Revolution, romance, lovers, pirates, mutiny and villainy came together in this 1928 Sigmund Romberg and Oscar Hammerstein II operetta, set in 18th-century New Orleans and France. Often regarded as the last great American work in the Golden Age of Operetta, The New Moon premiered on Broadway at the Imperial Theatre on September 19, 1928, starring Evelyn Herbert, Robert Halliday and William O’Neal.

Unsuccessful in its Philadelphia tryout, the show was extensively rewritten before its triumphant Broadway opening. The production later transferred to the Casino Theatre, playing a total of 519 performances. The score features several popular songs, including “Stouthearted Men,” “One Kiss,” and “Lover, Come Back to Me,” which found new life as a jazz standard. Two Broadway revivals and two film adaptations followed the original run, along with hundreds of amateur and professional productions worldwide.

Synopsis

Robert, a bond servant to Monsieur Beaunoir in New Orleans in 1788, is really a French nobleman wanted for murder. He is captured and sent back to France on the New Moon, a vessel whose passenger list also includes his beloved, Marianne Beaunoir. During the voyage, Roberts’ followers rescue him, and he establishes a colony of freemen on the Isle of Pines with Marianne. A year later, after the French Revolution, Robert becomes governor of the island, where he and Marianne live a happy life together.

Characters

Robert – A bond servant to Monsieur Beaunoir
Marianne – Monsieur Beaunoir’s beautiful daughter
Alexander – Another bond servant
Julie – Marianne’s maid
Philippe – A friend of Robert
Besace
Captain Duval
Clotilde Lombaste of the Bride Ship
Vicomte Ribaud – Detective looking for Robert
Fouchette
Beaunoir – Marianne’s Father
Jacques – A ship’s carpenter
Doorkeeper of Tavern
Proprietor of Tavern