New-York tribune., 1868-06-24
THE DRAMA.
TILE SUMMER SEASON

The present theatrical summer differs ,s .
material and significant manner from the theatrical
mers OF the past few years. Hitherto at this season d,
lowing IN due course after the asparagus the straxh
res ana the green peas crop OF gifted proyncals bas
been brought to the Hew-York market, and stou,lv
hawked about by jeweled vendors of forced drams,.
fruit Gentlemen with big legs and big voices and Iad
with large eyes, rDgeted foreheads and long back h,
have loOmed up IN every direction. Heralded nv ,h.
most extrayagant OF adjectves, in the faest Of AL con-
ceivable black capital letters, these wondrous he,
have fretted and strutted their little hours and b..
prompted nnity of bes and sneers and 80 have
the swift way OF all blatant mediOcrty. unto oblivion
How many "great American tragedian" do we caIl "a
mind how many nasalyoced Julia, in the wbI,.
muslin OF innocence; how many lachryma but bu,on
Camille full Of cough and blubber sIgnfying nothn,,
Fine old ve-act tragedies used TO be DONE also By wax
Of wrnging the sulty hours-pays Of the "vence Pre-
served" order over which impressible public ha.
cOpiously wept and perspired But; this summer ths
spirit Of the dream has changed. Peoria keeps hs,
chosen. Many mute, inglorious Richard stalks unnoted
among the daisies OF his village home; many Macbeth
guiltless u his Duncans blood This altogether new
state Of things All signs, they say fail dry weather.
but the weather this year has been anything but dr
this particular sign may perchance be trusted II so tha
metropolis is to be spared further practical illustration a,
How much Ounce who has been sent 10 roam
EIeels Ounce who has been kept at home"
This may prove q happy change What we get instead
Of the customary phenomena, is not, indeed very desr
able Physical pictures of the town scarcely satisfy
natural elevated for the drama When one can sea
real concerthall under Broadway, real steamboat
on the Hudson. 1t is not precisely intellectual pyi
lege to see these impressive objects less ac
curately copied upon the stage But the drama Of the
scenepainer and stagecarpenter is, after all an i'm.
provement on the crudties OF tho Green Mountain starr
Better the babble Of busy streets well done haa the
callow babble OF green fields Besides the city fun Of
strangers, and 1T will be still more densely crowded with
them when the Democratic Convention rings up
its curtain on the Fourth of July aud there "a
kind Of aptness In the sudden advent Of this
Photographic drama of the commonplace. Nothing
peases most people than looking at their faces
in mrrOr and there surer way to catch the taste
of the rural visitor to show him. evening the horse
car in which he has sweated and suffered all day; the
pockebook dropper who has begued him of his green
backs the tower Of Trinity up which he has toed ster
the disbursement OF cents the Irish
in that respected tempe the enteprising erbOat that
has ceaved the swelling main, and borne him safe to
Brookyns pensye shores and all the rest Of the moving
pageantry OF city e bettered by such exavsgance as
dramatic fancy may suggest At any rate this Is tho
fashion OF the hour and this fashion is like TO prevail
until the end of summer Mayhap ii viii
lead to better things Some day or other the
resources Of mechanic ar1ce must be exhausted Snowy
scenery won't do, any more Legs have tired The Irish
drama Is well nigh exhausted. Sensation stage pictures
begin to pail upon over-stimnlated appetite Even
French Raughtiness verges toward inspdity 1t canpot
be that this present fever Of cheap realism will long
vail The alternative cannot be foreseen but are net
without hope that the stage may as last resource. be
driven to Shakespeare and the art Of acting To this end
let hope that the scenic copyiss Will exhaust their
articles speedily as possible. They eannot be too ex
pedtOus, considering how much photography remains
TO be done There the boneboilng houses ana the
common sewers and the insane asyums, and the police
stations and the horsecar conductors and drivers and
the scavengers and the slaugherhouses and the dog
pound and all other Of the numerous delicate sweet
scented Of city life. good deal Of money might
be made out OF all these expedens and when the money
bags full perhaps the satiated spectators will re-
tire and the actors art may more lift up Its head