The Red Hussar is a comedy opera in three acts by Edward Solomon, with a libretto by Henry Pottinger Stephens, concerning a young ballad singer who disguises herself as a Hussar to follow her penniless beloved to France. By a feat of gallantry, she saves his life and is promoted to the rank of sergeant. It turns out that she is a rich heiress, and all ends happily.
The piece opened at the Lyric Theatre in London on 23 November 1889, running for 175 performances. It was the revised version of an opera written several years earlier called The White Sergeant. It starred Marie Tempest, Hayden Coffin, Arthur Williams and later John Le Hay.
The show also had a New York run, opening on 3 August 1890 at Palmer's Theatre until 11 October, with Tempest making her American debut, and then moving to the Grand Opera House.[1][2] The Red Hussar has enjoyed other revivals.[3]
- ^ "Amusements: Metropolitan Opera House", The New York Times, 3 August 1890
- ^ Bordman, Gerald. American Musical Theatre: A Chronicle, Oxford University Press, 2010 ISBN 0199729700 p. 118
- ^ Article about the 1891 Boston premiere