New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-10-18
THE PLAY or THE PERIOD.

THE PLAY or THE PERIOD
An article in The GALAXY, to which we have
already devoted some attention. takes view
of theatrical affairs at home and abroad more
discouraging than we have ever taken IN our
gloOmiest moments. There have been tiihes
when almost every theater in New-fo was
given over to burlesqne, when no music was
endured but the Jingle of Offenbach, when the
stage carpenter made all the plays, padded
calves supplied the place of acting. any dia-
logue would do provided it was spoken by
women without petticoats, and any buresque
singer was tolerated 80 long rs her songs were
pretty broad and her gestures good deal
broader. There were temptations enough
to despair I'm those days; but we
had too much faith in popular cui-
ture to believe even then that the
drama rs an intellectual entertainment was
becoming extinct, and that In future we should
get nothing from our theaters but legs and
me-lghts. The Play of the Future, accord
ing to the writer In The GALAXY, will be mod
eled upon "The White Fawn" and "For-
mosa." We shall go to the theater not as an
intellectual amusement, but merely to please
the eye with the spectacle of the female form'
the glitter of silk and gas, and the inge-
NOUS devices of the scene-palnter anu
the property man. He believes that we are
rapidly approaching this degraded condition,
and points for proof to the prOstration OF the
legitimate drama. and the universal popularity
of the sort of exhibitiOns-we will not call
them plays-in which spectacle usurps the place
of talent in the performer, and wit and COM
mon sense in the author.
But has he not mistaken tho factsf The
first of the show pieces, "The Black Crook"
had an extraordinary success, because 1t was
almost an absolute novelty. No other OF its
class has been so prosperous, and to-day no
manager would venture to place one of them
on the stage. The first performances of the
English burlesque troupe were successful, Tor
they too were novelties but their popularity
gradually dwindled away, and the fact that
| they are now travelling around the country Is
sufficient proof that there Is no demand for
| them in New-York. Opera bouffe had short
and riotous career, ending in disaster most
signal, and there is no danger of it's revival.
Formosa,n which is cited as the most success
full representative of the modern stage carpenter
drama aud the pattern probably of tho future,
has not been successful at all, and is already
Withdrawn. On the other hand. standard
comedy, as it is played at Wallack's, has been
so steadily popular that another theater has
adopted the same line of business
and both draw full houses. Mr.. Booths
Shakespearian performances the last
season were probably the most profitable
theatrical exhibitions of the year, and this Win
| ter they will no doubt be equally well attended.
| Even Italian opera, which many thought hope
lessly driven out of the country by the hcen-
| tious reyels of the French stage. lifts up Its
head again, and promises flourishing season
IL "The School for Scandal did not draw well
at Walack's in September, it was not, as The
GALAXY writer supposes, because there is no taste
now "a days for comedy, but simply because ii
was not well played. "The School for Scandal
is a familiar piece, with which we associate
the memory of nearly all the favorite comedian:
| of the past, and excellence has made us exact
| ing. Neither Is it true that we had so little
APPRECIATION % 49,. ..c hast points OF Mr.. Jeifer
sons acting that we always laughed in pool
Rip Van Wrinkles face when he awoke Sc
sadly from his long sleep, aud betrayed al ex'
| uberant delight at the coarse drunken scenes
which the tender portions Of the drama could
not inspire. When the actor touched ouI
hearts, we were silent when he gave us d
chance to laugh, IL was a relief from pent VI
feelings, and We laughed perhaps too much
| Often there were rude and ignorant persons
in the audience who laughed in the wrong
| places but their obtuseness must not be i'm.
| puted to the people in general. 1t is always
| the rude who make the most noise and get the
most notice. We really believe that Mr.. JEFF,
ferson's Rip Van Wrinkle was most thor
| oughly appreciated, and that IL he would
refine away the grossness which Bouci-
cault has laid upon Irvings charming
| creation, it would be liked still better.
| 1t seems to US then, that far from having sur
rendered the stage to folly, and license, and
empty show, we are az the beginning of re-
action. We have tasted vice aIa exhausted
its pleasures, and discovered that the good old
honest life was the best and the pleas
ATTEST. This Winter will, perhaps
be q test of the sincerity of the
public repentance, and the real hold which the
drama has upon tho public heart. Naturally
managers arc afraid to trust the symptoms
of reviving taste too soon but the aspect of
the season 80 fur is not ut all disheartening,
and before Spring We hope The GALAXY will
have another article taking back all it says in
November.