The critic. (Washington, D.C.) 1890-1891, 1890-12-20
4 CRISIS IN NEW ORLEANS.

There is trouble. and lots of It, at New
orleans. They took the elections quie ly
enough, aud went through the financial
pmoNysm with cquanhnity, hut when a
row broke out the other day between the
iirt tenor # the Frcnch opera and the
imprcssalio OF that instituti N the whole
Il broke out in sUit of Lottle rash OF
excitement.
tkNew orleans rcioicc~ in q particula' ly
pleasant establishment The French
Opera House there j. especially adapted t.
the uses of cultured society. The aidito-
rum is almost wholly taken upwith boxes,
the Iogc O"ro1c, the io9c g,iVc, the bqgnoh
and the proSccnium. These boxes are so
arranged that amy one of them can be
approached without disturbing the occI
pants of another, whereas the grllcS, bdig-
nobS and prosccniums are provided with
little sitting rooms ut the rear, whore
visitors can congrcgate during the eat'
Scits. There Is also a very large
and handsome .foBrr on the Bourbou-
street front, club for the men
subscribers ON the Toulouse street side
and dressing and rcfrcshmcnt rooms for
ladies on the St. Louis street side. The
result is that New Orleans enjoys opera
during three or four months of every
year employing its own impressaiio and
running it, own company, aud the Opera
House on the fashionable nightS-'rues-
,lny, Thursday and saturday
about as brilliant u tahlcau Us can well be
Imagined with the vast audience in full
dress and the whole auditorium one scene
of color and animation.
But trouble has arisen between the tenor
fort and the imprCssario. The former, NJ.
tosslRA, was not of the original company.
The gentleman first brought over by Nam
ager DuBIEu did not give satisfaction TO
fhe critical Creole audience. lie lodged
a phrase in the duel scene of "IIugue-
nots, or llutcd the nj de p0itriBo in lie
Trouvere," or something of that sort, and
the veterans in the season seats of the
paruuct retired to the club-rooms upstairs
and crank "a" mc,rc violently. Then
Manager DURiEu tclcgraphcd tdthe Grand
Opera of Paris and got NJ. CossrRA, Il pri e.
medallSt of the Conservatory, and re
garl,d aS the coming tenor of
France. He is young, handsome
graceful, a fine actor and musician
and possessed of voice like untoa silver
he'll in the high and a ceiio in the low reg
i.ter, aud having Il middle voice as sweet
us the riDio FdHoNritself The town went
wild over him. lie appeared before the
subscribers as fdaa, rs -Nari9ue, as Elod-
lsa,, us RoJcf, as RdoR, as Jean dc Leyde,
as n dozen other heroes of the French re-
pertory and they fell down and wor-
shipped him. And now gloom has been
rast over the community. \ mistake oc-
CURED in the matter of bouquet intended
for Mile. MARTINI, the falcon, and then
Nine CossIRA took hand--n fac, she
took hand full of MARTIYT's hair and
next the impressario was drawn into the
vortex; and finally everybody, troupe,
subscribers, newspapers and general pub
lie went at il tooth and nail, until the
climax was reached in the publication,
Thursday morning, of a card from NJ.
tossIRA, announcing his early return to
Paris.
CALyPso after the departure Of ULYSSES
was not more desolate than New Orleans
is to-day. They may enact the Force bill
now; they may elect n colored Legislature
ar inauguratc Congo Governor, or even
eSterminate the shrimps in the Alissis-
sippi-New Orleans is past caring about
these minor things. She sits in sack
cloth, and the ashes la her hair would
sink Il clam boat.