Tabasco (burlesque opera)
The work is written in a blend of styles including operetta, musical theatre, Victorian burlesque, and vaudeville.
The brother and sister both comment on their hopes of finding a little romance while in this exotic country and recount the morning’s trades, including a small bottle of red hot sauce acquired by Lola.
The Pasha takes one bite and declares that if François cannot prepare a dish spicy enough to appease his tastes by dinner, he will be beheaded.
Marco persuades her to agree by explaining they can put the small bottle of hot sauce in François’ pocket.
In the Pasha’s seraglio François is presented as Fatima and Marco and Lola have a difficult time making their exit.
The Bey’s Palace in Tangier Fatima strategically avoids the Pasha’s advances and is allowed to see her “cousin” Marco.
In order to abduct Fatima, François and Marco disguise themselves as dancing girls from Marrakesh and sneak into the festivities.
With the explosive box in hand, the Pasha sings an original song he has composed extolling the virtues of Tabasco.
Marco asks for Fatima’s release and in exchange offers to sail to the exotic land of Louisiana to bring back all the Tabasco the Pasha could ever desire.
Overture Interlude (G) A Boston volunteer militia, the First Corps of Cadets, commissioned Chadwick and Barnet to create Tabasco as a fundraiser for a new armory.
[4] While Chadwick and Barnet created Tabasco for an amateur group, they also had aspirations for selling the work to professional theatrical producers.
They were successful in this ambition, and immediately following the Tremont Theatre premiere they sold the performance rights to the work to Boston-based producer Edward E. Rice.
Rice, in turn sold the performance rights of the work to actor Thomas Q. Seabrooke who was impressed by the opera's popularity among Boston audiences and intended to make himself the star of a professional staging.
"[4] Because Seabrooke intended to perform the opera commercially, he required, and obtained, the permission of McIlhenny Company to use its proprietary trademark.
As part of its approval, however, McIlhenny Company required Seabrooke to pass out samples of Tabasco sauce during his productions.
So popular was Seabrooke's commercial production of the opera that “The Tabasco March,” the main theme composed by Chadwick, was issued in the form of a mechanical music box disk.
[citation needed] Seabrooke's altered version of the work premiered under the original title Tabasco in Norwich, Connecticut on April 6, 1894.
In January 2018 Paul Mauffray conducted the entire opera in a production of New Orleans Opera Association directed by Josh Shaw, complete with sets and costumes, in performances at Le Petit Théâtre du Vieux Carré in New Orleans' French Quarter[9][10][11][12][13]
