Hoyt, Henry E.

Hoyt, Henry E. (1834–1906), scenic designer. The early history of this New Hampshire‐born artist is uncertain. However, in the 1880s and 1890s he was probably the most respected set designer in the profession. In keeping with the practice of the day, he frequently created only one or two of the settings for a particular production, but his reputation was such that he sometimes was asked to devise all the scenes of important mountings. Hoyt's work regularly graced the Casino Theatre musicals when that playhouse was new and in its prime, and he also executed major assignments for Augustin Daly. His 1888 designs for Daly's A Midsummer Night's Dream were described as “severely Greek in pillars and vistas for the palace of Theseus, and soft and dreamy for the wood of perplexity.” Hoyt also conceived Daly's decor for As You Like It (1889), The Foresters (1891), and Twelfth Night (1893). Among his other designs were those for Fanny Davenport's 1890 production of Cleopatra, Lillian Russell's 1891 vehicle Apollo, and the first American mounting (in a legitimate theatre, not an opera house) of Cavalleria Rusticana in 1891.