American Musical Productions presents a 100th Anniversary production of The Desert Song by Sigmund Romberg (Composer of The Student Prince and The New Moon), Otto Harbach, Oscar Hammerstein II and Frank Mandel (Authors of Show Boat, Rose Marie, and No, No, Nanette). Last seen on the Hoover Auditorium stage 65 years ago and in Akron 75 years ago , this swashbuckling musical romance set in French Morocco was ripped from the newspaper headlines in 1925.  The story follows Pierre, the son of the French Governor of Morocco, who masks himself as The Red Shadow to help the native Riffs fight against French oppression. Pierre is in love with a strong-willed French girl Margot who longs for romance and adventure, but not knowing his masked identity, thinks Pierre is a weakling. All ends happily in this sweeping, song-filled spectacle.

The most popular American light opera of all time, Sigmund Romberg’s immortal score contains such hits as the romantic “One Alone,” the stirring male chorus “The Riff Song,” and of course the unforgettable duet “The Desert Song.” The New York Evening World raved, “The Desert Song is a big, red-blooded, romantic musical treat.” Don’t miss this special production celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Broadway premiere, performed by a cast of 30 and a 24-piece orchestra under the direction of Joseph Rubin.

The Desert Song was one of many operas and musical performed from the 1940s through the 1970s by Dorothy Kerst Bacon’s La Petite Opera Comique at Hoover Auditorium. This production revives this longstanding tradition of musical theatre at Lakeside. Akron first saw The Desert Song on the stage of the now demolished Colonial Theatre on October 15-16, 1928. The Akron Beacon Journal raved “the piece boasts of music by the infallible Sigmund Romberg of “Student Prince and “Blossom Time” fame…the score is an outstanding feature of this musical comedy.” This was followed by a local production, the inaugural show of the Goodyear Operetta Society at the Goodyear Theater December 7-9, 1944. The 1945 Broadway revival again played the Colonial on November 8, 1945. The Goodyear Operetta Society repeated The Desert Song as their 15th production December 7-9, 1951. American Musical Productions has preserved the personal papers Cleveland based directors Handel Wadsworth and Emil D’Zomba who co-directed The Desert Song and many other Goodyear Operetta Society shows.