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Show IZaaaaZZaaaaBZaZaZZaZZZZZl Jltst Cast 'OUr CyC down tllO llnC of American comic opera offerings that intcr-JoHliC intcr-JoHliC SCC nor'zon' requires but o ileeting glance to reveal that there is no longer any-OpGlTii any-OpGlTii thing left to challenge the serious intcn- m- ley- tions of tho comic opera star. Not to in- S liOW dulge in personalities, but take the princi- D6&d "Surcs n x&k once brilliant field and where do you find them? Gone into vaude- ---a-----i ville, musical comedy, and tho airy fairy .Jy LILLIAN RUSSELL. roth that prevails for stage entertainment, where once a book was necessary and a ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZji score of some intents and purposes were deemed essential. A few have been a little more fortunato and, seeking a broader outlet for their talents, have found their advancement In comedy. So you Eee wo who have been forced to undertake something' else aro not deserters. I have always been associated in comic opera with'n better quality of production than is now the vogue in musical comedy. Without cataloguing a long list of successes, it is easy enough to arrive at this conclusion by a simple process of recollection rind accompanying comparison. Please do not gather from this statement that I am at all opposed to the present call or am objecting. What's tho ueo? Tho public in its patronage of the theater moves in cycles. Tho various forms come and go, and even in the drama there are periods when romance has its vogue, only to be supplanted by the problem play, and then to shift to tho frothi-DCHS frothi-DCHS of farce. Rut in them all thero is a sustained effort. On the musical comedy stago this 1b different. A few personalities and a lot of specialties aro now strung together through a maze of striking scenes, and out of this is evolved a bill that pleases apparently. But in this rapid firo action of the spectacular specialties special-ties those who were trained in tho older Bchool were as flounders out of water. One inclined to quarrel with conditions and thereby seek a solution is welcome to the task. There remains tho one evident fact that tho comic opera, so long in tho public eye, is dead as dead can be. Thero is not a comic opera in sight and not a star to handle one, as a result of tho inroads made by tho prevailing stylo of entertainment. Also, if thero aro any composers or men writing librettos of the sort, they havo not been ablo to break into the limelight at any angle. The last several years I was on the musical 6fage demonstrated this, nnd for n time T was absolutely lost for a Buitablo vehicle in which to continue in the lino of work I had bo long been identified with. In times gone by wo had our choice of any number of excellent works. It illustrates the shift of tho times, jjjl Personally, I am glad, for it has opened up an opportunity for mo I M which I might never have seized under any other circumstances, nnd tho I wOrk is far more congenial, and I truly believe is much more worth while. |