Michael Strogoff

I did manage to find out Maude Adams played a girl that sold flowers, but other than that I was only able to find out a little about the play in general.

=====American Theatre: A Chronicle of Comedy and Drama, 1869-1914 by Gerald Bordman; Oxford University Press, 1994=====<.p>

M. V. Lingham's Michael Strogoff ( 9-24- 77), Lyceum), a hastily contrived adaptation of a Jules Verne story, was ignored by some newspapers and waved away by others. It quickly closed, but further versions of this patriot's retreat from Moscow would threaten to deluge New York stages a few seasons hence.

A third opening was Michael Strogoff, which was coupled with a variety bill at Aberle's, a house normally given over exclusively to vaudeville. New Yorkers had seen a version in 1877, but now they were abruptly to have a choice of three productions. The more spectacular were those that followed, on the 31st at Booth's and on September 3 at the Academy of Music (this last adaptation by Cazauran). Too much of a not very good thing resulted in poor box office at all the versions.

American Musical Theatre: A Chronicle by Gerald Bordman; Oxford US, 1992=====

The era's loose copyright laws and intense competition often resulted in several theatres offering their respective versions of a single piece at the same time. The first instance of this in the 1881-82 season occurred right at the start. The Jules Verne-Adolph d'Ennery melodrama of a patriot's suffering on the retreat from Moscow, Michael Strogoff , was presented at three houses in very close succession: the Tivoli's production premiered on August 29, the Booth's staging on August 31, and the Academy of Music's interpretation on September 3. None was especially successful. But the spectacle at the Academy of Music was in the hands of the Kiralfys. As was their wont, they filled their evening with ballets, occasional songs, and elaborate sets. However, a reaction was clearly developing against the overwhelming stage pictures. The Times complained that mechanical snowfalls and waterfalls "as a competition with nature, are somewhat ridiculous."