Sinbad (1918 musical)

Sinbad is a Broadway musical with a book and lyrics by Harold Atteridge and music by Sigmund Romberg, Al Jolson and others. Jolson plays a porter in old Bagdad where he meets a series of characters from the Arabian Nights, including Sinbad. He is transported to various exotic settings.

The musical was produced by Lee Shubert and J. J. Shubert and staged by J. C. Huffman and J. J. Shubert. After a tryout in New Haven, Connecticut, the Broadway production opened on February 14, 1918 at the Winter Garden Theatre, where it ran for 164 performances. The cast included Jolson (in blackface), Kitty Doner, Constance Farber and Forrest Huff. This show was a “musical comedy” with little purpose other than to provide a vehicle for Jolson, who sang specialty songs that were written for him by himself and others, while Romberg's songs held the show together. As with Jolson's previous shows, songs were interpolated during the run and for the national tour, which ran for nearly two years.