First performance 1 October 1894 Lyricist Harry B. Smith Language English | Composer Reginald De Koven Librettist Harry B. Smith | |
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Rob Roy is an operetta by composer Reginald De Koven and lyricist Harry B. Smith, frequent collaborators, loosely based upon the life of Scottish folk hero Robert Roy MacGregor, better known as Rob Roy, and the Walter Scott novel about him.
Contents
Rob Roy, designated "A Romantic-Comic Opera in 3 Acts", opens with a formal overture. The history-conflating plot covers the adventures of Rob Roy, a highland chieftain secretly married to the daughter of the mayor of Perth, and Bonnie Prince Charlie, the young pretender to the throne of Scotland, who in reality didn't set foot in Scotland until 11 years after the MacGregor's death. It included several songs in imitation of Scottish folk tunes.
Performance history
Rob Roy premiered in Detroit on October 1, 1894. It opened in New York on October 29, 1894, at the Herald Square Theatre and ran for 235 performances, closing on March 23, 1895. A review in the New York Times faulted it only for failing to match the high standard its creators set for themselves in their earlier Robin Hood (1890), though it identified the first act finale and Flora's song in the second act as De Koven and Smith's best work to date. It called Rob Roy "a thoroughly good operetta ... clean, frank, manly, bright, and winsome ... a right good comedy".
Roles
Show cocktail
A whisky-based Rob Roy cocktail, created on the occasion of the operetta's 1894 New York premiere by a bartender at the Waldorf Hotel, imitates the reddish colour of Rob Roy's hair.