Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-03-10
1891.
JEFFERSON AND FLORENCE.

The Opening of Their Weeks Engagement
at the Duquesne Theater-The Ever
Popular Old Homestead at the Grand
Robert Manten at the BJou.
| With such performance Of 'rhe Rivals" as
was given in the Duquesne Theater last night
it is not so much the province to criticse as to
| try and point out the merits distinctively. The
| comedy is presented by the Jefferson Florence
company. But is it fair to speak of Jefferson's
Bob Acres and FIorence's Lucius OTrfgger in
particular as perfect renderings wit hout men,
tioning Mrs. Drew, George w. Denham, F. g.
Bangs and all the rest of the coterie that help
to present the harmonious and effective picture
to which Sheridan's autograph is attached?
The charm of the company consists as much in
the mastery attention to detail in the selection
of its members as to the individual excellence
of those that play the leading parts. Each
parsonage seems to have been chosen all made
up ready for the stage We do not think of
any of them as actors, but as component parts
of the representation. The Jefferson-Florence
company is one of the three or four in this
country of which this can be said.
Joseph Jefferson is the ideal Bob Acres.
Good-natured. simple, and a most delightful
coward, we love him in spite of his trembling
knees, and, perhaps, for his bombastic endeav-
ors to be brave. The dialogue, if judged by
latter-day standards is hardly witty-certainly
not humorous (the lines in the mouth of Mrs.
Va,
they are as rendered by Jefferson. There is
twang in his unctuous voice that we have
never heard anywhere else, and shall probably
never hear again when he leaves the stage. The
baldest and most commonplace speeches be-
come epigrams when he utters them. and he
can throw an audience into convulsions merely
by shaking hands and saying, How are your
Jefferson is Jefferson throughout, and yet
somehow. he seems to be Sheridan's Bob Acres,
too. His performance is not different from
what it has been any time these ten years. nor
do we wish it to be. We are content to take it
as the standard by which all future Bobs shall
be judged.
W. ]. Florence has. in Sir Lucius O7'fager,
created part distinctively his own. 1t would
have seemed almost impossible to take char
acter that had been played by scores Of good
actors and vet makea a new and original creation
Oft Yet this is practically what Mr.. Florence
has done. We all knew the fre-eating Str
Lucius before, but when we saw Florence play
it we knew that the author had produced a
character that could be presented in more than
one way, and that Florence had hit upon the
most pleasing of all.
The cast of "The Rivals" this season is al
most identical with that of last, the only i'm
portant change being that F. c. Bangs is now
the Sir anthony Absolute, instead of Mr.. Var
rey. 1t is needless to say that MIR. Bangs plays
the testy old man to the life. Such sterling
actor as this could not fail to make a tradi-
tional part all that it should be. In the two
scenes with his son, Sir anthony has plenty of
opportunity to exhibit power. and Mr. Bangs
takes advantage of it as such grand per-
former would naturally. He deserved the en-
tbusiastIc recall he received.
Frederick Paulding graceful and dashing
as Captain Absolute, and Joseph Warren is a
good Fdg. Mr. Denham's country dialect as
David is as natural as If he had indeed been
brought up in Devonshire, and his conception
of the honest, laundering servant is excellent
Whether Mrs. John Drew as Mrs. MdIdprop
is the cleverest, as she is perhaps the most
amusing figure in the performance, is a ques-
tion that must be left to those that sat and en-
joyed THE Rivals" last night. What could be
more exquisitely humorous than her frightful
distortions OF the Kings English, delivered in
that complacent manner that nothing can dis
turb7 When she makes her first appearance
through the center door in all the glory of
toilet OF a by-gone age, she is like figure in
old china, or as if she had stepped out of
frame in picture gallery of an old English
country house. She is the Mrs. Mdluprop.
Weare sure that the ridiculous misuse of poly.
syllables could never sound SO funny from any
other liDs, and we feel that no one could sim.
per and ogle so naturally as she. If there are
any stars in this company she is one of them.
Viola Allen is pretty and graceful Lydia
Lunguish and Elsie Lombard is dainty little
Lucy.
The audience last night was a very friendly
one as proved by the warm greeting accorded
nearly every member of the company, and tine
unstinted applause bestowed upon the per-
formance. which eliminated not only in curtain
calls at the close of each act, but recalls of the
performers at the end of nearly every scene.