Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-09-25
MUSIC AND DRAMA.
THE kEnDALs ARE COMING.

THE KENDALS ARE COMING.
 yomething About tho Two Celebrated
 English Actors-Their Appearance at tho
 Fifth Avenue Thoatcr, Now York, Next
 Month and Their Proposed American
 Tour-Why Irving and Terry Arc Jcal-
 ous of tho Now Favoritcs.
 One of the most important theatrical events of tho year, says the Chicago Trib- ane,. will be the tour of this country by MT. and Mrs. Kendall, the London favorites. The cable has been busy with their names; they have had the customary "scnd-off' banquet, and New York will be asked to go to see them next month at the Fifth Avenue Thea ter. Chicago In it's turn will have the same pleasure, and the papers will be filled with discussions of the merits of the couple, as was the case when Irving and Terry first came here ! But apropos of Irving and Terry bit of personal gossip must not be passed by. At the farewell banquet given to the Kendals neither MT. Irving nor Miss Terry was pres ent. Why was thisi Mr. William Winter; the critic of the New York Tribune, who Is pt presentvisiting the tomb of Shakespeare suspends his devotions long enough to tell us .9 t9is; is; ,.uo noora .,r..,v .no,, .,e ,.re we'll dinner to Mr. and Mrs. Kendall ati which Mir. Chamberlain presided, and youl have been told that Mir. Irving was not present. He could not well have taken part in testimonial to a lady and gentle. tho opponents of his style. This Is to state the case mildly. The London theatrical camp is divided into many parties, and these parties are not held together by the | ties of affection. You would look long time without finding either MT. and Mrs. Kendall or Mir. John Hare in the party of MT. Irving. The greatest actor on the En- glish stage Is man of broad mind, but he is also man of absolute and implicit sin cerity; and that, think, is the reason why he was not present at the dinner of com- pliment to MT. and Mrs. Kendall"
 This, put in palmer language, means that the Kendals and the Irvingites are at swords points. Poor Wilson Barrett, 8 melodramatic actor, tried to supplant MT. Irving in tragedy when the latter was on his first visit to America. He failed. Then he tried to repeat the triumph of lrving's American tour. He lost money. It will be remembered that he declared that Mir. l Irving's admirers crushed him in this ! country. There was little reason for the complaint. The fact was that he posed as MT. IrvinR's peer; and Americans who ! found him only moderately good melo-
 dramatic actor would not accept him at his
 But what will be the fortune of the Ken dalsf Will the American Irvingites try to discourage them2 One does not believe 1t. The province of this couple is entirely dis ! tinct from that of the poetic drama, Their field Is the realistic comedy of oontem- l porary manners. Mr. lrving's admirers in this country are too broadly hospitablc to art to identify themselves with any English theatrical clique Mir. Wilson Barrett was ! tried on his own merits and found wanting. | Mir. and Mrs. Kendall will find fair field ! and no favor; but on account of their high reputation one ventures to say that they will also find what Mr. Barrett did not success. At any rate they will have an un- preiudiced hearing
 Their London friends are already writing
 to this side of the water to tell Americans not to expect too much. Mrs. Kendal-who is the better half-they assure us is not an | Ellen Terry, but quito different sort of
 actress. Mir. Arthur Warren. in @ letter l from London to the Boston Herald, says of her: Mrs. Kendall is not 8 tragedy queen, any more than Joseph Jefferson Is tragedy king. She is not classic or declamatory l (which some think is the same thing), and
 her art has no dealing with the Lady Mac
 beths, the Medeas, the Volumnias of the 1 drama; nor is it in the least concerned with
 the Camilles, -Frous and Miss Multons, l in nervous contemplation of which 'orea. | tions' some thousands find entertainment 1 It IS difficult to find word or phrase that will fitly describe Mrs. Kendall to the clear! l est understanding of those who have not
 seen her. The parts with which she Is identified deal with modern life, but in
 them Mrs. Kendall shows all that is strong est, and sweetest, and best in that attsibute l which we call womanliness. There is | ,ho10 {,, Y,ar l art, Q quality that evades the descriptive
 powers of pen and ink"
 Mrs. Kendal's name has long been thtt l mately associated with the fantastic com
 edies of MT. w. s. Gilbert. She and her
 husband have taken companion parts in | nearly all of them: s'The Palace of Truth''
 in 1870; .'Pygmalion and Galatea" in 1871 | ssThe Wicked World'' in 1873, and 'tBroAen Hearts'' in 1875. In the last mentioned year MT. and Mrs. Kendall left the Haymarket and went to the Prince of Wales' Theater
 where they were seen in such pieces as
 isPerii,U 'sLondon Assurance" and "Dip fomacy." They also acted for some time
 under the management of MT. Hare at the {Court Theater, and in 1879 MT. Kendall and
 MT. Hare became partners.
 It would be useless to give list of the l hundreds of plays in which this clever pair
 shave distinguished themselves, but few
 Familiar titles may be mentioned. About
 1879 they brought out Tennyson's s'The Fal
 con-" which, 1t is hoped, they will repro
 sduce in this country. In 1881 they produced
 'sThe 'Squire," version of Thomas liar
 dy's novel, "Farfro the MaddinR Crowd
 Miss Ada Rehan took the part In this coun,
 try that Mrs. Kendall made famous In Lon
 don. s.Esmeralda'' was produced by ths
 :Kendals in 1883 under the name of 'Youne
 Folks Ways" In 1884 their great success
 was s'The Ironmaster," Mrs. Kendall play
 ing Claire. In 18s6 they put on the boards
 a version of "Martyre," which has beer
 hone tin this country both by the A. M
 Palmer Company and by Miss Clara Morris It The repertory for tho American tour o1