 "Evangeline" was one of the first successful Broadway musicals to have a score written by a one-song writing team.Rice funded the musical's production, which played for a limited run of 16 performances, followed by a successful tour.The original cast included Lizzie Harold and Ione Burke alternating in the title role, as well as James Dunn, W. H. Crane as LeBlanc, Connie Thompson in the trouser role of Gabriel, and Louis Mestayer (in drag) as Gabriel's aunt Catherine.