The Red Moon (Johnson and Cole)
1908 musical by J. Rosamund Johnson and Bob Cole / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Red Moon is a musical or operetta in three acts with music by J. Rosamund Johnson and both book and lyrics by Bob Cole.[1] Additional music was contributed by James Reese Europe who composed the song "Sambo" for the show, and co-wrote the song "Ada (My Sweet Potater)" with Cole and lyrics by Charles A. Hunter.[2][3] Labeled and marketed by its creators as a "sensation in red and black", the work has been classified variously by theatre scholars as a musical and an operetta.[1] The show was created by African Americans and starred an all-Black cast in its original 1908–10 production.[2] The show is regarded as historically important to American theatre because it was the first Broadway show to depict alliances between African Americans and Native Americans.[4]