#Sigmund Rombert

[royatlyfree1923]

BOMBO

May 14, 1923

[Note: Inclusion in this blog does not imply legal permission to perform material that may still be under legal protection!]

Bombo is a revival of a musical revue with a book and lyrics by Harold R. Atteridge and music by Sigmund Romberg. It was produced by Lee Shubert and J.J. Shubert and staged by J.C. Huffman at the Winter Garden Theatre for 32 performances. It starred Al Jolson. 

Songs were added by several composers during the run of the show and subsequent tour. By the end of the run there were more songs by other composers than Romberg. During the three year tour several songs were added including “Toot, Toot, Tootsie (Goo’ Bye)” by Gus Kahn, Ernie Erdman & Dan Russo and “California, Here I Come!” by Jolson, B.G. de Sylva & Joseph Meyer.  

This production was a return engagement of the original production which played at the Jolson's 59th Street Theatre from from October 1921 to April 1922 for a total of 218 performances before going on a National Tour which preceded this return engagement. 

The show is a revue designed to showcase the talents of Al Jolson, who plays the title role.  

Synopsis ~ Bombo starts with Jolson's blackface character Gus as the servant for a modern day explorer. In a flashback, he became a slave that Columbus brought along on his first voyage to the new world.

VENUE

The original production of Bombo opened Jolson’s 59th Street Theatre, named after Al Jolson by the Shuberts. When the show returned from its nearly three year tour, however, it went into the Winter Garden Theatre, home of large-scale musicals and revues, despite the fact that the theatre where the show premiered and which was named for him remained dark during this month-long return engagement. However, Jolson was partial to the Winter Garden, where he had performed all of his seven previous Broadway musicals from 1911 to 1919. After Bombo’s revival, he continued at the Winter Garden in a couple of shows, but would never return to the theatre bearing his name again. 

Winter Garden Theatre (1634 Broadway at West 50th Street; 1,526 seats) In 1910, the Shuberts leased the American Horse Exchange and turned it into theatre. This would be the second theatre in New York named Winter Garden. In 1922, the Shuberts hired Herbert J. Krapp to design an extensive renovation and modernization of the auditorium. In 1932, the Shuberts negotiated with Ziegfeld's widow, Billie Burke, to assume the name and format of his Follies. Later, the house was host to many long-running musicals, including Cats, its longest-running tenant at nearly 18 years. It is still in operation today and one of the few Broadway theatres actually located on the thoroughfare named Broadway.