Show AMUSEMENTS n c j R I 1 I GISMONDA Fanny Davenport is a certainly the greatovertowering American Ameri-can producer of plays as Henry Irvine is the English No American manager ever dreams of mounting plays with the sumptuous magnificence that this actress studies to attain and the lavish way In which she spends money to carry out her Ideals is as astonishing as it is flattering to her audiences Last night saw another an-other triumph in the way of uroduction ndded to the many which had been given us at Miss Davenports hands The audience i audi-ence for the first time reached the old time proportions and nearly every seat In every part of the house was occupied Gismonda was followed with the breathless Intensity of Interest that speaks louder than noisy applause can do though at the climax enthusiasm wa by no means lacking As a play while It hardly ranks in conception with La Tosca or Cleopatra It is bold powerful and original with a superb picturesquoness In all its sittings that accorded admirably with the theme I Is also most Sardouesque In Its suE es tlveness and one or two episodes are almost startling In their glaring boldness In the central role Miss Davenport finds a rare character for the portrayal of the imperial qualities in which she shines her acting was admirable where she simulates terror at the fate of her boy when he is thrown into the tgers den and her strength was not less marked when she kills the villain with the axe and where she makes confession of the deed at the close In her long career as an actress cose doubtful whether Miss Davenport has ever worn more bewilderingly bewilder-Ingly regal garments than those in which she was attired last evening They I were triumphs of the costumers art M McDowell Scarcely second to her was 1Ie Dowell and the audience applauded him as vigorously as It did his wife The a scenery In color in wealth and In completeness scener pleteness has never been excelled even by Miss Davenport herself every one of the five acts was a masterpiece of the fe scene painters skill the culminating feature fea-ture being the wonderful reproduction of the Interior of a cathedral in the last act Ire cgf aa choir voices a grand I organ specially built for this play boys swinging censors that made the whole I auditorium I fragrant a procession carrying carry-ing Wfag f Ir ersi seen and heard and that with a faithfulness and a richness little short of astonishing The I big list of characters In the support were lst all strongly portrayed the Zaccario of I Mr Elwood being the best instance of the acting The singing was most impressive im-pressive but the voices ran off the key once or twice by setting too far from the organ Gismonda Is safe to run to the capacity of the hose for the remainder of the engagement which terminates Saturday evening |