The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1868-11-12
oasnsach and the Oyster House Critics.

oaen5ach and the Oyster HGusc Critics.
Now that the success of s'Geneyiave de
Brabant' at the Theatre Francois is assured
and that very large proportion of The
nightly audiences consists Of ladies, it will be in
terestng to review the course which the sapient
Bohemans of this city have taken in regard to
this latest extravaganza Of Ohenbach. On its
first production those worthless, who went into
ecstacies over the ''Black Crook" and tried to
discover moral precepts in the s'White Fawn,"
were suddenly seized with vrtuous indigna-
ton, and, turning up the-whites of their eyes,
calculated "Abominaton!" They analysed
the plot and dialogue with view to extract
all the indecency they could imagine from it,
and as necessary consequence their reports
were Gar more indecent than any opera or play
could reasonably be. Entirely ignoring the
music, which is in many respects the best that
Offenbach ever wrote, the talents of the artists
and the unexamped mise en- seine, those Don
Quixotes Of the quill dwelt on every equivocal
expression or extravaganza action to make de-
auctions according to the bent OF their own
depraved minds Of course they would never
think ofopening crusade against . Trayiata,"
"Rigoletto, 'sDon Giovanni" or other works Of
the kind, the subjects of which are far more in
decent than any nonsense that Offenbach or
his librettists could manufacture. Even in the
op5ra comiqate, which they speak SO much
about, the plot and dialogue will not often
bear analysis. When "GalathGe" was pro-
duced over two years ago all those ''critics"
spoke Of the music in the highest terms, but
said nothing about the dialogue, in compari-
son to which, ''Genevieve' is moral lecture
What is the cause, then, of this sudden assamp
ton Of Puritanical notions and this religious
revival among seedy Bohemians and oyster
house critics? Has Grau neglected to supply
them with spirituous stimuants or sufficient
quantity Of bivalves on the half-shali., roast or
fry, with the pepper thrown il? Or is the fact
that like General Grant, ne has wisely
abstained from making speeches sufficient to
draw down upon his head the phials OF their in
dignation? Grau, unfortunately for them, has
disagreeable habit of depending on the
public alone and consulting the wishes and
wants of his true patrons in the amusement
line. This is On objectionable offence in the
Bohemian point Of view. But when
he knows that his artists are sans
reproche in both acting and singing
that he has placed on the stage a
genuine novelty in the most magnificent
manner, and that night after night the boxes
and dress circle of the Theatre Fran9ais are
filed with the representative people of New
York he can afford to treat those Bohemians
with the sharpest kind of punishment
silence. There is one popularity about their
remarks on sGenevieve," and that is, they are
afraid to attack the artists who are cast in the
opera. Madame Rose Bell, Mile. Desclauzas,
NM. Carrier, Beckers, Gabel and Bourgoin
are beyond the reach Of the puny darts of
those knights of the quill. They know too
well the result Of their efforts against Ristori,
and the well-deserved rebulke which the pub
lie administered to them in that instance. It
is rather hard, but it must be sooner or later
acquiesced in by them that there is at least
one manager in New York who depends on
the public and his own earnest exertions for
success, and not on the dictum of oyster
houze critics.