Red Mill

Show Description:

In none of his 44 produced musical theater works did Victor Herbert kick it into melodic high gear as engagingly as in The Red Mill. Billed as a musical comedy, but with the composer’s expected romantic operetta elements, the storyline centers on two penniless Americans, Kid Conner and Con Kidder, who find themselves stranded in the Dutch port town of Katwyk-aan-Zee. They become entwined in the romance between the Burgomaster’s daughter Gretchen and sailor Captain Van Damm. When they try to help the couple elope, the Burgomaster—who is pushing to wed Gretchen to the governor of Zeeland—gets wind of the scheme and locks his daughter in the local, and reputedly haunted, windmill. Through some clever windmill antics, Kid and Con help Gretchen escape. Her father—needing his now-missing daughter for the imminent wedding—sends away for the best sleuth he knows: Sherlock Holmes. Kid and Con waste no time in assuming the identities of Holmes and Dr. Watson. The wedding eventually takes place, but with a surprise or two. Song hits abound: “Moonbeams,” “Every Day Is Ladies’ Day with Me,” “Because You’re You,” “The Isle of Our Dreams,” and “The Streets of New York.”