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Show j I I With the First Nighters I , The leaps and bounds by which the Salt Lake i theatrical world has. advanced the past three years are-little less than marvelous, but the announce- that Martin Beck and his associates will build a r new Orpheum theatre with a seating capacity of ' over two thousand is the real ; thing in breath i takers. On top of tliis announcement comes the one ' that the present Orpheum will be dovoted to ; opera when tho new theatre is completed, and ) also that at the end of the skating season, the i Auditorium will be turned into a theatre and I general amusement hall. This not only moans that Salt Lake is to have f practically three new high class theatres, but with the promises of , Mr. 'Beck, who is a iiberal ; , provider, and the assurance from the Richards street house that nothing but attractions of class I1, W01 bo seen there,' theatre goers will never be at a' loss again for something to do in the evening, i f Already there are a dozen theatres here of differ-i differ-i ; ont classes, all apparently well supported, and the ' i only fear is that Salt Lakers will be so sure that 1 this is tl good show town that the business will ? assume proportions greater than the public can l support. I' It is to be hoped, however, that we are wrong in this idea. To Howard Garrett belongs the credit for engl-; engl-; neering tho Bock-Orpheum deal, and though there have been rumors to the effect that there will be I some difficulty In completing the arrangements, it is thought that the men in control of the proposition proposi-tion would scai'cely bring their plans to a head without knowing what they are doing, and that everything will be speodily settled, vtf & & j ' "HAPPYLAND." f A great amount of analytical knowledge is scarcely necessary to come to the conclusion that .; , Reginald DeKoven has written Just one real thing. and that is "Robin Hood." f Like the architect and there are many such jj who has in his mind the plan of just one house, , and builds It with a few ginger bread changes ev- ery time he gets a new order, De Koven writes his operas, but this new setting for the long legs '( of Hopper and tho petite sweetness of Marguerite I Clark is his worst contribution to the stage. J' But if he is at fault, Frederic Rankon who is X : accused of writing the book so far outclasses him H in point of. stupidity and sameness that the inde- secretions of tho composer are almost lost sight of. : That this oocagne or iinaginary "Happyland" has been able to get this far west' is because of one oi three reasons. Either credits are good, tho rail-, rail-, roads are exceeding the speed limit, or theatre s' goers elsewhere have more money, than sense. De ; 1 Wolf Hopper is no fool, even if his present musi cal offering would lead one to believe so, and he : must know that in "Happyland" he hasn't got the " ; goods. His well-worn intonations have been passe j for years, and with the exception of his mono- . I! Icgue between acts, there wasn't a thingMn the i' show worth a good laugh. ' I It was too bad, too, that the man In the gallery I who took a shot at tho King of Altrurla missed I his mark. i s t It is a wierd and weary mixture carrying more I than its share of the burdens that bore for tht f grandfathers of some of us admitted that they I f recognized some of the jokes and members of the - f chorus both of which made tremendous hits the t evening before the battle of Gettysburg. The movement of the thing was so slow that ,' even the hard working Hopper couldn't get into action, the music was characterless, and the labored la-bored speeches thoroughly inane. Aside from the winsome little Marguerite Clark I the support is comprised of a splendid collection of sticks, and taken as a whole "Happyland" was the most distinct disappointment of a fairly brilliant bril-liant season, for everyone anticipated so much, and got so very little. & & & THE ROBERTS SURPRISE. To penetrate the inner conciousness seems to be the particular province of tho American dramatists drama-tists of late, and in "Sham," the new society comedy, com-edy, written by Geraldine Bonner and Elmer B. Harris and played here during the week by Florence Flor-ence Roberts, tho authors have completed a study of American society life, so clean and clever and wholesome, and at the same time bringing the truth home with such force to those who feel that for tho sake of appearances they must go in debt for terrapin when a ham sandwich would stack even with their incomes, that since the play has been produced hero even rich people have made an effort to pay their bills. It is the first really fine thing Miss Roberts JOHN C. RICE AND SALLY COHEN AT THE ORPHEUM NEXT WEEK. has ever done, and people like it and like her In it for various reasons. In the first place there are no problems; the play is free from the .usual bucket of blood and wholesale agony, and, in a word it Is the nearest thing to silk Miss Roberts has over had the fortune to appear In. It has been said that It is too light for her. That is entirely erroneous It is just right for her, but in all candor, can-dor, there is no getting away from the fact that Miss Roberts has greatly improved and no matter mat-ter how it has been pounded in, she is a much better actress than over before. She is so much more pleasing in comedy than in the tragic roles she assumes that the wonder is she has been so long in finding it out. But there are two things to take into immediate consideration. considera-tion. In the first place, she has a splendid play, and in the next, she has the best company that has ever surrounded her. There is not one of them who is not commendable commenda-ble in every way, and in Thurlow Burgen Miss Roberts has one of the best leading men in the country. His work is so real, so natural, and so free from after a and the artificial tricks early adapted by most professionals that he is . many times removed from the average lead. Georgie Woodthorpe, who never does anything any way but well, and Kate Jepson as the aunts, have such an acoute conception of their roles that no one could fill them better, and aside from Mr. Bergen those most conspicuous among the men were Harry D. Gibbs and Louis Frohoff, who played the BUoks from Idaho, with an intelligence intelli-gence that seemed born of actual experience. Helen Daly, Susanne Siegel and Marion Stephenson were splendid as was also C. J. Williams, Wil-liams, whose waiter was beautifully done. The play has the Bonner brand stamped in