The Free Lance
 |
| The Free Lance | |
|---|---|
| Opera by John Philip Sousa | |
 Title page of the vocal score to The Free Lance by Sousa. | |
| Librettist | Harry B. Smith |
| Premiere | March 26, 1906 |
The Free Lance is an operetta composed in 1905 by John Philip Sousa and libretto by Harry B. Smith. It premiered on March 26, 1906 at the Court Square Theater in Springfield, Massachusetts.
The complete libretto has been transcribed for easier reading by Arthur O’Dwyer (2025) here.
Productions
After the premiere run in Massachusetts, the original Broadway run premiered on April 16, 1906 and closing May 26th, 1906 with 35 performances at the New Amsterdam Theatre.
Reviews
On February 7, 1907, The Pensacola Journal said the production was "a genuine comic opera in which the librettist has evolved as finished a story as he did in his great success Robin Hood more than a decade ago."
The march On to Victory was particularly well received and was "considered a worthy successor to The Washington Post and The Stars and Stripes Forever.
Revivals
In 1979, Basil Langton produced The Free Lance at the Philadelphia Academy.
The New York Times stated in a review the production seemed to heavily lean on the American patriotism of John Philip Sousa over the actual setting of the made up kingdoms of Braggadocia and Graftaina that the operetta took place in.
- On the set, "the beautiful old house was festooned with American flags, and the set itself had American flags all over it. That was strange, because the locale was supposed to be the countries of Braggadocia and Graftania...But it did not work very well, and this directorial jingoism only detracted from the sweet, innocent little work — a work, by the way, that is as "American" as Gilbert and Sullivan."
In 2017, the Comic Opera Guild in Ann Arbor, Michigan performed a concert style production.
Roles
Source:
| Role | 1906 Broadway cast | 1979 Langston cast | 2017 Comic Opera Guild Cast |
|---|---|---|---|
| Siegmund Lump, a brigand chief (baritone) | Joseph Cawthorn | John Reardon | David Andrews |
| The Emperor of Braggadocia, a monarch devoted to art and poetry (baritone) | Felix Haney | Theodor Uppman | Tom Petiet |
| The Duke of Graftiana, a convivial potentate (bass) | Albert Hart | Anthony Tamburello | Chris Grapetine |
| Prince Florian, his son (tenor) | George Talman | Harry Danner | Christopher Wolf |
| Pertinax, Braggadocia's Court Censor (baritone) | Sim Pulen | James Greene | Georffrey Kelm |
| Dagonet, Graftiana's Minister of the Interior (baritone) | Louis Haines | Julio Rosario | James Walker |
| Leandre, a page | Geraldine Malone | Claire Agresta | |
| Silvandre, a page | Monte Elmo | ||
| Herald of Braggadocia | Henry J. Santra | Robert Westbrook | |
| Griselda, a goose-girl (soprano) | Jeannette Lowrie | Evelyn Petros | Amanda Williams |
| Yolande, the Emperor's daughter, a sentimental princess | Nella Bergen | Shigemi Matsumoto | Schyler Sheltrown |
| Jacqueline, maid of honor | Estelle Thebaud | Alice Collins-Thompson | |
| Diane, maid of honor | Dorothy Southwick | Barbara Cox-Diamond | |
| Mopsa, an amateur sorceress (mezzo-soprano) | Fanny Midgley | Pat Petiet | |
| Chorus of Courtiers, Pages, Maids of Honor, Warriors of Graftiana, Amazons of Braggadocia, and Members of Siegmund's Band of Brigands |
*Note: The Broadway cast was the same as the Court Square Theatre premiere.
Music
Sousa used the melodies from The Free Lance to create the Band march of the same name.
External Links
The Free Lance Libretto
References
- 1 2 Times, Special to The New York (March 27, 1906). "SOUSA'S NEW COMIC OPERA.; " The Free Lance" Has Its First Production in Springfield, Mass". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved September 18, 2026.
- ↑ "The Free Lance (Original Broadway Production, 1906) | Ovrtur: Database of Musical Theatre History". ovrtur.com. Retrieved September 18, 2026.
- ↑ (1907, February 7) The Pensacola journal. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn87062268/1907-02-07/ed-1/.
- 1 2 Schonberg, Harold C. (Nov. 22, 1979) Operetta: Sousa's 'The Free Lance, at Philadelphia Academy The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/1979/11/22/archives/operetta-sousas-the-free-lance-at-philadelphia-academy.html
- ↑ Petiet, T. (n.d.). Opera Performance Chronology. Retrieved September 16, 2026, from https://comicoperaguild.org/history/
- ↑ "The Free-Lance (Sousa, John Philip) - IMSLP". imslp.org. Retrieved September 18, 2026.
- ↑ "The Free Lance Original Broadway Musical Cast 1906 | Broadway World". BroadwayWorld. Retrieved September 17, 2026.
- ↑ Comic Opera Guild The Free Lance https://comicoperaguild.org/more-on-the-free-lance/
- ↑ "The Free Lance March". www.marineband.marines.mil. Archived from the original on September 4, 2026. Retrieved September 18, 2026.