The Red Moon is a musical or operetta in three acts with music by J.

Rosamund Johnson and

both book and lyrics by Bob Cole.[1] Additional music was contributed by James Reese
Europe who composed the song "Sambo" for the show, and co-wrote the song "Ada (My Sweet
Potater)" with Cole and lyrics by Charles A. Hunter.[2][3] Labeled and marketed by its creators as a
"sensation in red and black", the work has been classified variously by theatre scholars as a
musical and an operetta.[1] The show was created by African Americans and starred an all-Black
cast in its original 1908-1910 production.[2] The show is regarded as historically important to
American theatre because it was the first Broadway show to depict alliances between African
Americans and Native Americans.[4]

Plot[edit]
The Red Moon is set in the fictional town of Swamptown, Virginia, and on an Indian
reservation somewhere in the Rocky Mountains.[2] The story follows a young half African
American and Native American woman, Minnehaha, who has recently graduated from the
Swamptown Institute. This fictional school is based on the Hampton Institute; a historically Black
college now known as Hampton University.[5]
Minnehaha lives with her African American mother, Lucretia Martin, on a Virginia farm. They are
visited by her father, Indian Chief Lowdog, who abandoned his wife Lucretia when Minnehaha
was three years old.[6] Lowdog is perturbed by his daughter's pretentious manners, vanity, and
condescending social airs.[2] Along with Indian brave and Swamptown graduate Red Feather,
Lowdog kidnaps Minnehaha and takes her back home to the reservation,[7] but she rebels from
assimilating into Native life.[5] Minnehaha is romantically pursued by Red Feather,[6] but desires
instead to return back to Swamptown to reunite with her boyfriend, Plunk Green.[7]
Meanwhile, Plunk Green and his pianist friend Slim Brown decide they must rescue Minnehaha,
and the two arrive at the reservation disguised as a lawyer and a doctor.[7] A rivalry for
Minnehaha's heart forms between Plunk Green and Red Feather; forming a central love triangle
within the plot.[6] After several misadventures Plunk Green and Slim Brown succeed in outwitting
Lowdog and Red Feather, and bring Minnehaha happily back home to Swamptown.[7] Chief
Lowdog and Lucretia Martin reconcile and their marriage is rekindled. The show ends with
Minnehaha and Plunk Green's wedding.[6]

History[edit]
Virginia Tech Africana Studies professor Paula Marie Seniors stated that "The Red
Moon introduced audiences to African American and Native American solidarity";[6] and that it
"provided audiences with the first rendering of African American and Native American alliances
on Broadway."[4] It was the first stage work in the history of American theatre to feature romantic
relationships between African Americans and Native Americans.[8]
The opening setting at the Swamptown school is based on the historically Black college Hampton
University. At the time this show was written, Hampton had in the recent past been transformed
into a biracial institution for blacks and Native Americans with the support of Booker T.
Washington who taught classes in the new biracial environment. This decision to adopt biracial
education drew criticism from some individuals in white society who feared unification between
Blacks and Native Americans could lead to violence and insurrection.[9] The Red Moon opens its
story in this biracial education environment, and presents a picture of the value of both higher
education and unity between African Americans and Native Americans.[10]
Cole used his own Black Seminole ancestry to inform the crafting of The Red Moon, and care
was taken to authentically represent both Native American and African American folklore and
culture.[11] Emphasis was placed on shared religious beliefs and commonalities in folklore
between the two people groups.[12] The title of The Red Moon was taken from traditional beliefs
about the red moon or "harvest moon" in Native and African American cultures. The 'red moon' is
a bad omen in African American folklore and is seen as a call to war in some Native American
traditions.[9] The name of the half African American and Native American main character,
Minnehaha, is taken from the Dakota language and means "waterfall".[6]
The Red Moon was created at a time when operetta was at the height of its popularity on the
American stage. Franz Lehár's The Merry Widow had been a tremendous success
on Broadway in 1907, and this work prompted the creation of many American operettas in its
immediate wake, including Cole and Johnson's The Red Moon.[13] Inspired by the Indianist
movement of the early 20th century,[14] the music of the show blended Native American music
with the classical idioms of European operetta along with the popular styles of Tin Pan Alley, and
the ballad and dialect songs of Broadway musicals and minstrel shows.[15][16] Examples of this
include the song "Bleeding Moon", which told the story of an Indian curse and the Native
American love song "The Big Red Shawl".[14]
As with their previous shows, Cole and Johnson crafted the work with starring roles for
themselves, creating the comic duo of Plunk Green (Cole) and Slim Brown (Johnson).[13] In
addition to Cole and Johnson, the all-Black cast of The Red Moon included operatic
soprano Abbie Mitchell as Minnehaha, Arthur Talbot as Chief Lowdog, Elizabeth Williams as
Lucretia Martin, Andrew Tribble as Lily White, Theodore Pankey as Red Feather, and Fanny
Wise as Truscalina White Nakomis among others.[2] The show was directed by Cole who may
have also choreographed the work.[2] The musical forces were led under the direction of James
Reese Europe. Europe, who wrote the music to two of the show's songs, "Sambo" and "Ada (My
Sweet Potater)", also contributed some instrumental melodies to the show's score; although the
majority of the music was written by Johnson.[16]
Musical theatre scholar Dan Dietz described The Red Moon as a "popular road musical".[2] The
show toured the United States from 1908 to 1910.[5] It was first performed in Wilmington,
Delaware, on August 31, 1908; after which it toured to other cities.[13] The show was produced by
A. L. Wilbur;[2] a producer who was known for backing productions of comic operas and operettas
with the Wilbur Opera Company.[17] In March 1909, after performing the work in Montreal, the
company toured the show to the nearby Caugnawago Reservation on the St. Lawrence River as
guests of Chief Mitchal Dial Bount and performed the work to an audience of Iroquois people.
Johnson was later made a sub-chief of this Iroquois tribe in 1921 in recognition of his efforts to
"dignify stage representations of Indians".[18]
The Red Moon's tour reached Broadway's Majestic Theatre on May 3, 1909, where it ran for a
total of 32 performances; closing on May 29, 1909.[2] Wilbur was one of the owners of this
theater.[19] Critical reaction to the work was mixed; with several white critics in particular
complaining that the work incorporated Native American and "white" music and theatre styles
into a Black show.[15] The New York Times dismissed the show's plot as "flimsy and
uninteresting", but praised the performances of its stars and the music.[20] The Indianapolis
Freeman gave a favorable appraisal of the show, its sets and costumes, performers, and songs.[9]

