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William Wheatley spent the then-unheard of sum of $25,000 to produce The Black Crook. The opening night performance on Sept. 12, 1866 lasted a bottom-numbing five and a half hours, but audiences were too dazzled to complain. The dazzling transformation scene left viewers bedazzled, and The Black Crook became an unprecedented hit. The plot stole elements from Goethe's Faust, Weber's Der Freischutz, and several other well-known works. It told the story of the evil Count Wolfenstein, who tries to win the affection of the lovely Amina by placing her boyfriend Rodolphe in the clutches of Hertzog, a nasty crook-backed master of black magic (hence the show's title). |