Show PERCY s sy 1 T By Dy CHARLES BELMONT DELMONT DAVIS NEW YORK April 18 l Ono night last week at a quarter foro be-foro be- be tore roro 11 o'clock I left my seat lIat atthe atthe at the Cherry Lane theatre At that con con- convinced convinced con vinced moment no one on could have vinced me m that hat during the th tag two hours I en- en had not seen en- en enacted enacted acted every eory tragic Incident th t could possibly happen to man or woman but before I had reached the tho head of the aisle a crippled flogged od to death and boy had bad been Innocent girl who WI 0 nn illegitimate ot tho mother on child had thrown herself bottomless well into 1010 a The he name of the play Is Wild Is tho story of the Birds and It no noa a Slag family who live on a prairie farm somewhere here In the Middle They havo adopted 11 and anda Irl Mazie from hyan an orphan asylum and anda boy Adam from a reform a School and the action ot of the O piece revolves about these two The Tho Slag family are all elfish Inhuman and and no slaves ruthless with whit more u cr cruel cruel- u were rA u u Mule Maile and Adam The Tho Th than are aro ty character to In the play life lite of every beautiful as asIs asIs arid ot of anythIng Is s as surrounds surround that Is the th prairie desert them of the second act At the tho end stand any longer the ble to u un Adam Adm an and of ot tho th Mazie Iazle run a away aay ay with the married but are arc atlon of being belog and driven back fore to the Ma e ehas before be behas however not farm falm she the tho boy ruined by has been enough to loves If H this were not beyond all sn en audience decrees Dan bounds ot of endurance author of the piece intro intro- roh the for tor torno forno who Idiotic old man dudes duces an that r I could see wan wao wanders no reason two O the o ders der's through twaddle gibbering sentimental to be the wa Oy ot of all which seems order to satisfY stage tage Idiots In ot the tate audience tae aa to tho mo tho iho daugh- daugh t his ma uw ma uw ft In n the last ac acter old 11 man him that she h has locked tel ter tells us wood wood- woodshed wood In Ills his own o UP permanently ends with Mazle Mazie shed The Tho play of the w li Adam at the bottom bands and murus lying dead at the of II of Slog Slag and the appearance farmhand ex-farmhand who loved lugubrious Sla that ho assures Mazie and hane tor his crime he will w direction was and acting The the but with the play than better MacLeod as exception o of Mildred ns as Mrs Gleason azle 1 and Mina lUna C worth I would Slag was ot of small ot of any bad to speak much prefer that ill with sorroW play rather rather than anger but to me Inexcusable inexcusable-inexcusable Birds Is author and on of Its on the part producers Con Con- Concentrated Concentrated the part of Its not I does gloom tragedy In Ina constitute good those plays of one a ord It was close our where wo occasionallY It is alt 1111 a adream adream pretend try Uy to eyes ees we open our and that when dream are at atone yes eyes again ain we will we society of those thosa Long Lone Island ot of one comedies where aU a aMary U the characters character rich enough and gay ay enough are aro the Prince of to haze h e entertained Wales was the high blib Horton Mary Iary Jane Jan daughter of prim prim- primitive tempered pretty heart beart ot of In the tho folk olk living lI A mountains the North Carolina weakling from the 11 young man to visit the neighbor neighbor- neighborhood city comes cornu Is who Jane Mary lary hood meets youths youth's the by impressed much And striped sweater sUck slick hair believing stockings and plaid golf goU manner of sophisticated hits his that and not a away away is genuIne love making his leisure hours ot of passing way him to to kiss her permits An- An A neighbor nor sees man Mary leave Jane the a road rOld and her mild young Into the Woods To and disappear leaving garrulous mountaineer this the garrulous l the mats main road suggests departing departing path of virtue and front the which In to the 11 shack hastening dull out her Mary Jane lives his cramped life lite be he communicates coi and to her father evil mother Without making any par par- particular particular truth ascertain the parents and aU all their neighbors he ahe Jane that Mary Jary It for tor granted take down their I is flint and rifles go In pursuit of the var mint m int from the the city An amusing amusing not sufficiently do Idea but sufficiently solid on which to t or Is which corned comedy found a act tour Hatcher Hughes Hughe has haa attempt attempt- attempted what td ed to do In his new play called and Ruing and which the Provincetown Province Province- Provincetown town n presented icu I Many are are the causes cause what on the first nl night ht was reas re retarded re- re regarded assaid as os a Some Som said uld ald the blame should be saddled on the shoulders of ot the entire east cast others othen on those thos of ot James Light who directed the th play others put It directly up to the tho th author while a few tew whimsical souls contend If it It had bad not been for tor the benches now tn in use us at tho the Macdougal Street playhouse Mr II Hughes Huthes might have li v won a a signal triumph Personally with one on exception I thought the acting excellent and as to the direction di- di direction di