Golden Dawn
Libretto by Otto Harbach and Oscar Hammerstein II
Premiere: Hammerstein’s Theatre, New York, November 30, 1927
Act I: The setting is Mooda’s canteen, near a prison camp in German East Africa. The year is 1917. As the German planters and soldiers and their prisoners of war look on, natives bring gifts for Mooda’s fair-skinned daughter Dawn, who they expect soon will be the bride, Thabu, of their great god Mulunghu. The German district commander, Eric, and Sister Hedwig, head of the local mission, try to convince Mooda that Dawn’s future should be in her Red Cross work with the mission, not as a virgin sacrifice to Mulunghu. Shep Keyes, an intimidating, bullying, whip-carrying native appointed by the Germans as overseer to the native population, makes it clear to Mooda that he has his sights set on Dawn, and that he knows that Mooda is falsely representing the girl as her daughter. She admonishes Shep to keep the truth to himself. British planter, now prisoner, Steve Allen arrives with American prisoner Blink Jones and British prisoner Duke Hammersley, who exchange words over their claims on Red Cross nurse Johanna. When Steve stands up to the threatening bluster of Shep, the overseer is momentarily stunned, before regaining the upper hand and avoiding embarrassment in front of his “subjects.” Dawn defends Steve’s bravery as she confesses her love for him—he is her “Bwanna.” She tries to explain to him why she is white-looking—Arab men had visited Africa long ago and married native women. Ever since, once in a while, a white-looking child is born; by tradition, any such child is destined for Mulunghu. Steve is determined to rescue her from her fate, but Dawn sees little choice than to accede to Mooda’s wishes. Meanwhile, to Dawn’s dismay, Steve has received orders to transfer immediately to another camp. After Steve leaves, Mooda and Dawn share some tender mother-daughter moments as Mooda tells Dawn that she will be led into the woods and then left alone—to spend the night in the moonlight and become the bride of Mulunghu. When she arrives in the forest, Dawn encounters Steve, who has become lost on his way to his new camp. As they embrace, he pleads with her that she abandon the heathen ritual. She agrees, but has a change a heart when she hears the natives approaching and fears for her and Steve’s lives. After Dawn has headed off for the ceremony, Eric arrives and informs Steve that he, Duke, and several other prisoners are being released and sent back to England as part of a prisoner exchange. Before he departs, Steve writes a letter to Dawn and asks Eric to deliver it. Duke, before departing, gets a commitment from Johanna that she is his forever. But, no sooner has Duke left than Johanna is on the arm of Blink. Dawn, meanwhile, with Steve on her mind, tries to excuse herself from the ceremony by claiming to the natives that she is not worthy of Mulunghu. But, when Shep Keyes reveals to her that Steve has left for England and had no intention of marrying an African girl, Dawn proceeds with the wedding ceremony.
Act II: Eighteen months later, the war has ended, and Eric is now a prisoner of war under the control of the former American and British prisoners. Steve has sent a letter indicating his intention to come get Dawn and return with her to England. No one in Mooda’s canteen really believes that Steve will be able to detach the Thabu princess from her duties to Mulunghu. Johanna, married to Blink, laments her choice of husband, as she pines for the life that might have been hers had she married Duke instead. Steve arrives, intent on rescuing Dawn. When he intimates that she is an English girl, all are surprised and ask for proof. Steve retorts that Mooda can clear things up, but is told that she had disappeared after an encounter with an elderly peddler that she referred to as a “ghost.” Steve and Eric head toward Mombassa, where Mooda has been spotted. There, they see the old peddler and Mooda in conversation. Mooda recounts to the memory-impaired man the story of how she—half-white—was once married to a man who left her for a pure white woman, with whom he had a baby girl named Dawn. As revenge on her unfaithful husband, she abducted the child and raised her as her own. Dawn, meanwhile, is in trouble, for the natives have learned that she once loved and still loves a white man. As they converge to kill her, Shep intervenes, as a series of lightning strikes awes and halts the surging natives. When Shep claims Dawn as his reward, Mooda steps in and kills him. A nuns covers Dawn with a robe as the skies open up with the first rain in months. Again, Dawn is a hero to the native population. She contemplates the possibility of remaining in Africa with her friends, but as soon as Steve joins her, she falls into his arms and knows that their life together will be back in their homeland.
