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Show I With The First Nighters H TO say that no actor of our stage , moves through a play with half Bj the histrionic grace of Mr. Faver-H Faver-H sham may not appear to be high H praise. I have no desire to diminish H the lustrous fame of one who com-i com-i pares favorably wlth'the greatest, but M I must dwell for a moment on "the M exists and the entrances," the stage m presence and the stage walk of Mr. M Faversham. I have admired his" M gracefulness these many years and I M seize the opportunity to proclaim it M np one of his chiefest gifts. M The college lad, walking down H stage for the first time to deliver an y oration, is troubled by a strange m leaden quality of the feet. In his mo-M mo-M ments of reflection he realizes that m stage walking is a gift of the gods. J The actor who can move about H among the scenery, the furniture, the H electric wires and the arriving and 1 departing trains of the women withal with-al out peril to himself or to others is 1 an artist. I sometimes wonder H " whether Faversham ever stumbled H over the curled edge of a rug. I H must say that he misses a train more H gracefully than any actor of my H knowledge. He missed Maxine El-Hk El-Hk liott's train a dozen times by a hair's H' breadth the other night and did it H with the sure aim of a billiard player. H I am certain Maxjne likes to bo H missed that way. H Faversham and Miss Elliott have H made "Lord and Lady Algy" one of H the delights of the stage. The play H ltBelf is by no means great, but it H- has so many passages of genuine hu-H hu-H mor and pathos and so many spark-H spark-H ling lines that less, proficient artists H jthan Miss Elliott and Mr. Faversham H could present it most acceptably. H They have given it a distinction, an H artistic completeness that quite hyp H notizes one with fascination. Rj The play belongs, to the good old I period when a gentlemnn could get I drunk when he wanted to, even in Hi publio, without bringing down upon H -"himself- a soandaiized "disapprobation H such as would be evoked in this HI purer, nobler and "dryer" day. The Hi funniest scene of all is that in which Hj Lord Algy goes to the fancy dress I I ball "all lit up." IP I suppose t idt the ladies were as Hi deeply interested in the richness and Hi fitness of Miss Elliott's gowns as 1 HI was in the artistry of Faversham's HI steps. The riding habit of blue vel- HI vet sweeping down from Maxine's Hi wondrous height and out into a mag- H niflcent train was nothing less, I HI might say, than a "humdinger." I am HI aware that this is not the proper Hi word to apply to gorgeous raiment, HI but I am a little short of technique HI when it comes to rating such things. Hi When, artists of tjie renown of Fa- H versham and Elliott take the trouble H to select a company so good as that HI which presented "Lord and LaJy HI Algy" at the Salt Lake theatre, the Hi critic is prayerfully anxious to voice Hi his approval. Miss Mary Compton, as Mrs. Brabazon Tudway, the romantic wife who plupges into a flirtation according ac-cording to the best rules of the novels she haB devoured, is quite bewitching. Brabazon Tudway, the injured husband, hus-band, who makes a specialty of breaking break-ing china and jumping on silk hats not his own to emphasize his rage and woe, is most muscularly, most effectively ef-fectively portrayed by Robert Ayr-ton. Ayr-ton. A dozen other players are deserving deserv-ing of almost equal praise. Some of them, I feel sure, would have shone as bright as Miss Compton and Mr. Ayrton had their roles given them the opportunity. WHILE Gus Edward's Annual Song Revue dominates the Orpheum bill this week its brilliancy and be-dazlement be-dazlement do not obliterate stars of lesser magnitude. The Revue searches both homi-sphers homi-sphers for its beauty, but its fun is strictly American. The songs also run the' diapason from the sublime to the ridiculous. The singing of Mario Vil-lainl, Vil-lainl, the tenor, wafts the imagination back to Neapolitan sunsets and summer sum-mer seas, in fact to the Italy of our dreams, which is altogether above the soriness of mere struggling humanity. We hear the sleepy vesper bells, the intermezzo of the lazy ocean and we sit In a boat and softly say, perhaps, with Tennyson, "Row us out from Dezanzano, to your Sirmione, row; So they rowed, and so we landed, O, Venusta Sirmio! Perhaps that is flying a little too high for vaudeville, but Villanl and Olga Cook, blonde and blue eyed, take some glorious flights in their singing. For the rest, it is the usual commingling com-mingling of gorgeous costumes, feminine femi-nine beauty, dances of many kinds, fun and fantastic stunts. It ends with . an apotheosis of war and patriotism which is quite stirring. George Le Maire, formerly of Con-roy Con-roy and Le Maire, is assisted by Clay Crouch in presenting a delightsome travesty, "The New Physician." 1 1 recall re-call that Conroy and Le Maire, t.t the height of their success, made good with an "insurance polioy dialogue which was one of the funniest things I 4 STELLA MAHEW, THE CHEERIEST OF THE SINGING COMMEDIENNES OF VAUDEVILLE, WHO HEADLINES THE ORPHEUM BILL OPENING NEXT WEDNESDAY EVENING In blackface comedy. The rest of their ' act was insipedless. Le Maire and Con- , ". roy have retained the mirthful insur- t ance patter and have devised a scene vil in a physician's operating room which . is equal in its farcical qualities to the , insurance stunt &, An odd. comic song rendered in a most original and fetching style by one of the Barry sisters was one of the most fetching features of the bill. It was entitled "Sez I to Meself Sez I." It is not so much the song, perhaps, per-haps, as the manner of the singing that gives the audience such refrcs&t Ing laughs. The "Frog" is a contortionist who performs amazingly in a wondrous "frogland" of his own creation. WILKES PULSING with all the fire and emo- r tion of Spain, "Carmen" will have w its initial opening tomorrow night at lit the Wilkes with Florence Roberts in 1 the title role. The opera of the same " name was readily adaptable to the drama, for it has a striking dramatic theme running throughout and is rife wih suspense and emotion. As "Carmen" Miss Roberts will have an opportunity to fully display her superb histrionic ability, for it is a role full of fiery fervor and passion, peculiarly adapted to her remarkable talent. With J. Anthony Smythe as the lover and the other Wilkes Players Play-ers admirably cast, "Carmen" is expected ex-pected to create a sensation in theatrical the-atrical circles here. Carmen is a cigarette maker, who wounds a fellow worker in a fit of anger. an-ger. For this crime she is imprisoned imprison-ed and Don Jose set as her guard. With her smiles and beauty she exerts ex-erts such an influence over her susceptible sus-ceptible guard that he allows her to escape. Later Don Jose joins the brigand bri-gand band to which Carman is se cretly allied, all for love of the Spanish Span-ish beauty. Carmen lavishes her love on him until the appearance of a tor eador, who is the idol of Spain. He . finds favor in Carmen's eyes and she j casts off Don Jose abruptly. The I rapid sequence of exciting even, that follow, the breathless suspense, V and the thrilling climax all combine to make "Carmen" a drama of unusual power. Carmen plays all week with matinees mati-nees Thursday and Saturday. |