Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-05-03

Elaborate Stage Appointments-Arra
of Stars-The Rush for Choice Seats.

OF StarS-Ihe Rush FOR Choice Seats.
Cincinnati Special Baltimore Sun, ssth.
All the hotels are full, and the ORA
matte Festival experiment will commence
in earnest tonight. The artists are here
! and all things are ready, Nothing hut
Presidential Convention ever before drew
together here so numerous representa-
ton of the press of the country. Then a
| representative of the London Times is
here TO tell about the festival. Cincin-
natians are not taking the same local in
terest in it that they do in their Nav
music festivals and their opera festivals.
put they are not Indifferent to it. Let ii
DE success artistically and Cincinnati
| VIII be enthusiastic. Ii is characters
tie mere to keep cool during the pre-
llminary experimental period and get
warmed up when success comes.
The stage is up and the scenery for
Caesar" is set. With stage Ga feet deem.
III feet wide behind the curtain and
proscenium, nearly 90 feet wide at the
curtain and 30 feet high from stage to
arch, the festival stands out with n
gigantic stage. The properties for
Cesar are wonderful, and so they are
for "OthellO,' but Caesar" has been
gotten up in respect to scenery, proper
ties and cOstuming without regard TO ex-
pense. Every facility in the way of room
and light has been engaged for preparing
work for the stage. One wing of the EX-
position buildings has been used for that
purpose, and there could be nothing bet
ter.
All the past week the supernumeraries
nave been rehearsing under X. +. j. Miles
as stage manager, with Mr.. Alexander
Fitzgerald as his master of rehearsals.
The property men and stage managers
for Mccullough, Barrett and other stars
Will be present at the festival to perform
no info na1
supernumeraries is immense. A thousand
people can easily be crowded on the stage.
and at the rehearsals nearly three hun
dred SupernumerarieS have been present,
1t has been question whether the large
scale scenery and the actors WOnld
look realistic together by comparison. For
the purpose of testing this some of the
street scenery in Caesar" was used in
the rehearsals, and the effect was ouite
natural. The architectural columns and
do0rways did not dwarf the people. nor
did the mobs on that stage eXaggerate the
size OF the architecture and monuments
by comparison. Then, too, the rehearsals
tested in measure the acoustic qualities
of the great hall, with a result favorable
far beyond anticipation.
The principal artists are John McCul-
Tough, Lawrence Barrett, James L. Muir
dOch, Nat Goodwin, Mile. Rhea. Clara
Morris, Mary Anderson, John A. Ellsler.
and among the support are Messrs. Will
liam Harris, the LeOnatO in 'Much Ado
About Nothing" Louis James. Edmund
Collier, Charles Plnkett, Percy Winter.
Benjamin G. Rogers, Harry Chantrau. Ii,
A. LangdOn, and Misses Marie VAIN
wright and Kate FOrsythe. William DAILY,
who was to have been stage manager,
was taken down with erysipelas after his
arrival here, and was unable to perform
the duties. which thereupOn devOlved
upon Mr.. Il. +. j. Miles, of the Grand
Opera House here.
1t is rumOred that Mary Anderson will
not take part in the festival. Mr.. Miles
has received telegram from Miss Ander-
son declining the part of DesdemOna.
The part was originally intended for Mile
Rhea, but as 1t was taken from her, as
she says, to be given to Miss Anderson, it
is now more than probable that she will
have nothing to do with it.
The drop curtain was painted in New
York by Henry E. HOyt, of the New York
Grand Opera House. 1t is a copy of a
painting by Benjamin West, intended to
illustrate the embarcatiOn of Regulus re-
turning to death at Carthage. HOvt was
over six weeks painting this curtain.
The auction sale of seats realized $50, 900
in premiums for choice of seats over and
above the $l4 for the season of eight per-
fOrmanceS, and this on =, 453 seats making
an average premium of $12 30, which will
swell the average cost Of the seat to $26S35
for eight performances, or $50 per seat
for each performance. The seating ca
pacity of the hall as arranged for this fes-
tival is 3, 30 so there were l,267 tickets
left after the auction to be sold at the
downtown offices at $l4 for the
season or 81 for single performance.
Last night less than an average of 200
seats for each performance remained I'M
sold. In addition to this there will be
sold admission tickets at 81 each to every
performance. 1t is expected that 81 900
each performance will be realized from
the sale of these. All i'll all there is every
reason to look for a sum total of SSS, 900
for the festival, perhaps $4,000. The
weather sets out fair and the river is at a
good stage for steamer travel. All lines
of transportation are holding out the in
ducement Of reduced fares, and the halls
and eating houses in the city are not in
creasing their rates.
There is none of that holiday prepara-
ton in the way Of hanging out flags
which characterized the MAY and opera
festivals, but the show windows are
frightened up and the papers are over
flowing with advertisements. Besides
this, the event has brought out large
crop of librettos and pamphlets, the fly
leaves and backs of which are blooming
with advertisements. The guarantOrs,
who are pledged to the extent in the
aggregate of $4,000, to make good def
ciencieS in receipts, are business men,
and they mean to make the most Of the
festival season as a harvest for their bust
ness,