The New York herald., 1872-12-08
AS YOU LIKE IT. AND "MIGNON. =
"Free Lance" Has Another Thruss AT
Drama and Opera.

| To THE EDITOR OF THE HERALD
When Bannister the actor, first thought OF trans
lating himself from tears into laughter he went TO
Garrck for advice Should he or should he not at
tempt comedy Don't, don'tn replied Garrick
with all the energy OF his Gallo temperament;
| ''stck to Tragedy, my dear fellow; you can fool
people awhile longer in tragedy but cOmedy's
| serious business; don't attempt IT." The aDecdote
is old and as familiar j, is Old yet never felt its
pertinence more forcibly than when assisting at
| recent performance OF "As You Like It,n not at
| all as like 1t, and IN reality much
Ado About Nothng' at Booths Theatre. sad as
were the loves OF Romeo and Juliet, sadder siill
are the loves OF Rosaind and Orlando, because, as
Garrick observes and II he had not invented the
phrase the present moment would be appropriate
for its brth) IL s easier to fool people by groans
than .Dy laughter. IL is popular Anglo
Saxon tradition that tragedy stalks about
/ wrnging the air in lndescribable angles
and speaking language OF conventional
gasps. To be unnatural TO be classic and SO the
| great tragedian is crowned with laures much
| more easily won than those OF the comedian, whose
everyday emotions appeal TO everyday people
capable OF dimly seeing church by daylight. For
this reason therefore. Miss Nelson is less sat
isactory in Rosalind than in Juliet Her
| school s false, and in the sparkle OF wit
| and sunshine OF comic love its exposure
/
first act OF Rosallnd like her first act Of juliet
| as to make it doubtful whether the lady is capable
OF any other impersonation than that OF herself.
| To be pretty, seli-conscious and sentimental s 10
be Miss Nelson but, so far the last two qualities
are concerned, not Rosalind The brilliant, witty
woman OF Duke Frederick's court. neither
hangs her head like school girl
nor moves with the heaviness OF NIobe. She is
| spirit and fire, not mix ana water; and IN the
| Forest OF Arden she is an impulsive boy, not
nondescript Miss Nelson's exceedingly bad gait
In the boys dress can surely be remedied, and the
dress itself should be reformed altogether. II
may be singularly Utopian, but look
forward to the time when women in
| male attire viii look somewhat like men
and not like ofshoots OF the Black Crook. II Is
asAIng TOO much Of modern. imagination TO make
the demands upon II that female boys require.
We are nothing nowadays II not realistic, and
however much the success OF spectacles proves de-
yoton to the human form divine in legit-
Win which Miss Nelson's Rosannd pursnes her
| hair hanging down her back, womans nat,
| woman's waist and woman's skirts curtaied, Ro-
m @ 70 Gy er Soy oy se sss
into the world, and in rendering the text DO not
know which Is more conspicuonsly absent. art or
nature. But am preaching rank heresy. for does
not the play bill quote the incontrovertble
London AthenGum9 And does not the Atheu9um
! declare that 1.-THE whole OF the iinpersonauon s
imaginative, picturesque and tender, and such as
is unrivalled on our modern stage'f After this
opinion how dare American critics find faultY
trempe for the consequences and am thankful
that ina up to a. certain point can endorse .i.,Ise
Sellsons Rosaiind,a it states, ts'' rs com, ,sr
panion study to her Juliet.'' 1t is. .'The
do. "Her art Is the same in tragedy and comedy
Verify it is, "and thereby hangs tale.
Mr.. Wheeock does his pest as Orlando, and his
Efforts are 80 nO1ensive as TO inspire the critics
gratitude More censurc must be visited on Mr..
Wallack,s Jacques which IS certainly melancholy
enough but is toe much like Hamlet's Ghost to smell
| OF live oak and glees under the greenwood tree.
| man may be melancholy cync without being
His cyniclsm is but skin deep. He is wonderfully
| appreciative ofhumOr, and would as soon think OF
s.rHhg 81 woman @ as M Mstfkng an attitude a mere re
rected under the trees In loungng attitude as
any huntsman would naturally relate any anec-
dote or incident There is no reason why those
who listen should not be "loatng and inviting
their souls while they good naturedy listen. But
Mr.. Wailack is determined to poach upon the region
OF the pulpit, so he walks down To the ootlghts in
solemn and majestic manner and nanked by
solemn and egul-disant huntsmen, begins ..All the
worlds stage" with the tone and air OF clergy
man inviting his congregation to prayer. Slower
and more ghastly does he recitation be-
horrors OF the situation and when Mr..
| teeth, SANS eyes, s,a-ns everything, dwelling
upon sans with unspeakable agony, we 1ee as il
we had lost all our property in the Boston fire and
ought to die on the spot. Surely this Is miscon-
| ceptiOn unworthy OF Mr.. Wallack, but quite worthy
Of the general rendering OF "As You Like IT. at
AS in heaven, SO in opera, under Mr.. Maretzeks
management, the last shall be first and the first
shall be last. Though "Mgnonn is new and all the
other operas OF this DID, its performance
| is the smOothest and most complete. Good can
come out OF Nazareth after all, and even with I'M
perfect means it is possible to keep an orchestra
| in hand and in tune, chorus in time,
and preserve tolerabe level of excellence in
everything. Adverse criticism may have been in
strnmental in working this miracle. II so, "the
gods give us joy'' AMBROSE Thomas certainty
demonstrates that extremes meet, for ..Mgnon'
| Is as light and pleasing as .Hamlet' is heavy and
uncomfortable. Not even Faure himself, the
nsr yc eveu a't M F an roape aas as
not spoil the former. doubt however, whether
the music of Fina was ever better sung than
Poacca, which saits her voice and in which her
admirable execution has full scope. Miss
pathetic, but less SO than usual. Her
dresses are beautiful and she becomes them.
Madame Lucca's Mignon pleases me more through
out than any other r6le assumed by her in America;
but this may be because have never seen any one
else in 1T: Comparison is impossible, and, as all
music should be studied before being judged,
is given with diidence. II strikes me. however.
as thoroughly French with even less SAVIOR OF
Goethe than the libretto; but 1t Is pleasing from
| beginning to end and at times is much more than
that. Madame Lucca has not the physique for
Mignon, and never for moment suggests the
/ sprttuete. You know perfectly well that such a
nevertheless, Madame Lucca exhibits earnestness
and feeling In her rendering OF mon conOsci que
suol. an air that brings out the best qualities Of
4 her beautiful voice-admirable Jealousy during the
lovemaking between Filina and Guglielmo and
capital daredevil acting in the scene Immediately
following Her exit previous to the firing the the
atre is dramatic, and If her last act is less sympa-
| thetic 1t Is because the situation brings more
vizzani's Guglieimno and NJ Jamets Lotaro are ac-
| ceptable, and Sgnorta Sanzs FREDERICK would be
more so II the lady did not omit the only solo she is
season. FREE LANCE
PAYMENT OF PENSIONS.