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Show J3Y EMfl S CAfcVET. CASINO jf fv, . Ml - i , " - s'4t ' " vs, , - " ' -1 It . - 2 II' "1 f m III U " - , V ill " k ' I it j -! i ii, t i ?v II 4 f it It ' t v - I I k -s t - f - it ' ril y ' vvw jKW YORK, Sept. 2i. Returning I' j j to this city after an absence of I four years, George Arliss, the English actor, gave one of the best performances of his career when he took the title rolo of "Pnganiui," Edward Knoblauch's new comedy, at tho Criterion. A triumph almost as great was also scared by Margery Maude as Charlotte Watson, an infatuated English girl drawn to the Italian genius, who is believed be-lieved to get hiT unapproached control over his fiddle strings by a secret compact com-pact with the evil one. M iss Maude has suffered, we fear, by being in the shadow of her famous father. Only now she comes into her ow-n with a sweet, irresistible and sympathetic sym-pathetic portrayal of the genius worshiper. wor-shiper. For his setting Mr. Knoblauch chooses the time when the master violinist, came to London and brought the Brit ish iu ecstacics to his feet. Jn the first quarter quar-ter of the last century there were, it seems, what corresponded to the "matinee "mat-inee girls" of today. Charlotte, betrothed be-trothed to a likeable British captain, was one of these. The first background in the play is the home of a London niercha nt of wealth. Then we see a parlor in the, celebra t ed ' ' Ship " tavern at Dover, and still later a room iu a Calais inn. Charlotte has followed her idol all the way to France before her betrothed and his family reaii,e what is happening. happen-ing. For a while Pnganiui believes that he loves her, even equally with his costly Guarnerius. It is only when the English bean I y has waited for hours, cold and without food, while the genius finds an inspiration inspi-ration for a concerto ho is going to dedicate to her, that she suspects he loves his music, more than any woman. With English bluffness, her betrothed makes the violinist come to the point demands that Paganini choose between love and art. The deity of the catgut shows clearly which is his greater mistress, and Charlotte Char-lotte flies to the arms of her captain. Mr. Arliss was successful in surrounding surround-ing with the traditional weird atmosphere atmos-phere the world's great fiddler. He portrayed all the eccentricities in which Paganini reveled and which brought about the legend of the Satanic bargain. bar-gain. In a curtain speech Mr. Arliss promised prom-ised tto appear here this season in at least two otlfor plays, and hinted one of these will be a revision of Barrie's. "The Professor's Love Story." Mrs. Arliss took the part of Lady Strangford and Charles Barbury mide an excellent country squire. Fred Nicholls was a perfect British waiter in the "Ship" tavern. "FLORA BELLA." More than the usual amount of real humor distinguishes 'Flora Bella," the operetta with Lina Abarbanell in the most prominent place, which started its career at the Casino theater Mondav night. We suspect the credit for this goes largely to Dorothy Donnelly, although the glory is divided, according to the programme, between Felix Doerman, who wrote the original text, Cosmo Hamilton, the first reviser and adapter, and finally Miss DonneHy, who did a second blue-penciling. And the lyrics come from still another author, Percy Waxman. Miss Abarbanell again proved herself a young woman of divers talents. She sings well, shows intelligence and grace in her acting, and has made herself a good dancer, while clever lines in her hands are treated satisfactorily. She divided the honors of the evening even-ing with Ijawrenco Orossmith, whose fun is polished and quiet; Adolph Link, an accession from the German stage; Muriel Hudson,, Juliet Lippo and several sev-eral others. Indeed, it is quite a job mentioning everyone to Ite lauded for this fine bit of operetta. Charles Ouvillier and Mil-Inn Mil-Inn Schwartz composed the music, some of which is bound to be popular; Joseph Urban 's hand designed the scenery, and Mme. Kerner the costumes, whilo Richard Rich-ard Ordynski was stage manager and Carl Randall directed the dances. The plot concerns a certain Russian countess who believes her husband is not quite as ardent as he should be So she becomes a singer for a night in a cabaret, makes her husband believe she is her own twi n sister, and then provokes in him an entirely acceptable amount of warmth toward her. All very respectable, of course, but supposing sup-posing she had really been the twin f Even sisters can ,be jealous. The dancing is one of the best lea- -hires of "Flora Bella." Hilda Biyar, au almost undraped beauty, was liberally