Music Circus

[1] Established as summer stock, the new theatre venues primarily housed light operas and operettas, produced in the round, under a circus-style big top.

When a visiting touring company of an Irving Berlin musical needed performing space, Terrell suggested bulldozing a large pit for a stage in the center and audience on sloping and rising seating all around covered by a tent.

[5] St. John Terrell's Music Circus was an instant success, and launched a wide variety of copycats, with 40 "tune tents" scattered around the country, including Cape Cod, Massachusetts; Miami, Florida; and Sacramento, California.

While the modern musical theatre genre was being developed on Broadway by the likes of Rodgers & Hammerstein and Lerner & Loewe, the product being produced by most summer stocks remained primarily older works.

The first Lambertville season included The Merry Widow, The Desert Song and The Chocolate Soldier,[6] but nothing from the contemporary Broadway canon.