Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-01-01
ADJUSTMENTS.
Gilbert and Suiiivan's Last Conn
position.

position.
Every part OF the Opera House was
filed last night on the occasion of pro-
ducing here for the first time the new
operetta of Gilbert and Sullivan, The
Yeoman of The Guard. The plot has
been already given in the HERALD
1t is simple and not strikingly
original. Indeed, if it was not
taken bodily from Don Cesar de Bazan,
it is very close plagiarism of the story
OF that piece. Substitute the part Of
Mariana" "the mime that treads the
measure" for "Elsie Maynard" and
that of "Don Caesar" for ''Col. Fairfax, )"
and you have the argument of both pro-
auctions. But when we come to the
respective merits Of the drama and the
operetta there is no comparison. The
dialogue in the former is sparkling and
full Of genuine wit; in the latter
| it is generally tame, with here and
there sparkle of humor that
would be explosive if new. Gilbert
has certainly achieved the very worst Of
his literary work in the feoman of The
Guard, and that is putting it mildly. l
would seem that success has mate these
authors reckless; for certainly they III.
have presumed on their former favor with
the public if they thought they could sat
isfy discriminating people with long
two-act piece without change Of scene.
The music and the story would
require to possess unusual merit to Offset
90 glaring a defect. Their operetta,
however, possesses the least possible
merit in either particular. AS Don
Cesar de Bazan furnished the plot, SO
The Mikado furnished the music, and
where whole passages are not taken
almost without change from the Japanese
mine. they are varied so slovenly
as to bear all the earmarks
of their origin. If the Yeoman, etc., had
been produced under any other author
ship, we would not have hesitated tc
have charged it's producers with bold and
fragrant plagiarism, and it becomes nice
| question as to the kind of offense it is
to palm off as original what is
stale, even though it originally belonged
to the palmers. The authors are at least
amenable to the suspicion that they
have pumped their we'll dry, when they
give us the same fluid over again. We
doubt whether there is a single bar o
music in this whole operetta that will
fix itself in the popular ear. Some OF
Q choruses are lovely, and show thai
Sullivan could have struck bis old
vein if he had not been hampere
by really uninspiring piece of literary
groundwork. Miss Abbott made all
that was to be made out of the role o.
"Elsie," but to use common phrase
there was nothing in it. She sang well
and acted WE'LL but there was nothing
behind it all to give character and effec,
to her fine voice and histrionit
ability. The whole work is ar
elaborated trife, and the Filings
are jejune and commonplace. Mr.
Pruette gave us some good low-comedy
acting in his character OF head gliler, anC
Mr.. Broderick gave us colorless person
alton of the colorless character of "Ser
geant Meryll." Miss Bertini as his daugh
ter, was interesting. 1t is useless t
further particularize. All did the best
they could under the circumstances, bu
there was 80 little in the cir
cumstances that their efforts wer,
barren of results. We may, perhaps
reform some of our conclusions on see
ing the Yeoman second time; but ou
disappointment is such that we canno
doubt that our first impression is tn,
correct one.
At the matinee to-day the compan,
will present Planquette's charming
operetta of The Chimes of Normandy
and IN the evening they will rende
DOnizetti'S beautiful opera of Iuci1