New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-05-01
MUSIC AND THE DRAMA
JULIUS CESAR.
THE FIRST NIGHTS PERFORMANCE OF TIE CrscIw.
MATT DRAMATIC FESTIVAL.
lBr TELEGRAPH TO THE TRIsUSE.I

CINCINNATI, April 3O-Moro than four thousand
persons are in Music Hall tO-night and at this
| hour-11-ths performance of Julius C@sarn il
still in progress. The last curtain will not fall till
after midnight. The scene presented, both before
and behind the curtain, is indeed remarkable. Tho
auditorium is one serried mass OF eager and atten
| tive humanity
| The stage thus far has offered succession Of
pageants Viewed as spectacle this display
is magnificent. 1t does not indeed surpass the
pageantry of Edwin Booths great revival Of
Julius Cesar" either In massiveness of picture,
the tasteful handling of color, dignity of general
effect Its special superiority over anything of tho
kind that has been seen in America consists iE its
| adjuncts and properties. These very numerous,
often beautiful, and truly remarkable for accuracy
of design and solidity of fabric. For illustrative
objects the expenditure has been almost reckless,
but certainly it has been directed by knowledge
| and taste. Such embellishments as are
offered by the standard-bearers wearing
| the lon-heads and by the hedge of cedar shrub
berry in the garden of Brutus, displaying his name
carved in the foliage bespeak the scholarship and
tho minute observance of detail with which this
spectacle has been devised.
Nothing finer could be wished than this gloomy,
romantic bit of landscape and few stage pictures
comparable with it in mournful splendor have any.
It's sufficient atmosphere, and certain pervasive
| veirdness marvellously well conveys the inn
port of the conspiracy which it invests.
This is the work of Waugh and Piggott, and
| IL Ia a MASTERPIECES. You can almost hear, as
you gaze upon it, the signing of the midnight wind
in the branches while through the Ominous still
ness the far-o sound of the striking clock sends an
lev chill to your expectant heart This scene has
been beautifully managed by everybody concerned
in it, and its excellence may rightly be named as
fair type of the spirit of the whole production.
1t is noticeable that most of the scenes have been
constructed with sky perspective. There are few
painted drops at the back Every object STANDS out
boldly on the picture; and an upward gradation oI
color and of pictorial establishment has been stu
diously sought; that the general enect Is cumu-
lative and very splendid.
The first act involves the procession returning
from the sports of the Lupercal. The populous ex-
tent, the variety. the animation. and the regal
pomp of this parade created vast excitement, and
cast an impressive glamour of suspense around
the fateful entrance of the lonely figures of Cassus
and Byutus. method of entrance long ago orig
mated for this situation by Edwin Booth, and
rightly adopted among those excellent tragedians
of the stage whom only ounces ana
ouacks disparage. The coming of these
| great Romans was the signal for tre-
| mendous outburst of public joy. MIR. Barrett
entering with that quick, nervous eand that IN
| tent resolute inscrutable countenance worn WIN
tbonpbt and rayaged with the strife of hidden pas
sions disclosed the veritable ideal Cdss'us-the
hest representative of him that has trod the stage
since Macready left it, No need to extol for New
York play-coer. the intellectual concentra-
| tion and splendid fire of this performance
| Hare again were seen the swift glances
| of the torrid eyes, so eloquent Oh
renre,sed power 80 significant OF an
| inyeterate baleful purpose. Here again was heard
the sonorous, quivering voice. vibrant, trenchant
and thrilling. soaring like seabirds cry over tho
dense mass of the multitude, and audible through
all the vast spaces of the great theatre. John NC
| Cnlloupb. as Brutus, lives in every newborn
| memory and heart, but never has tnis
grand actor seemed so perfect an image Vi
| ROYALTY rs he did tonight. The massive inquire; tho
slow. thoughtful, deliberate tread; the pensivo
| brow. the lion front; the sad abstraction tho
cniIt,ess maenanimitv and the lovely gentlenessof
Shakespeare's Brutus; all was personiied here and
| made a living man. Him the surroundings could
| not sway. He seemed indeed to draw from them
certa,n awfulness of austerity and tragic poise tie
seldom exertcd his voice, but at times It's even ana
ample tones rolled out upon the multitude Ike the
surge of an organ.
Mr. Murdoch as antony had royal welcome and
,vo. -scoIad after the Senate scene. The effect OF
.i % of course visible in his acting but the fine
intelligence the large. picturesque treatment, ana
the lust and discreet elocutlon Oh TINS
performance, make it very valuable lesson Mr'
lanes looked Caesar, and his voice was everywhere
audible.
II - very easy to carry the rage for scenery and
properties too far Somebody once wagglshiy said
that old blanche had stopped performance because
| mad w a
spurs of the twelfth instead of the thirteenth
| century. People do not, and should not. go to the
theatre for the purpose of studying history. NO
MAY ever was produced or ever can be produced
| with apsolute and infaabe historic accuracy.
| The stage cannot give exact historic truth i'll
mere details King Duncan always, ana figntS'
travels to Inverness IN his unwarranted 'e'o'
drapery with a crown upon his head. No law can
be more imperative than that the hrst OBJECT 10 10
.orobt in the illustration of play Is dramatic
oa.ct If YOU can secure this by
fidelity TO history, so much the oetler'
If NOT LET historical accuracy be sacrificed Shake
speare does this constantly King ClaudIus iVea
before cannon were invented; yet that TACT did NOT
prevent the bard from having ordnance shot OIL LII
The reyisal of Julius Caesar" contains much 70
delight the archaoogist but the hulk ot the lhfes
ture thrown away upon the pubic ioi dtract
| not seen at all If seen It serves Only 10 uSI@.s
attention from the essential matter that ought 70
be considered the words, the deeds the charac.ens
the shirt of the whole work, all which are crcum-
scribed within the acting. This was well n ngs
swamped by the scenes and trapplngs' oG a%G
D DS he heard halfway down the, auditorium
The house is badly lighted and is full of draughts,
| The audience not as 1t should nave oeen, ~
fnll dress The incidental music was harsh ana
noisy. An air of painful anxiety and OF hatul;a s
WEAKNESS made itself felt through all the soen,o
magniiicenco inevitable consequence Of tue sP
niication of the barbecue method to a dencate ar
which should always be invested with elegance anu
rcposo.
THE THEATRES LAST NIGHT.
! ro.t ,;obt,s productions at the theatres were