The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1878-12-29
ADJUSTMENTS.
Concerning Tive Entertainments OF the Past
Week mud One OF the Week Attend.


udays. including mnstrelsy and anatomy but
they havo no place in history.
suppose Mr. Rowes idea was to do some
thing as broadly defiant OF the prevailing fash
ion as was possible. Tho prevailing fashion ut
this moment IL local color. so he went headlong
into tho universal. or. as no phrasod it, the
cosmopolitan"
\ cosmopolitan drama is drama without n
country. Ii conveys as much OF an idea a. does
m international patriot. But II tho want of
country Ind been tho only deficit OF Mr.. Rowos
play. it would have lived. 1t not only lacked
place. but purpose. Plays. like people have
been known to live without brains but neither
ever existed without blood.
It has been said that Mr. Rowe writes accord
ing to his lights. But l do not believe IT,
think no cuts his lights according to an eight
by-ten dramatic sash that he carries with him.
And in this respect Mr.. Rowe is not unlike
half score OF other playwrghts who are ait
| ting eross-legged on the boards industriously
| shipping their shears and pretending To be
makors when they are only turner's and patch
crs and scourers.
| II you tako tho work OF Marsden or Mackaye
| or Howard out OF the show window Of the the
afro and examine it. how much Marsden or
Mackaye or Howard do you flnd2
| Precious little. believe me. Do you say that
II Iilu1i It 1uuktu III llkilt OIL lfc stage.
| It is not fair TO take It out2 Then il has no In
ternnl light OF its own. but gets all It's ilumina-
| ton BY reflection. Is that what you moanG
| should very much like TO know what your
/ theory Of the drama is. Frankly now. do you
| not regard II very much as YOU do IN ose motley
| follows who parade at nights In our streets and
get all their glory from a limo light in cart
that trundes behindl
| No. that is not good illustration for in the
| Thespic procession the lime light goes ahead
| and the players trudge after.
| suppose to come down to the plain truth Of
| it, that you regard the drama as a Kaleidoscope
into which Nature. having put twenty bits OF
glass. all that can be done by man is to shake
! them up
forgive you for that theory for II isn't your
own. You got it from tho playwrighs them
selves. whose chief delight II is to DO shakers.
And yet in your sober moments you must
acknowledge that playwright. IL ever he lives
I long enough to become dramatist ought to be
able to put something Of himself into his work.
The chameleon disposition OF the workers
have named is wholly at variance with the
proud distinction they possess as individuals.
With the exception of Marsden and Howard.
Mr.. Mackaye Is "a original parsonage az l
ever met. And with the single exception Of
Mackaye. Messrs. Howard and Marsden are tho
/ ih'sN Unique boiHOuhllAloS luldklndult. lou
| never mistake one for the other.
Ha. hal but stop your ears and looking at tho
play tell me who 1t is: or. II you prefer it, stop
your eyes and listen.
The moment the individual gets upon the
thearic stage he takes on the color Of the stage.
In literature Bret Harte and Joaquin Miller
are unlike any other writer's that ever lived
But II cannot be said that their plays possess
the same individuality that marks their poems.
Success in literature seems to depend on your
having something 10 say and saying IL. Success
in playwritng. one would think. was condi-
tional on finding out what other people want
| you to say. and saying II their way.
The external splendor. II not the internal
vacuity. OF Mr.. Towards latest play astonished
oven the author. He went about for days after
It's production expressing aInazement at his own
| powers.
This was like the man in the procession
thanking heaven for the light that was thrown
on his feathers.
And Mr.. Howard is without doubt the most
successful and most painstaking playwright
thrown np 10y our theatric cau!dron.
All this points 10 the tyrannic mechanism OF
the playhouse. The manufacture Of players is
an old industry. The manufacture Of plays by
the same formula followed. But now we have
the playwrights themselves made to order.
Deduct the technique Of the theatre from the
play. and what remains In the shape Of senti-
ment. character. passion?
I,rembe 10 think OF The Bankers Daugh-
| ter performed by a capable company in an
old-fashioned hall.
A prosperous city theatre reminds me OF n
! library that is all commentaries and stained
glass. but with never a Bible or Shakespeare on
its shelves.
The fellows who write ara not regenerators.
They are patent reverberators.
Something pink and comely has been writing
all the week at the Park Theatre. The manager
rather loosely calls il opera burlesque. though
il isn't clear what opera II satirlzes. / brought
away an indistinct recollection Of a ficshly fan
tasy. an interbraiding Of limbs. voices. aud
nursery conceits. and wished were a child
again that might enjoy il.
You know suppose. that in order 10 revive
tho fresh JOYS Of youth the drama has To dis
pense with clothes. The juvenile innocence Of
"A play can be very accurately ascrrtaincd by
examining its wardrobe. But thsro is no longer
the slightest possibility OF making these bur-
lesques Arcadian. for the American girls DO not
answer in their anatomy to the juvenile ideul.
The original troupe OF corporeal charmers
WIS raked VI in rural Eng land and rustic Ire
| land. where there are still peasant Hebes and
Phrynes. They set out with a stock Of vocal
velvet " and Mcclellan arms that might have been
dug W from Lesba Every one OF them be-
came famous with the belief that it was quail
ity that did it, But it WAS only quantity
And Quantity il lacking in all the subsequent
imitators.
There can be no doubt Of the general interest
the young folk take in this fairy burlesque.
That think is apparent in the largo number Of
bald-headed men who are present. They arc
unces who have promised to take the little folk
and have come 10 reconnotre.
There is one advantage which this perform
ance has over "Eyangenc" 1t does not re-
qure any explanation Of the humor A dane
ing hciter and IA lone fisherman are too funny
for the average comprehension.
|. has still another advantage in its infants.
II il now some twonty-nve years since Mr.. Z. Il.
Barnum made tho astounding discovery that
babies were of universal interest aud based his
art eXcrtions on them by getting up baby
show This was about the Same time that some
body in England discovered that 10 make a
farce popular it was only necessary to have six
doors and a character for each door,
Ever since that babies and doors hava haen