St. Paul daily globe., 1890-04-22
RHEA AS JOSEPHINE.

While the public is still entranced with
Marie Wainwrght's beautiful rendition of
Shakespeare's Twelfth Night" that talented
lady and queen of emotional actresses. Mile.
Rhea, comes to us in role which, clothed
in the intensity of her dramatic art, fairly
reveals itself in perfect realism OF one OF
the noblest characters OF Womanklnd-Jose
phine empress of the French. 1t is not
often that the theatrical realm of the North
west is stirred 10 such pitch in art as we
witnessed last week when the Shakespearean
revival brought its leading exponent. ana
this week. when Mr.. Haven'S drama. artfully
woven out of the historic events winch sur
round the lives of two OF The greatest char
acters of French royalty-NapoIeon Bona
parte and Josephine.
Much has been said of Mr. Haven's play,
in which he has striven to accomplish what
famous actors and actresses DlayWriterS and
playwriehts have seriously attempted TO DO
for twenty Years. History presents TO US a
page so crammed with the life events OF Ma
pOleon that TO dramatic the forces, even.
which constitute the chain OF his career ana
that of his loyal spouse, would be 10 paint a
stage picture so encumbcred with clap-trap
and detail as 10 make the drama tedious ana
unwieldy. In seizing upon the motives Tor
the almost inhuman diplomacy OF the ambi-
tious Little Corrorals staIecraft, MIR.
Haven has been eminenlly success
full. The author is New. York jour
nrliSt. and Josephine" IS BIS hfst
Bork-a work which Edwin Booth once had
n strong desire To c"nsummaie. France mas
bubbled over with this histronic subject, and
there are now an indefinite number OF plays
directly upon this theme. Americans, how
ever. have been spared the french EFFORTS,
none of which ever achieved permanent
success. Early in March. however. Mile.
Rhea presented 'Josephine'' at the Broad
way theRter i'll New York city. With an
endless resource of personal charm, WCmanly
Il .lfrAt,n q
animation. Thea is a noble embodiment of
the unfortunate heroine Josephine. AS an
artistic she stands boldly ont i'll the front
ranks OF her profession. Her natural sym-
pathies with the royal subject of SO many
virtues Ire-emincnllv qualify her tor real
iStic and intelligent portrayal OF the charac-
ter of josephine.
Besides the history of Josephine, which is
certainly mental meat for Rhca, the fact that
il has been the bloom of her ambition to pre-
sent an ideal Josephine, both i'll personal char
acter and az the French empress. possesses
her with spirit in which her subject turns
living, and indeed an interesting side to The
American public. The cold fact is that
-Rhea has made brsiness and financial sue
cess of Il play which is constructed, Ill Mt
erary methCd, out of the historic material
which haiiied greater masters of stage art
than Albert Roland Haven. AS Mile. Rhca
applies her acknowledged talent to the char
acter of Josephine, she leaves no province
for crIiiciSm-if her accent and hard speech
occasionally does not 1asp critical ears
Physically, her creation is marvellous. Her
royal robes become her well, and are models
of the m0distes art. She isa lovely woman,
whose strength of character, cuielre, grace
and emotional qualities make her and her
Josephine" happy and lasting picture of
the french empress.
1t does seem, however, that if it were not
for the personal and professional advantage
of Nile Rhea in her part as Josephine /. >
over the wit and character of Mr.. Harris per-
formance of Napoleon Bonaparte, the Little
Corporal would win the laurels. A spirited
and brilliant Characterization of the historic
Napoleon. which would even approach ac-
curacy beside Mile. Rheas Josephine. would
divest the latter character of much of its
weight, and the hOnOrs would 90 to Mr. Harris
in greater measure than the public now be-
stow upon that gentleman. But taking i'll hand
what the author has bmlded as Bonaparte. Mr.
Harris deserves the unqualified appreciation
of those who appreciate conscientious work.
and his Napoleon has not been dwarfed to
such degree as would be the case with
Mile. Rhea's Josephine, if Mr.. Harris were
acting the Napoleon as life painter would
invest that great character. The question,
then. between madamoiselle and her leading
support would be. which of the two is the
better able to rise to the exigencles OF his or
her subject. AS it is, Mile Rhea WINS u.s.
heart and head, while Mr.. Harris Napoleon
draws out our admiration for the traits with
which the author has invested that illus
trious character. who TO the English was
devil, to the French an idol and n god, and
to Americans very interesting type of man
hood.
With the exception of j. NJ. Franceur's
Talleyrand. Mile. Rhea's support could be
better. 1t is beyond ali question that "Jo-
sephine'' merits full houses. Two matinees
q hnld-On Wednesday nd
There will be no performance on Saturday
evening. II. W.