Operetta or musical?[edit]
Scholarship on The Red Moon has been divided on whether the work should be labeled as an
operetta or a musical comedy. The creators of The Red Moon did not designate whether their
work was an operetta or a musical, but instead labeled the piece as a "sensation in red and
black".[21][1] Historian Bernard L. Peterson, a widely recognized authority of African American
theatre,[22] labeled the work an operetta while simultaneously acknowledging that the work could
be considered a musical comedy.[1] The Cambridge Companion to the Musical stated that
"although a few of the songs are reflective of the earlier ragtime genre, many are written as art
songs, similar to those of Amy Beach, George W. Chadwick, and Reginald De Koven,
making The Red Moon more of an operetta than a musical comedy."[23]
Musicologist and ragtime authority David A Jasen and African American music historian Gene
Jones stated that The Red Moon "was American operetta at its best" and drew a through line to
the work's creation to Franz Lehár's The Merry Widow.[13] However, these scholars also described
the work as "a fresh amalgamation of 'Indian music', Tin Pan Alley syncopation, ballads, and
dialect numbers".[7] Cultural historian Robert Letellier also labeled the work an operetta, and
included the work in his compendium of American operettas Operetta, A Sourcebook, Volume
II (2015, Cambridge Scholars Publishing).[24] The work has also been labeled an operetta in The
Music of Black Americans: A History (Cambridge University Press, 1997),[25] The Garland
Encyclopedia of World Music,[26] and An Inconvenient Black History of British Musical Theatre
1900 - 1950 (2021, Bloomsbury Publishing)[27] among other academic publications.
In contrast, ShanghaiTech University professor Peter Raccuglia labeled the work as a musical in
his 2022 journal article in American Quarterly, "An American Musical in Red and Black".[28] James
Reese Europe biographer Reid Badger also labeled the work a musical comedy.[29] The work has
also been described as a musical comedy in The A to Z of African American
Theater (2009, Scarecrow Press),[30] Racial Uplift and American Music, 1878-
1943 (2012, University Press of Mississippi),[31] and The Complete Book of 1900s Broadway
Musicals (2022, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers)[2] among other academic works.
Other writers on the work have avoided labeling the work a musical or operetta altogether.
Theatre historians Gerald Bordman and Richard C. Norton in American Musical Theatre: A
Chronicle (2010, Oxford University Press) simply describe the work as "a Black show".
[32]
Cleveland State University professor of African American, African Diaspora, and American
Cultural History Karen Sotiropoulos noted that The Red Moon was criticized by white critics for
being "too white" because of its adoption of art forms other than stereotypical black musical
comedy.[33]

Musical numbers[edit]
The following is a list of the musical numbers at the time of the Broadway run of The Red Moon.[2]
Act 1

 "Opening Chorus"[2]
 "Life Is a Game of Checkers"[2]
 "Keep on Smilin"[2]
 "Don't Tell Tales Out of School"[2]
 "I Love But You"[2]
 "Ada (My Sweet Potater)" (music by Bob Cole and James Reese Europe; lyrics by Charles
A. Hunter)[2]
 "Finale"[2]
Act 2

 "Prelude"[2]
 "Bleeding Moon"[2]
 "The Big Red Shawl"[2]
 "The Pathway of Love"[2]
 "On the Road to Monterey"[2]
 "War Dance"[2]
Act 3

 "Red Moon To-da-lo"[2]

 "Sambo" (music by James Reese Europe)[2]
 "Pianologue"[2]
 "Run, Billy Possum, Run"[2]
 "I Ain't Had No Lovin' in a Long Time" (music by James Reese Europe)[2]
 "Love Me, Baby Mine"[2]