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Show Keek of Varied Music, Powers Puns and Patters IB'f " pRose Maid" Considerably Above Operatic H Average; Briton Produces Hamlet Tolerably. 3 w Vanderheyden Fyles ISMS??-I ISMS??-I am simply ebron-1yV ebron-1yV hJ f New York tbea-act0lvlltv tbea-act0lvlltv of a crowded fientV ormuBica, except Mid even in. that "mo Hare had everything it0. XtJloeuen under tlio en i, from HigbLifo ama-& ama-& vatidevillians, from opulont Broadway bur-f bur-f Sous, if rbfi tonch grand opera; in Stag that could sing or wal weather man has come lize that lie no longer depend on atmospheric i w-, w-, to announce the advent ,rU is easier to watch osrds for the advertise-The advertise-The annual Casino "sum-" "sum-" This time it is called tile Brides," but a more . 1, title would be "One me, T. Powerv' tor that red comic is the whole He is not only the star jce, but figures among the authors; named and not r Mr. Powers s part in the abors was writing out as her roles as he could iem clear out of the play, The whole matter began ODsistcnt and serviceable t in Germany: though the f of it seems to have I al-jard al-jard on the voyage to this and been lost forever. SIAN boarding school has imagined and endowed t of comic opera 'rules. Any id talking with one of the after dark must immc-larry immc-larry lier. The handsome a matter of fact, he is r plain, but the happy slithers don't know that) res to the school, whero ntly becomes annoyed by !!s-a-crowdncss of his in-i in-i chum, who is eontinu-hand. eontinu-hand. So he hails in a issing in a motor-car. ell you that said friend is ilycarp Tvanovitrli. I need Id lie is tho chief coim-lycarp coim-lycarp is on bis way to bo o 2 (.'orsicau young woman nin person and in temper, c, the comedian and the caiicht in the company of girls and are forthwith :o them. The bridegrooms fy run away. That gives md act in which the two lei have lost the husbands audience lias lost tho plot ; is notbinc loft whenever an fintl Mr. Powers nap-tlte?i nap-tlte?i Lawrence, who was nto the leading tenor role eeondarv part so late that cesfor's name appeared on night programme, sang ;iUa?ine flonir. cou'TiWely ;d by girls. Leila Hughes, jM change her name to compliment t.o her vocal began by bellowing away but prescntlv calmed her-n her-n to n tone of far more I singing than is generally 3rd in musical farce, nnd Cameron did her hest sing-her sing-her feet, fiho dances with aal vivacity and grace. Miss Hughes, impersonal-jchool impersonal-jchool girls who gave the ll'e piece, havf two duels re, perhaps, the bent nnni-neplav.one nnni-neplav.one being the joint Of a love-letter, nnd tho "UK; 'K1,'."6 WhMrn,' authors 'of fK' viPimep libretti, im-lnd-?sK'f''S hPrmg Maid." that Ar-IK'Andertoii Ar-IK'Andertoii ai iiarold Atler- V&Khl t 7ilth lr' Powers as the glKi.. J, 1"p- American version, KwMf f?. A e. 0stuming is merition-HK merition-HK ""t Rood tastci as well as BK f r I" 'io matter of colors Bk'i, e? h'lCn distinguishes IBiet frnnT (lr.(!,l-r ,jt ""'si' toft, Rt n'Mlionui K mkr "?asa"Stri"d on by leave him. adding only that in lerkmess of style and person he crows more and more to resemble. Mrs. Fiske. DO NOT ask me to explain the reason why "The Rose Maid'' is considerably above the. oneratic average in charm and entertainment, en-tertainment, because I cannot. 1 "might whistlo the explanation; but no one could prove it in printed words. Bv nil of which T mean, the music is the reason. It possesses pos-sesses melody without banality; it is rich with grace and quality, without portontousnoss or pose; and its orchestration is full and varied, and not without musical invention. I should like to com-tilhnont com-tilhnont the composer by name; but such a wish immediately ; stubs its toe against a difficulty. To sa"y, "Good work, Bruno!'" sounds really too familiar. But respectfulness comes hard when the name is Bruno Granichslaed-tcn! Granichslaed-tcn! Let me hurry up to banish any idea that "The Rose Maid " depends de-pends sololy on its music, that a desert of dull libretto has to be endured to gain an occasional oasis of melody. Quite