Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-11-13
GFRoM OUR REGULAR CORRESPONDENCE


BosToN, November 8, 1872.
The lastweek has been crowded with real enter
tainments and other things of interest. At the
Boston theatre people have wept and shuddered
and held their breath at Miss Cushman's mar
vellous and powerful acting. The roilicking
comedy of Wild Oats at the Museum has been
received night after night with roars of laugh
ter, in which the most refined and fastidous of
the spectators could not keep from joining, al
though they wished sometimes that the fun was
not quite so broad, and wondered sometimes at
their own irrepreSSible amusement. But the
chief theatrical interest has been at the Globe
with Mr.. Sothern. As Dundreary, he has won
such honor and so many friends that we hailed
with delight the announcement of new plays in
which he would appear; but they have disap.
pointed us. Brother Sam is a very roor play.
bad in its plot and its filing, and inexcusably
coarse and fat in its conversations. OF course
Sothern played well; the family likeness be-
tween Sam and Dundreary was an exquisite
piece of acting; but Sam is a miserable, diShonor-
able, handsome fool, without one bit of Dun
dreary's attractiveneSs. But he is ndescrbably
funny in spite of his coarseness and general
hatefulness; and great, bright audiences ex-
press with noisy heartiuess their appreciation
of Sotbern's genius, shown in even this I'M
worthy way.
Dundreary married and settled is worse than
Brother Sam; it is extravagant, noisy, rude
and vulgar. The bewidered lord as the victim
of an unruly and rapacious household is not a
pleasant object; but still he is so droll in his be-
wilderment and added bad temper that pretty
Lady Dundreary (Mrs. Hunt) who ought to be
fearful and wretched, cannot look at him with
cut laughing, and is very glad, when she can,
to hide her smiling face in her hands and hand
kerchef Young Sothern, as De Boots, was
overpowered in the same way whenever the con-
versation was between him and Dundrearv, and
he made no attempt to conceal it, but laughed
almost as much as the spectators did. In David
Garrick Mr.. Sothern has character unlike any
other he has played here; that of a fine, noble,
honorable gentleman, and his playing is simply
perfection His feigned drunkenness is not
agreeable-no drunkenness, feigned or real,
ever is; but its wonderful art eXcites uDbounded
admiration. He is to come again for a long en-
gagement; and we hope Dundreary and David
Garrick will make a great part of it, and the
miserable farces will be left off
OF the three English lecturers, Mr. Yates seems
to have made the least impression and the short.
est visits here. Whether the latter are the cause
or effect of the former, cannot say. You were
certainly fortunate in having Mr.. Macdonald's
lecture on Burns in Worcester, or rather, in not
having the one on Hood, which was delivered
here in the afternoon to capital audience, that
filled Music hall. 1t was an extraordinary per.
Torrance, described by witty lady as Mr.. Mac
donald's easy lesson. He began with few
commonplace remarks about poetry and humor,
then read in a melancholy, sing-song and dsa-
greeable way, the ballad of "Faithless Sally
Brown" and explained infinitely the jokes,
dwelling upon the pigtail pun and the last two
lines