Lincoln and the theater, and theater in Lincoln's days

[Eva Elisabeth]

Lincoln and the theater, and theater in Lincoln's days, is an interesting topic to me. Now I come up with two questions which, I admit, are probably very specific, but nevertheless someone maybe could help (Dave? Mr. Bogar?)?!

First - do any pictures of James Lamb exist or any of one of his stage designs or backdrop paintings?

My second question concerns Grover's stage design for "The Magic Flute", which Abraham Lincoln attended in March 1865, accompanied by Mary, Clara Harris, and Colonel James Grant Wilson.

The original 1816 stage design for W. A. Mozart's "The Magic Flute" by Prussian architect and painter Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781-1841) is one of the most famous stage designs and a typical work representing the enthusiasm for the Orient (especially for Egypt) in the Romantic period. One example:
   
The best known one of the twelve backdrops is the one for the appearance of the "Queen of the Night", showing the Egyptian starry sky. (BTW, the original is on permanent display at the Kupferstichkabinett in Berlin, Germany).
   
"Queen of the Night" backdrop
I would assume it is the most quoted backdrop ever, even nowadays*. Thus I wonder if it is possible that the production at Grover's also referred to this original design? Or, in other words (and I would find this very cool), did Lincoln perhaps see the same star-spangled backdrop, on which the stars, a romantic symbol for nature's unrulable inscrutability, and (the right of) freedom of the human soul, form an eerie, threatening army, commanded by a dark Queen, to which even the moon has to bow to?

(*The most repeated stage design at all is sure tinker Tom Snout as the wall in the interlude of "A Midsummer Night's Dream". Also I exclude modern commercial productions like most musicals from this estimation as for these usually each little detail is copyrighted.)

This is the account from Col. James Grant Wilson’s diary of March 15, 1865:

“In the evening, at Grover’s Theatre with the President, Mrs. Lincoln and Miss Harris, listening to the opera of ‘The Magic Flute’ and occupying a comfortable box. The President, alluding to the large feet of one of the leading female singers, which were also very flat, remarked, ‘The beetles wouldn’t have much of a chance there!’"

Wilson also recalled that Mr. Lincoln "sat in the rear of the box leaning his head against the partition paying no attention to the play and looking so worn and weary that it would not have been surprising had his soul and body separated that very night. When the curtain fell after the first act, turning to him, I said: 'Mr. President you are not apparently interested in the play.' 'Oh, no, Colonel,' he replied; 'I have not come for the play, but for the rest. I am hounded to death by office-seekers, who pursue me early and late, and it is simply to get two or three hours' relief that I am here.' After a slight pause he added: 'I wonder if we shall be tormented in heaven with them, as well as with bores and fools?' He then closed his eyes and I turned to the ladies...When asked by Mrs. Lincoln to go before the last act of the opera was concluded, he said: ‘Oh, no, I want to see it out. It’s best when you undertake a job, to finish it.’” (Allow me to remark on the last sentence - this is a very Prussian attitude!)

Finally, I would like to recommend Dave's article on Grover's theater:
http://boothiebarn.com/2014/01/19/grover...ssination/

That reminds me of another question - who was depicted in the other four pictures in JWB's diary?