Its first performance was on March 1, 1950, at the
Shubert Theatre in Philadelphia with
Patricia Neway as the lead heroine Magda Sorel,
Gloria Lane as the secretary of the consulate,
Marie Powers as the mother, and
Andrew McKinley as the magician Nika Magadoff. The opera opened two weeks later (March 15, 1950) at the
Ethel Barrymore Theatre in New York City where it enjoyed a run of nearly eight months (269 performances). It was initially conducted by Lehman Engel who was substituted by Thomas Schippers for nearly eight months until the last performance on November 4, 1950. Neway (alternating with
Yul Brynner's sister, Vera Brynner) also led the
Broadway cast, this time with
Rosemary Kuhlmann as the secretary of the consulate. Neway, Kuhlmann, and Powers also performed these roles in the UK at the
Cambridge Theatre in February 1951, with
Norman Kelley playing the role of the magician Nika. For the opera's
La Scala debut in January 1951, Powers and McKinley reprised their roles, and
Clara Petrella portrayed Magda.
Zechariah Chafee Jr. noted the topicality of the opera by analogy to the real-life situations of how non-American scientists were hindered from entering the United States in the early 1950s. For
The Consul, Menotti won the 1950
Pulitzer Prize for Music and also the 1950
New York Drama Critics' Circle award for Best Musical. ==Roles==