on the contrary: con-trary: the music simply studs a story that is entertaining enough in itself, though somewhat hackneyed. hack-neyed. Harry B. Smith and Raymond Ray-mond Peck took it from a German farce called "Bub oder Mncdcl," while "Robert B. Smith rhymed sections of it to admit of music. But librettoing. in this instance, did not end there. A lot of other neoDle aud the programme printer took a hand. The last named got in ahead of the accredited authors with the plot in this fashion: The Duke of Manchester Mr. J. IT. Duffy A young: nobleman living he-yond he-yond his income and noted for his extravagant entertaining, who Is sole heir to tho estate of Ms uncle Sir John Portman. .Mr. R. E. Graham A wealthy bachelor who visits his young- relative unexpectedly unexpect-edly at his London home on the nlfxht tho Duke announces his betrothal to Princess Hilda Von Lahn Miss TCdllh Decker Whose love for the Duke receives re-ceives a shock when she lcarna that he is financed by and In the clutches of Dennis Mr. JEd Gallagher Schinuke Mr. Al Shcan Chumley Mr. Arthur Laccby Loan brokers and bankers whose methods are not approved ap-proved by (lie pretty little daughter of the Duke's housekeeper house-keeper Daphne AND so on through the cast, oven to the exceptionally handsome, well dressed chorus, who are introduced with: And wc alfo meet thre, amonp others, the following sue.sts and attendants: The scheme is very restful finite like going- to Italian opera with a " full libretty of the opory" purchased in tho lobby. Ordinary operetta, might be compared to French or German opera, at which one is supposed (!) to follow the words: but tho most hypocritical of us is not expected to be so casual with Italian. IS 1 had not; read my programme, I might have begun be-gun to think "The Jiose Maid" was '''The School for Scandal" sot to music, played in modern dress nnd, like Mark Twain's "Jumping Frog;" translated "back into English." For the first act scorned to lake up tho Sheridan comedy with the first scone at Charlds Surface's. The rich old undo called on his roystering, spendthrift nephew in the midst, of a midnight parly; was mistaken for a moneylender, money-lender, and carried off the. role in order to ferret out the true state of affaira. But hero the plot veered off from Shcridnn. Indeed, if one, followed "The Rose Maid" closely enough, one met vith fragments of every play ono ever saw. The experience ex-perience was refreshing; one simply "thought of a favorite play," and, lo and behold, there it was. Though tho Duko of Barchester's love was acceptable to tho princess so long as his nionoy lasted, she threw him over as heartlOBsly as Drusilla Tvos abandoned tho Duke of Guisebury. when that central character of Henry Arthur Jones's famous drama of "The Dancing Girl" came to the end of his resources. Like Guisebury, Barchester gave a great ball to celebrate his ruin; and, though his inamorata atirrod un the occasion by singing instend of by the more admired means of dropping dead and rolliug down :i i flight of stairs, the guests fled from the duke like rats from a sinking ship, and a faithful gray mouse of a .girl crept out of a dark corner to cling to him and to drag him out of the sea of despondency. Noble sentiments these, 1' must protest; noble sentiments, whether sung or spoken. THFRE arc some novelties in "The Rose Maid," though for the most pari, its merits are conventional, if positive. Tho old uncle is concerned in the freshest fresh-est two songs of the piece, though his voice is heard in only ono. In order to "throw a scare" into his profligate nephew, the old gentleman gentle-man pretends to be a husband and, furthermore, announces the, early coining of a child which, if male, will take precedence over the duke as heir to his great fortune. The telephone rings to announce the birth. The duke, the money-lend e.rs and a horde of grafting friends gather about to hear the news, the receipt of which, the attendant takes. anxiety and discussion, make for a babble of melodious mirth. Tn the next act, at Ostend, the old fake-father wheels a hooded, empty babv carriage