In Dahomey

Publication Information

(1996)

Text

Songs:

Overture

Caboceers Entrance

Chocolate Drops (Two-Step and Cake-walk) - music by Harry Von Tilzer

Dat Gal of Mine (March and Two-Step) - music by Ben J. Shook

Evah Dahkey is a King - music by John H. Book

Good Evenin'

Happy Jim - music by James Vaughan

Hurrah for Captain Kidd

I May Be Crazy, But I Ain't No Fool - words and music by Alex Rogers

I Wants to be a Actor Lady - music by Harry Von Tilzer

I'll Take a Kitchen Mechanic For Mine - music by Tom Logan

I'm a Jonah Man - music by Alex Rogers

Jig - music by Bert Williams

Leader of the Colored Aristocracy

Me An' De Minstreal Ban' - music by James Vaughan

Molly Green

My Castle on the Nile - music by Rosamond Johnson

My Dahomian Queen - music by J. Leubrie Hill

My Dear Luzon - music by Tom Lemonier

My Lady Frog - music by Will Marion Cook and Will Accooe

On Broadway in Dahomey Bye and Bye - music by Al. Johns

On Emacipation Day (Characteristic Negro March and Two Step)

Rag-Time Drummer - music by J. Leubrie Hill

Returned

A Rich Coon's Babe

She's Dancing Sue - music by Will Marion Cook and Will Accooe

Society - music by Will Marion Cook and Will Accooe

Swing Along

That's How the Cake Walk's Done - music by J. Leubrie Hill

When it's All Goin' Out. And Nothin' Comin - music by Williams and Walker

When Sousa Comes to Coon-Town - music by James Vaughan and Tom Lemonier

When the Moon Shines - music by James Vaughan

Why Adam Sinned - music by Alex Rogers

In Dahomey is often claimed to be the first African American production to ever be mounted on Broadway. African American blackface performers Bert Williams and George Walker star as two conmen from Boston who discover a pot of gold and devise a plan to move to Africa to colonize Dahomey (present day Benin) with a group of poor African Americans.

blackworkbroadway.com

Biographical Information

(1869-1944) Will Marion Cook studied violin at Oberlin College when he was 15. He also attended the National Conservatory of Music in New York, where he studied with Dvorak and John White. He played professionally at Oberlin, but his solo career was short-lived. He also wrote musicals but is best-known for his songs that represent an original, distinctive handling of Black folk elements in song composition. He collaborated with Paul Laurence Dunbar while composing the musical sketch comedy Clorindy, the Origin of the Cakewalk (1898), which was Cook’s first composed score.


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