Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-04-05
METROPOLITAN THEATER.

The Soldene Comic Opera Troupe appeared
at the Metropolitan Thester last night to a
fair house in the burlesque mixture entitled
"Chilperic." The company is large one.
1t is superior in the comedy quality, and its
general dramatic ability is above that of
most comic opera troupes. Its mirthful spirit
is confined to no one or two members of the
combination, but seems to pervade the whole
cast. The company presents some handsome
faces, and some that serve the purpose of
strong contrast in that respect. The leading
people who appeared last night are : Soldene,
whose soprano, considerably aged and lin
tied, is nevertheless pleasing, and is managed
very a6roitly, and being possessed by grace
full woman thoroughly skilled in her business,
results in what she may well claim as sue
cess. Mr.. APpeby was the tenor, one not of
marked excellence, but quite equal to the
task imposed. Mr.. Campbell, another tenor,
appears for the first time tonight. Mr..
Marshall is the leading low comedian, and
Give Hersee is next in the comic
line, but last night, by his extremely
absurd and laughable stage business,
kept the audience in state of con-
vulsive laughter and quite eclipsed Marshall.
Maggie Duggan, a 1.-THE, handsome and
graceful woman, is ''kicker whose Won
derful saltatorial exercises made the natives
open their eyes and sent the gallery off in a
whoop of ecstatic delight; in short, her dane
ing is of the elevated order, ia a literal sense.
Rose Stella is charming vocalist, a soprono
of good quality. Her dramatic ability is
broad, and she proved one of the most at
tractiye of all the people who have appeared
here in comic opera. The chorus is quite up
t, the standard of opera bouffe as given in
California and sang with an evenuess indics-
tive of thorough rehearsal AMI familiarity
with the score. Ia brief, the company is,
not musically, but dramatically, superior,
and as q whole gives thoroughly pleasing and
entertaining performances OF the burlesque
order, with liberal display of the human
form divine by many who have reason to be
proud of physical development 1t presents
bewildering display of exceedingly rich cos
tumery, and a strong array Of graceful sup
porting figures In every scene. 1t was de-
ciied success last night and should COM
mand full houses through the week. The
opera 1t gave last evening was the oldest
and most tangled of absurdities, with so thin
a plot that it failed to makeiitself ineligible
to any. but so full Of roilicking fun that the
auditors lost all desire to know what it was
all about, entirely satisfied to enjoy the
mere bewilderment of the thing. But it
presented some sparkling musical bits which
must be ranked as exceptions to the already
expressed judgment of the music capabili-
ties of the troupe; as, the leading solo by
Soldene and the chorus in the first act the
butterfly song by Soldene in the second act;
the shepherds love long by Appleby the
quarrel song between Soldene and Stella, the
aria by Stella 10 the second act and the solo
by her in the last act. The orchestra,
mainly composed of local musicians, was well
led, aud proved the best combined here for
long time Tonight will be given the comic
opera "Genevieve de Brabant." 1t was
Ofenbach's first success given in English, and
preceded his Grand Duchesse." 1t was
written for Soldene, and in England it Is said
she sang it 200 times. Mr.. Marshall, of
this troupe, was the original Gendarme in
the piece.