about, to carry out his hoax; and its presence pres-ence serves as excuse enough in operetta for the introduction of ' a duet. "The nappj' Family," which, in addition to its pleasing air. brings in six littlo girls, of graduated six sizes, "who are as pretty and as dainty as a row of waxen dolls and who toddle about as merrily and as unconcernedly as though they had been born behind be-hind the footlights. INASMUCH ' as tho purpose of these letters is to keep you posted on tho novelties of New York's passing show. T must tell vou about a play called "Hamlet." "Ham-let." It was produced for a single sin-gle matinee, to celebrate the author's au-thor's birthday; his name was William Shakespeare and a good deal can be found about, him hi any standard encyclopaedia. Tt is said that many of his plays used to be acted frequently; but except for a couple of fragmentary scenes presented al a recent chanty matinee, mat-inee, the only performances of his nieces New York has seen this season were some given by the Sothern-Marlowc company. Tan Maelnrcn had a tough time of it "honoring Shakespeare." He might better have undertaken the role on a stage draped with tapestries, tap-estries, in the manner of the New theater production of "A Winter's Tale" and of several Ben Greet performances instead of against the difcillufiinnment of such inappropriate inap-propriate sconcry as could bo borrowed bor-rowed for tho afternoon. We frequently fre-quently hear the story of Henry Irvlng'e imprcssivenc3S as Hamlet in a frock coat, -when a railroad accident delayed the arrival of the customary costumes; but. it would take a far, far better actor than any young man on the stage today to awe us as a Danish prince in a'Moorish "audience hall of the castle," a lofty, early Victorian salon for the "queen's closet." and a forest "drop" for 'the "battlements "battle-ments of Tlsinorc. " And with a company of strangers lo their task (not that one of them indicated ability to do mueh better had they been rehearsed for soven weeks by a Bclasco!) Mr. Maclarcn's undertaking under-taking waa doomed from the start. That it escaped ridicule is creditable credit-able to him and to his audience in about equal degrees. Tie is an ISnglishman. playing his first American Amer-ican engagement as the member of the "Disraeli" company, second in importance to George A rl is? ; but he ha been a prorincinl star for several years at lpinc, and. in that, capacity, has iinrfcrtakcn most MISS E VA HAY, The "Hi"li Priestess of Mystory." "Who Headlines the Bill Now Running at the Empreos. of tho lending male roles of Shakespeare. Shake-speare. IIo is stalwart and rather handsome; carries himself well, and has a strong agreeable voice, which he uses admirably. His Hamlet started badl3', though it is reasonable reason-able to assume the trying circumstances circum-stances were more than partially to blame for this. .Indeed, his. whole first act was indefinite, incoherent incoher-ent and wholly unimpressive. After that he settled clown into a more even gait, confused occasional!- by an unnecessarily rapid delivery of some lines which rendered them unintelligible. This is neither the time nor place lo go into a particular consideration considera-tion of tho Hamlet of an actor very little known in this country and of no especial reputation anywhere, any-where, or indicating any exceptional excep-tional ability: but it may be said that, as a whole, his performance is capable and intelligent. It is usual for critics to pounce upon ever' actor who undertakes Hamlet Ham-let because he has not the genius to rise to the heights tradition tells us Edwin Booth and Henry Irving scaled; and there is something to-be to-be said against bothering to see lessor actors in the great part, while such masterly performances of it, as .7. Forbes Robertson 's and B. H. Sothern 's are to bo seen. But tor my part, T find "Hamlet" invariably in-variably so entertaining, unless undertaken by absolute incompetents incompe-tents that T can only fret under an unwritten law that frightens actors, ac-tors, who have ability without genius, gen-ius, away from the play, and