National Republican., 1883-05-22
THE NEW EDEN.
Not Speculative Western Town, but a Paris
Theater.
The Remarkable Ballet which Ia Now the
Rage in the French Capital.


traordinary caprice in the nature Of the sea-
sons? Change, change, and yet again change
We can no longer count upon spring, summer,
autumn, winter. Things have resolved them
selves into summer and winter, and all is
said.
Dressmakers are grumbling, tailors are
raging, the thousand and one restaurateurs in
the onvirons of the city are waiting with
folded hands and gildcd menus for the usual
flock of Partisan birdlings who come not
They dare not as yet, affront the night air
the bitter east wind that almost rivals he"
English neighbor for fercenoss and cold.
summer is indeed like n capricious beauty
going to n ball she will make late entrance
in order to create sensation.
In tho meantime the theaters enjoy n later
season of prosperity than usual. Tho great
attraction is the Eden" a magnificent struc-
ture, whero o fine ballet nightly crowds the
house. This place of entertainment is the
newest place of its kind anywhere There is
very deep stage, marvellous breadth of
scene, and an auditorium vast enough to seat
over threo Thousand Thoro Is a promenade
running around the horseshoe with cafes,
grottoes, long walks and so on. Flowers
bloom, trees wave great branches over the
promenaders, and thousands of electric lets
Hood the place with MONDAY radiance.
The building itself is the handsomest thing
terror arrangements are harmonious and com
Portable, although of startling elegance and
beauty. The ceiling Is good as q work of art,
Aurora and few hundred ladies in very
summer like costumes float in space to their
hearts content. Pink, gray, blue, with faint
brown and violet, furnish the coloring, which
is Of course very Frenchy.
There Is only one balcony aud around the
lower part of the house is a row of open boxes
In tho style of the old Valgnoire, but not
closed, and mysteriously conspicuous as these
muoh-to-be.desired places. Everybody, or
nearly everybody, can see everybody else at
the Eden. On either side is a vast inolosed
space where promenaders crowd in at three
francs (sixty cents) head. Looking up one
imagines that they are in their own ioges,
hut that standing is preferable to sitting |
was told afterward the reason of their up
rghtness.
The usual nude statues support the usual
gilded columns The art Of coloring is fairly
understood by the French, but their failure
to produce anything classic in modelling is
lamentablo. There is not one figure among
tho hundreds that decorate the inner or outer
walls Of the Eden which is not almost ridcu.
lous in Its bad proportions and weak style.
In sculpturing France is far behind overy
other nation. The nude figures are certainly
unsatisfactory, and show deplorable lack In
taste, culture, and talent
Now that we have disposed of these ladies
in chocolate brown (color takes the place of
the ordinary fig leaf, something may be said
OF the theater proper and the performance.
The prices of admission come within every
ones rcach-balcony stalls five francs,
orchestra chairs seven francs, boxes fifteen
and twenty-five francs promenade three
francs. All Paris goes to this theater, and
must say that one gets fully ones moneys
worth.
The epromenade has been appropriated vastly
by the demi-mondaines. Ladies may go up
during acts and walk or sit about, but IL is
scarcely pleasant to jostle such human nature
at every turn. One gets used to many things
IN Paris and suppose one must get used to
That. During entire acts 1zganes sing and
play, Tyroleans warbie their rgutteralinational
songs, gymnasts leap, dogs perform; in fact
the regular circus sideshow fills up the in.
teiim OF stage waits. \ ,n1i4Dl.q,- .lH
magnificent parsonage in rose satin,
point lace an twenty-buttoned kids presdes
at the English bar. She is tho real Hebe. Va
rious landmarks sell delectable or non-delect.
ablenr;nks. Therage for champagne ut pres
ent Il the delicious Gelderman from the Ay
Vineyard. ! believe Paris Allen, in New
Y'rI, are the American venders. American
drnks are taking, but rarely palatable. 1t is
needless to say that any man will drink al
most anything when it is handed him by
slender, white hands accompanied by a smile
which nature alone has patented.
The ballet Excelsior" is simple in plot. 1t
treats OF the struggle between Progress Qight) |
and Obscurantism Tor darkness) Every
thing happens that may happen in real life or
on the stage. demon with snake on |
his breast and very red hair always inspires |
turmoil, smashes globes, chops up ships (the |
then new invention), Is ready to blow up Mr.. |
Edison and his-( -(excuse me, Franklin discov- |
ering electricity, dashes back and forth rag
ing against Progrsss.
He succeeds in one scene, but mt the end is |
always met bya fair young woman in glitter
ing tights. She appears with shimmers of |
electric light upon nher--representing Progress.
When this radiant young creature waves a |
radiant wand, the demon falls back foiled.
The snake on his breast trcmbles his whole
person incarnatcs disappointment and rage.
Obscurity is doomed to oblivion. Progress is
again triumphant.
had the rare pleasure of witnessing two
elevated trains passing each other on the
brooklyn bridge, with three full rigged ships
sliling underneath, Il ferry carrying several
thousands TO Hoboken, and two mountains
rising back Of the whole with gilded temple
ut the summit ofthe first. i thought to my
self that one must needs come 20 Paris in order
TO see the first train of cars on the Brooklyn
bridge, and mountains that / have never yet
seen in Gotham.
The extraordinary fidelity Of these scenes
causes one almost to tremble for Progress
Excelsior in plot is u gratifying but a
startling success.
Too much praise cannot be awarded for the
perfection of the mise-en-scene aud the
lancing. About six hundred figures at one
lime, and the effect is superb. The dancers
ire all Italians, with q very few exceptions
none, think-and the gesturingor mining"
s thoroughly descriptive as so much speak
ng and vastly more agreeable considering the
'ot, which usually constitutes the libretto for
In every step in every dance one recognizes
Irtists from tho famous ballet school of
Milan and the master hand which il requires
o put such masses in motion. The writers
ccnd from the great school of dancing of
II composers ofsuch ballets as 4" Excelsior de-
which Tagliyin and the old chorugraphists
we're expOnents.
They arc years thinking up piece; months
constructing IL when wri ten. and months {
repairing for a first rcpres ntation. Hence {
ERECTION NAV no arii> ed at, but for many
ong day nothing has attained the celebrity
# Excelsior
II is the most complete, curious and mag
ihcent spectacular piece that have ever
Gen. The mines are fine and the premiers {
T't class. One, by the way, is a little Ameri-
IN, Albertlna flindt. She has great grace I
nd splendid school for dancing. Her q
aleht is quite remarkable. Ono and all de- q
erve such praise that l may sum the per-
Drmance up in one word-success
The costumes arc marvellous and innumer-
bio, and tho stage setting, like the piec., =
mple perfection. Do not hope TO see any
pproach TO II in America unless the whole
ana, composer, musicians, and artists be
~ .S.NNaI ka1s l.. A.. =