St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-05-20
THEIR MASTERPIECES.


Largest House of the Season.
, Had any other play been presented
than that OF der Pfarrer Won Kirch-
feld''. at the Metropolitan last evening,
it is doubtful If there would have been
an audience present of the Germans and
German Americans sufficiently large to
warrant the rolling up of the curtain.
And who could blame them. Night has
succeeded night with more beastly
weather than its predecessor, and
last night snow was added
in the vain endeavor to keep
the public away. But st. Paul Germans
and Americans who love true art in act
ing, regardless of the tongue spoken,
were not 10 be deferred by such trifie,
and. strange lis it may seem, ode Mil
waukee'r" as the curtain rose. faced the
largest audience of the engagement.
And in response to so generous tribute
paid to their merits, and as recon-
pense to those who braved the dreary.
drizzling, damnable rain, they placed
before them stage picture, the setting
of which will be lasting memory to all
who witnessed 1t.
81
While the entire company could not
be seen at its best, it afforded an 0ppOr-
! tunity for individuals to display their
realfalent. The story of the play is
familiar to all German play-goers, and
to those who have never been fortunate
enough TO see it presented. it would be
taking an unfair advantage to tell it i'll
cold type, for no pen can convey the
real emotion, suffering and sacrifice
endured by pastor, maid and vagrant.'
as painted OH the canvass .Of life by
Hermann Werbke, ELISA Nilassoh and
Ernst Gschmeidler These three title
roles were carried by actors who cam
certainly subserye personality for real
ity. and no grander exponent of Christi;
anity was ever WitneSSedin real lite than,
that presented by the pastor of Kirch-.
field. Natures nobleman' had chosen
the cloth as profession, and the true
heart of man had asserted itself when
he met Anna Bukmeier, but his soul of
honor pointed out the pathway, of duty,
and, though 1t tore his heart-strlngs
asunder, he kept his vow: to COD and
imam, and gave his prieStiy blessing to-
the idol of his natures soul. Herman IL
i Werbke certainly has his master role i'll
this part. ELISA NilasSon as Anna,
had her first opportunity before st.
Paul audience, and won their favor at
ionee. Her portrayal of the shy. inno-.
cent, honest and good girl could hardly
be exceIled, when. as the. WOMAN. in
earnest wifely pleading, she turned the
soul of her friend ana pastor toward
the light of a new life when heWa5 ON
the verge of despondency and about to.
forget his priestly duties. ..:t.. +.
Il '@' 4..a
Ernst GSchmeidler, as the vagrant
root gatherer, has a part after his own
heart, and i'll it can probably not be
equalled by any. He tells III f0rctful
manner the misfortunes of his youth
and ShOwS-the bitterness of diSappoint-
mentin love. as well as the fearful
remedy of seif-infiicted solitude, wan-
dering alone over hill and dale gather
ling herbs to bury memory iii forgetful-5
mess. His scene of fancied revenge
with the pastor and his honest confess
lsien afterwards are life pictures by nat
ure's hand. Particularly cOmmendable
is his excellent makeup. -
| ~ .' -" a
! But in all the Splendor of the stage
there were two drawbacks last evening.
One of them was commented OH quite
freely by; the audience This was the
latteinpt of all characters to speak in the
dialect of the country where the scenes
are laid" While it may have been very
successful from the standpoint OF those
whose. f0rtune it. is. to be- natives
of, this. country. it ~ was hardly;
we'll =; enough understood by the
audience in general. In Germany
proper the dialect changes with the
boundaries of every small province, but
the general character of the language
remains the same, and it might be a
wise move to have most OF the charac-
tiers, with the possible exception of the
yagrant root gatherer which is
really character delineatiOn, adopt
the general German. The other
hiatus was somewhat ludicr0uS.
A Typographical error in the programme
stated the play consisted of four acts,
when it really meant five. The conSe-
quence was that at the end of the fourth
act large part Of the audience started
to leave, but were iaughingly turned
back at the door by the genial local
manager, Mr.Stern. The entire audience
might have left had it not been for
the fact that many of those present had
old Athenaum, when MeSsrs. Engle
and StOhlman took the leading male
parts, and MesdameS Amberg and Koch
those of the ladies, and they knew
full we'll that the richest act still re-
manned to be played. At any rate it
created little diversion that put all in
a happy mood to face the storm oil the.
outside.
II
The programme has been changed for
tonight, and, lllstead of tie three farces.
will he presented IA Drop OF Poison"
the three farces being changed to the
matinee Saturday afternoon. t;es@
Il: Is aa.4.se ta.l
Quite prominent figure in the: past
German theatrical history of st. Paul is
at present in the city, and witnessed
the play last evening. in the person of
Bruno Sittig, proprietor of the Portland
Freie Presse, the leading German paper
of Oregon. Mr.. Sittig commands a
high. place among German litera-
teurs, and while resident of
st. Paul took very active part i'll
it's theatricalS, both Oil and off the
stage, but principally as manager and
prompter. One of the sad events of
Mr.. Sittig's visit here is the death of his
truest and most loyal friend, John j.
Farmer TO whom he WAS dppply At