, 1881-02-20
Thomas ". Keene's Engagement
in This City.
McVicker Gives a Reason for
His Popularity.
The Coming Engagement Of the
Great Italian, Salvini.
zo|a's "Nana "-Atfairs at the Thea
tres-General Gossip.
GRAND CPERA-uDuSE.

04tAND 1'E4A+Ae11oCSE
The SUCCESS Of N-. Thomas ". Keeue's sec
ond engagement fixes dc:nitiy the question Of
his popularity In this city The public have
given hi,n patronage as liberal as they have
ever bestowed upoa any tragedia.l> They hay e
crowded the theatre nightly. and un bis Richard
Ill. and Hdmle. nights the theatre, had it been
much larger, could have easily been fitted. Con-
siderable doubt WAS expressed III certain quar-
ters when the present engagement was an-
nounccd as TO the wisdom Of Mr.
Kceue appearing twice in this city DUR
meut, however, has been proved sound. and it
has also been shown to those who doubted that
kecne had "come to stay" that his success
last October was not the result Of mere adver-
tising, but that it rested upon more endurable
Ioundaron,-the merit uf the actor as an actor
Since the present engagement began we have
considered some OF Mr.. kcene's i'm
personauons,--his Riche1icu, Richard H.,
Hdm1e1,-and have pointed nut their
blemlshes and their beauties, and
have given our reasons why, Ia spite of his Lack
OF what is known as ''polish,' he nus so sudden
II attained his present popularity. Therefore
we need not go over the ground again, but will
merely say that his intelligence, vigor- yirility,
and originality enable him tofprcscn. to the
playgoers of the present day the old characters
with new meaning. The least acceptable of
his efforts during the week was his Logo, the per
formance Of Friday night. His conception Of
the part is similar to TINT Of Edmund keau, and
entirely different from that Of the Majority OF Our
actors Of recent years. keene pays very little
heed to Tie gravity os the character: the wick
eduess IS not made apparent enough. lie eI-
tracts the wit OF the rOt., and makes the ancient
1uther pattern OF comic 1oslity anu lively
bottle companion: than picture Of the restless.
subtle schemtng Italian who rcvcls in the enjoy
1ueut of bis intellectual powers The audience,
however, received the ttnpersouation with
<n+-
nor subtlety Of execution Gun rank wlth |
his Rtehetien; Hamet, hts i:iehard III;
Or his Shoe re - M last named
terday, when the house was crowded in every |
part and many people were glad to get standing ]
Mr. Keene nrst appealed in shylocE here, while
We found many blemishes which experience and
practice could only clear away, We predicted
III (; or ;' bis Himia Hs perfornanee III, '~e YES
terday showed TINT the actor was study
n,,tas Ing and WAS Tas, rapidly eradieattns R the
and, while the personauon is not yet as complete
in detail as time will make it. We inclined to
originality, in strength Of conception aud in the
r1gor and animation which he gives to the |
tra9ieal episodes In bis scene with T.l>al and
dramatic power: Miss Eaders as Po't'a gave
tho worst performance She hats get given
Tbs Is sttDutaSe st Sst ID this th pF0'oS feet
that the lady was SICK. and for this reason, re-
nembering her excellent acting in the susne role
not long ago. we rcfrnlu from further comment |
Miss Grace Roth presented Il good picture OF the
light hearted Nerissa. She rcads with intelh-
gence, but she has certain pcculiavties Of accent
which no doubt time will wear away TIE .Ies-
tica Of Miss Katie Allen looked Ike the sweet
daughter of old Slsyocl,. but this young lndy
should speak iouder and study more natural
style Of rc1tlng- Mr.. Frank ltoche was the BdS-
s1nio. and Mr. Frazier Coulter tho Gratiano; SIr
the Luancel0t, and Nr. Kent the Into
MO. These characters were fairly we'll rem
dcrcd.
Last night Mr. Kcenc appeared us Richard Ill.,
to another crowded house. This evening the |
bill will be repcats!. The repertoire Tor next
Eeck will be: Monday and Tuesday evenings,
>. New Way to Pay Old Debts" in which Mr.
Aecne will pcrsouate Sir GIGS Orc1Teach; on
II Wednesday, afternoon. s' The Wife, and in the |
.veniug. The Foofs Revenge: on Thursday |
:vcntng, - Kchelicn'; Friday, Halnlet -; Sat
lss1ay afternoon, - Don Ca,sar Dc Baztln'; Sat
lsday night, Richarl Ill.,; and Sunday night,
The Fools Revenge