lib-erally applauded, while Grant and Wing perform evolutions w Inch, if not dangerous, dan-gerous, at least look so. "PIEREOT THE PEODIGAL." It is a bit difficult to make an American Ameri-can audience sit without restivencss through a long pantomime. With this handicap, "Pierrot the Prodigal" struggles strug-gles gallantly at the Booth tneater. We tear, "however, that even the genius of Michel Carre, who wrote "L 'Enfant Prodigue " in French and whoso work delighted London for many months, plus the art of Winthrop Ames, who has done his best to popularize this old piece, will not be sufficient to their task. Augustin Da!v first produced "Pierrot" "Pier-rot" here in l&H, but with slight success. suc-cess. Since then it has beeu soen for fleeting periods several times. It tells the old story of the wastrel (or, as the movies have it, waster) who redeems himself by his bravery in war after it seems that his career is wrecked forever. Margot Kelly, who will be remembered re-membered as "A Little Bit of Fluff," is the faithless Phryhette and the programme pro-gramme declared that sho had been engaged en-gaged on a dav's notice to play the part. Mile. Marie lveneo, cast for the role, is very ill. Xlarjorie Patterson, who has the leading lead-ing role of Pierrot, Jr., does well with her gestures and other devices of tho mime, but it is all very discouraging, and must be so. Pantomime had best be left to Europe. "MR. LAZARUS.' The story of tho man who domes back after twenty years' absence to hia wife and daughter is shown by Ilenrv E. Dixev in the title role of lfNr. Lazarus"" Laza-rus"" at the Shubert theater. The authors au-thors are Harvey O 'Biggins and Harriet Ford and their conception of an aphasia sufferer proved a splendid vehicle for M r. Dixey '3 reappearance on tho local stage. John Molloy got a bump on the head in a railroad accident and lost his memory. mem-ory. Ilia bride they were on their honeymoon hon-eymoon supposed he had beeu killed. The last sho remembered of him was when he shoved her through the ear window to safety. She went back home and a little daughter came. He went to Denver, took the name of Lazarus and prospered. The first act of "Mr. Lazarus" shows Mrs. Molloy and her daughter, Patricia, in t lie boarding house they are conducting. conduct-ing. M rs. M olloy has remarried. Her second husband is a scoundrelly doctor who has brought, his own daughter into the family. His one aim in life is to get money out of his wife, lie has cowed her so thoroughly that she hardly dares breathe in his presence, lie learns there is some doubt iu her mind of the death of Husband Hus-band Molloy and he use this to blackmail black-mail her. In every ot her breat h he threatens to expose her for having collected col-lected the insurance on .Molloy 's life. Me forces her to mortgage the hoarding houo to provide him with money and his daughter with prettv gowns. M can while 1 '-it ruin is the Cinderella the maid of all work about the board- , ing house and the favorite of all the . (Continued on Following Pago.) In New York Theaters (Continued. From Preceding Page.) boarders, especially of William Booth, a struggling artist with a fine vein of humor hu-mor and no money always backward in paving his room rent, i The doctor's demands for money have ' reached a point where his wife is forced i to sell the house to meet them. I Comes a new boarder in the midst of 'the trouble a Mr. Lazarus from the west. His memory has returned he has : recalled something about his life as John l Molloy. and he is attempting to see what has happened to hU wi fe. A nd there she is, with a beautiful, but much abused, daughter and a second husband. Lazarus stays around to observe and sa v no thing. When he learns how ill-treated ill-treated his wife and daughter have been he tries to comfort the daughter and tells her ho is her father. She thinks i him crazy and doesn't believe. He tries a more practical way of helping. When the wife is forced to sell the house he I buvs it and presents the deed to the wife and daughter. There is soineth ing so unexplainahle about this that the wife scrutinizes her benefactor more carefully and suddenly recojrnies thing? about him that make her believe he is the husband she lost in the railroad wreck. Mr. Lazarus proceeds to give his wife and daughter all the luxuries of life and tn provide a substantial income for liieni. As a climax, he disappears as mysteriously a he came, i 'Patricia marries Booth, the artist, for he lias finally won success in his field. ! "Mr. La:' a rus " is one of the most 'charming comedies seen in New York in ' ir.pnv reason--. Beside? it brilliant lines 1 and comical situations, it contains real ; iieart interest. |