New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-05-04
MUSIC AND THE DRAMA.
Miss NE,LsoN IN ROMEO AND JULIET

Mt Booths Theatre In the presence OF large thrOng
of spectatorsnot less brilliant in aspect than eager
An sympathy and demonstrative in pleasnre-and
Miss Nelson was again seen as the beautiful, i'll
fated heroine of this cOnsummate poem OF love and
sorrow 1t is the clearest, bodest. and most prac-
tically efective-if not tn" highest-of her tragic
assumptions, and it carries to every eye and to
every heart the convincing and thrilling
sense, equally OF her beauty and her power.
The rich, exuberant wOmanhood, the celestial
affection, the steadfast nobility and the lovely,
childlike innocence of ImOgen-shOwn, as these are
through the constrained medium OF difusive
romance-may not to all minds be appreciable on
the instant. The gentle sadness Of ViOld, playing
around her geeful animation and swallowing il up.
as the cup of the white lily swallows up the sun
shine, may we'll be, for the more blunt senses OF
mankind, dim, ftful, evauescent and Ineffective
Ideal heroism and dreamy tragrance-hke the
colors of Murillo, the poems of Hene, or the wan
derne notes of the EOlian barp-are truly known
but to exceptional natures, or in exceptional moods
The hungry, reckless. passionate idoatry of Juliet
on the contrary-with its attendant sacrifice,
its climax of disaster and its ultimate
sequel of anguish and death-stands forth as
clearly as the white line of the lightning
on black midnight sky; and no observer can
possibly miss Its meaning. All that Jattet ls'-aii
that she acts, and all that she suffers,-is ele-
mental 1t springs directly from the heart, ana IL
moves straight onward like shaft of light Othe'to
the perfection of simplicity, Is not simpler tnah
Juliet In him are embodied passion ana JEALOUSY
swayed by some awful instinct OF rude Justice. III
her is embodied unmixed and immitgable passion,
without law. limit reason, patience. OF restraint
She is love personfed, and therefore fatality to
herself Presented in this way-and i'll this way
abe is presented by Miss NeilsOn-her nature and
her experience come home to the feelings as we'll as
the imagination, and all that we know, as well as
all that we dream, of beauty and of anguish are
centred in this one image. In this we may see all
the terrors of the moving hand OF fate In TINS we
NAV almost hear q warning voice out OF heaVen'
saving that nowhere except in duty shall the
human heart find refuge and peace.
The question whether Shakespeares Juliet be cor
rectly interpreted however, Is not. perhaps one OF
much public Importance 1t might be ever SO cor
rectly interpreted without producing the right et-
feet. There have been many Juliets. There has, IN
our time been none like this. The real fact OF pub
Lie Importance is, that, through the medium OF this
and of other Shakespearean characters, this great
actress is now pouring forth that strange, thrilling,
indescribable incOmmunicable power, which, more
than anything else in the world vindicates by its
existence the spiritual grandeur and destiny of the
human mind. Neither the accuracy of her ideals
nor the tneness of her execution would alone have
accomplished the result which has attended her la
bors and now crowns her fame. There is an infu-
ence back Of these-a spark of the divine hre-a
conservation Of the individual life-whch is as
eloquent to inform as it is potent to move. Here,
accordingly, is far more than a profess
sional significance. This is one of those
strange, exceptional natures which, often
building better than they know, not only
interpret "the poets dream" but give to it an
added emphasis and higher and more brilliant SYM
bolism. Each element of this personality is rich
and rare. The eyes-nOw glittering with mis-
chlevous glee that seems never to have seen
cloud or felt sorrow, steady, frank and sweet
with innocence and trust,-can, In one moment,
fash with the wild fire of defiance or the glitering
light of imperOus command, or. equally in one mo-
ment, soften with mournful thought and sad remem-
brance or darken with the far-Of look of one who
hears the wings Of angels and talks with the spirits
of the dead The face, just sufficiently unsymmetri-
cal to be brimful of character, whether piQuant
pensive; the carriage of body.-easy yet quaint in
its artless grace like that of pretty child in the
unconscious fascination of infancy the restless,
unceaslng play of mood and to this the instantane-
Gus and perfect response of expression and gesture,
all these are the denOtements of genus and,
above all these, land not to be mistaken in its rrada-
ton of the interior spirit Of this extraordinary
creature, is voice that is perfect music-rich
B0n0r0uS Ue1lDle VlDrantp COplOuS III NOlume, Yet
delicate as a silver thread-a voice.
"Like the whisper OF the woods
In prime OF even, when the stars are few"
It delights and ennobles-it does not surprise
that such woman should truly act Juliet Much
though there be in the personality that is assumed.
there is much more in the personality that assumes
1t. Golden fire in a porcelain vase would not be
more luminous than is the soul of the actress 1t
shines through this IDEAL The performance does
=, TOTO ga t;o
fancy. 1t is that-amply and cOmpletely-but it is
more than that, being also a living experience The
subtlety of it is only equalled by its intensity aud
neither is surpassed except by it's reality. The
ment this Juliet comes upon the scene all eyes fol-
low her, aud every imaginative mind is vaguely
conscious of something strange and sad-a feeling
of perilOus suspense-a dark presentlment of im-
pending sorrow. Here, then, at once is felt the
presence of nature to which the experience of
juliet would be entirely posslble and thus the
quest of human sympathy is effected at the very ont
set-made by condition, aid without the exercise
of single effort Fate less than art participates
in this Though it be the music of Shakespeare that
flows fro the harp it is the hand of living genius
that sinite the strings; it is the soul of great
woman that bears its vital testimony to the power
of the universal passion.
Never was poet truer to the highest truth of
spiritual life than Shakespeare is when he invests
with certain ineffabe NOTWITHSTANDING as
twilight vague as the remembrance of a dream
those creatures of his fancy who preOrdained to
suffering and miserable death. Never was there
sounded truer note Of poetry than that which
thrills in OthellOs, "If it were to die" sObs
in Juliet's "TOO early seen unknown, and known
too late" 1t is the exquisite felicity of Miss Neil
sons acting of Juliet that she Ghdes into
the deepest harmony with this tragical undcrtOne,
and, with seemingly perfect Inconsistencies Of it
whether prattling to the old Nurse or. moving,
with q sweetly grave occurrences, through the
stately figures of tho minuet--is already marked
off and set aside from among the living, already
6 olo 10