Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-12-02
THE NEW PLAYHOUSE.
Miss Emma Jueh Opens Manager
Henderson's Duquesne Theater.
FEATURES OF THE STRUCTURE.
A Little Delay Does Not Prevent Salts
factory Performance.
THE OTHER PLACES OF AMUSEMENT


IN very satisfactory way, nevertheless, by
the Emma Juch Opera Company. There
was an odor of paint in the lobbies, and
there were signs of unreadlness in small
details, but the house itself was extremely
good to look at and pleasant to sit in, for
1t was well warmed and ventilated. The
verdict of everybody seemed to be that the
new theater is beauty, and that it has most
of the qualities that a frst-class theater
nearly hundred congratulatory kilograms
from all parts of the country, and Pittsburg
really ought to be congratulated also.
The theater was not entirely filled, fears of
postponement having evidently affected
the attendance, but the audience was ap-
preciative enough. The curtain was
not raised till $40, owing to the
delay in getting the scenery to the
theater-a delay for which the railroad
was responsible. So the audience had plenty
OF time to take in their novel surrou oundings.
The drop curtain painted by Mr.. Danger
field was particularly admired. 1t shows a
landscape OF river and hill with castle in
the distance, and over this picture crimson
draperies hang and around it big marble
columns rise.
EASY OF ACCESS.
The first thing that strikes the spectator
torcibly as he passes through the entrance
lobby, over pretty tesselated floor, is the
easy character of the access to the audi
torium. The foyer surrounds the parquet
and is divided from it bv a partition, with
glass windows, the lower sashes of which
are draped with little blue curtains, and
which is intended shall be raised when
standing room is at premium. The foyer
is carpeted with heavy velvet carpet
of subdued color, as are the aisles in
the parquet itself. The seats in the
parquet are of cherry, with dead gold
plush seats. The backs of the seats are sta
tionary, for which the ladies will be espec-
tally thankful. The boxes are draped with
hangings of silk Drocade of pale silvery
color and unburnished gold, while the balus-
trade is upholstered in bright robins egg
blue velvet. Hlgh-backed oak chairs with
brocaded seats are found in the boxes six in
the lower ones and ten in the upper. The
decoration of the boxes lacks some brass
work of a very handsome design which is
still in the manufacturers hands. The pre-
vailing colors in the walls, ceiling and
galleries are ivory and dull gold,
and they form a very delicate setting
Tor the stage pictures, which naturally
abound in high lights and rich groupings of
color. The curtain of ripe wine-ti tinted vel
vet, and the drop curtain, painted by Fred
Dangerfeld, also gain in effect from the
subdued harmony of the auditorium's dec
oration. The house is lit entirely by elec-
trio light.
FOUR GREAT CHAN DELIERS
with opalescent glass globes are suspended
from the ceiling, and as soon as possible
two of them will be moved nearer the
stage, as in their present position
the gallery obtains the greater part
OF g their light. A band of single
incandescent lights around the balcony, and
brackets and chandeliers in the boxes and
under the galleries, complete the illumina-
tion OF the house. The lighting of the
stage from footlights to border lights is
electric, with gar in reserve, and the system
is very elaborate, including, among other
things, red and green footlighis. which can
be raised whenever desired. The stage con-
tains every species of trap door known, and
the equipment of the flies and scene loft is
equally complete.
For this welcome addition to her theaters
Pittsburg has to thank Manager David
Henderson and his associates, but the credit
for the various parts of the structure may
be assigned as follows: For the building
and brick work, E. G. Horne and Smith
Bros. of New York City; iron work, Mar
shall Iron Company, Pittsburg; decorations,
Mitchell & Halbeck, Chicago; chairs, An
drews Manufacturing Company, New York;
electric lights, furnished by the Western
Electric Light Company, Pittsburg, and
arranged by Kruger s. Lasure, and scenery,
Fred Dangerfeld, Chicago Opera House.
THE EVENINGS ATTRACTION.
The opera fitly chosen for the opening of
the exquisltely beautiful theater described
above, was Meyerbeer's Lies Huguenots,"
a work which has for more than half GEN.
tury maintained high place in the reper-
torres of the worlds leading stages. 1t has,
however, not been worthily presented in
Pittsburg during the IL years or more that
have passed since the Strakosch troupe gave
it, with kellogg, Gary, Litta and Adams
in the principal roles.
AS would be surmised from its title the
book of the opera is built upon the politico-
religious contests in 1879 between the DOM
inant Catholic party in France, headed by
Catharine de Medicis and the Huguenot
party, led by Coligny and Henry of
Navarro; the memorable Massacre OF
st. Bartholomew puts the climax
to this plot. None of these leaders, how
ever, appear in the opera; the principal
character of the Catholic party being Mar
guerite de VdloiS-daughter of the Medicis
and at the time betrothed to Navarre-and
ST. BriS, Governor of the Louvre, whose
daughter, Valentine, she plans to wed to
RdoM di Nangis, Protestant gentleman,
who, with his staunch old henchman,
Marcel, are the leading Huguenot characters.
But the peace-making plans OF Marguerite
90 not succeed. Raoul, under misappre-
hension, spurns the proffered alliance,
which so incenses st. BriS and his friends
that they forthwith conspire to bring about
the massacre. En- passant, history says
that the willy CatharIne did this herself;
but no matter or course, Tdlentine is
given to another husband-Count Neuers
and, equally of course, she and Raoul
really do love each other. She sends
him warning of the conspiracy; he comes to
thank her before taking steps TO frustrate
the plot; she confesses her love and thus de.
tains him until the midnight bell ushers in
the massacre, and he, horror-strickep,
rushes away, while she lies IN a dead
faint on the floor. The filth act, which
was omitted last night takes place in the
streets while the murder and pillage is
going on. Raoul, Valentine and Marcel
meet, and, finding that her husband has
been killed, the lovers are at once married
by Marcel, only to be shot dead the next
moment by the Catholic soldiery.
A SCORE OF GREAT BEAUTY.
This intensely dramatic story, with its
many colored episodes, is embodied by
Meyerbeer in a musical score of great
beauty, full of serious artistic purpose ano
with scenes of much breadth and power,
1t belongs to what is distinctively known as
the French Grand Opera School-mingling
the more serious inspiration OF the Germans
with the Italian forms and melodic quali-