Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1891-10-16
THE THEATRICAL CIRCUIT
IN WHICH THE STAUNTON OPERA
HOUSE Is SITUATED.


loving people of Staunton, to know the de-
tails of the system which furnishes them
so many amusements and in such rapid
succession. StauntOn is in what is called
the Virginia and North Carolina circuit
which embraces ten cities, Richmond, Nor
folk, Staunton, Roanoke, Danville, Lynch
burg and Charlottesville in Virginia, and
Asheville, Winston and Durham in North
Carolina. The places Of amusement are
called Opera Houses in all except Richmond
where it is the Richmond Theatre, and
Danville and Norfolk where they are Acad-
emies Of Music. One advantage Of the Gil
cult system is that it puts in reach amuse-
ments which involve large companies and
much expense, and which could not afford
to come into this region and play at one OF
two cities. 1t avoids long jumps between
stands which involve heavy railroad fare.
The other advantage is with the companies
rather than with the people, as it gives
them the opportunity of ''trying it on the
dog" as the saying IS. That is, when a new
company gets together OIL an old company
is getting sup" in new play it can haul
the play OF the opera around the Virginia
and North Carolina circuit until they get
up in it, when they strike out for the North
and West.
An instance of this, the Annandale-H lam
ilton opera troupe which took the place of
the late Emma Abbott opera troupe and
which had that charming tenor, Michelena
in it. They were up in the stage business
OF only two pieces, Bohemian Grip and
Martha" Being uD in a piece is a far
reaching term in amusements. It does not
apply only to knowing the score of an opera
OF the text of a play, but also to the stage
business. Almost every stage manager has
a 'sstage business" OF his own for every
as the score OIL text. Otherwise the great
est confusion comes of each performer u.s.
ing the stage business he learned under
some other manager. So that playing to-
gether for several nights under the new
manager is a necessity before the piece can
be considered as presentable to the public.
1t was thus that the Annandale-H hamilton
troupe, which had been newly gathered to-
gether. had to put aside I'll Trovatore" Of
which they only knew the music and not
the stage business. and substitute the
Bohemian Girl" Their tour around the
Virginia and North Carolina circuit only
included the large Virginia towns and was
only undertaken while they were learning.
A how fol
which was at Lynchburg, they made one of
the longest jumps company can make
from Lynchburg to Detroit. Another case
of learning on this circuit was that. of the
Marie Greenwood opera troupe which, TAX
en- at all points, was the best troupe that
Staunton has ever seen. They had been
playing s'Denizette" steadily and were add
ing some new operas to their repertoire to
use in tour of the large cities in the
Northwest. They put on the ''Black Illus
sar" which they had not learned, not even
the vocal score, and as might have been eX-
pected presented it very badly. 1t was
thus that the Staunton people saw ruined
the beautiful tea table seXtette Of the Hus-
Dbl OllC VI UuC uCDU dCtl dCUlfC plCCCo VI
conserted music ever written for light opera.
The good stage business of play OIL opera,
while it does not directly appeal to the au-
dience and is not point for their appreci-
alton, is promptly and seriously missed by
them when it is absent. And it requires
hard drilling withall to bring about. About
one of the hardest day work we have seen
on the stage, was one morning at the Opera
House, seeing stage manager Donnelly drill
ing his particular stage business in the
Mascot into the company.
Of course the companies that circuit
brings are sometimes good and sometimes
bad. That is necessity arising out of the
formation and great number of travelling
troupes. The comic operas have little by
little drifted into a dependence on the
comedian of the company. The music OF
the tenor is generally sung by woman and
there is fair basso. Sometimes the whole
opera is carried on the shoulders of the COM
edian, as in the case Of Louis Harrison
and the ''Pearl OF Pekin." This company
presented the remarkable spectacle of an
opera troupe without singer worth hearing
in it. In tie dramatic companies the trav-
cling system has produced a great change.
The companies now have as few as eight OF
nine performers, and yet give very enter
tanning performance of some little skit
written especially for such presentation.
While there are many pleasant surprises
and sometimes disappointments in these
minor troupes, there is one thing that never
fails and that is the bill posting. 1t is
ornate, expensive and lavish, no matter how
mediocre the troupe it advertises. The old
plain black and-white posters of twenty-five
years ago have wholly disappeared, and it
may be easily believed that of capital of
$4,000 to launch a company, one-half will
be used for printing the colored posters
which have become to be works of real
art.
Staunton has no reason to complain OF not
having had a list of far superior attractions
than fall to the lot of cities this size. In
her Opera House have appeared Emma Alb
bolt, Minnie Hauk, Emma Juch, Rhea.
Modjeska, Janauschek, Lilly Langtry,
Clara Louise Kellogg, Frederick Warde,
Keene, Salvini, Couldock, the Mendelssoh
Quintette, the Boston Quintette, the Lis
teman Club, the Hungarian Orchestra.
Gustave Satter, and others eminent in
opera, drama, OIL instrumental music. She
has in return given large and apprecia-
tive audience. In her Opera House she
gave to Mrs. Langtry a $3.50 audience the
largest, financially, she ever gave, and to
Madame Janauschek on her first appear
ance $3.50. The audiences through sea-
son will run anywhere from $3.50 the lowest
to 5000 the highest. The largest audience,
in numbers, was drawn by 'Little Lord