Babes in Toyland is an operetta composed by Victor Herbert with a libretto by Glen MacDonough, which wove together various characters from Mother Goose nursery rhymes into a musical extravaganza.

The theme song "Toyland", and the most famous instrumental piece from the operetta, "March of the Toys", occasionally show up on Christmas compilations.

[2] After a three-month tryout beginning on June 17, 1903, at the Grand Opera House in Chicago, followed by a tour to several East Coast cities, the original New York production opened on October 13, 1903, at the Majestic Theatre at Columbus Circle in Manhattan (where The Wizard of Oz had played) and closed after 192 performances on March 19, 1904.

The first-class one played a three-week return engagement beginning on January 2, 1905, at the Majestic, and then continued its tour, keeping the scenic effects and much of the original cast, and making stops in major cities for extended periods of time.

[9] LOOM played this operetta as a Christmas show for six to eight weeks each year thereafter for 13 seasons with considerable success, and this version of the book and lyrics has since been used by various companies, including Troupe America and others.

Contrary Mary, the eldest daughter of the Widow Piper, believing her beloved Alan is dead, has run away with her brother, Tom-Tom, rather than agree to marry Barnaby.

Alan and Jane arrive in Toyland, where they find Contrary Mary and Tom-Tom and seek protection from the Master Toymaker, an evil genius who plots with Barnaby to create toys that kill and maim.

Tom-Tom reveals that an old law of Toyland permitting marriage between a widow and a condemned man on condition that he supports her may save Alan from the gallows.

They send a private eye to search for their children, but this detective sees an opportunity for personal gain in his trip to Toyland; he forces Jane and Alan to help him steal the Toymaker's plans for a new marching toy soldier.

This album was released on Buena Vista Records and features Wynn, Jillian, Ray Bolger, Henry Calvin, Kevin Corcoran, Annette Funicello and Tommy Sands.

[25][26] In April 1930, RKO Pictures purchased the screen rights to Babes in Toyland, planning a lavish production to be supervised by William LeBaron and filmed partly in two-strip Technicolor.

The cast was reported to include Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey, Irene Dunne, Dorothy Lee, Joseph Cawthorn, Edna May Oliver and Ned Sparks.

[28] Walt Disney's Technicolor 1961 film production starred Bolger, Sands, Funicello, Jillian, Calvin, Gene Sheldon and Ed Wynn.

This had a heavily revised plot and new lyrics, but much of the Herbert music was included, although often in altered tempi, and many of the original characters still appeared in the story.

[citation needed] A stage version of Babes in Toyland, with a plotline similar to the Disney film has a book by Rebecca Ryland and music and lyrics by Bill Francoeur.

[29] An animated film version, with a new plot and only one of the original songs, was released in 1997 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer featuring the voices of Christopher Plummer, James Belushi, Bronson Pinchot and Lacey Chabert.

A 1950 version starred Edith Fellows, Robert Weede, and Gil Lamb; Dennis King played a new villain called Dr. Electron.

[30] A 1960 adaptation for television, produced by William Asher, featured Shirley Temple as the old gypsy Floretta, Angela Cartwright as Jane, Jonathan Winters as Barnaby, and Jerry Colonna, Joe Besser, and Carl Ballantine as his henchmen Gonzales, Roderigo, and Gonzorgo.

Unlike most of the earlier film and television adaptations, this version retained many elements the original operetta's plot, focusing on the orphans' escape from their cruel uncle.