The evening world., 1889-02-12
THE TiCR ESS."

pendence, to yearn for the ability to say TO the
energetic Manager MacGeachy next time he
buttonholed me on Broadway, Hold. man!
Two seen your play. Don't tell me anything
more about it.. l assert that for some months /
have had ''Tigress -" d la manager. by letter and
by word OF mouth, until l pinned for some way OF
escape. Then there were brief intervals OF
"'Tigress" d Ia author, which were less
fatiguing. But now, thank goodness, I have
earned my freedom. Last night l enfrGnchised
myself at the Peoples.
l confess that / was interested in Mr.. Morris's
book, ''Crucify Her, " in spite of its many glar-
ing faults. Its story, which was not new, was
told with an ever-incrcasing interest, and 1t held
my attention. II il the fashion to speak Of such
books nowadays AZ feverish, and l am very fond
of hearing the term used by people who have no
more feverishness about their constitution or
comprehension than the icebergs. The morality
of Mr.. MOrris's book was questionable, and the
fact that he made his SHINING heroine happy is
somewhat doplorable. But though / should like
to have criticised the book from the point of
view of the saint, ! found it impossible. Perhaps
that was because j am 20 beautifully conscious
of my own absence of %sanctity.
In THE Tigress - the interest Of the book Is
by no means maintained. The play is an ex-
tremely STACEY affair. full of situations"
which Noah must have used when he INDUCED
In private theatricals III the Ark. The incident
Of the theft of the diamond necklace, which was
not unduly emphasized in the, book has been
given considerable prominence in the play, and
1t was a mistake. Vulgar. everyday, Jefferson |
Markell olice-Court crime il not at all interest
ing when staged. 1t is a primitive effect. We
yearn nowadays for something more in accord
with our artistic wickedncss.
The story of the play deals with the life Of an
unfortunate girl, who, when a mere child, has
been led into sin. Her betrayer. whom she still
loves, becomes enamoured of an adventuress,
and kills himself when he is unable to secure her
affection. The girl swears to be revenged upon
the adventures. Years afterwards, when n gov
erness in ali aristocratic French family, she
meets the woman, who is then passing under
another name. There il mutual recognition.
Stella Barotti. the adventures. is o'.deavoring
to ruin the reputation of the son of the family.
Incidentally, she steals the mothers diamonds.
She and her accomplish are thwarted by the
girl, Angela, who marries the son, and lives
happily everafterwards, Mr.. Morris hopes.
need not say where the scene is laid. Every
body ON hearing that there IL gambling in the
play will at once guess Monte Carlo, What
would become of the modern society drama "
without Monte Carlo9 1t il a veritable refuge
for the destitute dramatist. That sickening
salon de jeu and the nauseating rouge et NOR
would be threadbare and dilapidated by this
time, il the invasions Of the playwright could
tell upon them.
Mr.. Morris has eked out his play with TALK
ness. He has trsd very hard to be cynical. He
has evidently nomatural taste for cynicism, but
has cultivated it in the same way that people
strive to take olives and sicken themselves in an
attempt to swallow caviare. The action OF
1.-THE Tigress" il hating. Three-fourths of
each act is filed with platitudes, while the re-
manning fourth devoted to preparation for the
climax, which comes with a slap-bang and
brings down the curtain. The climaxes are. AZ
rule. effective, but they are conventional. Mr..
Morris thoroughly understands the conven-
tional climax, and he has made four of them.
The cynicism in the play is not enlivening.
1t il mostly levelled at the woman of fashion.
and Mr.. Morris says nothing that has not beer
said fifty times before. The idea of the wife who
is always pining for the death of her husband IL
unpleasant. 1t is meant for comedy, ant
ought. perhaps, to be labelled to that effect,
The perpetual alusiOns to the undress of tn,
opera frequentes is at times coarse. The sub
ject has been done to death in the comic
papers, and a resurrection is entirely un
necessary. Perhaps l may be accused o
deliberately looking for these flaws for tn,
purpose of holding them up. The fact is, how
ever, that the play is full of them from the pro
logue to the fourth act. | admire cleverly spon
taneous cynicism. and can gloat over repartee.
But the cynicism, and Iepartee i'll 18th,
,Tigress . are not entertaining. A portion of tn
~OHNNJ ~ S'"'N ihiN ANhiiliS ahi iNi
Noddy was very funny, and very admirabl
done. but there was too much of it. Mr.. Morri
does not yet know when to quit"
Miss Selma Fetter was underlined as one o
the stars of 1.-The Tigress, but AZ Stella Ba,
y rotti, the adventures, her performance was ab
Solutely colorless. Stella was II sort of Len
Despard, and Miss Fettcr WAS handicapped b
refinement. Her adventures was a curious sor
OF a creature. In fact, it was hard to beliey
that Miss Fetter realized what the adventures
really was. Perhaps she thought she had COY
cred all the defects of the Barotti whe
she smoked a cigarette. But plenty {
women smoke cigarettes who are nc
adventuresses, and there is little that
suggestive in the act. In the last seen
Miss Fetter was at her best. Some forccful act
ing was called for and she responded to the de
mands OF the occasion. 1t may be urged this
this was the only time that the part called fc
strong acting. That may be. But the part eel
tainly demanded subtlety and snake-like deN
iltry. Miss Fetter was neither subtle nor de,
ilish, and showed that she had absolutely II
idea how to be either the one or the other.
Miss Blanche Weaver walked deliberatel
away with the honors OF the evening. She WI
the only member of the cast who gave an arti
tic performance. Miss Weaver luckily had
part with which the audience was ready 10 syn
pathize, but while the part was responsible fc
n good deal of her success, Miss Viewers clev,
methods must not be forgotten. Al Ange
Romano she made an unquestioned success
MIR. Ramsay Morris, as Count Barotti, "am mo-
ern Mephistopheles, " was weak. II he wro
the part to fit himself, il shows that he had
very feeble idea of his own dramatic abilitie
Mr. Morris was at no time bad. He gave II ne
alive perform nance. His French accent was n
~ durable a. 1t might have been. 1t had wor
out before the play ended.
Miss Nina freeth WAS amusing az Mn
Lanine. and Eugene. Sanger conscientious
Lord Noddya Miss Nellie Taylor failed To realil
the part of Countess Boaudry. which was one
the finest In the book, and Frank KarringtC
was cruelty uniniprcasive as Count Beaudr
By rho bye. i saw an exquisite horseshoe
flowers addressed 20 Mr. Harrington IN Z