scintillating letters between noax'ly every line and most of them have that can't-get-away-from-it poignancy that won Geraldine Bonner her first successes suc-cesses in the world of letters. . What does it matter if the ending is rather abrupt and unfinished? "Sham" is a splendid play, laying bare the foibles of a certain class without offending, teaching, a lesson that it would be well for many to learn, and doing it in such a humor ously delightful way that one would like to see it again just to try to remember some of the witticisms wit-ticisms that came so fast that It was impossible to get them all. t ORPHEUM. The difference In the two hoadliners at the Orpheum this week is groat, but they are real headliners just the same. One is Ralph Johnstone, tho aerial wonder, whose feats on tho bicycle are the most thrilling of tho many good circus acts f of which the Orpheum boasts. Johnstone has a ' real sense of humor also, and a grace and easo m of manner that does muqh to relieve the strain his audiences are under while he is performing ih space. Nothing more skillful or daring In aerial flights has been seen in Mr. Beck's emporium. The other headliner Is the Orpheum orchestra, ' ,which renderfedtv selection from "Butterfly" so beautifully a to ' cliarm even the magpies who usually make It their business to constantly giggle whu.av.r anything particularly , fine is J)eing done. 1 The work of Mr. Welhe and the dozen artists under his direction is deserving of special praise for the manner in wlilcll they handled the difficult selection. There was little else to the show that one expressive ex-pressive adjective . of six letters could not describe, de-scribe, though Sydney Deane has rather a unique sketch in "Christmas on the Island." Mr. Deane has a good voice, and Mr. Rolland in his support is a real comedian. All in all the i lea is not so bad. Hermann the Great just which one is not known has a new invention in transformations that is clever, and one or two new tricks which are good. Joe Carroll is a poor monologist, and there are a lot of dancers that outclass him. There are fow funny men on the stage, horever, with better preserved jokes. It was scarcely up to the management of the Manhattan Opera company to go into hysterics from grief when Virginia Pierce decided to Bing for others further west. If she had stuck to her "Jack" Bell as "Tlge1' in Buster Brown at the Grand Next Week resolution and would really Bing, things would go smoother. There's about as much humor in Bailey and Austin, the "American Beauties," as there is in a War Cry editorial. Their act is an impossible concoction of slap sticks, fireworks, and the usual atavistic order of comedy that goes with these things. They took with the crowd about as well as the Democratic ticket last year. & & & GOOD ATTRACTION AT THE GRAND. i R. F. Outcault's cartoon comedy, 'Buster 1 Brown," will be the attraction at the Grand theatre the-atre all next week, commencing Sunday evening, March 1st, with matinees Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. "Buster" Is too well known to the public to need explanation as to the character of the play; Oontlnuod on page 12 . Continued from pago 0 THEATRICAL. suffice it to say that the bast of the- many asca- pades in which "Buster," "Tige" and "Mary Jane" have figured In the comic supplements of : newspapers, have been selected, and so joined together by cleverly written dialogue that a comedy com-edy of unusual niBrit has boen evolved. Twenty new song frits, the Bobby Burns Brigade, the j Hughes Musical Trio, and a singing, dancing i chorus of 26 pretty girls, are, only a fowi of the features of this production. Buster Brown has ' been seen by millions, and the high standard of I the attraction having boen kept up, it will be seen and highly apreciatod by many more. j & i j THEATRE MONEY STAYS HOME. Aside from the fact that good shows are being given at the Djjricjfpr popular prices ten-i; ten-i; twenty and thirty cents there, is another feature ! which demands some consideration. This is the fact., that the money oarned by this house ro- i mains in this city; the Utahna Stock company of twelve members is staying here on a long engagement, engage-ment, and this means that the money paid circu-!j circu-!j latos here. But it takes something more than a. proposition of this kind to bujld up a patronage and the Lyric management has not overlooked that. It is producing clean plays, and employing jj capable men and women to present the offer- j ings. ,j The bill for the coming--week is 'The Missouri ij' Girl," a comedy drama with Miss Johns in the l title role. 1,1 & & iHAjROLD BAUER. S When Harold- Bauer plays here Monday even- i ! ing, March 9th, music lovers of Salt Lake will have the pleasure of hearing 'for the second time : ) an artist who stands as one'of the foremost'mas- tors of the pianoforte. !, Mr. Bauer began his fifth tour in America ia New York January 28th. The New York Times j . says that his "piano recital was the source of a j great and rare pleasure to the large audience as- i, semblod in Mendelssohn hall." His popularity in- (; creases on every tour. It is doubtful whether it is not even greater In American than in Europe, ; where he is recognized as a genius of the fore- , most rank, j' & & & THE TOYMAKER. ' " ;, Besides containing some 'really high-class mu- 1 sic, "The Toymaker," which comes to the Salt !! Lake theatre the first of the week, as Mr. Healy has put it on, is full of good fun, it is said, and ! the show as a speotaclo is surely what Is known In the vernacular as a "winner." The toyshop, 4" with mechanical figures in motion, and "transfor- ' matlon"' offeote, . brings "ohs' and "ahs" from ov- ory crowded house. ,i fjt tit t . ij BREWSTER'S MILLIONS. '! li ! "Brewster's Millions," described as one of the !J most origanl comedies presented in a decade, and ,, ! which has crowded the eastern, tlieatros for many : ; months past, will be presented at the Salt Lake j! theatre next Friday and Saturday. The stage i adaptation of George Barr McCutcheon's novefl jl has been cleverly made by Wincholl Smith an(l J Byron Ongley. It tpems with humorous situations, delightfuL ' ly toned with a deiieate note of pathos and a fasti, fas-ti, cinating heart Interest. The story is one of llfp s and action and there is not a dull moment in it. ; Its keynote, is the effort of a hitherto very sedate .young man to spend a million dollars in one year, if inherited from a grandfather, as a condition to k the . inheritance-.of .sevan. oaJJUons from an unole. I: |