BENHUR

Ben-Hur: translation

   William Young's dramatic adaptation of General Lew Wallace's historical novel, Ben-Hur: A Life of the Christ, arrived at the Broadway Theatre at the height of a vogue for religious drama. It opened on 29 November 1899 for 194 performances before becoming one of the most popular touring productions of the first decade of the 20th century. Staged with extraordinary spectacle (widely advertised as utilizing 120,000 square feet of scenery), including a climactic chariot race on treadmills, Ben-Hur recounts the conflict between the title character, a Jew, and his boyhood friend, Messala, a Roman officer. The episodic play follows their various encounters and near brushes with the life of Jesus Christ, who cures Ben-Hur's mother and sister of leprosy. After defeating Messala in a chariot race, Ben-Hur is united with his love, Esther, and converts to Christianity. Numerous tours (often with considerably less spectacle) remained popular into the 1920s when a lavish 1925 motion picture version won vast audiences, as did the 1959 Academy Award-winning remake.