Select your language

A.M. GORKY INSTITUTE OF WORLD LITERATURE
OF THE RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Literature of the Americas

JOURNAL OF LITERARY HISTORY

Povarskaya St., 25A, bld. 1,, 121069 Moscow, Russia

Tel. +7 10 495 690-50-30

editor@litda.ru,  literaturа.da@gmail.com

JATS XML:

XML

BibTEX:

BIB

Research Information Systems Citation Format:

RIS

  • Issue:

    №19 2025

  • Received: 30 Dec. 2024
  • Approved after reviewing: 06 Sept. 2025
  • Date of publication: 25 Dec. 2025
  • УДК / UDK: 821.111(73).0
  • Publication Type: Research Article
  • DOI:

    https://doi.org/10.22455/2541-7894-2025-19-204-223

  • EDN:

    https://elibrary.ru/ENHBGG

  • Author: Amina A. Zhamanova
  • About the author:

    Amina A. Zhamanova, PhD in Art Studies, Doctor Honoris Causa, Academy of Film, Television and Internet (Bulgaria), European Association of Audiovisual Communications (Northern Macedonia), independent researcher, Moscow, Russia.

    ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0211-148X.

    E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

  • Abstract:

    Thе article is focused on the history of creation and stage productions of Eugene O’Neill’s satire Marco Millions (1927) that reflected the playwright’s interest in the Orient. The paper analyzes different facets of interpretation of the play in forgotten and completely unknown to the Russian reader productions. Among them are spectacles directed by Rouben Mamoulian (Theatre Guild, New York, 1928; Liberty Theatre, 1930), Algirdas Jaksevicius (Kaunas State Theatre, Kaunas, 1938), Jose Quintero (ANTA Washington Square Theatre, New York, 1964), and also Tom Ridgely’s dramatic vaudeville Marco Millions (based on lies) (Lion Theatre, New York, 2006) inspired by Eugene O’Neill’s satire. A special attention is paid to the analysis of the title character – how it was conceived and created by the playwright and how the protagonist is interpreted in different stage productions. The final part of the article is dedicated to the translation and publication of the play in Russia where, unfortunately, Marco Millions was never performed on stage.

  • Keywords: Eugene O’Neill, American drama, history of theatre, satire, Marco Millions, Marco Polo, stage production, music adaptation, dramatic vaudeville, M.M. Koreneva.
  • For citation:

    Zhamanova, Amina. “The Stage History of Eugene O’Neill’s Satire Marco Millions: Facets of Interpretation.” Literature of the Americas, no. 19 (2025): 204–223. https://doi.org/10.22455/2541-7894-2025-19-204-223

  • References:

    Aleksaitė 2000 — Aleksaitė, Irena. “Režisūros Problemos.” In Lietuvių Teatro Istorija 1929–1935. Edited by Audronė Girdzijauskaitė, vol. 2, 17–81. Vilnius: Gervelė, 2000.

    Alexander 1992 — Alexander, Doris. Eugene O’Neill’s Creative Struggle: The Decisive Decade, 1924–1933. University Park, PA: Penn State University Press, 1992.

    Bernatskaia 1996 — Bernatskaia, Valerya. Tri amerikanskie p’esy [Three American Plays]. Sufler: Sovremennaia Amerikanskaia Dramaturgiia, no. 1 (1996): 3–9. (In Russ.)

    Blekaitis 1999 — Blekaitis, Jurgis. Algirdas Jakševičius-Teatro Poetas. Vilnius: Lietuvių Literatūros ir Tautosakos Institutas, 1999.

    Gudkov 2020 — Gudkov, Maksim M. Kitai v amerikanskoi postanovke “Marko-millionshchik” Yu. O’Nila (1928, teatr “Gild”, N’yu-York) [China in the American Production of E. O’Neill’s Marco Millions (1928, Theatre Guild, New York)]. In: Kitai. Rossia. SSHA. Iskusstvo. Gumanitarnyie nauki: Ot pokolenia k pokoleniu [China. Russia. USA. Art. Humanities: From Generation to Generation], edited by T.S. Yurieva, G.L. Tulchinsky, 72–76. St. Petersburg: Skifiya-print Publ., 2020. (In Russ.)

    Kasponyte 2011 — Kasponyte, Justina. Stanislavski’s Directors: Michael Chekhov and the Revolution in Lithuanian Theatre of the 1930s. Master Diss., University of Glasgow, 2011.

    Kleiman 2011 — Kleiman, Yulia A. Amerikanskaya rezhissura pervoi treti XX veka [American Directing of the First Third of the XX Century]. St. Petersburg: SPbGATI Publ., 2011. (In Russ.)

    Koreneva 1990 — Koreneva, Maya. Tvorchestvo Iudzhina O’Nila i puti amerikanskoi dramy [The Writings of Eugene O’Neill and the Paths of American Drama]. Moscow: Nauka Publ., 1990. (In Russ.)

    Kuteeva 2003 — Kuteeva, Nely. “Kontseptsiia lichnosti v dramaturgii Iudzhina O’Nila pervoi poloviny 1920-kh godov” [“The Concept of Individuality in the Dramaturgy of Eugene O’Neill, the First Half of the 1920s”]. PhD diss., Ufa, 2003. (In Russ.)

    Samitov 2021 — Samitov, Dmitry. “Problemy formirovaniia i stanovleniia regional’nykh nekommercheskikh teatrov SShA vtoroi poloviny KhKh veka” [“Problems of Formation and Development of Regional Non-profit Theaters in the USA in the Second Half of the XX Century”]. PhD diss., Moscow, 2021. (In Russ.)

    Tsimbal 2015 — Tsimbal, Irina S. “‘Ekho voyny’ v tvorchestve Yudzhina O’Nila” [“‘Echo of War’ in the Works of Eugene O’Neill”]. Sovremennaia drmaturgiia, no. 2 (2015): 250–254. (In Russ.)