The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-24 00:00:00

Lyceum Theatre.

AP'
" THE .KING'S BUTTERFLY."
Saturday
A brilliant audience assembled en ater"l
evening to inaugurate the commencement uf the
season at this elegant theatre, and on the occasion
,11
a now drama, entitled " The King's Butterfly,'' in
which Mr Fechter sustained the principal Past'
produced. Although perhaps one of the mad,uo.tn
is con
elegant pieces as far as the mounting
the drama is not a new one to the metropoli:e
stage, a version of it having been produced at
and
Princess's Theatre under the title of "Court aa
Camp," with Mr George Vining and Miss Am/
as
Sedg wick as the hero and heroine. The piece wwe
very well placed upon the stage on the occasion the
have just mentioned, but to compare it with
h, be
splendid exotic produced at the Lyceum vven'hat
to set a dahlia against a daisy. Everything t",d
the most lavish expenditure and refined taste cetti,
effect has been done, and that most certainly fit`
secure crowded houses for some time; yet a° I.ot
as the drama itself is concerned, in a literary Pnhlo
of view, it is not one that is likely to be en.,4,es
upon with much favour. The original piece,Wilt`la
by M. Paul Meurice, was entitled le Fanfan
.°0
Tulippe,'' and divided into seven acts, but in t,
version under notice the seven have been reduc7
to five, and certainly had the five been still farther,
curtailed, we should have had, to say the le/ich
a much more compact drama, and onewbur,
might have worked its way into public fal°
The story of " The King's Butterfly' ill, 1110
complied
most French dramas, extremely comPLI-
but, in brief, it id to the following effecters,-
A certain Baron d'Alvere has formed,
with °til
ter °t
a plot for unseating the reigningat
Louis XV., and substiuting in his stead Cou
to
Maurepas. To effect this it is also uccesT,inia
remove the Marchioness de Pompadour, the
favourite mistress, and they hope to do this
of
placing a young lady, Alice de Rosel, in the wafer,
his impressionable Majesty. Plotting still fart
eat
the Baron seeks for some foundling to represtie,
the heir of a rich relative lately killed in bat oe
whose wealth he wishes to secure, and finds fad,
to answer his purpose in the person of Faritools
Fanfan, however, instead of being a paseivai ; a..
turn out to be more than a match for the dip
L°"the
tists. He save Madame de Pompadour from ,e
fury of a mob, believing her to be a citi%.oo
daughter, and falls in love with her. His Paver.i
is almost reciprocated. He is summoned to
i
sailles, where a marriage has been arranged for h
by the Baron with Alice de Rosel—the 83r°71,,
ward—to make him sure of obtaining her properur:
Though Fanfan knows that Alice loves hiss cete..
in ta"..!
brother Gabriel, and is beloved by him
he accedes to the Baron's wishes, but only to 08/
plot him, and save her from the git3gv;
His conduct lays him open to the cruel susPlei°,o
and insults of all his friends, except
and her attendant, Florette, who believe bill.
the most violent in their suspicions being 04brier
and Madame de Pompadour. Fanfan, hewelfe'
perseveres. He has the good luck to save tbe'il
of Marshal Saxe at the camp in Flanders, wu'e.,h
gives him a certain amount of power, and tb;
power he uses to save both Madame de Pompadour,
and Alice from imminent peril. The Baron,
is Wl3O
with the army, has turned traitor, butexposed
by Fanfan, and the drama concludes with the
discovery that Gabriel is the lost heir to the Pt°
perty coveted by the Baron. Madame de Pone
dour is left to resume her influence over the
King, after she has expressed a Ter'
strong platonic attachment for Fanfan, and F°l"
fan, promoted to a high rank in the gm/
by Marshal Saxe, is left to marry Florette
In order to give the above outline of the drama Wile
have had to omit various small circumstances Whin
only tend to involve the plot in great compltlitY:f
but we have said enough to convey a correct idea
the play, which many, we think, will be of opinir'
is not exactly the soft of thing to afford %d.
Fechter an opportunity to display his greatit,
acknowledged abilities. Fanfan, the "
w a
terfly," is a light-hearted French trooper, "o ;
great aflection for his beautiful charger Minenia
but, notwithstanding the part abounds in nice
bits," yet, as a whole, it is not one that sen°l-be
exactly suited to Mr. Feohter. To say tbstbut
acted with grace, force, and taste, would be ill
to repeat that which is already universe
acknowledged ; there appeared, however, t° ',eh°
something wanting to give a completeness to •
portrait Mr Fechter had placed before the audiean;
The great effort was in the fourth act, where 14a filve
listens to the villany of the Baron, and then, to 8°
the life of his foster brother, he resolves to ann'Fr
his supposed rank, and thus, to all outward aPPeete‘a
ance, to become a participator in the villany
against his benefactor, and a false friend t 0
much loved brother. Here, indeed, was a true °a
°;
burst of genuine feeling, and one which the anuder
were not slow in recognising; but the remain ho
of the part was only that of the brave soldier
from boyhood has followed the precept of his geed
instructor—" to suffer gaily." Mr Ryder asett°3-,
the part of the villanous Baron after the most
aP
proved conventional fashion. Of course he dressed t
character very well, but, to us, there seemed t° o
a certain carelessness about his sating, and a tet
dency to rant that made the part anything bn,"„
performance worthy of very high commendatt°;'
Mr. Wid dicembe, as Ramponneau, the comic Ina;
of the play, evoked the usual laughter, but uethiill;
more;:and, with the exception of Mr. F. CIAThe
who enacted the part of Gabriel very nicely,
other male characters call for no further rereab
Miss Carlotta Leclercq, as Madame de PonaPadfin;
was pretty and coquettish, but at the same
very stagey. Miss E. Lavenu made a good tnde
loveable lighthearted village girl, and Miss yen
tee
an interesting but somewhat languishing liihe;
Fanfan's mare Minerva, with her shining COat, "of
bright fiery eye, looked the very perfection r
horeefl sh, and went through her part in the ta
formance with great effect. Thus having Otio-0,
both the male, female, and equine perforM're
we come to the "mounting" of the piece, and te or
we begin to feel somewhat unequal to the taloboo.
adequately conveying a correct idea of the etretp
beauty of the scenery. Each scene is an elaboroio
" set," but the penalty inflicted on the and►ence2s
the shape of tedious waiting—on an averegebat
minutes—was, it must be admitted, suntesvoso
heavy. The opening scene, a Norman village in
autumn time, with its antiquated water will 4%0
rustio bridge, was Exceedingly beautiful,
saloon at Versailles was another wonder of eneA/3.0
art. At the rising of the curtain the room i°
er
covered in darkness, but presently the servants en' jo
and unclose the shutters, when a flood of sunlightba
T admitted, which produced a most magical effect' ne4
audience were in raptures at this novel 008%0
tion ; but scarcely had they ceased praising tia
beauty of the arrangement when the our° t,
ascended, at the commencement of the fourth '.
and showed us the exterior of the Palace at Vled
sailles, with its interminable walks and allcia„
embowering trees, the distance being most chaTP:lO
ingly painted, which again called forth trernend°oo
applause. The scene of the fifth set,o
bivouac of the French army in the Low Conntri
near the Mill of Loefeldt, was a 'verve' a Pic
:
a
turesque design. The painter, Mr W. Calce"Lee
course was summoned, and, on his appearance,
greeted with the most rapturous cheering.
As a brilliant spectacle " The King's Butte
liter°'„
will certainly prove attractive ; so, it the
part of it does not merit unbounded apPrc)batlP)!
i4l
the scenic portion will be certain to produce "
vernal satisfaction,