Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-03-27
"ACELEBRArED CAsE.o
The First Presentation Of this Famous ri,
to St. Paul AndlAnce

Inc First Presentation Of this Famous Play
to st. Paul Audience.
brilliant and decidedly charmed audience
gathered . the Opera House last evening to
greet tho first representation BY the Movicker
company of :" A Celebrated Case
Seldom, if ever before, has it been tho rood
fortune of Saint Paul audience to witness 30
superb representation as that presented on
this occasion.
It would be ungrasious to make any dis
elimination in the performance of any one
member of this companv-each and all with
ont single exception are worthy Of praise.
The costumes of the ladies were supurb. The
new and effective scenery fresh and beautiful.
The play is decidedly emotional, full Of
pathos, and appeals strongly to the tender and
| sensitive sympathles; as was evinced by the
fearful eyes of very many Of the audience, who
were spell bound by the touching and sublime
current OF passion. appeal and suppication,
running through the entire performance. It
must be seen to be appreciated. We append
| sketch of the plot of the play:
Jean Reaaud, French soldier has stolen off
on 9 hurried visit to his wife, and on his way
th1ther he encounters wounded man, Count de
~ o77s1y, proscript, who gives him some
papers and valuables to deliver to his wife,
The movements of Rena,1d are watched by
Lazare, a camp follower, who, as soon as the
wife of Rena,d, and escapes with the package
given to her husband. The only witness to the
crime is "a little girl, Ad,1enna Renaud, who
hearing cry of alarm, implores admission.
The scoundrel, after receiving the jewels and
papers, threatens instant destruction to the
child unless the mother declares that she is
with her husband. In the agony of terror the
mother cries out, Flush, am with your
father and on this slight thread hangs the
dramatic interest of the story,-a story which
= r%,p n<oc~ 1~,
condemned on circumstantial evidence. In the
second act of the prologue Renaud is accused
of the crime. The scene opens at the
camp of the French army, after the victory of
Fontenoy. Renaud has approved himself =
hero, and he is in the midst of his triumph and
the congratulations of his comrades when he is
arrested for the murder of his own wife. He is
convicted upon the testimony of his little
child, but his heroic conduct on the field
commends him to the mercy of his Judges and
he is sentenced to twenty years penal servi-
tude. tender parting scene takes place
between the father and his little daughter,
who has thus unwittingly become the instru-
ment of his destruction scene rendered with
wonderful pathos. There is lapse of twelve
years. at the expiration of which period we find
Ad7ienne, now grown to womanhood, living
as the adopted daughter of Duke DA,tbeterre.
The third act opens upon the chateau of
the duke the man who had sentenced
Reaand for his supposed crime, and now
governor of a province in which is located
the prison of the galley slaves. CHAIN of
convicts are permitted to come and rest for a
time in the park and in this chain is Renaa,M.
The daughter, who is betrothed to a young
nobleman, is telling her school companion
some strange experiences, which turn upon ever
recurring visions of sorrow stricken face and
the parting words which her father gave her,
when she starts at the sight of one of the con-
victs, in whom she recognized the face which
had haunted her dreams. Rendud, who is sad
~ changed from the brave fearless hero of
Fontenoy, relates his story, and recognition
ensues between father and child. This is one
of the most profoundly touching scenes that
have been witnessed on the stage.
The daughter now directs all her energies to
deliver her father, believing as she does, in his
Innocence and from this point the interest in
even although the final result is foreshadowed
In the fourth act the exiled Count de Mornav
returns to claim his patrimony and his
daughter Valentine, the school friend and
adopted sister of Ad,7ena,ae. He has proofs of
his title-the papers and jewels stolen from the
murdered wife of Jean Reaaeuz-and Ad,.ie71ne
relies on him to vindicate her father. But the
returned Count does not appear to take the
right kind of interest in the affair, and the act
closes leaving a vague uncertainty as to what
this mysterious De Norway may turn out to
be. OF course he turns out to be a bogus
Count, but the real Lazare, the murderer, and
it is the unfolding of the hidden secret that the
remaining acts are occupied with. This is done
with wonderful skill, and the sixth act brings
back the convict and eliminates in a scene of
extraordinary power, where Renaul denounces
the lmposter, and "bellows for revenge"