The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-04-13
MN CRNKLES LETTER
7 he Kendals Have Lost Their
Prestige In New York.
MISS kARBURYs ADAPTATION.

Closed by the City's Up Town Growth.
NEW YORK, March 3.-Mr and Mrs.
Kendall have IN a great measure lost their
metropolitan prestige this season They
have, it is true, filed Palmer's theater
nightly with highly genteel folk, but their
work is 10 longer Of sufficient importance
TO excite criticism and comment Their
company this year is weak one and their
repertory has stuck fast in the amiabIe
English adaptation. Last week they pro-
duced Few play called Katherine Kav-
snagh." 1t proved to be q slightly i'm
probable affair. in which Mrs. Kendall IN
dertook to impersonatea strong and vicious
part, and proved, as she has so often done
before, that her amiable limitations forbid
this kind of work. In the portrayal of Che
domestic virtues, the romantic sentiments,
the time out Of mind Englishwoman of
story and ballad, there is nobody equal in
balmy grace, radiant personal charm and
| delicious feminine fnesse to Mrs. kendall
but when IL comes TO a Lucrezia Borgia
| or any Of her variations, we must hunt for
a Rose Coghlan or Miss Seligman, about
! the only two women left 20 US who can re-
! viTe the traditions of the green powder
and stiletto school
Katherine Kavanagh, therefore, passed
/ quietly away, being entombed in Mrs Ken
! dal's bulky repertory without tear or a
| flower
Down al the Lyceum theater Mr. Froh-
! man presented with bis excellent company
/ fantastic affair which he calls Merry
! Gotham" curious rechaufe of French
/ affair and intended to be a satire on Ger
! tain social foibles of New York 1t lacked
/ conference and serious purpose, and as it
! employed all Of Mr.. Frohman's company
/ there were times when the stage was full
Of people, all running against each other
and apparently deeply intent on getting
out of each others way. The comedy WAS
supplied by repartee, and as it was artif-
cial and was equally spread over all the
people 1t soon palled- Merry Gotham"
was not popular success. Miss Cayvan
appeared &c be under the weather and
looked tired. which was not exactly appro-
pirate for what the bills called "a dashing
young widow" But the bills failed to
state that her duties as secretary OF the
woman's fair had overtaxed her nerves
To be candid, it seemed to me that Mr.
Frohman, not having a good play ready,
awaited himself OF this merry disturbance
TO exhibit all his company. 1t is a stop gap
parade.
a great deal OF Importance was attached
By the press 10 the production of Lord Ten
nyson's play, The Foresters, . at Daly'sthe-
alter, and naturally. owing 10 the eninence
of the author But have TO make record
of its failure as drama. 1t was absolutely |
tiresome, in spite Of the dainty care with I
which it had been mounted In saying |
this do not wish it TO be understood hat !
] deny the poetic beauty and literary ex-
cellence of Lord Tennyson's work What |
] wish 70 assert is that this lyrical treat 4
meut OF a mythical story was destitute Of 1
all the dramatic qualities which insure the |
success of a play. Imagery, insight, deli |
cate fancy, pretty sentiment and verbal !
conceits may furnish the adorument, but /
can never make the body of drama Nor
Is such idylhcism as Tennyson delights in
At for the concrete treatment Of the mod !
ern stage. 1t has its place, but its place is
not before mixed audience, hastily assem-
bled and not given TO intellectual reveries
THE Foresters" lacked that human quail
fly which has grown to be a sine qua non |
in dramatic literature while Lord Tenny-
son has been growing old It has no throb
of human sympathy. 1t offers Us pas
toral of lost conditions and we are not
once. 1t deals with ideal personages, not
men and women, and they all talk alike,
ike Swedenborg's angels, straining sweet
II, every mothers son and daughter Of
them. to be lyrical and luscious and I'M
earthly, and utterly failing for that reason
to prevent Us from yawniug.
have never seen an audience so genteel-
" bored as was that at ly's on the first
NIGHT IF this niece II Md mot anEnpyrI-
edge that it yawned. l ,ok its handker-
chiefs down from its uths and said:
oh, dear, no; yawn at the poet laureate,
Why, certainly not" And then it slyly
looked at its watches, and one hideous
Philistine who declared in the lobby that
it was AN excess Of sentiment walIowing
in an excess of words" was afterward
looked at BY Mr. Days colored Ushers in
such threatening manner that be left the
house
There can be no sort of doubt that If
Mr.. Gladstone would write a farce comedy
Mr.. DAILY would play 1t Just as he would
play an overture composed by the Duchess
Of Devonshire, but there is no sort Of guar
antee that the grand old man or the grand
lady would do work that would be worth
producing In a tbeater, for the theater has
definite aims and definite limitations.
Let me say briefly that Tennyson's play
dealt with the old Robin Hood legend. but
it has hung the merry ruffians about with
so much point lace that you would not
know them It is ike one of Gainsbor-
ough's pictures, and you viii remember
that II was said Of him he never painted a
man or a woman, only gentlemen and
ladies' The heroes Of Sherwood Forest re-
mind you ii this presentment Of exemplary |
personages who have got dress coats on
1n1er their Lincoln green, and are mas
lueradiDg a. troj;badours OF the Nineteenth
century gone backward.
But IN spite of all this. dare say 'sThe
Foresters" Will take its place alongside Of
AS You Like Il" as an available outdoor /
summer diversion for those ladies who de- 5
IRE TO show their costumes against the
greenwood tree and can afford 70 hire an
orchestra 20 play Sir Arthur SulLvan's ex- 4
,uisite music. :
Two OF the historic theaters Of New York
Ire passing under a cloud The Grand
,pera house and Niblo's Garden are sban-
Toned after this season BY their managers ,
They are too far down town / looked in
.t Niblo's Garden lass week where the oncs
amous Lydia Thompson was PLAYING a
punch OF light pieces 20 g beggarIy house.
The place seemed far away and desert .
d Il now stands 81 night il s neighbor-
lood OF closed stores Its long corridor. !
Ehich once echoed 20 the tramp OF thou ,
ands crushing to see the BLACK Crook,
vas dark and dreary. The auditorium
lad great. silent gaps in il, ard the vast :
taSe looked desolate IN spite CT tie efforts !
# Lydia Thompson :
TWENTY wears ago she was the reisn :