The critic., 1891-01-27
AMUSEMENT

"The Ugly Duckling" at the National.
Mrs. Leslie Carter had something very
much better than success of curiosity at
the National Theatre last evening. A
large and cultured audience had assembled
to pass Judgment upon the dramatic
merits of an actress who at her first step
upon the stage had disarmed and captured
the critics of New York, Boston and
Philadelphia and drawn the venom from
pens ever sharpened to puncture the pre-
tensions of the venturesome amateur.
This audience of intelligence and distinc-
ton was not long in discovering those
qualities in the tense and high,strnn!g
woman before them by force of which it
might reasonably have happened that
those who came to scoR remained to
praise.
From her very first entrance one is con-
scious of an intense vitality, a nervous
energy and exhaustless animal spirits,
which in the comedy passages of the first
act carry her nearly to the limit of the
kittenish, and in the tragic situations of
the later scenes very closely approach the
hysterical. II is not enough TO say OF
Mrs. Carter that she has little of the
crudity which marked all of the earlier
and some of the later efforts of Mrs. Pot
ter and Mrs. Langtry. 1t is hardly too
much to say of her that in some of her
emotional moments there is a suggestion
of the magnetism of Clara Morris and
Minnie Maddern. Undoubtedly she has
much to learn, but certainly no one who
has come so suddenly upon the boards of
later years has evinced so much genuine
ability and aptitude from the outset.
'The Ugly Duckling" is cleverly-con-
structed comedy-drama, very eXcelently
adapted to display Mrs. Carter's talents ut
their best. II at the same time affords
scope for some very artistic work by the
members of an admirably-selected sup
porting company.
The Count Mdidtestd of Mr.. Il. j. Henley
was powerful conception and creation
worthy of the reputation of this sterling
actor. Miss Helen Bancroft was effective
and attractive as usual in the role of
Hester GrdUdoa, the "Duckling's" favored
sister, and Miss Ida Vernon and Helen
Russell, graceful and well-poised women
Of society. As Jdek harrdgut, of sporting
tendencies and florid redundancy OF race
track vocabulary, Mr.. Raymond Holmes
could scarcely have been improved upon,
and the cast in general was fully equal to
all the requirements of the situation The
play Is handsomely staged, the scenic
artists having given us several especially
attractive interiors, and the plumage OF
the "Ducklingl and her dramatic sisters
being well calculated to gladden. the dis
cernng eye OF woman. The play Will, no
doubt, continue to draw large houses mat-
nees and evenings throughout the week.
"The County Fair" at AIbaush's.
A tremendous house filed Albaugh's TO
the doors last evening and roared and
thundcred its approval Of the very easily
pcrceptiblc attractions of Neil Burgess
"County FAIR Like its famous prede-
cessor IN popular favor, "The Old Home
stead" the play finds its powerful and
apparently indestructible hold upon the
affections of the public in that resistless
appeal TO the hearts of the jadei dwellers
in cities ever latent in pictures OF country
life simply and truthfully drawn. The
homely rustic types and scenes, the quaint
and uncouth speech and thought and ac-
tion, the unspoiled, natural man anl
woman as they exist, and as we have m Jst
of us known them at some period OF our
lives, are inexpressibly refreshing by their
very contrast with the artificial monotony