indies in Two Acts and Thirteen Scenes".[4] The show focuses heavily on "Trinidadian folklore, ritual, and ethnographic dance".[5]

Premise

Setting: An unnamed island in the West Indies

During Carnival, an unfaithful woman has an affair with a village fisherman.[6][5] She becomes pregnant, leading to gossip; eventually she is cast out of her community and murdered by her husband.[6][5] The first act ended with a "stylized interpretation" of a Shango ritual.[5]

Production

Katherine Dunham, in addition to playing The Woman, served as the show's choreographer and a co-director.[7] George Stanton produced, and Jo Mielziner provided lighting and scenic design.[7] The show's company included Eartha Kitt.[8]

Prior to its opening on Broadway, the show played at the Shubert Theater in Boston, starting September 4, 1945.[9]

Cast
1945 Broadway[8][10]
Leader of the Shango Dancers Vanoye Aikens
The Fishwoman Elsie Benjamin
The Woman Katherine Dunham
The Fat Woman Mable Sanford Lewis
The Fisherman Avon Long
The Shango Priest La Rosa Estrada
The Husband William Franklin
The Tall Woman Mercedes Gilbert
The Boy Possessed by a Snake Tommy Gomez
The Singer Harriet Jackson

Influence

Several of the show's dance pieces were adapted into the repertoire of the Katherine Dunham Company.[5]

Reception

The New York World-Telegram gave the show a positive review, as did the New York Daily News.[11] The New York Herald Tribune criticized the show's focus on dance, saying it "should have been billed as a dance recital".[12] Meanwhile, a writer for Billboard said that Dunham danced too little in the show, and that dancing would have had more emotional impact than some of her dialogue; however, she agreed that "Carib Song...isn't a musical play. It's more of a lavish tropical revue".[9] Others criticized the show for its length and its book, but in general the show's score, scenic design, and dancing were praised, with Long's performance specifically being called out by multiple reviewers.[11]

Criticism of the show also intersected with racial biases and politics: some white critics felt there was dissonance between the serious story and the perceived lightheartedness of the Caribbean, while some Black critics felt the show presented black people as primitive.[13]

References
  1. "Carib Song (Broadway, George Abbott Theatre, 1945)". Playbill. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  2. Nichols, Lewis (1945-09-28). "THE PLAY; 'Carib Song,' With Katherine Dunham and Avon Long, Makes Its Bow at the Adelphi Theatre". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-04-28.
  3. Zolotow, Sam (1945-10-26). "3 PLAYS CLOSING TOMORROW NIGHT; Irwin Shaw's 'Assassin' Will Join 'Bell for Adano' and 'Carib Song' in Quitting Broadway Osborn Writing New Play Medcraft Here With 2 Scripts". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-04-28.
  4. "Performances". katherinedunham.org. Retrieved 2023-04-28.
  5. Vogel, Shane (2010). "Jamaica on Broadway: The Popular Caribbean and Mock Transnational Performance". Theatre Journal. 62 (1): 7. ISSN 0192-2882. JSTOR 40587439.
  6. Perpener, John O. (2001). African-American concert dance : the Harlem Renaissance and beyond. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. p. 153. ISBN 0-252-02675-6. OCLC 45629845.
  7. "Carib Song - 1945 Broadway - Creative Team". www.broadwayworld.com. Retrieved 2023-04-28.
  8. "Carib Song - Current Cast". Playbill. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  9. Pearson, Barbara (15 September 1945). "Carib Song". Billboard.
  10. "Carib Song Original Broadway Musical Cast 1945". Broadway World. Retrieved 2023-04-28.
  11. Dietz, Dan (2015). The complete book of 1940s Broadway musicals. Lanham, Maryland. p. 297. ISBN 978-1-4422-4528-0. OCLC 903014625.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  12. Barnes, Howard (28 September 1945). "I Ain't Like". New York Herald Tribune.
  13. Das, Joanna Dee (2017). Katherine Dunham : dance and the African diaspora. New York, NY. ISBN 978-0-19-026488-8. OCLC 969543476.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
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