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Show ' r; THE CITIZEN 10 Few protean actors have the skill of Owen McGiveney in making what are called lightning changes. That is why ' he is able to put on an entire play all by himself and give it a remarkable aspect of reality. .Mr. McGiveney has chosen his material from Oliver Twist and has called it Bill Sikes. This week he is pre. -- senting it to enthusiastic audiences at the Orpheum. hands know that they wont do and proceed to kid, them unmercifully and play funny tricks on them. . Harry Anger aiid Netta Packer are Two Fifth Avenue Types who ap: pear in comic persiflage and capture ' many laughs. The toy dogs are a delight. They open the bill with quaint stunts. Lillian Price and Bud Berne are parlor entertainers. He displays great skill in battering jazz from the piano with a skill that is almost classical, while she a very- young vaudeville person sings popular songs. Phil Roy and Roy Arthur present their familiar juggling stunt, A Chinese Restaurant. It was good long ago, and is still most entertaining. . knows Bill Sikes. He is one of the creepy memories of. youth. He added another dark but glorious thrill to our young lives. He was our ideal of the murderous villain who was born "to be hanged for our delectation. The plot is woven around the scheme to kidnap young Oliver and place him under the tutelage of the master thief, Fagin. Nancy, a girl member of the gang, in her pity for the boy, warns his friends. Fagin has begun to fear the brutal villain and wants to be rid of him; therefore he tells Sikes that Nancy has .peached to the police. Sikes believes the lie and in his fury murders Nancy, who is his sweetheart. Fagin then stirs up a mob against the slayer, who meets an ignominious end in his attempt to escape by a window. In the course of the play McGiveney appears in the following roles: Monks, Fagin, Bill Sikes, The Artful Dodger and Nancy. By his exits and his entrances, done with almost unimaginable swiftness for he must change his costumes each time the actor gives the impression of a play proceeding in normal fashion. It is a real triumph and one that has added an acceptable act to vaudeville. Oscar Loraine, the violin nuttist, plink, plank, plunks many a laugh from his violin with the aid of his facial contortions, jibes and jests and an unidentified lady who merges into the act when the spotlight is turned on her and her companion in one of the upper boxes. She is found nestling close to her swain, who has an arm around her. She starts as if surprised and abashed. She bashfully agrees to the violinists proposal to sing and she sings with boldness, sweetness and vim several jazzy melodies. Meantime the nuttiest comes down into the audience in the most friendly fashion, sits on the orchestra railing and chats with the musicians and the spectators that is to say, he does all the talking himself and gives it the semblance of a chat. Thus the audience unexpectedly finds itself quick at repartee. On of the oddest acts and one that is littered with laughter is presented by Victor Moore and Emma Littlefield and company in Change? Your Act or Back to the'Woods. The company includes the regular Orpheum stage hands, for the act is supposed to be a sort, of rehearsal. Therefore, there is no scenery just the stage behind the scenes in all its ghastly glory. The ham actors have secured an engagement at the theatre, but the stage Of course, every one . . - s ROBIN HOOI) A revival of Robin Hood in all its beauty of scene and charm of song, at the Salt Lake theatre this week permits the younger generation to appreciate why their parents were so fond of comic opera. And, no doubt, some of the parents were .apt to be a bit scornful as they compared the musical comedies of today with the tour de force of Reginald De Koven. The songs are familiar to all, for they have survived the (eclipse of comic opera and have remained with us in all their pristine sweetness. It must be admitted that the liumor is a trifle time-worbut that may be because a number of the jokes are still wandering about in the purlieus . n, J - First Nighfers The . :.S V of good joke society. It is the humor the Eighties and early Nineties. In its day it was most excellent wit of . and 'we thought it displayed a wondrous, smartness, but if we must make are always another admission-criti- cs generous about admitting things for other folk we are tempted to say that A the libretto has not worn quite as well as the librettos of Gilbert.. It was a wholly; delightful performance. Not since the days of the has the opera been produced with such' a richness of investiture or been sung by artists of such high .r ? i comedy role that' we were wont mire when Barnaby was , a ian. Nevertheless he i& a mery ,2, and knows many of the tricks dT-So- Ujor y mirth-maker- ' s. r ' i , Bos-tonia- merit . . ns . Foremost must be mentioned Elsie Thiede.who is a dashing hit the first moment she makes her appearance as Maid Marian, clad in a brilliant black costume, her fair hair crowned by a big black hat with a rakish plume. Her clear, lovely soprano she handles with a precision that wins admiration notes enchant. Albert ..Parr i. is the Robin Hood Endowed with, a baritone voice of fine While the 1 quality, he is equally well endowed with histrionic talent. He displays an aitistic resource and finish uncommon among those who enact for us the roles of the lighter, operas. . Speaking of the Bostonians." (f is. no Eugene Cowles to win tht-Smorers Song. although William gan as Will Scarlett is most aMe. . - Much, better, we thought, aI was.Hi.jj. Longstreet as Little John. Ccrt vf his Brown October Ale was quit, the taste of ' the audience and L Land said three or four times as distiii as applause could express, it, s, more of. -the same. A feature of the production . Miss May Valntine, who direct! the orchestra pit.' She wore a skirt, white vest and a mans eve dress coat. With her left hand she through the accompaniments on piano and wielded the baton with right. The chorus is worthy of high t mendation. The voices are good the acting admirable. 'V--- ' : ? K - we ap SALT LAKE - ipt . , As the pretty outlaw lad of Sherwood forest,, Bettie Baxter is winning. She has ail appealing contralto add a pretty face. Of course Tom Burton is not a when it comes to exploiting the massive eye and eagle brain of the merry sheriff of Nottingham. In his handling of the part it is not the high Alan-a-dale- Bar-nab- y . After an absence of two years, ert B. Mantell, foremost classic . gedian of this generation, comes the Salt Lake theatre for a week'! gagement, starting Monday night,,. uary 31. ' During the course of week he will be seen in eight diffe plays,. the: most extensive and im; sive repertoire carried by a. trage since the days of Booth and Mantell, since the death in I land of Sir Herbert Tree, offers only chance to playgoers either sid the Atlantic to see the plays of Sh speare and the classic masters sented in the grand manner of royal line of actors. The engagement will open King, Lear, generally considered Mantells masterpiece of tragic it9 ing. It was his first performance King Lear in New York more .rei 1 de : In-M- of Old vtf shi : : r. fc 1 i . - " p old of Or gl an th ce dx vs 1 t a deCade ago that placed Mr. Mac definitely among the stage immon Lear will be followed by Hant Tuesday night; As You Lika ' Julius ( Wednesday afternoon; sar, Wednesday night; RicheL1 Fri Thursday ,night; Macbeth, night; The Merchant of Venice," urday afternoon, and Richard f Saturday night. For1 Richelieu As You Like and Julius Caesar, Mr. Mantell ries this season complete new seen: and all his other plays are mounted the handsome and elaborate mar: of former visits. In As You Like the young and lovelyMiss Ger.evk r s Hamper, is featured as Ro.salind, vitl fascinating of all of Shakespea: heroines. a The. big supporting company thirty skilled' players, h from the best talent available on: stages of America and England. V J prices range from. 50 cents to $2.00 the evening performances, and 4 1 & 1 . : j i 4 . Robert B. Mantell in Shakespearean classics, at-thfor one week, starting Monday, e Salt.Lake.-Theatr- e . j |