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Abyssinia / George Walker [theatrical performance]

Title

Abyssinia [Theatrical Performance]

Performers

Walker, George

Williams, Bert

Walker, Ada Overton

Published/Created

1906-02-20

Genre

Theatrical Performance

Venue

Majestic Theater

Abstract

A musical oddity (comedy) in one act, a prologue and 4 scenes. Book and lyrics by Jesse A. Shipp and Alex Rogers. Music by Will Marion Cook and Bert A. Williams. Staged by Alex Rogers and Jesse A. Shipp. Dances arranged by Ada Overton Walker. Opened 20 February 1906 at the Majestic Theatre and closed 17 March 1906 after 31 performances.

Including many of the same players in In Dahomey, and the same stars, Williams and Walker, Abyssinia marked an obvious advance in writing and staging techniques for the group. After Rastus Johnson (George Walker) wins $15,000 in a lottery, Rastus and Jasmine Jenkins (Bert Williams) decide to visit the land of their ancestors, which they have determined was Abyssinia. Their ignorance of foreign ways leads Rastus and Jasmine into several misadventures culminating before the throne of Abyssinia's iron-fisted monarch, Menelik. The Africans speak the King's English. On the other hand, the Americans speak lines straight out of minstrelsy. Will Marion Cook and Williams supplied the score. It represented the best black popular musical writing of the period, with native and international styles in reciprocal influences.

Some of the lines are straight out of minstrelsy:
Jasmine: And you's a philosophy?
Rastus: Philosopher.
Jasmine: What's the duty of a philoso- philoso- (finally add pede)
Rastus: To look on the bright side of other people's troubles when you haven't any of your own.

Source

Bordman, Gerald: American Musical Theatre: A Chronicle. New York: Oxford University Press (1992).

Last Updated: 12-16-2015