Show LAIGLON IN NEW YORK Comparison Between Bemhnrdb and Maude Adams New York Dec 15Therc Is no doubt that LAlglon both In English and 1 French continues to be the most I talkedof play of the season This Is no cause for wonder for it Is the best play that has been presented In short it deserves the title of classic as does Cyrano de Bergerac By the way Bernhardt and Coquelln did not find as much favor In the latter as they did in the former particularly as far as Mr Coquelln was concerned The explanation ex-planation Is that Flambeau In LAfglon Is a big brusque roughhewn rough-hewn character while Cyrano Is a creation cre-ation of poetical lights and shades and I cannot be fully appreciated In a foreign for-eign language Many have been heard to openly confess that they prefer Mr Mansfield In the part notwIthstanding that the French engagement Is the fad of the hour Many have also been heard to say that they prefer a version of LAlglon that they can fully understand un-derstand and many and exhaustive arc the comparisons made between Bern haidt and Maude Adams in the title role Mr Charles Frohnmn has been most severely criticised for giving Mss Adams a part which IK so extremely uiiKilitod to her pprsonulily and It I is i I generally conceded In the l I n UPI circles that the venture Is one of that managers I man-agers few mistakes As far as comparison I com-parison with Bern ha Id t Is J concerned I it Is I simply Impossible fO two actresses I ac-tresses t more utterly unlike could I scaicfly he Imagined Bernhardt 1s 1 complete ihistrcss of her art the greatest great-est actress of her time and by virtue of her wonderful temperament can become be-come any character she plays As the 1 unhappy Duke of Reichstadt she Is always al-ways thf weak boy and never betrays the woman playing tho part Maude Adams is an actress who has I made her fame In dainty feminine parts and In these she excels Therefore j There-fore her work In LAiglon Is bound to chow the woman Her admirers prefer J I her so and only regret that Mr Froh man has fitted her badly with the part I It is not Miss Adam they would change but the play But prepared for all this beforehand the spectator is fairly electrified at the wonderful work done by Miss Adamswork which even her ardent admirers and certainly her persistent critics do not expect The lighter speeches are most effectively effec-tively read and the heavy ones are delivered de-livered I with surprising vohemency although I al-though one has a feeling the while that I they are overtaxing the strength of tho frail little woman She makes n touching I touch-ing pitiful character of the unhappy little Duke and makes more 01118 weaknesses than of his Indomitable i spirlL To sum it all up the venture might be termed a successful disappointment disap-pointment for in spite of Its fallings the business Is good and It remains Ha 1 allotted time on Broadway The great part of Flambeau is most effectively played by i J H Gllmour and the Countess I Coun-tess Camerala is strongly done by Sara Perry The engagement closes at the Knickerbocker on the 31st to be succeeded by Ada 3ehan in the second I of the Nell Gwynnc plays entitled Sweet Nell of Old Drury by Paul Kestcr S S LAiglon Is one of the most serious dramas which has ever been presented here The struggles of the poor little Duke to regain the lost throne of his famous father hindered as he is most of all by disease by the fetters of the Austrian court and the thoughtless frivolity of his mother form a theme at onceninlque as plays go oncl most inter 1 in-ter sting The love interest is almost entirely lacking thus throwing the I construction of the play upon an entirely en-tirely original basis The play Is one of lurpose Of course there are some people to whom this kind does not appeal ap-peal as for instance a woman who sat near me the other night After a most Impressive scene and they are all 1m pressive she turned to her companion and said Well I dont see where the LAlglon collar comes In this She must have been in the wrong place for evidently she had been headed for one of the Twentythird street shops ana ought to have had her money refunded at the box office S a 0 One of the most Interesting American plays of the present era is Nathan Hale by Clyde Fitch I was originally origi-nally done by Nat Goodwin and Maxine Elliott and is now presented by Mr Howard Kyle and Miss Nannette Comstock Com-stock Undoubtedly the play is one oi the best things ever done by Mr Fitch Although It Is a military play It Is not I melodramatic although It abounds in I i stirring scenes and patriotic speeches I I I Is not a gallery play The story of Nathan Hale his sacrifice capture and 1 punishment Is one that appeals to cvdy American and the play affords ample opportunity for finished work Mr Fitch has Introduced several of Hales historical speeches and the play closes with the famous I1 only regret that I have but one life to give for my country The love story of the play Is very strong and beautiful but It is made to appear less Important than the patriotism and this makes It In every sense an American play of the highest order As the hero Mr Kyle does the very best work of his career and astonishes aston-ishes every one by the reserved force and finish of his portrayal He brings out every shade of meaning In the lines and Is most Impressive Miss Comstock Is admirably suited to the part of Alice Adams very much more so than was Miss Elliott Miss Comstock was last seen In Salt Lake with Henry Miller In Heartsease and is one of the most beautiful and talented of our American actresses Manager Wilkinson will take the play South for a short tour after which It will return to this feW of activity S o S Several important openings are booked here for immediately after Christmas but just now there is the usual lull In novelties as all the world goes shopping and has no lime for theatergoing the-atergoing E C C |