direction It seems hardly fair tall to judge what any director can do dowhen dowhen when the author of ot th the play clutters clutters clutters up the th stage sta with a lot of oC characters who have hav nothing what what- whatever whatever ever to do with the th B scene ene In hand Beyond the th tact fact that the tho benches are made of ot the th hardest substance yet et conceived and executed by man manI manI manI I do not know how Important a apart apart apart part ther the they played In the fate of the play Impressed me as being too loo liters literal I a transcription from the notebook which I imagine Mr Hughes carries on his tramps ramps through tho Carolina hills To me m the th play was na much too pho pho- pho photographic pho both as DS to the customs and tho the speech of ot the th mountain mountain- mountaineers mountaineers eelS eel'S he h understands so eo well Once I knew another playwright an an Englishman Anthony Hope who spent hl bl his holidays on tramping tours But Hope Hawkins we the called him then choso chose for Ills his lonely hikes bikes the Ibo forests of the small German principalities I have no definite knowledge on the sUbject but I 1 Imagine that hat Hope carried no notebook or pencil How flow However However ever as all be he walked or rested under the shade of ot some inspiring tree treo re he dreamed dreams of ot lovelorn royal ics princesses unscrupulous fAithful servitors and a II young Eng Eng- Eng Eng- Englishman Englishman lishman In h d tweeds no doubt him him- himself himself self who was the th hero ot of the ro tho 10 mances and the adventure adventures we learned of later In tn The Th Prisoner of Zenda and Rupert of Hent- Hent zau Hent-zau zau In other words while whilo Hat flat flatcher Hatcher cher Hughes Huches spent his holidays noKs noK's taking mental written or-written n not notes An An- An Anthony thony Hope Hope dreamed drama The revival of ot Tb Th The Mikado was as befits the tho times limes gorgeous and glorified but the tr traditions were well treated with a t tender regard and a II sympathy that pleased pleas d l the to whom Gilbert and Sullivan means something deeper than r pleasant memories To Io many In the tho audience audience-a audience a par particularly y brilliant audience th audience e operetta was a new thing thins as net I I I In as n If It It had I been written yesterday yester ester yesterday day da and they laughed aloud loud at nt th S 3 I wonderful lines and cheered th o exquisite music Of course the th e 3 old timers had hod quit quite as good food an eve eve- evening eve evening nine eve ning In 10 a less boisterous way nol nod nodding nod nod-idine 1 ding their heads to 10 Iho lilting lifting tunes tune I and chuckling at the lines an y t I lyrics which w they hey know as they the know their Alice In Wonderland I or their belr alphabet could In Inthe n the way ot of a production had beet money done money had bad been spent with witha witha wita L a lavish hand and a II cast of ot great ex had been provided with will direction that was waa worthy of the theold theold old London Savoy Itself And yet et when hen the th curtain fell tell on the tho firs act and to the cheers of ot the en- en enchanted enchanted chanted audience rose ros again and d disclosed the performers the musi- musi musical musical cal conductor the th director there still seemed to some of oC us to be something missing Which o of course was the Impossibility In i some way to express our gratitude f to those two O giants slants of only yester- yester yesterday da day who are arc The Th Mikado the Iho perfect operetta and the like of which we w will ll probably never see seeor seeor or hear again The Tho Shubert had left lert no n loophole for tor even a a partial failure the the piece was as In tn the best of hands both as to singing and act act- actIng acting actIns Ing and even the th words of the chorus could bo be heard distinctly And It must be remembered that actors are even more rare than those who can play Shakespeare or the th classic come come- comedies dies come dies dlee William Dantorth Danforth wh who played the Mikado Is Is to my way ot of thinking a a perfect actor and acts act the th part with more mor unction than with which I have ever seen It played The Bah Balof Bah Poo-Bah of Stanley Forde ford and the of Sarah Edwards were a a delight and I am nm sure euro would have hae been all of that to the th great librettist himself I Yum I have hav seen many artists play Yum-Yum Yum but I never have seen any anyone one play it as ns does Miss Mar lIar Marguerite I Namara She plays play It with bobbed hair hall and she ehe is very cry mod mod- modern modern modern ern In her manner and I am nm not at all sure that she ho Is But I am sure aure sur she sho Is the th mo most t hu human man of ot all Turns Turn and the most sympathetic and lovely to look upon and her singing of The Th i Moon and 1 was one of ot those su au su bits that etan stand forth Ina in a 3 season acason that bat has given us many tIne fine and beautiful moments moment As A i Ko Ko-Ko Ko o Lane was youthful acrobatic arid and apparently suffering terribly t front stage fright When he finds himself he me will wll give gl no doubt a a much better belter performance but I question It if he lie will wUl ever eer play the part as Gilbert wrote It |