that therefore deprives us of much intelligent in-telligent enjoyment. T understand Mr. Maclaren contemplates con-templates a summer tour in "Hamlet." "Ham-let." and, if he surrounds himself wjth a better company (only Frank VvooJfe and Grace Griswold. as the king and queen, were capable enough to be hotter than an actual hindrance to the leading actor). T should advise you to see him. His Prince of Denmark .reaches no great, heights, but neither does it, fall to the meaningless mouthing of such Hamlets as wo have had to got along wiMi in the last decado or more excepting, of course, Soth- em and Forbes Robertson: and to see any great play intelligently performed is too rare an opportunity opportun-ity to disregard. UTL TROVATORE" and "Let A George Do It" may be suid to have touched the musical poles in this whirling week of song. Perhaus the best thing to be safd for the Verdi opera is that, despite de-spite its tunefulness, it has no turkey-trot. That is a winuing recommendation at this point in a trotting season. For nowadays, unless one dines at home an exceptional ex-ceptional adventure in New York! one cannot swallow a mouthful without chewing it to rag-time. One no longer hears on the silent evening air or above the gentle flow of a wait, tunc, the guttural ripple of an old man and his soup. A miuiaturc stage now stands at the far end of cverv public dining room, where, in the good old days of such hotels as the Barfcholdi. the St. Cloud and the Fifth avenue, a sideboard, d reaped with toothpicks, used to stand imposingly." "II Trovatore" called on this occasion "Lc Trouvcre" bocause Kung in French, by the opera company com-pany from New Orleans--surprises one with as many familiar tunes ai does "Hamlet with its "quotation." "quo-tation." Turkey-trot-le.5, it in auguratcs a turkey-trot-lcss woek of "Faust." " "Carmen," "Thais." "Lucia di Lammr-moor." Lammr-moor." "Mignon" and "La Fa-vorita." Fa-vorita." Coming at the end of a New York season crowded with the best opera to be heard anywhere any-where in the world, it would be absurd to fay the N'cw Orleans company was especially welcome. A small chorus, phabby vesture and soloists of the. second grade, at best, cannot hope for an enthusiastic enthu-siastic reception in Broad way, but the performances aro to be commended com-mended for their earnestness and vigor, and especially for the clear and cultured diction of the singers. sing-ers. HAVING written that last sentence. sen-tence. 1 may throw away the words "clear" and "ml- tured:" thoj' will be of no use to me in commenting on "Let George Do Tt." A nolly show tins, though. Tt makes no pretentions, and. therefore, one is primed to meet its genial feeling more than half way. How much more than the title Aaron Hoffman took from Gcore McManus'a cartoous I really canuot say; my knowledge of art and literature has its limitations. lim-itations. For some' reason, known onlv to the author, a couple have been married without knowledge of each others' identity; have separated sep-arated at the altar; and are doomed, apparently, to spond the remainder of their lives, running in and out of doors, hiding in a Ginevra-csquc chest, assuming every known disguise, and generally gen-erally whooping and howling with all stops pulled out. So George the Janitor is called in. Of course, you might ask why. Eas': because he is tho star. George P. Murphy, who has carried companios in musical mu-sical farces of this sort through the country for several years, is a more than ordinarily droll comedian come-dian of the broken English school, strongly reminiscent of Louis Mann. George's stupidity and bewilderment be-wilderment in the face of all the extravagant undertakings thrust upon him (let George do it") reach the climax of disniaj' with the involuntary receipt of a. wife, simply because the exigencies of the plot demand that someone marry a certain woman and wull. 1. G. d. i! if many of the endless chain of musical comedies produced on Rroadwav gave as much pleasure, relatively, as this visitor to a cut-rate cut-rate theater does, there would not be so much money lost in the "show business." |