The record-union., 1892-08-27
MUSIC AND THE DRAMA.
Opening of the Theatrical Season
in New York City.

Lady Lip is the Bloodiest Drama
Ever Seen On Broadway-PaImer's
Company in Alabama = General
Stage Notes.
A. P. Dunlop, writing from New York
under date of August 10th, says:
THE floating energy OF things theatri-
cal has concentrated with startling def
niteness during the week and the lazy,
shifting particles, organized into a whole,
became visible ut several playhOuses
through the intellectual CoSmic dust and
nebulous mental haze. IN fact, the new
season made quite squirt, and the atten-
ton OF the good people OF Gotham has
been drawn from the ruddy, inhabited
planet blinking in the heavens to our
own mother earth Instead Of speculat-
ing on Schiaparelli's celebrated canals,
the tneaterS have again come to the fore,
and instead Of telescOping Mars, the
young folk have brought their glasses to
bear on the actors ard actresses and the
I latter are, no doubt, with as much liVeil-
ness of fancy as the former. "rhe White
Squadron brought out at the Four
teanth-street Theater on Monday hit the
bull'S-eye OF the great American dollar
and many of them viii \. y. Pearson
gather before the roses bloom again. 1t
is a stirring patriotic drama, thrilhnglY
interesting from start to finish, and moth
ing better has ever been seen on the met
ropolltan stage. 1t cost the pluCky man
( ager $4,000 TO raise the curtain, and be-
hon ! 1,ct 4 81
astlc audience by very vigorous YOcltera-
ton stamped it with approval. The
/ White Squadron is no doubt the strong
/ est success Of the times. 1t is magniti-
Gently acted, superbly mounted, and calls
out the patriotism within the breasts of
all good GothamiteS.
Lady Lii which was to have been
! brought forward on Saturday, it is said,
was deferred because Saturday was the
18th OF the week; at least so says Dame
Rumor. 1t was produced on Tuesday
! Lady Lip is one of the bloOdiest dramas
! ever seen on Broadway, and one scene in
it it knocks the horrible torture scene in
La Tosca' into smithereens. The
slaughter takes place during the retreat of
the Austrian army before the victorious
| PrussianS in 1866, and before the play
ends all but two of the important person.
ages have gone to the beyond Just be-
fore the curtain drops Lady Lii joins the
procession, and the man who really loved
and believed in her is left alone, Miss
Lillian Lewis, arrayed in gorgeous cos
TUNES, enacted the part of Lady Lii, a
circus equeStrienne. She has for some
! time headed her own company on the
road with success. She has a pleasing
face, and i'll some of the highly emotional
scenes won considerable applause She
was very much in earnest and did all she
! could to make her Broadway debut the
event of her life, but the drama is too
highly seasoned, at least for a Broadway
audience. The production was, however,
! credltable; the canVaseS being correctly
painted and the dresses and uniforms
were costly and pretty. Lady Liz will
be a winner in towns where theater-
goers like their dramatic food strong.
ION Tuesday, E. II. Sothern opened
| the season at the Lyceum with Captain
Lettarblair,' tried at one performance
last year. 1t is the work Of Miss Mar
| guerIte Merrington, and, as all of the
| Lyceum plays, is play of words and
not OF deeds. To be sure it was dis
tinctly womanish in much OF its matter
illustrative of the Captains love affair.
and 1t ran close at times to mawkiShness.
! but it never got away from naturalness
after all, and its revelations of human
nature were true and pleasant Even the
! one villain was redeemable. The piece
! was retreshingly pure and wholesome,
too, and thus a credit TO the conscience
ness as well as the capability OF its author,
The character of Captain Lettarblair, an
| Irish gentlemen remarkable for sharp
repartee and soft gallantry, was a good
one for young Mr.. Sothern. 1t displays
TO the full his most agreeable qualities as
a light comedian, but he seems to be un-
able to rid himself of his awkwardness.
! The outfit OF the scenery was admirable.
wang was newly aired at the Broad
way on Monday, with several new things
for light laughing purposes; later on De
| Wolf Hopper threatens TO revive The
Lady or the Tiger
"At Hoyts Madison Square Theater
Hoyts merry comedy, "a Trip to China
town. is drawing crowded houses, and
on August 10Th the Booth consecutive
| performance will be souvenired in the
shape of solid silver calendar, a COM
panion piece to the silver thermometer
/ which was given when "a Trip to China
town had reached the 15Oth milestone in
! its New York run. For the first time in
the annals of the stage A Trip to China
! town will be produced at two metro
7 politan theaters during the same week.
This will occur when Mr.. Hoyt plays at
| Mr.. Hammerstein's Theater in Harlem
in a few weeks, and shows, more than
anything could, the enormous success of
| the clever play. It's hard enough to
make play winner at one New York
! theater, but to do so in two at the same
time smashes the record all to smither-
eens, and the cake goes to Mr.. Hoyt as
easy as rolling off log.
"'Sinbad' is also on top, and celebrated
its fiftieth performance at the Garden
| Theater on Wednesday. 1t has been so
successful that Manager Wemyss Hen
derson has extended its run to October
! 10Th.
1.-THE Union Square looks dark this
week, owing to the collapse of Charles A.
! Gardner, who shut np ahruDt1y after,
! playing for some time to about $50 a
night. On the Bowery Mr.. Gardner is
/ all right, but in a tirst-class New York
theater he is all wrong, and he is old
enough and big enough to have known
/ better. Broadway resents an intrusion.
and Mr.. Gardner is probably aware of the
fact by this time.
/ Out of Court, at the Miner Fifth-avenue
/ Theater by Charles Frohman's come
| dians, is doing splendidly, and two minor
| members of the cast have made hits.
! These are Charles 5. Abbe. who is very
/ clever as man fish, and Miss Minnie
! TltteIl, who is the drollest of droll Irish
| servant girls. She is a California pro-
| duct and has big future staring her in
| the face.
ION the Bowery large audience have
indorsed Jerry with heartiness. and
while an old theater-goer would find in
almost every incident something that
carries his memory back like the far
away strains OF a half-forgotten air. it
| has, nevertheless, the elements of success
for theaters like the Windsor 1t is said
to have been played a thousand times in
| England, and it looks 1t. Another play
| that has been swinging around the Brit
! ish dramatic circle for more than 800
nights was also brought out on Saturday
at the Columbus Theater. 1t is drama