New-York tribune., 1872-07-30
THE DRAMA AND MUSIC.
~ yNp1c ruFATER-oNE wIFE-MIss CHARLOTTE
THOMPSON.

"A N
pearance on the York stage. The house was mode
ra,elv we'll filed and the spectators welcomed Miss
Tbompson with cordial and cOpious applause She fully
deserved IT, She bore the burden OF painful part In
very repusive piece and by her intense emotion, heI
sweetness Of temperament her flashes of payfuness and
bursts Of passion and her complete mastery of the art OF
smulaon she conquered the general interest and com
mended herself TO emphatic critical esteem Her face
is singulary expressive Of the play of the passions
her voice is melOdous, and, in the lower tones
unoommonly sweet and there is a certain lnde
scribable air OF chldishness about her. remarkably
blended with mature intelligence, which renders her
manner delightful and her personality winning IL was
mainly that personality which made her victorious over
public sympathy last night and not her portrayal OF the
jealous, betrayed, Inundated and maddened wfe who
she called to represent. This CHARACTERIZATION
indeed symmetrical in form and sincere IN sllrt
but it gmmered forth through such OF nsipidiy
and dirt as made IL look like blurred moon IN nthy
fog Miss Thompson appeared Mrs. Holman, IN
tnree-act adaptation OF bad play called La Princes
Georges" by Alexander Dumas, the younger The hdap
tation is entitled zone Wife" II requires three set
scenes and introduces fourteen persons, ana
claims to depict the manners OF Ne"'iolA
society and possible incidents in its social e lhe III
act contains the details Of case of adultery The sec
ond presents married harlOt, hoodwnkng her huSDanu
and making designations with other men, IN auy .
drawing-room The climax is abused wifes denun-
ciation of her husband adulterer TO the man WIN
whose wife he has been crminaly Implicated IhS st
nation the chief in the piece s as to its tragic ee
ment kindred with that everybody Will feeiiI III ino
old play of "Fazio." The third act We Iorporo
% witness. having endured suniciency OF mas
tiness and folly in its very prolix predecessor
ond having utterly failed recognize in them eiher
human nature OF local manners, or literary cruces
The STYLE of one Wife seemed IN so iaf cOhnenuaDi0
that the sentences of s dialogue were CORRECTLY oo
structed The thought was couched III ul'ers "lnuy
onotbecms beginning "yOu men" and 1--WE women
The wit was compressed into the delicate explanation OF
one lady that she had been vaccnatcd on her leg ana
tbe statement Of another that she was not Fort sum
fer but was what she called ga Gibbcralter.' ltls
needless TO add that whatever OF real dramatic power
there may be in the original French piece is pretty well
sborn away in the adaptation Much Of the scenery was
drtier and tawdry than the play
Upon the details Of the latter prefer not to nger
one more word Of protest however against uncleanness
Of this kind upon our stage may not be amss 1t is not
strange that Mr. Alexander Dumas, r should have con-
sdered that details of adultery suitable for illustration
in the form of drama. He is a Frenchman-and, Ike
many other writer's Of his nation he takes delight III the
exhibition Of sensual passions cenous conduct and
the morbid tragic aspects OF personal relationship
that result from ndelty 10 marriage vows And these
things he exhibits not for the sake OF any moral lesson
to be deduced from them for the benefit of his fellow
the prurent taste Of the dsreputab classes from which
his remuneration is drawn. lie writes for the orette
the gay students and the about town. and 10 them
he is admirable. But he has never obtained recognition,
as an author, from French ladies and gentle
men, nor place IN that literature
M once pure and brilliant, Of which French
ladies and genteme, jeaously and justly
proud He is one Of long line OF writer's in his VIOLA
tile. sensuous experimental country, that have pre-
ferred veness and pecuence TO virtue and beauty One
OF the earliest French plays OF which any record Is eA
tantacted at the Hotel de BOurgogne IN Paris, nearly
a century before Columbus discovered America-turns
upon the execution OF a servant who had seduced MS
masters wife and it actually portrays upon the stage
the hanging Of the culprit. With Hardy who has been
called the father Of French drama ayorte theme
rapine. One Of his plays scedasus, or Hospitality
Violated" shows two young girls defending themselves
against their hosts by whom they are ultimately raw
ishgd and murdered Another, called "Lucreua, pre-
sent the husband OF an uniaihfu wife, standing upon
the stage and narang TO the spectators the proceed
ngs of his wife and her lover, which he is supposed
TO behold but which he Will not interrupt till he has
seen enough 20 authorize him TO kill them both. Even
IN the earlier works Of Corneie rapne and other indie
cences find a place. Every one knows, who has read
Dryden or Aphra Behn, what stream OF corruption
exuded from the French stage and deuged the English
theater in the Of Charles H. The drama OF England
has recovered from that ganene OF vice. but the drama
Is rotten Win III st hlthln last
a French husband having slain his aduerous wife with
a sword-cane, and "a French Journalist having with
prophetic eye, dwelt upon the coming on OF time when
the child Of this couple grown 10 manhood, should call
his father to for the murder OF his mother no
less than five French pay-wrghts made their appear
ance requesting permission to this delightful idea
as the basis OF many dramas. An order OF
mind 10 which the preparation OF such enorinities
as that is possible should not be expected to discrim
i,a a xunrk Of Il haa
no sense OF what is due TRUTH to beauty to morals,
or TO civilization. 1t thinks with OF local
dramatists-mOre decent but not less insensate and
supd-hat whatever takes place in the world may take
place on the stage and it would have scrupe in pre-
senting either the In England who earns ms living
by publicly biting off the heads Of rats or the poor
maniac woman, in this city who, within a month, lay
for thirty minutes upon the body of her daughter
and srangled her TO death To such order of mind,
we say it is not surprising that the subject OF lie
Princess Georges" should occur as appropriate to the
stage but 1t is surprising that person should be found,
even among vulgar ounces and nameess scribbers who
thinks subject suitable for respectable theater In
America Perhaps, however, we ought to consider that
there are individuals who will do anything in the world
for money, and that there state OF the intellect
which, as Lord Macauay is the most unhappy
of all states" in being much dsordered for liberty
and not sufficiently dIsordered for Bedam" From such
source has emanated this dirty, confused and duh
melo-drama Of zone Wife"
We trust to witness its speedy withdrawal and to see
Miss Thompson in decent play and amid surroundings
that are worthy her character and her talent She
assisted last evening, not very ably by the players
mentioned in the subOined cast:
Mrs vsndyke Charlotte Thompson Mr. Yaniyke M LR SheSe
Mrs Hoffman Lizzie Price Mr. Hoffman. Mr. Theo. Hamilton
Mn. Vauzand Mr. DE Winter Mr. A. d. Bradley
Mrs Worth Miss Jennie Clifford Mr. Adams Mr. Augustus Pou
Mr. Don Pat. Miss Nellie Jones Victor Mr. NiDug Bowers
Mr.De Pyee Miss Itoudio Worth hr T. 4. Tannerl
Miss Nina vsrianME HsTlandnr L. s. Steele
DRAMATIC NOTES.
McVickers Theater, Chicago, will open about
the middle of August.
Mr.. j. NJ. Bellew, the well-known English
reader purposes 10 visit the United States this coming
Autumn and 10 give entertainments here He will ar
rive IN New YORK IN October. MIR. Bellew enjoys fair
m t1ul Ina