Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-19
AT The THEATERs.
The Yeomen of the Guard, the Florences
and Other Plays and Players.


and Other Plays and Players.
The tolling Of the passing bell in St Peters
belfry is the keynote, or better the overruling
tone. Of "The Yeomen of the Guard" Gilbert
and Sullivan's opera, which was given to Pitts
| burg for the first time last night at the Bi1ou
| Theater. Well, 1T is generally understood tnat
| Gilbert and Sullivan work in the cause OF
| laughter and hght.heartedness but there Is not
| much joviality in the bim-a-boom Of funeral
chime. and 1.-THE Yeomen of the Guard is
weighted down in words and music by the sug-
gestion OF death at every step. As q comic
| opera it is a failure.
The hbretto is at times in the best style OF
| Gilbert There are perhaps dozen lyrics
which are pointed with the sharpest VII anu
carved in the most graceful fashion. The
music is. at the first hearing. the best part OF
| the opera. 1t displays that remarkable skill IN
orchestration, that delicate completeness, and,
| better than all, original treatment of light
| rythmicalairs, for which Sir Arthur Sullivan
| Is famous. In the first act there is constant
| contention between the minor key, which the
tolling bell suggests. and the martial spirit
| which the chorus of "beefeaters" and the brass
| combine to sustain. Though the melancholy
sentiment prevails in the libretto, the clangor
OF the brass and the bassos rather dominates
all the choral passages of the first act. In the
greater quantity of the lighter modes. But
the opera as whole contains fewer of the
| popular and catchy measures than any opera
previously received from the same hands.
NUMBER OF the familiar numbers always
found in Gilbert and Sullivan's joint work occur
| in "The Yeomen of the Guard" There is an
| unaccompanied quartet attuned to a rarely
sweet air. the deftest part of which is the repe-
| tition OF the refrain.
| Tower, Tower, Tower Green"
This was more warmly accepted last night
| than any other number; 1t was encored thrice.
| Another familiar thing was a wonderfully
| quaint duet between Jack Point and Elsie,
called II Have Song to Sing, orr The patter
| it did not have the ring and rollicking rapidity
| OF its predecessors. Once more considering
the lpretto and music together we cannot but
/ remark the wonderful harmony in spirit and in
| form which exists between them. As in pre-
vious operas Messrs. Gilbert and Sullivan ap-
| pear once more as the best of collaborators.
The story of 'The Yeomen of the Guard' is
not very deep or subtle, but it is anything but
clear. Colonel FdirJaI, the romantic hero Of
| the story. to make matters worse, was in
trusted to Signor Michelena last night whose
one-halt the audience got more than mere
glimmering of the plot. Miss Emma Abbott
hardly seemed herself and her Elsie Maynard
was singularly lacking in spirit. She sang one
| or two songs in her accustomed STYLE and
| charmed the audience with an interpolated
tour de force in the first act, wherein she dis
| played her old liking for trills and
| cadenzas but not her wonted power In
| fact she seemed to be indisposed
The gloomy jailer of ike Tower, Witfred Shad-
bolt. fell with grace into the hands of William
| Pruette. He made the character as grotesque
| as it could be made, and his large figure and
| even larger voice lent themselves readily to
| the portraiture of one of Gilbert's unique
| creations. But the opera suffers from the prev
alence of the spirit of which Shdd6olt is the
climactic expression. The lighter comedy Of
the jester, Jack Point, is not much account
anyhow, but Walter Allen did not bring 1t all
| out
Miss Nina Bertini of whom Pittsburgers
have pleasant memory made an arch and
comely Phoebe MerylI while Miss Lizzie An
| nadale did with some humor the little that is
assigned to the sketchy character, Dame
| CGrTutherS to perform. The robust and manly
| Sergeant MeryU which William Broderick en-
bodied was one of the pleasantest features OF
the cast. Of the rest there is little to be said,
| unless it be that Signor Michelena really
achieved wonders, considering his deficiency
in the knowledge of English. The chorus did
not betray great virtues; the womens voices
were constantly out of time and tune, and the
overpoweringly raspy voice of one of the tenors
marred all the mems work The orchestra,
however. did credit to Carl Martens, the di-
rector.
Tonight the "Rose of Castillo"