The Forbidden Land is described as a "Tibetan comic opera". It was composed by Frederic Chapin and has a libretto by Guy F. Steeley and was produced under the direction of the Dearborn Theatre Management in 1904.

Dramatis Personæ

MIDI Files

ACT I   -   In front of the Barca Tarjum's palace at Lhassa in Tibet,
showing the palace of the Dalai Lama in the distance.

• Prelude
• No. 1 - Song - Kinkaboo and Tramps - "We're tramps and very glad to be without responsibility;  no rent to pay, nor taxes; aye, our life is one long holiday..."
• No. 2 - Entrance of Grandees - "Though strange in manner and in dress, it should not take you long to guess that we are men of Tibet who are dignitaries..."
• No. 3 - Song - Tarjum and Grandees - "When I was young 'twas my delight to scare old ladies after night;  a dog with can tied on him tight would fill my heart..."
• No. 4a - Chorus Entrance, with Mina and Tom - "We are little Lhassa ladies, daughters of nobility.  Each in jingling robes arrayed is, to denote her high degree..."
• No. 4b - Song - Mina Doma and Chorus - "Love is oft a latent spark which kindles into flame, ere we have the time to hark to reason's better claim..."
• No. 5a - Entrance of Barclay
• No. 5b - Song - Barclay - "I'm doing creation upon my vacation, my ticket reads all the way 'round;  I've traveled all over, from Pekin to Dover, Australia and..."
• No. 6 - Song - Tom - "Though by word you'll not confess it, still you love me, that I know;  plainer yet than words express it, you have clearly told me so..."
• No. 7 - Song - Hulda and Chorus - "Ay tank Ay travelled party good, an' now Ay vant to stop.  Ay see das vorld, bae Yimminy, from bottom to hum top..."
• No. 8 - Song - Dorothy and Maids - "Now once it transpired that three maids admired one man, and desired his heart to secure.  One maid was audacious..."
• No. 9 - Trio - Barclay, Kinkaboo and Tarjum - "Tell us not in words deceiving life is not a monster fake; that a man lives not for thieving, that the world's a jelly cake."
• No. 10 - Finale Act I - "Now what's the row?  What means your warning signal?  The guard you've summoned and for what ... This bold presumptious foreigner..."

ACT II   -   The Courtyard of the Tarjum's palace and Lhassa prison.   (Afternoon.)

• No. 11 - Prelude and Chorus - "Tho' we live in jail, let us all regale ourselves with merry song, that the time we stay in this prison may not seem so very long..."
• No. 12 - Song - Barclay - "In a cottage of stone which stood all alone in a garden surrounded by water, a maiden once dwelt, before whom there knelt..."
• No. 13 - Pantomime Music
• No. 14 - Song - Mina Doma and Girls - "Sad is love all unrequited, so like a tender rose that fades unclaimed and sorrow blighted upon the vine it grows..."
• No. 15 - Song - Tarjum and Chorus - "Before Columbus did his stunt, he didn't have a cent, and not a friend to help him hunt the coin to pay the rent..."
• No. 16a - Dance - Adoul and Hulda
• No. 16b - Dance - Adoul and Hulda
• No. 16c - Dance Grotesque - Adoul and Hulda
• No. 17a - Ensemble - Tarjum, Mina, Tom and Chorus - "Young man, your answer I beseech.  Don't hesitate but give it speech.  If you refuse my daughter's hand..."
• No. 17b - Tibetan Prayer - "O mighty Buddha, send we pray thy blessings on this bridal day, and let no angry cloud appear, or shadow fall around us here..."
• No. 17c - Tibetan Dance
• No. 18 - March Song - Dorothy and Chorus - "My little brother Johnnie is a drummer in the band, in the army of the U.S.A., and the soldiers all take courage..."

External Link

Vocal Score at UR Research

American Musical Theatre

Page modified 3 December 2016