New-York tribune., 1880-01-01

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slosuls, md ths dsolIssy Of Il b eujeys& by ~
whole party In . capital tisce Of laughing Mnsaes
But explanations follow; Of oourse the term Of his
apprenticeship has long while yet to run; andth
stern sense Of daty to which the young man has
always been slave compels him to dash the cup OF
happiness from bis lips and return 10 the hateful
trade Of robbery and murder, The first service
which he feels obliged to render 70 the band is to
inform them that General Stanley has practised
upon their credulous simplicity. "The General Ia
NO orphan; moro than that, he never was an
orphan" Enraged at this discovery. the Chief re-
solves to bring the whole band to attack the
Generals house. n
OF course Frederic takes an affecting farewell Of
Mabel. promising to come back and claim her when
his time is up in 194O. and i'll this scene Mr. Sui
livan has given us some truly beautiful and dainty
music, using the mutcd volins with excellent
effect. This pretty andante leads, after the
absurd opeYatic fashion, into tripping alle-
gro. 1t is the next number assigned to Mdoet
and the Policemen, which provokes tho greatest
delight. Here the Police, in conversational mono
tone, chant responses first to the exclamations OF
the prima donna. then to the observations OF
their Sergeant agreeing instantly with the senti-
ments of the last speaker whatever they may chance
to be, ond therein copying the good old custom OF
operatic choruses all the world over There follows
song in which the constables lament the necessity
which obliges them to interfere with the liberty OF
their erring countrymen The Sergeant leads,
and the chorus echoes the last syllables OF the
lines:
when tie enterprising burglar is mt bureling,
Chorts-Is MT burgling
When the cutthroat is MT Occupied with crimos
ed W crtm6e.
He loves to hear tho little brooks a-gurgling.
Chorms-Brooks a-RurSling,
And listen to the merry village chimes.
ChorMs-village chimes
When the costers finished jumping his mother.
Chorus-On his mother
he lovos to lie abasking In the sun,
ChorY-In the sun;
o take one consideration with another
Chous-with another.
The pOlicemans lot is not a happy One
ChOrus-Happy one!
Perhaps the climax of absurdty. however, is
reached when the Police being hidden bat perfectly
obvious in one aisle and the Pirates conspicuously
concealed in the other hoth enjoining silence at the
top Of their lungs, and both affecting unconscious
ness of each other General Stanley enters the nave
with dressing-gown and candle thinking he hasheard
a noise. "He thought he heard noise! Tia! ma"
shout both choruscs, fortissimo. mo-" says the
which daring nonsense he wanders into sentimen-
tal dittv about "trees." and "breezes," and
"lovers signing well-a-day." with an exquisite and
picturesque accompaniment in the orchestra, and
occasional help from the chorus The absurdity OF
this delicious situation is heightened by the irrup-
tion of the fve and twenty daughters. in jaun'y
caps and white pegnoirs, who wonder why papa 10
wandering around the ruins at midnight :" so very
incompletely dressed" So this elaborate concerted
music is carried by groups Of pcrsonages supposed
to be entirely unaware of one anothcrs presence
until the Pirates rush upon their prey. The Police
are overcome without the slightest difficulty. 1t
occurs to the Sergeant, however. to charge the n
rates 9" yield in Queen victoria's name!" AT that
appalling invocation every cutass is sheathed, be-
cause with all their faults tho Pirates love their
Queen. The Police get up from the ground. take
the victors into custody. and weep with emotion.
There is some serious and heroic music in this
scepe including an imitation Of He is an English
man.
Tho denouement of the opera is ;now brought
about by the disclosure through Rutb that the Pi-
rates are not ordinary ruffians:
They are members OF n common bong:
They are all Noblemcn who have Gone Wrong!
Wbereat the Police knee! T., tArir prisoners:
Because. with ali their faults. VIC love House
of Peers"
"What, all noblemenf" asks the Genera.
eyes. all noblemen." replies the Chief
"What, all nobemen''
"Well, nearly ALL" And here tho who.C drahatIs
persone ra,se three cheers for the nob'emen who
have rone wrongl" We must give tho cono.urion
in the words of General Stanley:
81 pray you pardon me. expirate King!
Peers will be peers. and youth will have its fling.
Resume your seats and legislative dulles
Aud take my daughters. all Of whom are beauties"
At this late hour it s impossible to do justice to
the musical beauties which we have passed over in
this outline Of the stOry-tO MabeFs fascinating
waltz. for instance: neither can We do more
than allude briefly to the merits of tho
nr,ncipal performers. Miss ROsavellaas Mabel vas
certainly q pretty object to look upon; she sang
credtably; she acted with zeal and good sense
Miss Barnett as Ruth Mr. I'rocolini as
the ChicE and Mr Furneaux Cook rs the
Pirate Lieutenant were invaluable and Mr..
Ryley's General Stanley is destined to be famous.
Miss Barnett, BIr. Ryley. Mr. Cook and Mr.. Broco-
ln are to be specially commended for the cearncss
of their utterance. Mr. Talbot would perhaps
have done better things with Frederic If he had
taken the trouble to learn his part. He has ver-
siou of the text considerably different from MIR.
G,lberts and such as 1t is he stumbles over 1t in
most dlsouieting way. We shall suspend criticism
upon his performance until he knows his lines The
smaller parts we're well filled by Misses Bond and
Brandram and Mr. Clifton. and the chorus deserves
the hcartest praise for good singing and spirited
action. The girls especially were smart and full Of
fun.
MIDNIGHT NEi IHER REPORT.
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