Forest Rose, the; or, American Farmers

Forest Rose, the; or, American Farmers (1825), a play by Samuel Woodworth (book), John Davies (music). [Chatham Garden Theatre, in repertory.] Although William ( Arthur Keene), a decent country lad, loves Harriet ( Mrs. Burke), Harriet and her friend Lydia ( Mrs. Henry Wallack), two New Jersey farm girls, or “forest roses,” long to escape their bucolic life for the excitement of the city. Lydia is loved by the rich Blandford ( Mr. Howard), but the romance must be kept secret in order not to offend Blandford's snobbish father. Blandford's English‐born friend Bellamy ( Edward N. Thayer) courts Harriet, whom he promises Blandford he will love for a whole month. Later he persuades the seemingly naive Yankee Jonathan Ploughboy ( Alexander Simpson) to help him kidnap Harriet. But Jonathan is not as gullible as he appears. A servant girl is substituted, Harriet marries William, and Lydia weds Blandford. Notable songs: Here in Scenes of Sweet Seclusion; When Bashful Lubin Sought My Hand; The Morn Awakes; The Heart Sustained by Hope Alone; Is There a Light? Often called a “pastoral opera,” the play was one of the first, and for many years the most popular, American rural dramas. Woodworth apparently based his Jonathan Ploughboy on the Jonathan in Royall Tyler's The Contrast, but it was Ploughboy who kindled the real vogue for such Yankee characters. Virtually all the great 19th‐century Yankee specialists and other fine comedians ( G. H. Hill, Dan Marble, Henry Placide, and Joshua Silsbee) frequently played the part.