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(THEATER.) Program for a London performance by Bert Williams and George Walker of "In Dahomey." Two-sided tri-fold brochure, 10 x 12 1/2 inches, printed in green and brown on pale green paper; minimal wear and foxing. [London]: G. Harmsworth, 1 August 1903
Considered "the first full-length musical written and played by blacks to be performed at a major Broadway house" (Bordman, American Musical Theatre, page 222). The production debuted in New York in February of 1903 before traveling to England. A musical comedy in the vaudeville tradition, it featured lyrics by the poet Paul Lawrence Dunbar and music by Will Marion Cook. Most reviewers keyed in on the lead performers, though, calling the Bahamian-American actor Bert Williams "a vastly funnier man than any white comedian now on the American stage." The program features numerous advertisements, including one of Dunbar's book "The Jest of Fate."
