The Washington critic., 1889-01-29
AMUSEME ENTS.
ALpAuen,s--"LA roscA."


night There was big audience Sardou
wrote ala Tosca." His liver was out OF
order when he did it, 1t is a play Of terror,
oflovc, OF daggcrs OF jealousy, Of torture, Of
treachery, of poison, of murder The scene is
laid in Italy OF course. You don't iiud
such a combination Of characteristics else
where. II is iuhuman ana repulsve. 1t Is
strong. 1t blends powerfully the Church and
the Devil The first net is In a church and with
the chanting, the candles and the prayers one
could easily imagine he was not in u theatre.
Possibly It's sacrilgious, Some say IL Is. But
they all 90 to hear IL. There are four char
acters in the play aud long list Of supernu-
meraries.
The characters are Fiorid Toscd Miss Dav-
cnport) Baron Scdrpia tMelbourne Nc
DowelD, CdudrddOssi, an artist (t. Nee Ross),
and AngciiOtn, an escaped prisoner (rhco-
dore Roberts) The supernumeraries are put
OH merely to I'LL out the misc en- scene. tioria
is diva, In love with the artist, and is pos
sessed Of an italic jealousy Scdrpid loves her
and wants her. Angeliom is run in to hang
the action of the plot on. Scdrpid tortures
CdrdrudOssi behiud the scenes, while he and
FiOrid occupy the stage aud listen to the
frghtful groans and the crunch of the pincers In
the artists flesh 1t is terribly realistic for
the audience can't sec Just what the stage
carpenter and supes are doing to the victim
behind there, and can imagine everything.
3
Davenport standard.
Mr.. McDowells Scdrpid is also wickedy
good. AngclOW Is dead, after having done
some pretty fair acting. Later, Florid
saves her lover by agreeing TO submit to
Scdrpid, and then when Scdrpid claims his
bargain Fiorid ungratefully plunges a large
sized carving knife through his ruflled shirt
front and twists 1t around once or twice as n
guaranty of good faith upon which Scdrpid
dies after tragic wrestlc with the X. OF I.
| This is also Il strong point In the play, and
| Miss Davenport does IL well, but not Bern
hardly well. The last act is the bloodiest of
all. ScdrDid, the Scorpian, has put up job
on FiOrid and her lover after all, and instead
of having Mario shot with powder alone, as
agreed upon, 30 he can recover rapidly and
get away with Horid, Scdrpid has told the
| captain OF the shooting squad to "load for
bar" aud poor Mario is shot so full of holes
one could sft sand through him.
When FlOrid discovers this she becomes SO
| violent that the soldiers In selfdefense open
| fire upon her all along the line and kill her.
Then the curtain falls and the audience rolls
| over and wakes out OF its nightmare and goes
| home.
Miss Davenport was not at all well, as was
plainly evident, but she did bravely and stood
the terrible strain like a little man, and her
"La Tosca" stick stood by her charm to
every dudne In the audience. Again tonight.
NATIoSAL-NAT GOODWIN.
.-.,'' - 80, 'lio 'oS' 80 ~ .
-, ~ a"' 49, wv ~ w ,' y.
aDess 80, , u 'Sno", wv" So n0,o -, -
w W. -"' i"'' ,'n rs H ,,cN.,
ne appeared III ,hoya' heVonse anu ,.oon-
fusion, supported oy strong company, es-
peclaily p0tceaoie in which wepe m'i,er pe
nono,om 10 ,'ro,,', ..CnnT,sio,,, 10 fnnnior tbar
ANYTHING. but Il is dreadfully irving on a Young
woman in the audience when her young man
is with her II is without doubt the raw
O.. piay on tnc siagcI uuS mis 90 hmi,hsiy ,I,h
mant,l rosorva,inn Goin tn-niabt
,,,,,'a, ,,',o,. -, -.
"n"n'9 p''ol D"N ''l'
DAM suliy, IN "Ihe corner grocery,
took the house at the Bjou last night and
held IL as long MS he wanted to. That's the
uoro, ,yov u,,,, NJ sill, ,,Tho Cor,o,
Crooorvu ,s no, y.,r,, o,oso after tho styI. ~
Shakespeare. nor is It n Gilbert and Sullivan
opera. Int Il is something which will stir uI
your laupber more than either or both, apt
keen IL stirred up till the pas is nut out I
did IL last nirht. and will do IL MS IL has done 4
right along Mr.. Suly's versatility comes ou
strong in the play, and he is aided and abe t
ted by some very good people, indeed. Chang
to Daddy Nolan Thursday matinee an,
finish the week in that.
THE EeLoBE-vAUpEvIILE.
Us.. varaty o,trao,iors a, uo cl,,,o.or,
w '-'. -