Rang Tang


Rang Tang is a musical that premiered July 12, 1927, on Broadway at the Royale Theater and ran for 119 performances, including a 14-week overrun, during which, the production moved September 12, 1927, to the Majestic – finishing October 24, 1927. It was acclaimed as one of the most successful black musical revues of the latter 1920s, and owed much to a star-laden cast headlined by Flournoy Miller and Aubrey Lyles. The book — in 2 acts and 12 scenes — is by Kaj Gynt; the lyrics are by Joseph H. Trent; the music is composed by Ford Dabney, who tailored some of the songs for Mae Barnes and Evelyn Preer; the score and post-production music was published by Leo Feist; all copyrighted in 1927 and copyrights renewed in 1954.

History

The production premiered after the world's first solo transatlantic flight – from Roosevelt Field, Mineola, Long Island, to Le Bourget Aerodrome, Paris, by Charles Lindbergh. The musical title, Rang Tang, is slang for orangutan.

Plot

Sam Peck and Steve Jenkins are two debt-ridden Jimtown barbers who flee their creditors, steal an airplane, and, in the spirit of Charles Lindbergh, embark on another, further, albeit non-solo, first transatlantic non-stop flight from America to Africa in search of treasure. Toward the end of their destination, however, while in flight, the plane begins to malfunction and the wings fall off. Following a safe emergency splash landing in the sea near Madagascar, they meet the Queen of Sheba, the King of Madagascar, and a Zulu tribe. Peck and Jenkins become involved in series of comedic misadventures with natives and fierce animals in the forests, jungles, and deserts – staged as a mythical, exotic, and, at times, terrifying native land. They find a buried treasure, return to the U.S., and arrive at a Harlem cabaret, where they celebrate in grand style their new status as two of the richest men in the world.

Book, lyrics, melodies, arrangements


  1. Book: Kaj Gynt
  2. Lyrics: Jo Trent
  3. Music: Ford Dabney
  4. Orchestrations and vocal arrangements: Russell Wooding

Premier production


  1. Choreography: Charles Davis ‡
  2. Staging: Flournoy E. Miller
  3. Set design: Olle Nordmark
  4. Costume design: Olle Nordmark
  5. Costume execution: Hilarie Mahieu Costumes, Inc. – Hilarie Albert Mahieu
  6. Masks, lantern heads, and shields: H. Foster Anderson
  7. Orchestra direction: Ford Dabney
  8. Produced by Walker and Kavanagh – Antoinette Walker and husband, Michael Joseph Patrick Kavanagh

Opening night cast


  1. Flournoy E. Miller, as Sam Peck, a barber ‡
  2. Aubrey Lyles, as Steve Jenkins, a barber ‡
  3. Josephine Hall , as Queen of Sheba and singer
  4. Evelyn Preer
  5. Daniel L. Haynes, as King of Madagascar and chorus member
  6. Inez Draw, singer
  7. Lillian Westmoreland , a so-called "double-voiced" talent – the ability to sing both soprano and alto

  1. Mae Barnes, dancer
  2. Lavinia Mack, dancer
  3. Byron Jones, dancer

  1. Zaidee Jackson, as Magnolia
  2. Crawford Jackson
  3. Joe Willis
  4. Ralph Bryson, dancer

  1. Daniel L. Haynes, bass
  2. Ambrose Allen
  3. Howard Brown
  4. C.H. Gordon
  5. Gilbert Holland
  6. Burble Jackson
  7. Snippy Mason , tenor ‡
  8. Llewellyn Ransom , tenor
  9. James E. Strange , as barbershop customer and chorus member, tenor
  10. Joseph Willis
  11. Clarence Todd
  12. Edwin Alexander
  13. George Battles
  14. Edward Thompson , who, in 1924, married Evelyn Preer

  1. Le 'Etta' Revells
  2. Pauline Jackson
  3. Susie Baker
  4. Gladyce Bronson
  5. Doris Colbert
  6. La Valla Cook
  7. Inez Draw
  8. Teddy Garnette
  9. Alice Hoffman
  10. Margie Hubbard
  11. Frances Hubbard
  12. Evelyn Keyes
  13. Marie Mahood '', as one of six of wives of Chief Bobo; in 1928, she married Marion W. Griffen
  14. Frankye Maxwell
  15. Thelma McLaughlin
  16. Marel Miles
  17. Thula Ortes
  18. Thelma Rhoton
  19. Gladys Schell
  20. Helen Smith
  21. Norma Smith
  22. Gomez Boyer
  23. Mildred Coleman
  24. Leonore Gadsden
  25. Isabel Peterson
  26. Ethelyn Boyd
  27. Irma Miles
  28. Marie Simmons
  29. Anna Humphrey
  30. Gertrude Williams

Songs


  1. "Rang Tang," fox-trot song; Dabney, Trent, Frank E. Barry ;
  2. "Rang Tang," Dabney, Trent
  3. "Brown;" Dabney, Trent, ; Zaidee Jackson, vocalist
  4. "Come to Africa," Dabney and Trent ; Josephine Hall, vocalist
  5. "Ee Yah," hunting song, Dabney, Trent
  6. "Everybody Shout," Dabney and Trent
  7. "Feelin' Kinda Good," Dabney and Trent
  8. "Harlem," Dabney and Trent
  9. "Jubilee in Monkeyland," Dabney and Trent
  10. "Jungle Rose," Dabney and Trent ; ; Evelyn Preer, vocalist
  11. "Jungle Rose," fox trot, Dabney, Trent
  12. "King and Queen," Dabney and Trent
  13. "Pay Me," Dabney and Trent
  14. "Sammy and Topsy," Dabney, Trent
  15. "Sammy's Banjo," Dabney and Trent
  16. "Six Little Wives", Dabney and Trent
  17. "Someday," Dabney, Trent ; Josephine Hall, vocalist
  18. "Sweet Evening Breeze," Dabney and Trent
  19. "Voodoo," Dabney, Trent
  20. "Zulu Fifth Avenue," Dabney and Trent

  1. "Summer Nights," Josephine Hall, vocalist
  2. "Tramps of the Desert"

Post Broadway performances

After closing on Broadway, Rang Tang opened in
In an informal survey of integrated casts in the 1927 Broadway season, Pittsburgh Courier reporter Floyd J. Calvin wrote:

Copyrights

Inline

Historic newspapers, magazines, and journals