Revisiting the Little Known Shakespeare Riots Through Opera

An upscale theater is hardly where you’d expect class warfare to break out, but in 19th century New York City, that’s exactly where such an event occurred.

The year was 1849 and the location was lower Manhattan, specifically, the site of the Astor Place Opera House. The conflict, which came to be known as “The Shakespeare Riots,” pitted working class immigrants against the city’s elite residents who sought to bring more highbrow art forms to the neighborhood. It all began when the opera house, which had been created by a group known as the Upper Ten or Astorocracy, dared to cast British actor Charles Macready in the title role of “Macbeth,” rather than American Edwin Forrest, a beloved local favorite.

Though on its surface, it was a seemingly innocuous decision, choosing Macready to play Macbeth over Forrest was seen by the immigrant population as a deep insult and it reinforced the suspicion that the elite were looking to exclude the common man from the theater. So on the nights leading up to the riots, Forrest’s supporters bought hundreds of tickets to Macready’s performances and brought them to a screeching halt by throwing objects and ripping up the theater’s seats. Then on the night of May 10, 1849, thousands of people filled the streets around the opera house looking for a fight. They got one, and in the end, between 22 and 31 rioters were dead and more than 120 people were injured, making it the deadliest riot since the American Revolution.

This little known episode in American history is the subject of a new opera by Divaria Productions, “The Shakespeare Riots: The Untold Story of Macbeth and the Turning Point in American Opera” which will be presented at Bay Street Theater on Saturday, October 8, at 8 p.m. The show brings to life on stage one of the bloodiest incidents in New York history, and was envisioned and created by Divaria’s soprano Ashley Galvani Bell, with Gregory Moomjy as the show’s musicologist. A combination of opera and theater, the production features music by Verdi, Mozart and Donizetti, words by William Shakespeare, text drawn from primary sources, as well as original writing by Moomjy and Bell.

“I’m fascinated by history, I love researching and documenting these stories, especially unknown stories of operatic works,” said Bell, noting that Divaria’s “Don Giovanni in New York” was a historical-based production reenacting events leading up to New York’s first Italian opera in 1826, which was organized by Mozart’s librettist. That production was presented at Bay Street in 2018.

“After that project, I wanted to search other opera houses in early New York,” she said.

That quest led Bell to learning all about the Astor Place Opera House, which opened in November 1847. In order to understand the passion that ignited the riots that came a little more than a year after the opera house’s opening, it’s important to understand what was going on in the country at the time. Today, we tend to think of the works of Shakespeare as something geared toward savvy and well-read audiences interested in the classics, but in 19th century America, the Bard’s plays were beloved and embraced by the working-class masses — much as they were during Shakespeare’s time.

“At that time, the population of New York was expanding exponentially with people living in tenements in closer quarters,” Bell said. “In reading about the history, everyone back then knew monologues from Shakespeare and would recite them to each other as a form of entertainment. Theater for the working class was a participatory event, like the time of Shakespeare, and people would yell during performances and throw stuff on stage.”

In recreating “The Shakespeare Riots” for the theater, Bell and Moomjy found primary sources, including the memoir of the opera house’s impresario, the diaries of Macready and talks given by Forrest.

“The script is drawn from actual words, the original things they said, and some of it we wrote to combine the different sections,” Bell said. “We also used a lot of sections from ‘Macbeth’ with the witches serving as the Greek chorus, sometimes representing the views of the working class and sometimes the aristocracy.”

The production also uses operatic sections from Verdi’s “Macbeth” and the result is a show that blends opera with other theatrical elements, including acting. Bell notes “The Shakespeare Riots” contains about 45 minutes of music and a half hour of text. It also stars the largest cast Divaria Productions has ever assembled.

“We have three opera singers and six main actors, and then we have the chamber orchestra, and a lot of local people participating in the riots as aristocracy or working class, including members of the Choral Society,” she said.

This will be the first time “The Shakespeare Riots” has been presented on stage and Bell notes that the goal of Divaria Productions, which was founded in 2011, is to shed light on forgotten stories from history in a new and imaginative way by incorporating a number of theatrical genres.

“I think what we’re doing is different than everyone else. It’s exciting,” said Bell.

When asked what ultimately happened to the two Macbeths who were the catalyst for “The Shakespeare Riots,” Bell said, “Macready went back to England right after and never came back again. Forrest gave a performance the following night. It seems like Forrest continued with his great career in Philadelphia.”

In terms of the fate of the Astor Place Opera House, though on that night in May 1849, the rioters failed in their attempts to set it ablaze, it ultimately did not survive its reputation as the “Massacre Opera House” at “DisAstor Place,” as burlesque shows of the era jokingly referred to it in the aftermath of the violence. Though it began another season, the Astor Place Opera House soon closed and a new opera house for the elite opened farther north, around Gramercy Park, away from the rough and tumble residents of the Bowery.

Divaria Productions’ “The Shakespeare Riots” will be presented at Bay Street Theater on Saturday, October 8, at 8 p.m. The production stars Michael Nansel and Nicholas Simpson, and is directed by Antón Armendariz Diaz with music by pianist Sergio Martinez Zangróniz. Tickets start at $35 at baystreet.org or 631-725-9500. Bay Street Theater is on Long Wharf in Sag Harbor.